A Recap of My EDS 113 Learning Experience

EDS 113 is one of the hardest subjects that I have ever encountered so far in my PTC course.  I was overwhelmed by the articles that I have to read and the requirements that I have to submit.  However, the experience was worthwhile.  I have learned a lot in this course through the materials that I have read, through my discussions and collaborations with my classmates, and through the guidance of my professor.  I am certain that I will incorporate a lot of what I have learned in my current teaching methods.

I will be summarizing my evaluation of my learning experience in EDS 113 through a rubrics chart:

	Rating 5	Rating 4	Rating 3	Rating 2	Rating 1
	Is able not only to do the output well but to go beyond what is   required in the course.	Is able to do what is expected with superior quality.	Had done satisfactory what is needed.	Had demonstrated poor output.	Had no tangible output.
Goal-Setting		X
Explanation:My goal is to know about what assessment is about and how to do it   well.  With the materials and activities   that were given to me, I can really say that I was able to achieve my goal.
Self-Monitoring	X
Explanation:My rating in this area is 5 because I have actually learned a lot   more than I hoped for. What do I already KNOW? I already know that   assessment is an integral part of education and it is important to do it   well. What do I WANT to know? I want to know   how to make an accurate assessment. What have I actually LEARNED? I actually   learned that in order to craft an accurate assessment, it should be: ü    Aligned with the learning objectives ü    Reliable and valid ü    Have well-constructed items ü    Measures the skills that are intended to   measure
Strategizing and Redirecting			X
Explanation:I admit that my planning to achieve my goals were not as good as I   would have wanted to.  Like I said   earlier, I was too overwhelmed with the work that I was not able to pace   myself correctly. Eventually, I will just take this as a learning experience and hope   to do better in my time-management and pacing of my work and requirements.

Overall, I view my learning experience in EDS 113 a worthwhile endeavor.  Through the skills that I learned from the course, I will use them to be a better educator in the future.

Making Creative Assessments

My early impression about this subject was that assessment is only about making traditional exams. So I prepared myself to read boring technical jargon and do hair-raising statistical analysis.  However, after studying this subject, I found out that assessment is not all that.  One of the realizations that I had about this subject is that making assessments can be creative.

Creative assessments can be done as a good support for the lesson.  It makes learning fun and non-threatening for learners.  It also stirs up their critical, analytical, and creative thinking—things that cannot be measured when done through traditional testing alone.

I have compiled a list of websites that I can use as future reference to making creative assessments.

Brown Bag Exams

This is effective in teaching students vocabulary prior to the lesson.  It is also an opportunity for the teacher to check for learning gaps before the lesson proper.  Here is the link.

http://www.adlit.org/unlocking_the_past/brown_bag_exams/

Creative Learning Assessment

This presentation shows that creativity can be measured (along with cooperation and strategic thinking) and is encouraged in this particular assessment guideline.

http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc/creativity/ellis.pdf

10 Ways to Assess Learning Without Tests

In this website, 10 ideas on how to make creative alternative assessments are listed.

http://whatedsaid.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/10-ways-to-assess-learning-without-tests/

Creative Assessment

This presentation is about using technology for better non-threatening and creative assessment.

http://www.slideshare.net/MrF/creative-assessment

Creativity 2.0

This website lists ideas on how you can use ICT resources to make creative assessments.

http://software-creativity.pbworks.com/w/page/17205099/Some%20Assessment%20Activities

 

An Insight to “Gaano Kadalas ang Minsan”

One of the discussion forums that caught my fancy was one that my classmate, Mr. Rhed had opened entitled “Gaano Kadalas ang Minsan” (see: http://myportal.upou.edu.ph/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=68589).  It was interested because it tackled one of the problems in the classroom: the lack of immediate feedback on the part of the educator.  Immediate feedback is very important for better students’ learning and it is unfortunate that this is not done as often as it should.

