"Rarely do teachers include a classroom assessment plan... it has been our history to see assessment as a series of isolated testing events: tests given at the end of an instructional unit or time period, like the end of a semester. However, as it turns out, students achieve at higher levels when teachers think more deeply about how their classroom assessments fit into their larger instructional environment."
—Chappuis & Stiggins, 2008, p. 12
As Jay McTighe emphasizes in this week's media segment, it is helpful to think about assessment as a photo album rather than a snapshot. Photo albums are a collection of photos over time that reflect what you have done and where you have been. Not one, but many photos represent your experiences. Assessment can be thought of in a similar way, in that it is ongoing and based on diverse evidence collected over time—not just one snapshot, or one test, or one assignment.
For your Course Project, you will create an Assessment Photo Album, which is the "big picture" view to share with your students to help them begin with the end in mind and understand the learning goals of the unit. The Photo Album will visually represent the various assessment methods that will help you and your students measure their progress toward the learning goals of your unit. For this Course Project, you will use the interdisciplinary unit of study you designed in a previous course or another interdisciplinary unit.
Your Assessment Photo Album will present to your students the learning goals and assessments in your unit in a manner that is interesting and engaging. In some weeks, you will work on the Photo Album as one of your Application activities and, in other weeks, you will work on the Photo Album outside the Discussion and Application activities. In the Applications, you will revise and refine your assessments in your plan. As you do so, you will use a Web 2.0 presentation tool to create an Assessment Photo Album that you will eventually share with your students prior to teaching the unit. Your completed Assessment Photo Album will include an overview of the following for the unit:
Learning Goals matched to assessment methods (Week 1 Application)
Diagnostic assessments (or pre-assessments)—at least one that provides information about a student's family/community (Week 2 Application)
Description of formative assessments (ongoing classroom assessments)—at least one that involves student self-assessment (Week 2 Discussion and Application)
Outline of Performance Assessment (Week 3 Application)
Rubric for Performance Assessment (Week 4 Application)
Paper-and-pencil assessments (Week 5 Application)
Planning Ahead
Use the following documents to help you conceptualize your Assessment Photo Album: McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G. (2004). Understanding by design: Professional development workbook. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Understanding by design: Professional development workbook by McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G. Copyright 2004 by Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Reprinted by permission of Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development via the Copyright Clearance Center.
Explore presentation tools that will make the information you share in your Assessment Photo Album visually appealing and engaging for your students. Go to the following websites (and any others you may wish to review) and take the time to explore the possibilities:
This week your Instructor will assign you to a group. For the Application Assignment in Week 4, you and your colleagues will create a rubric for the Assessment Photo Album that outlines the qualities of an excellent product. Contact your group members this week, introduce yourself, and begin to discuss your ideas about creating a high-quality Assessment Photo Album for your Course Project. Become familiar with free online document sharing and collaboration tools. Below are some examples, but you may find others by entering "free online document sharing" or "free online collaboration tools" in your web search engine.
One of the goals of this course is to enhance your integrated technology skills and help you develop your own 21st-century learning goals. As your group begins to network about Assessment Photo Album ideas and qualities of excellent performance, you are required to find a social networking collaboration tool to share documents among your group. By Week 4, make sure your group has selected a site, tried it out, and is ready to share documents and network using this tool. The Internet presentation and networking ideas below are suggestions, but your group is not limited to selecting from this list.
- Assessment Photo Album
- Learning Goals matched to assessment methods (Week 1 Application)
- Diagnostic assessments (or pre-assessments)—at least one that provides information about a student's family/community (Week 2 Application)
- Description of formative assessments (ongoing classroom assessments)—at least one that involves student self-assessment (Week 2 Discussion and Application)
- Outline of Performance Assessment (Week 3 Application)
- Rubric for Performance Assessment (Week 4 Application)
- Paper-and-pencil assessments (Week 5 Application)
Planning Ahead"Rarely do teachers include a classroom assessment plan... it has been our history to see assessment as a series of isolated testing events: tests given at the end of an instructional unit or time period, like the end of a semester. However, as it turns out, students achieve at higher levels when teachers think more deeply about how their classroom assessments fit into their larger instructional environment."
—Chappuis & Stiggins, 2008, p. 12
As Jay McTighe emphasizes in this week's media segment, it is helpful to think about assessment as a photo album rather than a snapshot. Photo albums are a collection of photos over time that reflect what you have done and where you have been. Not one, but many photos represent your experiences. Assessment can be thought of in a similar way, in that it is ongoing and based on diverse evidence collected over time—not just one snapshot, or one test, or one assignment.
For your Course Project, you will create an Assessment Photo Album, which is the "big picture" view to share with your students to help them begin with the end in mind and understand the learning goals of the unit. The Photo Album will visually represent the various assessment methods that will help you and your students measure their progress toward the learning goals of your unit. For this Course Project, you will use the interdisciplinary unit of study you designed in a previous course or another interdisciplinary unit.
Your Assessment Photo Album will present to your students the learning goals and assessments in your unit in a manner that is interesting and engaging. In some weeks, you will work on the Photo Album as one of your Application activities and, in other weeks, you will work on the Photo Album outside the Discussion and Application activities. In the Applications, you will revise and refine your assessments in your plan. As you do so, you will use a Web 2.0 presentation tool to create an Assessment Photo Album that you will eventually share with your students prior to teaching the unit. Your completed Assessment Photo Album will include an overview of the following for the unit:
McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G. (2004). Understanding by design: Professional development workbook. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Understanding by design: Professional development workbook by McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G. Copyright 2004 by Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Reprinted by permission of Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development via the Copyright Clearance Center.
One of the goals of this course is to enhance your integrated technology skills and help you develop your own 21st-century learning goals. As your group begins to network about Assessment Photo Album ideas and qualities of excellent performance, you are required to find a social networking collaboration tool to share documents among your group. By Week 4, make sure your group has selected a site, tried it out, and is ready to share documents and network using this tool. The Internet presentation and networking ideas below are suggestions, but your group is not limited to selecting from this list.
http://corp.epsilen.com/
http://docs.google.com
http://www.4shared.com/
http://workspace.officelive.com/en-us/
http://www.showdocument.com/main.jsf