Conley stresses the importance of ongoing assessments, meaning that the students should constantly be assessed throughout the school year. He states that "an important guideline is to use multiple assessments and look for patterns in students' performance. Do not overrely on results from any single test." I totally agree; but my question is: Isn't this exactly what high-stakes/standardized tests do? They take the results from one assessment and gauge a student's comprehension of a subject from that one test score. There are too many factors that influence the outcome of standardized tests, and I believe that these tests rarely reflect the full understanding of each student. How can teachers prepare their students for these tests and still have time to personalize lessons to engage and motivate students?
I loved the section about personal assessments. They seem as though they would be time-consuming, but so much valuable information can be obtained from these experiences with students. By making personal connections with the students, a teacher can create instant engagement in a lesson and motivate students' future learning once the students realize how learning can be applicable to their own lives and interests. We are going to use the reading attitude and an interest survey to get to know the students we will be tutoring in clinicals this semester. I am so glad that we have the opportunity to get to know our students on a personal level so that we can do as much as possible to motivate them. I only wish that when I have my own classroom, I could create individualized lessons based on every one of my students' interests!
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We seem to be on the same page. I do think we rely too heavily on standardized test scores. For this reason, many educators "teach" to the test and neglect other important concepts that need to be taught. How does this benefit the student?
ReplyDeleteI also wish for the time to individualize instruction for every student in my classroom. However, I know this is not possible. The best we can do is to establish the learning styles and needs for the students and try to meet these needs as best we can with the time we are given.
I definitely agree that we rely too heavily on standardize testing. You make a good contradiction between using one test score to make judgements and standardized testing to pass or fail a student. Several factors such as nervousness and anxiety can cause a student to perform poorly. Not only that but some students are just not good test takers.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that interest inventories give great insights to individualized lessons. However, it is extremely difficult to have 20 plus different lesson plans. I believe that our job as a teacher is to make learning meaningful and appealing to our students. We just have to practice what we have learned and do our best to do everything we can.