Monday, February 4, 2013

UbD Chapter 5

I didn’t realize that assessment was such a layered, involved process, but I think it is extremely important to tailor assessment to our students’ individual needs the same way we do with instruction. It makes sense that the only way to get a full picture of their achievement is through several different methods, and this is a model I will take into the classroom with me in the future. The three different types of educational goals listed on page 64 were very helpful in explaining the way that different types of assessments should be specifically related to the kind of learning they are measuring. Assessment really isn’t a one size fits all component of teaching (not that any of them really are), so it was useful to see how we can put things into categories and organize them effectively. I really liked the ‘tic-tac-toe’ chart and method of allowing students to choose how they want their achievement to be measured. I always enjoyed it when teachers did this when I was in high school, and it is practice that I would like to implement in my future classroom too. I think it really gives students a chance to showcase their talents and makes something as stressful as assessment a little bit more easygoing. Even though tests and grades are essential to learning and should be handled as such, sometimes too much focus on numbers and rankings can detract from the actual knowledge and experience of creating a project or assignment for a class. Giving students more room for freedom and personal preferences in project-based assessment can allow them to get more out of the material itself, instead of forcing them to focus solely on what their grade will be. 

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