Empower: How do we adjust our view of assessment in ways that will make room for students to assess their own learning? Provide an example of new thinking.
Just in case someone is reading my blog for the first time, I am a social worker. My assessment of skills may look different from group to group or child to child. It all depends on why I see them. However, I am going to focus on one group of students in particular. I have set times with this group four days a week for twenty minutes each session. This group happens to have some behavioral challenges. Generally, we as adults look for behavioral changes to identify if students are internalizing the skills that they are learning. It is one way to see what they know. We can see if their behavior has changed by how they are performing on their individualized behavior plan. Yet, how do I hear from them about what they are learning and internalizing about the material? Knowing these students for several years, I know that they learn best from hands on, interactive material. They are quick to acquire knowledge, but identifying ways to keep them engaged in the learning process can be a challenge. With their help, we quickly identified that there are very few games for their age to reinforce and practice skill set they are learning. As a group, we decided to that we could create a board game with the information they have learned and turn it into a game that other school children could benefit from. As I read through the chapters in Empower, especially chapter 7, I felt like those were the phases that we have been following. It has been a slow process, but along the way as they are designing the questions for the game, the categories and how many points the "right" answers are worth, they have been showing me what they know (assessing, right?). The kids decided to use an old board game to help them with their physical design of the board, they identified skills cards with questions, they types of pawns and dice. They are currently working on the rules and explanation of the game. We have looked at other games for ideas of how to write the rules of the game, watched you tube videos about creating board games. We created a Google doc to house our thoughts, assignments, and next steps. Through this process, they understand that others will have to test the game and the purpose and process of the game should be clear to others. As I said earlier, I rely on others to help me assess their progress in other parts of the school. However, I am able to assess what they know by what they are contributing to this game. They are motivated to create and show others their game. They work on it during appropriate times within the class room; they sometimes will e-mail me new thoughts and will check in on each other’s progress. This entire project is a way for me to assess what THEY know, not what OTHERS are telling me they see. They are motivated learners and are motivated to share what they have learned with others. I think that once they are able to share this game with others, they will be able to demonstrate even more the extent of their knowledge. More importantly, they will be able to assess their own knowledge through peer assessment, conferencing and self reflection. We are not yet to the parts of the process in chapter 8. This is happening slowly; it is a process, right?
1 Comment
Catherine Soukup
4/8/2018 03:20:00 pm
I love this idea! What a great way to assess what they know and have them reflecting on what they have learned along the way. Having them teach the game to other students also lets them take ownership for what they have created and show others what they know. This sounds like an excellent way to assess their progress!
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AuthorI have worked in social work for over 25 years. The past 19 years have been within an elementary school setting. Archives
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