0167: A little on assessment and projects— example included
#education #teaching #k12chat
People have different philosophies of assessment and grading. Personally, I’m not a fan of formal measures. I can assess informally and constantly and have a better understanding of what my learners know, have learned, or can do. And, the product they create is further evidence of their work. The product is a must because, I believe, there should be a clear end to work— a start and stop. Deadlines are important. I’ve used such measures and guidelines as a music and math teacher. Obviously, it’s easier to do things this way in an arts class. But, it wasn’t too terribly different in the maths. Projects and problems can and should be designed to teach and assess multiple skills rather than just focusing on single skills alone. Make the skills transferable and useful rather than isolating them. We don’t exactly have time to teach in isolation with curriculum loads and the shadow of the ever approaching test.
For example, each year my algebra classes would work to solve the problem of building a house or building of some sort. Each student was given a budget and an idea of what the “owners” might want for their structure. Students had to create a blueprint and see to it the structure could be built, tiled, floored, doors, windows, etc. added, painted, roofed, and so forth all within their budget. Everything had to be tested for structural integrity and plausibility. Students used, created, explored, researched formulas and ways of testing structures. On a side note, these students were generally 2-3 years behind in math and literacy. We consulted each other, researched, found professionals in the field of construction and contracting (I’m not, parents, custodians, the principal, kids, etc. helped).
The above example was used to teach, learn, and explore skills concurrently. I had too much to teach before the test and not enough time. It was motivating, product driven, and had an end. There were deadlines. It involved money, communication, budgeting, research, collaboration, workforce development, and many others. This would function, I suppose, as a thematic unit. This and like projects are a lot of bang for the buck. They’re fun, they’re effective, they produce transferable skills and teach the curriculum. They take some time to develop, but not too much. Try it, steal, share it. What have you done to get more done than you had time for?
One more thing, not that I really care, but I did, their test scores went up.
Read anything you can find on PBLs, projects, problematization, cooperative learning, etc.
Notes
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asmar-imam answered:
if you do not mind giving it a better link education to anyone who wants to learn it so easy to access it, … I’m sure a good job
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adventuresinlearning reblogged this from educatedtodeath and added:
I did a pretty intensive study of PBL mostly for Elementary students… if anyone wants suggestions of books or resources....
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adventuresinlearning answered:
I did a study of PBL mostly for Elementary students, but I would recommend An Ethic of Excellence by Ron Berger to start!
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This was featured in #Education
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educatedtodeath posted this
