Dialogue Paper (Draft)

Creating a Basis for Conversation

In the beginning of this course, I felt quite nervous about approaching two educators about assessment and conducting a conversation. I felt like I did not have any knowledge that I could use to hold a conversation with these professionals, however, I did have many questions, so I was able to use these questions as a starting point for discussion. The questions I had set out for my conversations with my two educators were as follows: What is the purpose of assessment? Who should be conducting assessment? What is the difference between assessment and evaluation, and what is their place in the classroom? And as an educator how do you keep assessment consistent? I found these questions opened up a conversation that led to many opinions that further deepened my understanding of assessment, and in many ways changed the way I look at what assessments are, how they can be used, and why they are so important. 

            Before I begin summarizing my conversations about assessment, I feel it is important to give some information on the educators I had the opportunity to speak to. The first educator I spoke to be my mom who is the principal of Emerald Ridge Elementary in White City. Though she taught for many years, she has been in administration for almost fifteen years, so her perspective on assessment greatly comes from guiding her staff in assessing students, rather than conducting the assessment herself. The second educator I spoke to in order to collect different perspectives on assessment was my Co-op teacher in my pre-internship placement. She has only been teaching for about five years, working mostly with younger students. Because of this, she brought some different perspectives from my mom, which I found very interesting. For this educator I will be addressing them as my Co-op teacher, as I am not sure if they are wanting their name stated in this paper. 

What is the Purpose if Assessment:

When asked what the purpose of assessment was, my mom began to talk about the different types of assessment, like formative and summative assessments. She described formative assessment as a means of creating feedback for students as well as collecting evidence to inform your own teaching. She stated that formative assessment “serves to guide instruction, construct feedback, or target interventions”. As for summative assessment, she stated that these assessments serve a larger purpose for acceptance into post-secondary and the closure of units and outcomes. We also spoke about how summative assessments can also work as formative assessments to inform teaching for the next unit or subject. Sometimes a final project not only receives a mark and closes a unit, but it also informs the teacher of what skills a student might need further practice on. 

My Co-op teacher brought some different perspectives to this conversation. Instead of placing the focus of summative assessments on the opportunity for acceptance into post-secondary, she described them as a teaching tool to ensure all students are hitting the grade level outcomes, vital for their success in the next grade. She spoke about using formative assessments similarly to how my mom previously had, solidifying that they are mostly used to give students feedback and inform your own teaching. For her formative assessments should never be for a grade, and for many of these assessments in practice student are not even aware they are being assessed. To her creating an environment where students feel comfortable to show what they know without feeling the pressure of assessment. Her final statement around the purpose of assessment is that everything you teach has a place for assessment. Assessment occurs before learning, to understand a firm starting point. It happens during learning, to decide the next steps in teaching. Finally, it happens at the end of a unit to see when students end up and show what they know. 

Who Should Be Conducting Assessment?

            When asked this question my mom immediately said the teacher should be conducting the assessments in the room, to which I followed up by asking if self and peer assessments should also be conducted. To this she stated that yes, peer and self-assessments have an important place in the classroom. She told me that in many cases self-assessment can be much more important than teacher feedback, especially to the student’s learning. We discussed that students need to have the ability to self-assess as that can be one of the quickest ways for students to gain insight into their own learning and improve their work. Often times teachers have several things to be looking at one time and cannot possibly address every student’s every move. So, this is when self-assessment comes into play. When asked if peer assessment can also be used in this same sense, she said yes, but also noted that peer assessment is a skill that students need to be taught. In knowing this peer assessment can be an incredibly useful tool, but it takes a lot of work to get it to that point. 

            In contrast to my mom’s response, my co-op teacher had a few different opinions on this topic. Being a younger years teacher, she spoke about how assessment is largely conducted by the teacher, with only a small portion being self and peer assessment. She spoke about how younger students are still developing their skills of self and peer assessment, turning these types of assessment into a teacher conducted assessment regardless. So, for her, giving more freedom around who’s conducting assessment can be tricky. It was evident during this conversation that she acknowledges the importance of peer and self-assessing skills, however, at this point in her student’s learning journeys, they are just not skills that are available for her to use as a tool in her classroom. 

