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After the incredible opportunity to focus on and change my assessment practices last year, I wanted to make sure I took advantage of shaping our Action Research PD for another year by tackling several of the initiatives I had wanted to implement after a year of experience.
Others have asked how I could include this in a student's grade. Well, based on the descriptors that I've outlined with my students, proficient understanding means being able to explain independently and provide examples. If a student is able to give me greater insight to their understanding on this sheet then it is conceivable that they may improve how they are assessed. However, because exemplary understanding requires application, it is unlikely information gathered from this sheet would improve assessment to this level.
Everything I Know:
I've wanted to do this for a while now but finally implemented it this fall. For every outcome assessment students have the option of filling out one of these blue sheets. The purpose is to allow students the opportunity to show me more of what they know in a more free-flow format.
Some students have used it as more of a 'brain-drain' prior to writing the test but the most interesting information is coming from students who quite clearly distinguish between what was and was not asked about on the test.
Critics have asked why this is needed when I already provide an outcome sheet letting students know what they are expected to know. My response is that there are still instances when students might not fully understand what the question is asking and this might help them. Yes, it is on me to ensure that I have clear questions, but I am not perfect and I am sure there could always be some ambiguity no matter how much I try to eliminate it.
Teacher Feedback Form:
If my goal is to provide feedback to students then I knew I would need to adjust how work was turned back to students. In the past I just tried to circle outcomes from students' own reflection sheets as a means of showing them where they needed to focus but it was not nearly as clear as I wanted it to be. This year I have developed a variety of feedback sheets with the intention of being able to provide feedback in an efficient and effective manner.
I can check off outcomes as they demonstrate understanding on the questions, and I can provide more pointed feedback right on the form so students see it immediately.
Sample of a feedback form for a written assessment.
In order to accurately assess how well students understand each outcome, and for students to have an understanding of how this conclusion was reached, feedback forms also include a "rubric" of sorts. An outline of which questions from each levels, assess each of the outcomes. A sample is below.
I had to develop a "shorthand" for recording how studnents performed in each section. A circle means they did not answer any of the questions on that topic correctly at that level. A checkmark means they answered all of the questions on that topic correctly at that level. When they were able to answer some but not all, the x-slash-check is used. This part gets a little muddy I will admit, but with the rubric below, conversations are relatively straightforward with students.
Student progress on each assessment is reported per outcome, not as an overall "grade". This allows much more specific feedback to be achieved with minimal writing.
Continued Development of Student Reflections on Assessments
I love reading why students feel they have earned a certain level of assessment. Some are simply "I studied hard and answered all questions" but some give me some great insight into what they are thinking. Some clarify points they are still unsure of. Sometimes students are upset and they vent, which is ok too as it gives me a starting point for a conversation. Other times, they simply let me know they've been enjoying the material we have been exploring and I love that!
Student work in Interactive Notebooks:
This year I am continuing having students work right in their notebooks when completing lab work and data analysis. It allows all of their thinking to be easily accessible, along with the feedback that they receive. I am still working on how to incorporate this kind of bookkeeping with digital tools... it is a work in progress.
Reflection:
Assessment is an area I am still passionate about and I want to continue to develop this further, however there are some key learnings I have taken away from this year's processes.
Students are more aware of what they have learned and why they have earned the grades they have. After a science 9 unit exam (for which I just give a raw score and percentage) said "but what does this mean? 27/30 doesn't tell me what I still need to work on". This made my heart happy as I could tell my new strategies were definitely having an impact.
Even though I have spent a good deal of time revamping my assessments, they still need some work. Incorporating the teacher feedback form has often made me aware, after the fact, that an assessment is missing questions for certain outcomes at certain levels. This is something I can now focus on going forward.
Because much of what I assess is ongoing, I need to make sure that I have ways of tracking that are less time consuming and easier to manage. I started the year including a Google Form for myself... it was a great idea but I quickly lost track of the 'paper' trail. While I know how students have been performing throughout, I always want to have documented evidence and this is an area I can improve.
Next Steps:
I would like to continue to make improvements to the practices I have started over the last 2 years but I am hoping to have a year where I can mostly just "tweak" instead of overhauling as I have been doing.
While I did include a few read alouds this year, I want to bring this in more, having weekly sessions and "oh wow" days where students can access my relatively extensive classroom library for 10 minutes and learn some small new thing, sharing it with the class. I find I have lots of books, and yet students are rarely reading them. This way they will be exposed to them via my reading to them and them searching through them. I am hoping more students will take advantage of being able to "sign out" my books for fun. I would like this to be the focus of next year's action research.
In a similar vein to the second point above, I would like to explore sketchnoting for students. I am intrigued by this method of constructing learning from read alouds and story telling.
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