A Good Start

The start of the trimester seems just right. I was able to manage my available time more economically to study.

 

The first traditional assessment of true – false quiz was given after the first two lessons on the nature of assessment. It was a good start because I got a perfect score in the first attempt. I just hope that I will maintain my standing throughout the trimester.

If I can do it, you can, too!

Image from

1) http://www.adpic-images.com/data/picture/detail/100_Percent_25127.jpg

Assessment FOR, AS and OF LEARNING

Dr. Lorna Earl and Dr. Steven Katz in their book "Rethinking Classroom Assessment with Purpose in Mind" stress the different approach in planning Assessment for, as, and of Learning as the 3 main purposes of assessment. These differences are outlined in the table below:

Process	Assessment FOR Learning	Assessment AS Learning	Assessment OF Learning
Why Assess?	to enable teachers to determine next steps in advancing student learning	to guide and provide opportunities for each student to monitor and critically reflect on his or her learning, and identify next steps	to certify or inform parents or others of student’s proficiency in relation to curriculum learning outcomes
Assess What?	each student’s progress and learning needs in relation to the curricular outcomes	each student’s thinking about his or her learning, what strategies he or she uses to support or challenge that learning, and the mechanisms he or she uses to adjust and advance his or her learning	the extent to which students can apply the key concepts, knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to the curricular outcomes
What Methods?	a range of methods in different modes that make students’ skills and understanding visible	a range of methods in different modes that elicit students’ learning and metacognitive processes	a range of methods in different modes that assess both product and process
Ensuring Quality	• accuracy and consistency of observations and interpretations of student learning • clear, detailed learning expectations • accurate, detailed notes for descriptive feedback to each student	• accuracy and consistency of student’s self-reflection, self-monitoring, and self-adjustment • engagement of the student in considering and challenging his or her thinking • students record their own learning	• accuracy, consistency, and fairness of judgments based on high-quality information • clear, detailed learning expectations • fair and accurate summative reporting
Using the Information	• provide each student with accurate descriptive feedback to further his or her learning • differentiate instruction by continually checking where each student is in relation to the curricular outcomes • provide parents or guardians with descriptive feedback about student learning and ideas for support	• provide each student with accurate descriptive feedback that will help him or her develop independent learning habits • have each student focus on the task and his or her learning (not on getting the right answer) • provide each student with ideas for adjusting, rethinking, and articulating his or her learning • provide the conditions for the teacher and student to discuss alternatives • students report about their learning	• indicate each student’s level of learning • provide the foundation for discussions on placement or promotion • report fair, accurate, and detailed information that can be used to decide the next steps in a student’s learn

For the complete material, please click http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/assess/wncp/rethinking_assess_mb.pdf

To Judge and be Misjudged

As Judge

In some point in time, we have the opportunity to judge the knowledge, skills and performance of others. It could be in the classroom, in a contest, in an office or in any ordinary place and event where our so called “expert and objective” assessment comes to a test.

Like everyone, I also have the opportunity to evaluate other’s performance. At present, it is our new assistant accountant that our company hired four months back.  My boss readily was impressed by this Pakistani who has many years of experience in a relatively big corporation here in the Middle East. However, I have already some bias towards this new employee because I know for years how his “kabayans” are working. And I was right.



Coming from big organization, he is poor in multi-tasking. Being paid in fixed salary, he is off when the clock ticks 6 PM, always ahead of me, although he has some delay and pending works. He keeps on putting off things to do until the last moment. He is keen on long conversations with fellow workers. Not bad if he continues working. The only positive about him is that his desk is always clean and tidy, not like mine, which is full of folders, papers, files, etc.

At any rate, he passed the probationary period. His performance was put to the test when I went on a one-month leave. When I returned, the invoices and transactions that I left are not yet photocopied and filed. Our workers complained of late salary. My boss was furious about his performance. He did not learn what I taught him to learn. He is still following his old strategies of doing things although I told him several times that they were not working. He just ignored things that need to be followed up.

Because of his performance, my boss issued him a warning letter. He should improve or face the ax. The response was abrupt. He was so proud that he immediately wrote a resignation letter today. He even gave it direct to our boss bypassing me who is his supervisor. Before going home, he tried to give me his room and cabinet keys, which I refused. I told him that he needs to finish all his pending works until such time that we let him go.

At this time, I can say that I was very fair to him since the beginning. I always gave him some advice that he did not bother to follow. He kept on doing his own old ways. It will not matter though if these strategies were working. But they did not. Well, let us wait for what happens next.

Adjudged and Misjudged

Up to this day, I can still remember the day when I was assessed together with my other classmates for the honor rolls for our high school graduation. Since only our parents and teachers from first year to fourth year attended the deliberation, I was shocked and disappointed about the result. I did not get the salutatorian that I was wishing for and I was downgraded to be the first honorable mention. I felt betrayed and cheated. This was a very honest wish because I was the first honor during my freshman year, second honor during my sophomore and junior year, and I could say, second honor in our senior year. What happened?



