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February 14, 2013 Grant Williams Measurement and Evaluation Katie DeMerchant Teachers must be equipped with a wide variety of skills and practices; one of these practices is assessment. Assessment and evaluation are major parts of the education system, it is through assessment that we determine student growth, achievement, and learning. In the academic community there is a great deal of conversation on the nature of assessment and evaluation and what its role should be in education. As a teacher beginning my career I am drawn to the less traditional ways of assessment and evaluation but find comfort in the traditional system. Education is a constantly adapting field, working to create students who are equipped with the skills to succeed and become lifelong learners. This requires teachers to consider students and their learning and to show them what success in learning is. Assessment and Evaluation work to gauge student growth, or struggles and reward students for their learning. As a teacher I believe in using a combination of diagnostic, formative and summative assessment. I find value in informative feedback as a source of communication between teacher, student and parent. Feedback allows me to be able to address what was successful in the students work and what needs improvement. I believe that students should be required to use that feedback for future assignments so that they can directly learn from their mistakes. Students must also be given a grade as some evaluative measure for the work. I would prefer that students be less grade oriented and more focused on their success in learning and their academic development, but I do believe that students need grades and quantitative evidence to show their progress and success in the class. I understand that tests and assignments often make students anxious. It is essential that students have experience with studying and test taking. Not only are these skills important for many types of work, but also university studies. It is important that students have experience with test taking so that they are prepared for the work force or other future endeavours. This being said I also believe that as a teacher it is important to provide students opportunities to practice their skills. I am moderate in my beliefs on redos and retakes. I want to always encourage students to learn from their mistakes and provide them with opportunities to show their knowledge. I believe that offering students redos and retakes facilitate this; however I do think this should be conditional to the task. Students should understand that retakes and redos are an opportunity that will not always be available to them. This will help prepare them for final exams and end of term projects. The ultimate goal for us as teachers is to guide our students to be independent learners. I think that it is important that students are shown how to assess their own work and identify their strengths and weaknesses. One of the ways of doing this is through self and peer assessment. Often self-assessment is something many teachers shy away from. When done properly self

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assessment can be a practice that allows for students to correct their own mistakes, identify their areas of weakness. This kind of exercise shouldnt be graded and should be an opportunity for students to be critical of their own work. It is a chance for them to use a rubric and understand how they can improve their work. The fears associated with peer assessment are that students will use it as a platform to improve their friends marks and hurt their enemies. Instead when it is not graded students can provide constructive criticism to their classmates. Peer assessment and learning to provide constructive criticism and meaningful feedback is a valuable skill for students to have. This will allow them to communicate with their peers about their work and how to improve it. By seeing areas that others need to improve upon it will reconfirm what students should be aware of in their own work. Self and peer assessment allow students to independently learn from mistakes and help themselves and their peers be successful. Another widely contended issue, which touches on students independent learning is that of assessing students homework. I believe that homework should be used as another opportunity for students to practice the skills that they have learned in the classroom. There is a concern that if homework is not marked students will not do the work required and their schoolwork in general will suffer. I agree that it is important to hold students accountable for the work they fail to complete but I am not comfortable with deducting marks for it. There are other ways to hold students accountable for their work, examples could be having a class discussion on any reading they had to do the night before or questions they had to answer. If the students havent done the work they may be deducted marks for failing to contribute to the discussion. Homework can be used as an opportunity for students to explore what they are learning on their own time and perhaps in a more comforting environment. Providing choice for homework assignments might also be helpful, allowing students to choose something they enjoy doing to show their understanding through their particular skill set. Homework should encourage independent study and student learning not penalize students. As a teacher I strive to inspire lifelong learners, encourage curiosity and guide students to their best. I believe that it is important that assessment reward students for their learning of the curriculum content and that assessment practices help to accurately reflect student work and achievement. As a teacher assessment should help motivate students to improve and help them to be successful. I believe this means allowing students the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. Practices like providing feedback, redos and retakes facilitate this kind of learning process. I believe that students should be provided with grades but I hope that students will take on challenges and further their learning. Assessment and evaluation should create a portrait of student growth and their achievement ultimately working to show the student at his or her best.

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