Teach Middle East Magazine | Page 13

ADVERTORIAL

Assessment Reflection

Because learning is happening , assessments are adapting , incorporating the new learning or modifying to revisit where necessary . One strategy often missed in the hurry of the school year is assessment reflection . While not practical after every assessment , pausing after a few assessment experiences throughout the year to allow learners to reflect on both process and content has value . Consider questions like these :

• What did you feel most confident about ?

• What was confusing ?

• What was the most difficult part of the test ?

• What would you do differently the next time ?

• What do you know that you didn ’ t get to show ?

Changing Mindsets

One interesting aspect of formative assessment practices is how these practices level the field for all learners . The use of these practices and strategies supports culturally and linguistically diverse learners . These practices empower learners who have suffered trauma by giving them control over the learning in their life . Because there are so many different strategies to use , every learner , even those who have been

ACTING historically marginalized , can find strategies that work for them and use them to learn more and own more . Formative practices build a culture for learning and make assessing an integral part of the daily activities in a classroom . In this way , formative assessment is built into Edmentum ’ s Study Island so you can make valuable instructional decisions all year round .

Kathie Morgan was a third-grade teacher when she introduced assessment as learning to her students . By October that year , things had changed , and Nancy , the fourth-grade teacher across the hall , noticed . She asked Kathie why her students were so excited on days when “ test ” or “ assessment ” were written on the board . Kathie suggested she ask the students , so she did . The responses from different students were similar and boiled down to this , “ I get to show what I know , figure out what I don ’ t know , and make a plan to do something about it .” Guess what ? It is that simple , particularly when assessment is seen as a support for learning , an ongoing and adaptive process . Edmentum ’ s EducationCity is ideal for this teaching style as it provides formative and summative assessments for students to evaluate where their learning level is .

The OECD ( 2008 ) reported benefits from the use of formative instructional practices which included raising

ASSESSING student achievement , promoting equity , building students ’ skills to learn , all which lead to meeting goals for life-long learning . Having rapidly moved to digital learning in 2020 , some of these benefits may have suffered . Many teachers worldwide were provided with professional learning focused on adapting to remote or hybrid teaching . Some of this professional learning focused on tools to support continuous and adaptive assessment . You may want to consider digital tools to support your practice whether teaching remotely or in person . While the options are many , here are some possibilities .

1 . Explain Everything is a screencasting tool that allows students to show what they know and let teachers listen in .

2 . GrokSpot offers an engaging way to get students to choose prompts or emojis to reflect on their learning . This tool is useful for collaborative discussion .

3 . Kialo Edu is a collaborative discussion tool that creates a visual of the discussion to help students see the questions and discussion so they can better evaluate all the ideas shared .

Consider how often each day you receive or give yourself feedback . It is usually the result of a self-assessment or someone else ’ s assessment . Both the acts of assessing and getting or giving feedback are continuous and ongoing , giving us the time to adapt and change . How can we make assessing for our learners part of that natural , daily process ? How can we teach our learners to do daily academically what they do personally – self-assess , give feedback , reflect , and adapt ? What are some of the strategies you are having success with ? We ’ d love to know .

Class Time Term 1 Sep - Dec 2021 13