Well, the culprit was the measurement used by the school following the Department of Education and Sports’ criteria – 6 points for academic, 3 points for conduct and 1 point for extra-curricular activities. I was slipped down because of the conduct points. No, it was not because I was a renegade student but because of the composition of the voting teachers. Most of them are women and they will surely choose female students. Most of my male teachers were not there to vote for us males. I can say now that the assessment used was poorly aligned or utterly misaligned considering that character should never get that high point in the assessment simply because it was very subjective. Also, our final grades already contained points for moral values.



This disappointment was the reason why I was not that happy during our graduation ceremony although I got more claps than the salutatorian. I just proved my teachers wrong when I passed the National State Scholarship where I was on the national level while the salutatorian was in the local level. I passed the UPCAT while the salutatorian did not. By the way, I do not hold grudges against the salutatorian because she had nothing to do with the awards except for being nice with our female teachers. I was a victim of wrong criteria and system, a poorly aligned assessment!

Images from

1) http://www.johnconnell.co.uk/images/3monkeys.png

2) http://images.smh.com.au/2011/05/06/2346892/729lazy-420x0.jpg

3) http://www.grllis.spruz.com/gfile/75r4!-!HKIEFJ!-!zrzor45!-!FLPKESDF-DLHG-HNEN-NQMH-SRDHKJNEPOHP!-!72y1nq/wendells008.jpg

4) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi57A7bIqyzQGG75L-OLQsuxs58TQLc1bLPxbH2sOLu-mOm-Giuc6zGv0I5o_j-HjKXgiztekKJ-F20P1avCjYs9toP1gMFxFACpXR5cBYzSjttol2RnMmDYLmImhNzDX7ZsPFeA7lQw0gx/s200/Valedictorian+Linus.gif

How I Viewed Educational Assessment

Although educational assessment has been dreaded by many students from preschool to higher level, it is a very significant part of the teaching-learning process. Assessment as defined in the University of Lincoln’s website pertains to the process of gathering of information to measure student’s “knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs.” Simply, it refers to what teacher does to monitor the progress of his/her students, aid them in their learning and re-design his/her instructional methods and /or assessment strategies to attain his/her predetermined learning goals.



As an elementary student, I was not afraid of the test, be it short or long, surprised or not, because I listened to my teachers in class, did my homework and I was confident that I could answer most of the questions. What I hate was when the test given was so simple compared to what our teachers hinted us to study. For example, our Social Studies teacher would normally gave us 5 chapters to review and then gave a 20 item- multiple choice questions. It drove me mad because I felt I was short-changed probably because Social Studies was one of my favorite subjects and found studying the different regions of the Philippines interesting.

It was the reverse in high school. I found Social Studies class less interesting because I was poor in politics. I prayed not to be called to recite during class. It was because we were no longer remembering products and capitals. We were analyzing the socio-cultural and political systems of our country and I was poor in analysis. One short answer was not enough. You have to defend your argument. Surprisingly, I still got good grade.



Although I got good grades in Mathematics, Geometry was one branch that I was struggling. You’ve got it right! Because it involved analysis. I usually could not prove a theorem. No matter how hard I tried to study, I still could not get it. I managed to get an 85, though.

What I liked most in high school was Filipino. Oh, no! Not Dr. Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo but writing essays and short stories. My love of writing in the national language was developed in high school. I was chosen as associate editor of our school organ in Filipino. I also won an award in the Regional Secondary Schools Press Conference. Our school paper won the Best in News Writing in the national contest. I got Best in Journalism – Filipino during my graduation.



Getting good grades in elementary and high school was very important to me. Not only for my own satisfaction but also to the pride and happiness that they gave to my parents. High grades are testimonies that you studied hard. All your sacrifices and hard work had been rewarded. Getting high grades in high school was my primary goal because it was a way to free college education. Belonging to a poor family, my parents could not send me to college without scholarship. Because of the dedications that I committed to my studies, I was chosen as one of the recipients of the UP Experimental Democratization Students Scholarship (UPXDS) in 1977. Getting high grades in the University was very important to maintain my scholarship. I studied Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and graduated in 1982. And whether we like it or not, grades are one of the indicators of employability in the labor market.



During the course of my studies, I never had a failing grade but I got an "Incomplete" in Computer Studies. Again, you got it right. Because this subject involved analysis and I was so poor in that. As a result, I re-enrolled it one summer and got a 3. Whew!!! My only “tres”. I also got an ebb and flow grade in Algebra. My lowest marks happened when the subject matter involved word problem. Yes, you have got it right once more – analysis.

I shall be frustrated and less motivated if I got a failing grade in any subject especially when you did your utmost share in the learning process. You could blame the professor especially when he/she thought that all “iskolar ng bayan” were outright smart and left you on your own (which was always the case then, I could say).]



