Connecting my own experiences. Unit 1

Connecting my own experiences. Unit 1

• Think of a time you yourself were assessed and it was a negative experience. What made it negative?

 I was in 3rd grade of Primary Education and the Science teacher proposed assess ourselves. We had to write the things that we used to do bad in her subject. She gave us some statements to think. They were about behaviour, knowledge, attitude, science skills and group work. We had to do a self assessment to improve in our science subject. The teacher said to us that we had lack of Science knowledge, we did not understand a lot of science concepts and we had a wrong behaviour. After that, we had to complete the chart about the standards. It is a fact that my classmates and I were not motivated. I thought about how to improve my skills, my knowledge and my behaviour but I thought that I was doing everything bad.

• Which of the five keys to assessment quality were involved in your negative experience?

This assessment didn´t involve an effective communication because it didn´t contribute to increase students achievement. Also, the teacher didn´t avoid circumstances to distort the results. However, it had a clear purpuse, at least, for the teacher, because she wanted that we improvement our science skills. Also, we as sudents were involved in the process because we had to think how to improve.

• What impact did this experience have on you?

This experience had a really bad impact on my because I felt unmotivated and I thought that I was bad at the  Science subject. The teacher fostered my weaknesess instead of my stengths and she only centred her attention in negative feedback which harmed me.

• Now think of a time you yourself were assessed and it was a positive experience. What made it positive?

I remember that my English teacher used to develop students self-assessment when we were on 5th grade of Primary Education. She explained us the aims of the self-assessment in a clear way and an easy language. Also, the items of the self-assessment chart were easy to understand. She explained us that self-assessment wasn´t about finding weaknesses, she involved us saying that our opinion about ourselves were so important and she gave us positive feedback to improve.

• Which of the five keys to assessment quality were involved in the positive experience?

In this positive experience we can see several keys to assessment which are involve:

-Clear purpose: the teacher explained why we was developing the self-assessment and the aim of it. 

-Clear targets: The teacher wrote clear items and she explained each one in a easy way and a easy language adapted to us (children).

-Effective communication: The teacher told us that our opinion about ourselves was so important. She made us to develop our own reflections and after that she gave us positive feedback to help us.

-Students involvement: We (students) felt as active participants because our opinion was important.

• What impact did this experience have on you?

In this case, the self-assessment had a positive impact on me because I felt so motivated. I realized that my opinion was important and it was interesting for the teacher. Any answer that I thought was wrong because it was my personal opinion, ideas and feelings. I made me be better in the English subject because I took into account the positive feedback that the teacher gave me.