Teachers on Fire Podcast. Episode #120: Dr. Christine Younghusband: Assessment, Weaving, and Relationships
My personal experience with assessment, in high school, was just to memorize what was going to be on the test. I was happy to hear Christine Younghusband remark that with this model, most students just ask, “What do I need to do to get a B?” This is exactly what I was guilty of in high school! I would figure out what I needed to achieve to get the grades I needed. If I had a final, I would spend hours calculating what mark I would get in the course depending on how much effort I put in on the exam. I would think, “if I completely bomb the final, I’ll still pass the course with a C-…. if I get at least a 50%, I’ll walk away with a B-, so there is no need to stress about this final!” Then I would put little to no effort in studying because I knew there was no stakes. Just to be clear, I understand now how toxic this method of thinking is, but at the time of being a teenager, it is what the system conditioned me to do.
Christine also noted in the podcast that “transitions take time” and that it will take time for us to see assessment differently from how we have been trained to see it. I hope I am well along on my journey to authentic feedback and CONSTRUCTIVE assessment. Christine also goes on to say that, “feedback paradigms attempt to put the focus squarely on learning.” In our Education 421 lesson this week, we compared vague vs explicit feedback. If we only write “Great work” on a student’s essay, have they really learned anything? Do they know what to do differently next time? Do they have time to look back and understand what they learned? Of course not! They see “great job” and throw the essay into their backpacks. Learning is not involved at all! But if we were to say, “Great job, you need to work more on understanding symbolism, you started a great thought on page 4 but then you never addressed it again, I think you need to…..”. Now when the student reads this feedback, they will think “Oh! I did not realize I should have explored that symbolism more! Maybe I will try it next time!” We must direct our students learning through assessment; tell them what they have done well and tell them what they need to work on. The students cannot learn if they just keep getting “Good job!” and “Needs more work!” on their assignments.