It seemed that I was really poor in analysis. I could solve mathematical problems when the equations were all set up but I usually did poorly when I have to set them up by myself. Well, I could say now that it was because my mind then was only at level 3 of Bloom’s taxonomy of learning as revised by Lorin Anderson(2000) as cited by Don Clark. My learning was only in the remembering, understanding and application stage.



Ultimately, at this stage of my learning process, grades are not that significant to me compared to my previous formal education. Although they will always give you some sort of pride and achievement, high grades are now measurements of how the teacher perceived you to have attained his/her learning goals rather than indicators of how much you learned.

Images from

1) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF0hwlZ5uvv3v1mo6qJ56NoN_iMXEbA8p9nTN2tI1M4CBPo06_-Zuhs1uzhB2HDlMS8e-K6aByfBDpJN2HF8ijekaR9IOn9VjKy_lEt_X1P8ZYoPThubDGE5w1Yoz8fpWqPNE2vCIbo1re/s400/nclb-test-cartoon.png

2) http://math.pppst.com/banner_math_geometry_formulas.gif

3) http://blogs.themailbox.com/themailbox/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/report-card-clip.gif

4) http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/10246900/homepage/name/161183?type=sn

5) http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/learning/id/bloom_taxonomy.jpg

6) https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4znyXFQCYcdyGbuvBNAXza6Ub858KosIFjj2O6VRPXUz-usySzyhpSDdPttFFYOs3rcovDuNeP2B0pGdIiCOEncv8CbPcCanp2zbST0bNgKM3UGsdvXvB5P2-RFX7HQwgmpcBP7DQbs4/s400/Cartoon+Teacher.gif

References

Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, P. W., Cruikshank, K. A., Mayer, R. E., Pintrich, P. R., Raths, J., Wittrock, M. C. (2000). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon.

The University of Lincoln.  Educational assessment. In academic room. Retrieved on 21 September 2013 at http://www.academicroom.com/topics/what-is-educational-assessment

Some Basic Concepts and Terminologies on Assessment

As part of our research and understanding regarding basic concepts and terminologies on assessment, I caught the definitions of my classmate Regina Josephine Benito because she differentiates the various terms in a simple and yet comprehensible way.

Regina describes assessment as the gathering of information, analyzing and interpreting the understanding of the student. She stresses that assessment is used to:

• discover what the student needs regarding his learning (diagnostic);

• position the student in a learning environment to maximize his potentials (placement);

• evaluate the effectiveness of the program, and to

• give an opinion on student’s study.

Regina further describes formative assessment as student’s learning monitoring during the course while summative assessment is done at the end of the course. According to her, criterion-referenced assessment rests on specific or particular tasks or concepts where students are evaluated against a set of criteria or standards while norm-referenced assessment is derived on general skills or concepts.

For further reading, please visit Regina’s original entry at http://myportal.upou.edu.ph/mod/forum/post.php?reply=248794#mform1

Image from http://www.bisd303.org/cms/lib3/WA01001636/Centricity/Domain/765/report%20card.gif

The Journey Continues

After a month break, my journey continues as I face another challenge in my pursuit of sharing my knowledge to others. I know it will not be easy. Many little privileges, happiness, comforts and friendships have to be compromised. Work and life have to be balanced. Opening Facebook and online gaming have to be minimized. Watching TFC has to be shortened. 

Planning and time management are some of the ways to reach my destination. There will be times that the roads are rocky and steep. There will be fatigue, frustration and even desperation. But all of these make my journey more challenging and I could say... exciting. Happiness is more on the journey than in the destination. And I would like to try that out as I further my step. Join me in my travel!

Image from http://www.ourmastersvoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/desert-wandering.jpg

I CAN DO IT!

The second trimester for my Professional Teaching Certification course at UP Open University starts on 7 September 2013. This trimester I only undertake one (1) subject. This is because I was overwhelmed with my work and study last time. With full time employment, from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily, six days a week, undertaking 2 PTC subjects was really a big challenge. My schedule was too tight that I needed to wake up early to study before going to work. Sometimes, I said “NO” to some shopping and leisure dates for the required updates of my journal.

However, at the middle of the trimester, I was able to utilize maximally my available time to complete my study. Contrary to what Michael Jordan said in the Nike advertisement –“Just do it!” – I echoed more appropriately with – “I can do it!”  - especially when I found out later that I finished my 2 subjects very satisfactorily.

I hope that this coming trimester, I can still shout the same cliche with more vigor.

Images from

1) http://ssrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/cadodge/people_studying.jpg

2) http://www.english-readers.de/Englisch-Unterrichtsmaterialien/Englisch-Unterrichtsmaterialien-Finken-Verlag/I-can-do-it-Wuerfelspiele/i_can_do_it.jpg