Transcript BUILDING CURRICULUM FOR STUDENT SUCCESS

Using Assessment to Nurture
Critically Thoughtful Learners
Garfield Gini-Newman
Lecturer, OISE/UT
[email protected]
Brain Walk Activity
Gathering our thoughts on
assessment
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Brain Walk Statement 1
Assessments can be a source of
motivation and engagement for
students.
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Brain Walk Statement 2
Assessment for learning is one of
the most powerful tools in a
teacher’s repertoire.
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Brain Walk Statement 3
Use of formative assessment is
essential to nurturing critical
thoughtful students who become
active, engaged, and critical
assessors of their own learning.
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Brain Walk Statement 4
There are many right ways to
support student learning through
classroom assessment. There are
no hard and fast rules, only ideas
to be thoughtfully explored and
decisions to be made.
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Brain Walk Statement 5
Becoming is more important
than being.
We live in a culture characterized by expectations of
entitlement. In this culture, students learn to value what
they have more than who they are, and success is
measured by how much they have, not by how much
personal effort and growth it takes to achieve
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something.
Brain Walk Statement 6
Curriculum and assessment planning are
analogous to travel planning. Travel
planning should provide a set of itineraries
deliberately designed to meet cultural
goals rather than a purposeless tour of all
the major sites in a foreign country. The
best curriculum and assessment designs
are derived backward from the learning
sought.
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Identify Learning
Targets
Plan scaffolding
Determine
appropriate
evidence
Five Step
Assessment Planning
Process
Consider evidence
to determine
level of
achievement
Interpret results
to determine
next steps
Three Keys to an Assessment Rich
Classroom
Assessments
measure
what matters
Assessments
nurture growth
Assessments are a
source of
motivation and
engagement
Principles of Effective Assessment:
The Primary purpose of assessment and evaluation is to improve student learning.
Students receive
feedback and
guidance on how
to improve work
and have the
opportunity to
implement the
suggestions.
Student grades
are to be
determined by
their most
consistent level of
achievement with
consideration for
more recent work.
Assessment
methods should
be appropriate for
and compatible
with the purpose
and
context of the
assessment.
Assessment
methods are
suited to the
backgrounds
and prior
experiences
of students.
Assessment clearly
reflects the degree of
student success in
meeting curriculum
outcomes. Care is taken
to ensure that results are
not influenced by factors
that are not relevant to
the purpose of the
assessment.
Students and
parents are given
clear definitions of
excellence and
clear directions
for improving
student work.
The directions
provided to
students are clear,
complete, and
appropriate for the
ability, age and
grade level of the
students.
Navigating the Paradigm Shift
in Assessment Requires a
Parallel Shift in Curriculum
Design
The most important shift in
assessment is not how but why
we assess – primarily to nurture
student learning
Putting the Paradigm Shift in
Perspective
The heart of the paradigm shift in
assessment is:
 To gather rich, complex pieces of evidence
 To provide the necessary scaffolding, practice,
feedback and guidance to students to help
them to reach their fullest potential
 To consider most consistent to garner an
accurate picture of the student
 To acknowledge that students have various
learning styles and other factors may impact
on their performance
Rather than seeing
assessments as formative or
summative, we should consider
whether the uses of
assessments are formative or
summative.
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“Everything students say, write
or do is evidence of learning”
Anne Davies, Grande Prairie airport,
February 22, 2008
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Targets vs Methods
Assessment
Targets
Assessment
Methods
Six Key Questions to Assessment
Planning
4. How will I use the evidence I
1. What are my key
gather to determine the
learning targets for
student’s final grade?
the course?
5. How will I determine the
2. What evidence of
student’s grade if they do not
student achievement
provide a complete body of
will I gather?
evidence?
3. How will I provide
6. How will I clearly
students with
communicate grading
feedback, guidance
practices to parents and
and an opportunity to
students?
improve their work?
What resides at the core of my
program?
How will I know if students have been
successful in my course?
 What will success look/sound like?
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What Evidence of Student
Achievement will I gather?
Consider Grade level – build on prior
learning and prepare for future learning
 Consider Subject Area – each subject
area is unique – honour the
distinctiveness of the subject
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Menu of Summative
Assessments
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Tests
Quests
Seminars
Debates
Essays/Reports
Processfolios
Learning Portfolios
Writing Portfolios
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MI Journal
Authentic
Performance Tasks
Labs
How will I provide students with
feedback, guidance and an
opportunity to improve their work?
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Quizzes as
practice
Rubrics
Conference with
students
Written Anecdotal
responses
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Peer Assessment
Self Assessment
Checklists
How will I use the evidence I gather to
determine the student’s final grade?
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How will you ensure a
balance between the
various assessment
targets?
Are each of the summative
assessments of relative
equal weight?
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Will you record marks as
percentage grades, levels
of achievement or other?
How will you use the
evidence gathered to
determine the student’s
most consistent level of
achievement?
