According to Wiggins and Mc Tighe, evaluation of students work is based on the teacher’s judgment guided by criteria. Therefore, it is essential to have a clear idea about what should we look at, because appropriate criteria highlights the most important aspects of the work done by the students. But where shall we look for the appropriate criteria? According to Wiggins criteria derives from the goals set, which should be clearly defined at the beginning of a course. But then everything is extremely intertwined, because if I’m not mistaking criteria is based on specific goals, and evaluation is based on criteria; therefore if goals aren’t well designed, according to the students’ needs and their characteristics, or if the teacher doesn’t give these concepts the importance they have we might assume that things simply won’t work.
Another important aspect discussed in this chapter was validity. According to Wiggins validity has to do with inferences; the way we interpret and understand test results. Therefore, with this information teachers will be able to make decisions in order to improve the learning process. From that point of view, validity is of extreme importance in the teaching learning process, since it gives teachers the tools to analyze his students’ and his own performance.
To sum up, what can I say my dear friends, the more I read this book the more I understand why the educative system doesn’t work in our country. Can you imagine those tired, old fashioned, and disinterested teachers who work in most of our schools trying to make things match in the way it’s proposed in this book? It’s hard to take so many things into account; it takes time and teachers need to have the appropriate knowledge to do it right. So, it seems to me that we are the chosen ones, let’s be brave enough to start making real changes right now.
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Hi dear,
ReplyDeleteLook: " The aim in al assessments is to focus on the right thing",Luoma 2004.
Pretty brilliant don't you think? If our goals are not well stablished from the very beginning of our planning, everything that follows will be affected ....
Therefore, I guess that the key is then in stating clear, precise and usable goals, not only our students will benefit from this, but ourselves as well, because I'm sure you are going to agree with me on the fact that there is nothing worse than standing in front of a class and not having a clear idea of where that particular class will be going....
On top of that nasty feeling, our reputations as professionals is on the table too....
Well....lets work in our goals then...
Thanks!
I think you have made an important point about why the Education system doesn't work in our country.
ReplyDeleteIt may seem obvious that all teachers are familiared with criteria, validity and reliability, but, unfortunaly they are not.
I have talked to some math and Spanish teachers about these issues, and they are quite worried about designing activities, since they want their students to learn and they are aware that objectives should be defined. They have some ideas about why goals should be defined, but are not very clear about the relationship between criteria, specific goals and evaluation.
Of course this is not their fault, they don't have the knowledge, because weren't taught at university.
So, you are very right. We are lucky to be aware of these issues, therefore let's start making changes and sharing everything we have learned with our collegues.
Assessing is like a building. In order to build one up, you need to build solid basements. If you don't, you know what's going to happen. In the worst of the cases, it can collapse. In some other cases, it can just tilt, yet always with the fear of a likely collapse at some point. So, all our biggest effort (this doesn't mean we have to make only one effort) should be concentrated at the beginning when planning our goals and objectives, procedures, identification possible flaws, and possible solutions. Assessment goes the same way, if our fundations are weak, it's going to be really difficult to demand from students what they are really meant to demonstrate.
ReplyDeletexxx
Claudio
Dear,
ReplyDeleteAs you say, assessment is a BIG ISSUE. Problem is that teachers in general do not have a clue what assessment is about, and usually test students on things which were badly cover just for the sake of having a mark for the parents' meeting. What does that mark really mean? What does that mark actually represent about students' performance? I'd dare to say nothing. The same happens with scoring. Why assigning an item 2 points when it can be 1 or 3? What does getting 2 points mean regarding the objectives?
It is a neverending questioning of everything teachers do, which at the end of the day, everyone blames each other and nobody assumes whose fault it is.
As we now have the knowledge, we ought to share it and put forward this in the classrooms. If nobody does, what do we expect the education system to do?
Hi Scarlette!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your last paragraph, since it seems to summarize what most of us feel after reading the chapters from "Understanding by Design". I agree with you, it seem really difficult to implement such interesting ideas in the Chilean system because of the many difficulties mentioned in the previous posts. However, as you said, we are the ones called to start movement in the classrooms and among our colleagues. As I posted in another blog, sharing and team work seem to be the key. We cannot win this fight by ourselves, we need to have more people involved and committed to start changing things.
My dear,
ReplyDeleteIt is well known education is most of the times in the wrong hands... And I'm talking about the policy makers. In some flippant institutions, changes to curricula are made every semester; therefore, goals, evaluations and methodologies are ambiguous. Nevertheless, you, your classrrom and your students are the universe of education. I think you can get to a compendium (and actually, I'm sure do everytime) between what you teach and the way you do it, and what the syllabus/program suggests... yes, suggests. (I'm no longer covering contents that I consider unconnected or aimless. This semester, the syllabus has become a reference for me, because it is not good!). Then, if you need to state criteria to make rubrics, think of the goals YOU have fixed (whether given by the syllabus or yourself) and start from there. According to those goals, you will be able to find reasonable criteria to consequently make your own rubrics... All in all, it is our responsibility if you are wrong! (buy at least you won't feel you are just doing what a piece of paper designed by idiots says).
Good Luck!
Dear Scarlette:
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned in your post, goals must be defined at the beginning if our aim is to accomplish understanding. This rule is not just used in education but in every day situations. There is a saying which says: “a good beginning makes a good end” which means that if a task is carefully planned, there is a better chance that it will be done well.
We are the ones who have the tools to change education in a positive and effective way. In order to make this idea possible, we have to put into practice all theories which have learnt and share our understanding with our colleagues in order to spread this useful view of learning and teaching.
Dear Scarlette,
ReplyDeleteAs you say, criteria is based on goals and evaluation is based on criteria. Therefore, we can infer that mistakes are being carried out at an early stage of designing our course planning. It is a certainty that our assessment devise won't be accurate if we don't set clear goals at a planning stage.
I am aware that is difficult to establish a whole repertoire of goals, yet they mean the path to follow throughout the course.