Eye Opening Assessment
I have made some changes in my plans for this year, in direct response to the UbD concepts. One of them was a result of the ideas on assessments. I used an activity related to a "key idea". This year I used it as more of an assessment of understanding. The students had to fully understand the idea of superposition. Definition knowledge was also useful for unconformity, geologic column and rock formation. A combination of these was necessary to create the geologic history of a given area. This year, I did not lead them through step by step. I allowed them to struggle and asked them think. I answered no "what do I do" questions with direct answers. I told them to read the directions out loud to me (which resulted in many saying "never mind, I get it"), and then asked questions about their questions. Students seemed to get the idea that they were to use their heads to figure out the problems.
I was surprised at the number that did not understand, and could not explain what they were doing. When a group was going down the wrong path, they had no explanation for what they were doing. This was an eye opener for me. I thought that the majority understood the basic concepts. I was surprised that many of my students seemed totally lost, even though they had been doing well on the regular tests and homework. I was also surprised at the number “AHA” and “I GET IT” comments that arose and who these comments came from. Students seemed very proud of themselves when they were explaining their actions to the other members of their group. I saw students being very helpful and refraining from making fun of each other for lack of understanding. Even when students were totally off base, the others were supportive. This was no easy task. What I usually do in a single 43 minute period, took just over 2 full periods, but seemed much more useful.
The idea using multiple assessment types is something that I seem to have lost since coming from alternative education where we did many different large projects and presentations that replaced standard testing methods. When dealing with a class of about 15 which remained in one room all day (similar to an elementary school), it was pretty easy to set time aside for a cross–curricular assessments. Most of mine lately have been leaning toward the standardized test types for a variety of reasons. I see there is a need for more self reflection on my part. Each day, each lesson, each activity and each assessment needs to have more purpose and thought than they currently do. After looking at what I do in curriculum, I see that I haven’t looked as closely at the “big pictures” I’m trying to help the students to create. I have some work to do over the next several months before I start my new curriculum next school year. mark