What is the Difference Between Assessment and Evaluation?

            This question was something I found myself not having much insight into, because originally, I had viewed these as the same concept. However, through my conversations with both of my educators, I realized that they have very different places in the classroom. I also found it interesting that both of their responses were very similar. So, for this section I will be compiling their responses into one summary of conversation. I learned from both of the educators I spoke to that though assessment and evaluation are often used interchangeably, they are not always the same. Assessment can look many different ways and is not always focused on evidence of learning or assigning a grade to a piece of work. Assessment often serves as an assessment for learning, leaving room for feedback to be given to the student or to use as a tool for moving forward in the classroom setting. In contrast evaluation is used more as a comment of learning, rather than for learning. The evaluation process serves more as a culmination of the evidence of the learning a student did in a unit or outcome. A teacher will look more at the evidence through a scoring lens rather than a feedback one. As for right now these answers give me some closure on this question in my mind, however I would still like to look further into this topic, so I have my own opinion to compare and contrast with this conversation. 

As An Educator How Do You Keep Evaluation Consistent: 

            As I asked this question, my mom needed some time to think it through. She stated that she does not spend much time evaluating students and that she is aware that evaluation techniques have changed greatly since she has been in the classroom full time. However, she was still able to provide some insight to me regarding the question I had posed. She stated that she encourages her staff members to collaborate on assessment, working together to create rubrics and assess each other’s students work. She talked about how it can be difficult to stay unbiased when you are seeing the work individual students are putting into their work. Allowing in different perspectives and insights can greatly benefit the consistency of grading from student to student. As for my co-op teacher, when asked this question she said that she focusses much less on student-to-student consistency, and much more on the individual’s progress throughout the unit and school year. She spoke about how her focus when grading is to give students feedback on their own work, rather than their work in relation to everyone else. She does use marking tools like rubrics, but since her students are so young, he focus lands more on their grasping of the topic as well as their own personal progress. 

My Changes in Understanding of Assessment

            Throughout the course of this conversation, I gained many insights into assessment, and have been able to look as it differently than before. I have always seen summative and formative assessments as very different assessment types that both had their own individual place in the classroom. However, as my mom had mentioned summative assessments can also have a formative quality to them, like seeing where to go for the next unit or gathering skills that might need more work to integrate into further lessons. This taught me that assessment carries all throughout the school year, and just because a unit or outcome has finished, does not mean that you cannot keep track of the assessments used, keeping them in mind for future planning. Assessment is an all-year process that will keep building on itself showing the student’s progress through the whole year rather than the individual unit. From my co-op teacher I learned that there is no right or wrong way to do assessment, there are so many great strategies out there, but not all of them will work for your individual students. I have always viewed assessment as looking a certain way, but I now see that this just is not the case. For example, my mom sees peer and self-assessment as a super valuable tool for both the students and teacher, but my co-op stated that these methods, though useful, just are not always the best choice for her classroom. Sometimes students are not ready for certain types of assessment strategies, and this does not mean that they are bad practices, just that they are not right for the group of students, unit, or individual lesson. I took away from these conversations that there is no cookie cutter example of what assessment is, assessment is a learning process and what works one day might not work the next and that is okay. 

My Next Steps Moving Forward

            As I move forward into my teaching career there are a few things I would like to do to use assessment, while keeping in mind the valuable conversations I have had. Moving forward I would like to make sure that I am getting to know my students and what kinds of assessment works for them. As I learn more about my student’s I can see if self and peer assessments benefit them, or if teacher led assessment gives them more valuable feedback, while I continue to work towards teaching them how to assess themselves and others. Along with understanding the ways in which my students benefit from assessing, I will be working on involving them and my other collogues into the assessment process. I learned that it is important to co-create assessment criteria and assess alongside others to keep expectations clear and assessment’s consistent. SO, I think it would be beneficial to set up a group of other educators to assess alongside. These assessment groups could operate similarly to a learning circle, in giving everyone the space to share opinions on the work at hand.