Assessment: My Experience

Most of my elementary experiences with assessment were the picture of traditional teaching methods. We wrote tests, we were assignment letter grades and there was little in the way of differentiated learning. I had a very poor experience of elementary school because I was a very slow worker and learner, I had very little confidence in my abilities as a student and believed myself too far behind to catch up. And since most of my assessment came from timed written tests I was labelled as a poor student. I find it strange now that it was my younger elementary years where I experienced a more strict assessment whereas now the younger students are given the most open assessment strategies. I do also find it difficult to look back on these years with a teachers lens. I may have been feeling stressed and pressured and that may have contributed to how I interpreted everything I saw.

 As I approached my upper elementary years there was a wave of new assessment strategies at my school. I'm not sure whether it was due to a new system implemented by the ministry or because we had a new principal or if our recent influx of new teachers had really changed the class dynamic but we had taken more of a turn towards Assessment for and as Learning. We were encouraged more to reflect on our progress as students, right at the age where we didn't want to, but we were also given more opportunities for project based learning where we could have more choice in how we completed our work (presentation, written form, visual etc.). I found myself with more chances to do well in the ways that I knew how and it showed. I had one teacher who really flipped the board and created her own unique expressions of assessment. She would have pictures on the board and along with assessing our individual progress throughout the year, she would also assess us as a class. If we kept up with our work, if we all participated and kept a respectful atmosphere then we would win an ice cream party at the end of the year. She did, however, come across many problems with her expressions of assessment as parents did not understand the values of this system and switched back to letter grades in the middle of the year.

I have never liked the idea of grades myself very much because so much of it relies on perception. I might see a 75% as a good grade but I have friends who would read anything below a 90% as a failure. I have had teachers in my undergrad and in courses I am currently taking who will assign a grade, give suggestions for improvement and then give the students the chance to resubmit the assignment with the improvement. Though I understand this will be more work for me as a teacher, I think it is a great way to give students a chance to show you that they can take instruction to improve their work and fix their mistakes. I am very nervous to start marking assignments because I am worried about how I will be able to give students fair marks according to their abilities. Especially with students who might need an IEP or are in the process of obtaining one and as a result may be doing more poorly than they would if they were given the accommodations they need. I hope to learn more in this course about how I can create the best assessment strategies as I possibly can!