Create A Summative
Assessment Plan
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Consider what evidence will provide reliable
information about student achievement design down - plan summative assessments
first
Decide how much evidence is enough
evidence
Make sure all areas of the curriculum are
adequately addressed
Base Your Assessment of Student
Achievement on Fewer, but Richer
Pieces of Evidence
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Use Authentic Assessment (performances which
provide practical applications of learning often to
an audience beyond the classroom)
Use portfolios as appropriate
Provide students with clear criteria for each
required demonstration of learning
Teach to the task and provide formative
feedback, opportunities to practice and a chance
to revise work
Base Assessment on Pieces of
Evidence Which are of Relative
Equal Importance
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Determining most consistent is
complicated by a body of evidence which
contains minor assignments, unit tests,
and major projects
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Remember, quizzes are formative and
pop quizzes have no sound pedagogical
basis
Mark Student Performances,
Not their Learning
Separate learning from demonstrations of
achievement
 Students need to have an opportunity to
“muck” around with what they are learning
before being asked to perform
 Worksheets, homework, cooperative
learning exercises are all part of the
learning process
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Consider the Best Formative
Assessment Tools to Support
Students in Their Learning
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Well written rubrics can be an invaluable tool
to assist students and reduce teacher
workloads
Quizzes, conferring with students, checklists
are other useful tools for formative
assessment
Remember Level One is the bare minimum
you would accept for a pass
A Clear, well thought-out
Summative Assessment Plan
Makes Getting to the Grade Much
Easier
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Calculating grades is manageable when
teachers:
• Work with fewer, but richer pieces of evidence
• Gather evidence which is of similar importance
• Ensure all areas of the curriculum are
addressed
So, what is critical thinking?
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A complex activity, not a set of generic skills,
Concerned with judging or assessing what is
reasonable or sensible in a situation,
Focuses on quality of reasoning,
Depends on the possession of relevant
knowledge
Can be done in endless contexts and is
required whenever the situation is problematic
Is effortful but not necessarily negative
When is someone thinking critically?
A person is thinking critically only if she is
attempting to assess or judge the merits of
possible options in light of relevant factors or
criteria.
Critical thinking is criterial thinking— thinking in
the face of criteria.
A Definition of Critical Thinking
TC2 defines critical thinking as the thinking
through of a problematic situation about
what to believe or how to act where the
thinker makes a reasoned judgment that
reflects competent use of the intellectual
tools for quality thinking.
Community of
Thinkers
Critical
Challenges
TC2 Model of
Critical Thinking
Teach and Assess the
Intellectual
Tools
Critical Thinking
Background Knowledge
Criteria for Judgment
Vocabulary
Thinking Strategies
Habits of Mind
Three Types of Questions
Type 1
Type 2
Type 3
What are the ingredients in
Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor
Beans?
What is your favourite
Should Bertie Bott’s Every
flavour of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans be sold in school
Flavour Beans?
cafeterias?
What are three activities in
Smiths Falls?
Would you like to move to
Smiths Falls?
Identify several natural
disasters that impact on the
environment?
Which natural disaster creates Which natural disaster poses the
the most fear for you?
great threat to the Ontario
economy?
List three types of exercise.
What is your favourite type
of exercise?
What did the Inuit use to make What geographic feature of
Nunavut do you like the
tools?
most?
Would your family’s needs be
better met in Ottawa or Smiths
Falls?
Which sport would best meet the
needs of someone with asthma –
diving, soccer or tennis?
Which natural resource –
diamonds or fish – are most
important to northern society?
Come up with your own
examples!
Type 1
Why do people go
shopping?
Type 2
Do you like shopping?
What is your favourite
genre of movie?
Type 3
Criteria defined
Criteria are the factors or attributes
that help us recognize whether
something is what we say it is. We
use criteria to make reasoned
judgments about issues in social
studies and to make judgments about
the quality of student work.
Criteria Data Set: Assessment
List A
List B
Research notes are 4-5 pages in Research notes are
length and draw upon 3-4
comprehensive and reflect a
sources
variety of perspectives
Bibliography contains 8-10
sources
Bibliography is comprised of a
variety of relevant and reliable
sources providing multiple
perspectives
Essay contains three arguments
with supporting evidence
Essay thesis is supported by the
use of sufficient arguments that
are convincing, relevant and
insightful
Title page includes a title, name, Title page is informative and
course and date
visually appealing
Poster includes 3 visuals, titles
and a 30-word caption
Poster is visually appealling,
informative and convincing or
provocative.
Defining our Assessment
Targets
In a critically thoughtful classroom our
targets are the intellectual tools for quality
thinking.
Consider this framework for
assessment targets
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Background Knowledge:
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do students know and understand the important concepts,
facts and ideas?
are students able to select relevant and important
information to meet the challenge?
Criteria for Judgment:
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are students able to identify important and relevant criteria?
do students use criteria to guide their thinking?
are student judgments consistent with the criteria and the
available evidence?
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Assessing critical thoughtful
responses
Critical Thinking Vocabulary
 do students demonstrate an understanding of
key vocabulary?
 are student responses consistent with the
demands of the critical challenge?
Thinking Strategies
are students able to effectively organize
information to guide their thinking?
 are students able to select relevant information
and connect the information to the criteria for
judgment?
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Habits of Mind
do students demonstrate the habits of an effective
thinker through the process of gathering and
weighing evidence?
 do students demonstrate the habits of an effective
thinker in the process of their deliberations?
 do students demonstrate the habits of a an
effective thinker through the manner in which they
attack a challenge?
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Differentiation in a Critically
Thoughtful Classroom
Product
Critical
Challenges
Clear Learning
Targets
Process
Teach and Assess the
Intellectual
Tools
Background
Knowledge
Habits of Mind
Criteria for
Judgment
Groupings
Community of
Thinkers
Background
Knowledge
Thinking
Strategies
Critical Thinking
Vocabulary