As I read through the thread, some valid points have been raised:

• Feedbacks are timely only with students with either low grades or high grades.  This was stated by Ms. Rhea, who said that she noticed that feedback was given to her and a few other students because they were at the top of the class.
• Teacher’s teaching load can hinder his or her timely feedback to students.  I have raised this point with Mr. Rhed that especially in public schools, teachers were given a lot of things that they have a hard time giving feedback.  Mr. Rainer has echoed my sentiment also, that teachers have to comply with a lot of requirements given by the principal.
• Number of students in the classroom also hinders timely feedback.  There are about 50 to 80 students per classroom.  With that number (and given that the teacher handles more than one class), it is hard to give timely and personal feedback.
• Feedback given tends to be too general.  Ms. Ethel related an incident wherein the teacher just said in the report card, “Dagdagan pa ang pag-aaral.” which disappointed her because it raised more questions than answers.  I do agree with her.  Study more on what area?  Comments given should be more specific.

Suggestions that were given are the following:

• Do feedback through students’ report cards.  This is the most common approach.  However, it is done at the end of the quarter period, so feedback is not so immediate.
• Compile comments in index cards.  Mr. Rhed said that he had one teacher who did this and handed them over to the students at the end of the term.  Although he believes it is a realistic solution, it is still not an best one.
• Maximize PTA meetings.  Ms. Theresa suggested that parents who are concerned about their students talk to the teachers about their children after the meetings.  She also lamented that unfortunately, the parents of some students (usually the problematic ones) fail to attend to the meetings.
• Give a quarterly report.  Ms. Kat also suggested that the teacher should have a meeting with the students quarterly to discuss their grades.

Regardless of the points made and the suggestions, the implied consensus is that immediate feedback should be done and there should be steps made to address this problem.

I believe that immediate feedback can be done when teachers, parents, and the school administrators recognize this need and come together to find feasible solutions to this problem.

Using Rubrics to Make Better Assessments

The discussion board on http://myportal.upou.edu.ph/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=71418 reminded me about the rubrics.  The first time I have encountered rubrics was during lesson planning.  Our administrator required us to make a rubric at the evaluation part of the lesson plan.  The purpose is to rate our students after the lesson.  Unfortunately, I only viewed this as a requirement.

After reading about the rubrics and after reading the discussion, I realized the importance of using the rubrics to evaluate my lesson, my class, and my students.  I also realized that the rubrics can be used not only in evaluating my classes, but in evaluating projects and other alternative assessments.  I believe that if I have given my students my rubrics for the class, they will know better what I am expecting from them.

One of my resolutions in my future classes is to introduce the rubrics to them.  Hopefully, it will ignite my students’ “metacognition” to motivate them for success.

About “Teaching to the Test”

I have gone through again some of the blogs of my classmates.  Most of them referred to a practice called “teaching to the test”.  Most of the comments about this practice were not too positive.  I then want to raise this question, “Is teaching to the test always a wrong practice?” and “If not, how can we value from this practice?”

Teaching to the test is done when the teachers focus on training the students how to do well on tests.  It has been noted that this practice in the United States has increased due to the emphasis of their educational program “No Child Left Behind” on standardized testing.  There are also some institutions that practiced this in the Philippines.  This is evident in schools reviewing students for admission tests and the proliferation of review centers.

I do not see anything wrong with it.  Taking tests is part of the skills that people need to learn in order to be successful.  There are things that learners need to remember in taking tests in order to be successful, things that will help them later on.  An example is reading carefully and following instructions.  If the test takers failed to do this, then it can affect also not just in test-taking, but in work situations wherein most of the time, they will have to follow instructions.

However, if people are studying just to pass the exam, then that is where it becomes detrimental.  I believe that if learners are able to learn what they need to learn, and know how to follow instructions, they will pass the exam, regardless of what form it is.  In my opinion, it is better to teach well what learners should learn, and just do review of test taking to doing quick reviews and instructing test-takers on what to do.

