Assesment as a formative tool
Did we all grow up fearing test days? was it a source of stress and anxiety? were you really able to apply to real life all the information you learned for a test?
According to Scanlan, it could be said that current education in Colombia, to say the least, is not able to guarantee that students are learning rather than memorizing, nor that knowledge could be put into a real life context, where it could be used. Assessment in this system is reduced to test-taking and product evaluating, and its only purpose is to assign a grade or decide if a student should pass or fail a subject.
After reading Scanlan and if we take a minute to reminiscence about our previous teaching experiences, we could all conclude that the learning process is equally important than the final results; If teachers assess their students since the beginning they could make sure the students are having meaningful experiences; as well as evaluate their performance as educators so they can improve and renovate their practices and methods.
Using diversive, continuous, formative assessment might turn education into a meaningful, learner-centered process and provide teachers with the right tools to create and innovate. We chose a path that puts other people's lives in our hands, it is our responsibility to give only our best and do all we can to fulfill such a marvelous task even when it means to reinvent ourselves and re-learn all the things we thought we knew; we, as teachers, should keep and open mind and absolute willingness to change as our students mentalities do.
I cite Silvia's: 'the learning process is equally important than the final results'. I do agree with this statement, since this is basically what the evaluation and assessment process should consist of; regarding that there is not enough evidence to verify students' progress only by administering tests, it is absolutely necessary to accompany them by clarifying doubts, giving them constant and accurate feedback and making them confident about what they do. This is like a physics exercise, if there is no procedure, graphics and opertions, there won't be any result, neither right nor wrong.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you; also, that is a crucial part, help students build confidence, and make them feel comfortable so they are able to create and product making the best out of the class and their own minds!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say that formative assessmente may turn education in colombia into a meaningful process. Sadly, a lot of teachers are not familiar with this concept and keep confusing evaluation with assessment. I personally think that one of the reason students fail their exams is bacause they get anxious and they just focus on achieving certain score to pass, and when they received their exams back they just look at the grades but neither the teacher nor the students give or ask for feedback.
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