Friday, October 6, 2017

#AEE 412 Weekly Investment 6: Assessments

This week our readings were all about assessment!  This could not have come at a more perfect time as I have just received my first unit plan back with feedback in relation to assessments.  I only had planned for a summative unit assessment and had no formative assessments planned.  Through that feedback and the readings this week, I feel much more confident in making more assessments with less questions.  My unit assessment was a very long and complex test which I was worried would be too much for students but wasn't sure how else to check for understanding.  I now know that there are many, many ways that I am able to assess student learning.  I will definitely be going back and added more formative assessments to my unit such as quizzes, and task sheets at the completion of my lessons.

Assessments need to be directly related to lesson objectives and the information that was presented in the lessons.  I now know that I need to be testing my students on what they have actually learned and what they are able to perform.  It makes no sense to teach my students at a lower level of Bloom's Taxonomy and expect them to be tested at a high level.  Assessments need to be grounded on the level at which the information has been presented because you also don't want to do the opposite and test at a low level while teaching at a high level.  All assessments need to be fair to the students in the sense that they should not be tested on information or tasks that you know that they will not be able to complete successfully.

No one ever said that all assessments, both summative and formative, have to be in the form of a test.  For many classes the best way to assess what the student has learned is through presenting information gained or performing a task.  These are great for lessons such as welding, electricity, small gas engines and woodworking in an Ag Mechanics class.  This is also great to use for projects in animal and plant science classes by having students do projects on breeds or plants/livestock, types of greenhouses, and integrated pest management.  This assessment would be reflected through a rubric.  Rubrics are a great way for students to successfully show what they have learned!  You present a rubric to students at the beginning of the lesson and tell them that by the end they will need to be able to perform these tasks or present this information.  Students know from the start what they need to be working towards and are able to know exactly what you are expecting from them.  This helps cut down on situations like this : 

Instead, students are able to jump right into work with less confusion and ready to succeed.  
Below is a great info graphic that helped me to differentiate between the types of assessments.  It really helped me to understand what formative assessments are and how they can be used within the lesson. 

7 comments:

  1. Macy, I had many of the same comments on the peer/instructor reviews of my unit plan. It is kind of crazy to feel that we have this much power! I remember thinking about all of the good and bad parts of taking exams as a young person and here we are, making them, distractors and all. I hope that in my classroom I will be able to relieve students' fears about being graded.

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  2. Macy, like you and Angie I also did not have formative assessments listed on my unit plan. Prior to being promted to thinking about them looking at my unit plan review and this weeks reading, I never would have thought about the formative assessments. I look forward to seeing what hearing what you come up with for your formative assessments, maybe we could bounce ideas off each other!

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  3. Macy, glad to see you connecting this week's reading to your unit plan reflection. What are some other types of assessment that you can include in your plan besides tests, quizzes, and task sheets? Great job making the connection between teaching and assessing at the same level of Bloom's!

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  4. I love that graphic of not testing fish by asking them to fly as well!

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  5. Macy! So glad that you're seeing this now. It's frustrating to students if they feel overwhelmed with too much info or like they haven't learned enough to be tested when it's time for an end of unit test. Formative assessments will help them find balance. I'm excited to see how your unit is shaping up!

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  6. Hi Macy! I really enjoyed your blog as I think that it really summarized the readings wells and aligned with some of my thoughts! I think that have formative assessments is important as I do not like being tested in bulk - so it is natural that neither would my students. Also, I like what you said about letting students know exactly what is expected of them! No one likes being handed something with no expectations or clarity as to how the information will be presented to them later or on a test.

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  7. Macy, as we all continue our #TeachAgJourney, I am constantly seeing how agriculture education is alike and different from other school disciplines. Where I see some major differences, is around assessments. In agriculture education we rely on hands-on learning, just as John Dewey wanted it to be designed. Thus, it is then only fitting to assess students in a project or skill-based way whenever possible!

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