Some Additional References (Alternative Assessments)

Aside from the references that Teacher Malou has given regarding alternative assessments, I have the liberty of compiling a few more.  I am sure that I am going to need some of their ideas some day.

This website is created by Jon Mueller and is called an Authentic Assessment Toolbox.  I also like the title of the website, “authentic assessment”.  It just points out the need for assessments to be as close to real-life as possible.  Here is the link below:

http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/examples/examples_tasks_elementary_languagearts.htm

Another website is on how to do alternative assessments on both the part of the students and the teachers.

http://voices.yahoo.com/alternative-assessment-tools-1328901.html

This is a list of alternative assessments that teachers can use in class.  They are fun yet accurate and enriching.

http://www.teachhub.com/40-alternative-assessments-learning

Creating a Good Assessment OF Learning

One of the skills a teacher should master is how to craft a good assessment tool.  In the span of more than four years as a teacher, it is normal for me to make tests.  However, I realize that it is not enough to just lift out items in the textbook.  Making a really good and accurate assessment takes a lot of work.

For the first collaborative exercise, I paired up with Mr. Raymon Francisco.  He was a good partner and we were able to come up with a good output.  I started our process by giving him an outline based on the textbook that you have given.  Then when Mr. Raymon pointed out some points with the outline, I realized that we needed a more specific topic.  So, I suggested that we narrow the topic to occupations for Grade Four students and wrote down my initial output.  Mr. Raymon then wanted to make the lesson more detailed, and I agreed with his suggestion.  It helped because it became clear that we needed to assess.  However, in our final output, Teacher Malou pointed out that the assessment is a little vague.  I believed that we should have given more detail with how to do the assessment.

In this collaborative exercise, I learned that in crafting an assessment OF learning, I must be:

• specific in my learning objectives,
• detailed in doing the lesson plan, and
• clear in the assessment tools that are needed.

Because of this exercise, I am thankful that I have learned a lot on making good assessments.

The Problem with ONET

Every year, most Thai students (Grades 3 and 6, 3^rd and 4^th year high school) take the Ordinary National Educational Test (ONET).  These objective tests are designed by the National Institute of Educational Testing Service (NIETS) to assess students’ knowledge of certain areas.  However, every year, there were complaints that these tests favor those who learned through rote memory.  In 2010, NIETS claimed to have designed the questions in order to measure analytical thinking.  Unfortunately, the questions were funny at the least, and debasing at the most.

Here are some of the sample test questions that would make every student scratch their heads.  The first example is taken from a sample test question on Health Education to 6^th year high school students.

Q2: If you have a sexual urge, what must you do?

a) Call friends to go play football.

b) Talk to your family.

c) Try to sleep.

d) Go out with a friend of the opposite sex.

e) Invite a close friend to see a movie.

Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to this question.  Frankly, I do not think there is a correct answer to this question.

The next example is a Science question for Grade 6 students.

Q4: Locals have found a bizarre item. It is round and soft. If it is not fed water, it shrinks and becomes a hard object. This hard object, when given water, will return to its soft, bigger state. What is it?

a) Naga egg

b) Giant salamander egg

c) Quartz

d) Chaa Khaimuk “Pearl tea” (flour balls in milk tea)

e) Hydrogel

All the students have to do is to choose the most scientific sounding item and make sure that they do not choose “a” and “d”.

The last example is a test question in English for Grade 6 students.

Q: Sak goes to see a doctor. The first thing the doctor says to him is: “…………”

a) Can you tell me everything that’s wrong?

b) So what have you been doing?

c) May I help you?

d) What seems to be the problem?

In my opinion, the test makers should have put letter e that says “all of the above”.

The article where I have taken my examples have a lot more, however I have reserved my thoughts for the next discussion forum.  Although the intent is laudable, it would have been more preferable for NIETS to make alternative assessments that can measure analytical thinking more accurately instead of making traditional assessments that force to do this.  I am in agreement that their ministry of education should measure critical and analytical thinking, but not in this manner.

