Learning to love assessment. Unit 1

Learning to love assessment. Unit 1

In this activity we should read an article called "Learning to love assessment" written by Carol Ann Tomlinson. After reading the article I had to use my own experiences as a student and as a teacher to show the evidences that illustrate the "understanding" in a classroom.


These are my experiences:

*Understanding 1: Informative assessment isn´t just about test.

Assessment can be carried out by different ways, not only though tests. However, most of the teachers use test to assess their students.
-As a student I have suffered multitude of tests to be assessed. I hated tests because I felt so nervous and I can´t show all my knowledge because of the pressure and the stress.
-As a teacher I try to avoid standarded test to assess my students. I assess them through cooperative work, quiz games, daily tasks or questioning. I think that in this way is easier to show what you know.
-In my opinion, Students´ interest and participation should be an important part of the assessment because their effort should be also rewarded.


*Understanding 2: Informative assessment really isn´t about the grade book.
-As a students, I felt so nervious when the teacher told as: "You have made it bad. You have negative point"
-As a teacher, when my students do something wrong, I give them feedback to they can improve. I, as a teacher, try to write in my teacher´s diary every aspect of my students, not only the marks.

*Understanding 3. Informative assessment really isn´t always formal.
-I, as a teacher, try to know my students in a depth way. Their interest and fears, their class relationship, their family situation and the environment where they live. Also, I try to understand them and show empathy. In my opinion, a teacher can´t base the assessment in the students´ grade because an efficent assessment involve more things.
-As a students, I have felt that the most important thing was the grades. If you got better grades you were a better student.

*Understanding 4. Informative assessment isn´t separate from the curriculum.
As a teacher, I always take into account the Spanish curriculum to propose the course objectives. Also, I establish a narrow relationship between objectives and assessment criteria.
As a teacher, I have seen that some colleages don´t teach the essential concepts that students need to know by law, but, they teach what they want and it casuses lack of knowledge in students.

*Understanding 5. Informative assessment isn´t about "after". 
-I, as a teacher, assess the students´ previous knowledge before starting each unit. It is because doing that, I have a clear reference of what my students know and, in this way, I can adapt the new concepts to my students.
-As a students, I can say that not all my teachers have assessed my previous knowledge.

*Understanding 6. Informative assessment isn´t an end in itself.
-I, as a teacher, Assess daily activities of my students. Also, their interest and participation. It is in daily activities when students show what they have learnt day after they and I can see how they have evolved.
-Also, as a teacher, I like taking into account my students´ opinion. Because I know that they are the most important part of the teaching-learning process.

*Understanding 7. Informative assessment isn´t separate from instruction.
-As a teacher, I want that all my students be successful, so I take into account that all my students are totally different and they learn in a different way. My students have different strengths and weaknesses. I as a teacher help my students to overcome their weaknesses and foster their strengths.
-I know that depending on the way that I teach, my students will be more or less successful. For this reason, I try to motivate my students with interesting topics and proposing a variety of activities. I take into account all these activities at assessment time.
-As a students, I can say that I haven´t  been assessed with a test in an isolated way. My teachers took into account the daily activities too.

*Understanding 8. Informative assessment isn´t just about student readiness.
-As a teacher, I take into account the student readiness, but also, I take into account other things. In my opinion, teachers should assess  knowledge, student readiness and students´ skills.
-When I was a student, my teachers also took into account my attitude, skills and knowledge.

*Understanding 9. Informative assessment isn´t just about finding weaknesses.
-I, as a teacher, use assessment to accentuate students´ positive aspect rather than the negative ones. So, I give them posssitive feedback in order to my students feel motivated and confident.
-When I was a students, my teachers centred the assessment in correct errors and mistakes. It was really depresed because you only see what you had done wrong.

*Understanding 10. Informative assessment isn´t just for teacher.
-In my labour as a teacher, I realise of my own errors and I try to improve in the teaching-learning process. In this way, I develop a reflection about assessment, as well as my teaching practice.
-Also, I try to link my self-assessment as a teacher to my students assessment to be consecuent. It is because teachers and students are a team. If one of both fails the other part of the team will be harmed too.
-I know that a lot of teacher don´t do that and I think that if teachers don´t carry out a self assessment they are not going to improve in their teaching practice.