Reference:         Saiyasombut S. and Siam Voices “Thai education failures – Part 1: Ridiculous O-NET questions” Feb 23, 2012.  Retrieved from http://asiancorrespondent.com/76664/

Deemphasizing Standardized Testing in Schools

As I was surfing the internet, I came across a talk from Ken Robinson.  He is a good speaker and his topic is very thought-provoking.  He then presented a problem that he believes is the problem with American education; that the drop-out of students from school is increasing at an alarming rate.  More details about his talk are on this link: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_death_valley.html

Mr. Robinson believes that the main reason why students drop out is that they are bored.  The reason why they are bored is that instead of schools giving the child the environment to explore and exercise his/her creativity, they are forced to conform and specialize in core courses like math and science.

But one of the reasons he has cited why this kind of environment is prevalent is because the school administrators emphasized too much on making students pass standardized tests.  In his opinion, standardized testing should support learning, not the main focus of learning.  He elucidates this thought:

“The role of a teacher is to facilitate learning. That’s it. And part of the problem is, I think, that the dominant culture of education has come to focus on not teaching and learning, but testing. Now, testing is important. Standardized tests have a place. But they should not be the dominant culture of education. They should be diagnostic. They should help.  If I go for a medical examination, I want some standardized tests. I do. You know, I want to know what my cholesterol level is compared to everybody else’s on a standard scale. I don’t want to be told on some scale my doctor invented in the car.

“Your cholesterol is what I call Level Orange.”

“Really? Is that good?””We don’t know.”

But all that should support learning. It shouldn’t obstruct it, which of course it often does. So in place of curiosity, what we have is a culture of compliance. Our children and teachers are encouraged to follow routine algorithms rather than to excite that power of imagination and curiosity.”

I fully agree with Mr. Robinson.  Too much focus on testing and pushing teachers to “teach the test” results to bored, uninspired kids.  If schools teach children not on WHAT to learn but HOW to learn, then they will eventually pass, or even perform better in the standardized tests.

It is then time to put standardized testing to its rightful place, which is a support, not the main event, to a better education.

Doing Role Plays: A Fun Way of Doing Assessments

As an English teacher, one of the most effective ways for me to assess my students’ performance is through role plays.  As an alternative assessment, role plays are fun for the following reasons:

• One, it is a break from the usual classroom atmosphere.  An activity like this is a welcome diversion to the usual lecture and classroom routine.
• Two, it encourages students to move.  Some students learn more through moving.  Students learn more when they are given the chance to apply what they have learned.
• Three, it builds team work.  Team work builds social relationships.
• Four, it assesses students’ knowledge and performance without the stress.  When students are having fun, it releases the tension that they normally get from being assessed.
• Five, it measures performance.  A role play is the closest thing to a simulation.  Students should learn how to cope and what to answer in real situations.  A role play gives students a chance to think of real-life situations and how they can apply what they learn to these situations.

One of the most memorable teaching experiences is about a role play on accidents.  I divided my Grade 6 class into groups and gave them a situation.  The situation was that they think of an accident, what are the possible scenarios, and what should they do when they happen.  Then, they should show that through a role play.  I made it into a contest, even inviting some of my co-teachers to act as judges.  The students were having a good time brainstorming.  The students gave good presentations.  There was a group of students who are not good at talking, but tried to do a good job nonetheless.  They gave a scenario wherein a person was bumped in a car, and the car sped away.  Then another driver saw the accident and chased after the car.  And around five minutes, you can only see the two drivers saying, “Brrooommmm”.  After that, the other driver was able to catch the driver who bumped the person.  Well, they did not totally achieve the objective, but they participated in the activity, which is a plus point.

Overall, I think assessments can be accurately measure the learning objective, and promote fun.  After all, that is what learning should be—enriching, yet fun.