What’s Assessment Got To Do With It?

I’m an assessment nerd. I like reading about it, talking about it, and experimenting with it in my practice. I find it fascinating because it seems like the missing link between social emotional learning and more “academic” competencies such as critical thinking. As someone who believes relationships come first but adores challenging students intellectually, formative assessment changed my life.

The Journey

Having said this, I didn’t start my career truly understanding formative assessment. As a new teacher, I felt I was very current because I loved using analytic (4-column) rubrics. I spent countless hours choosing just the right language to include in each column. I got very excited about projects and was proud that I gave lots of descriptive feedback on these tasks. I never believed much in the value of letter grades, so I would proudly share that I didn’t use these in my classroom regularly – they were only present on report cards each term. I did have an “aha” moment in my first or second year of teaching that providing an overall performance indicator on a specific task was exactly the same as assigning a letter grade. Duh. I also felt like no matter what the task, at least one kid didn’t fit into any of the boxes I had so carefully and thoughtfully crafted. But the most important realization? I didn’t notice any significant improvements in my students’ learning once I gave them all of this wonderful feedback. The learning was over. I was designing great end goals but I was ignoring the important part: how do we help students achieve these goals?

Slowly, I began learning more about formative assessment and the importance of questioning and feedback during the learning process rather than at the end. I was introduced to Dylan Wiliam’s work and started implementing learning intentions and criteria as part of our regular routine. Students starting to use this language and soon, I was giving targeted feedback both orally and in writing – as we learned – and we were exploring self and peer assessment in ways I had never thought possible. Rather than commenting on what they liked about someone’s final project or presentation, students were giving each other specific, descriptive feedback before they ever shared the final product. This resulted in more peer-peer support, greater sense of ownership, and better learning overall. They could actually provide evidence for their claims! Eventually, I moved away from analytic rubrics in favour of single-point rubrics, where the criteria simply indicate the expectation and the feedback can be personalized for each student. This showed me that there are ways to avoid placing students in categories and that the focus really can be on the learning 99% of the time. I was developing a greater understanding of my students, both as learners and as people, and this helped to shape our classroom environment. We developed a more explicit focus on social emotional learning and kids began talking about perseverance and growth rather than comparisons amongst themselves. I can honestly say that formative assessment is the single most important thing I ever shifted in my practice; it impacts everything.

The Key Takeaways

Now working with pre-service teachers, I have a new perspective on formative assessment and the confusion that it inspires. For example, there is often a tendency to focus on the what rather than the how. Exit slips, observations, and work sample collections are all wonderful ways to gather evidence of student learning. However, it is so important to remember that these are simply tools. I could ask students to complete an exit slip at the end of a lesson, but if I don’t use it to guide my instruction and/or provide feedback, then it is really not being used formatively. We need to think carefully about how the information provided through the tool will guide our lessons, provide an opportunity for teacher feedback, or involve students in self and peer assessment. All of these are important features of formative assessment because they move learning forward.

Equally important is aligning our formative assessment with our summative. If we don’t have an end goal in mind, it becomes very difficult to design learning experiences that help students move toward that goal. Scaffolding is a term thrown around frequently in education, but often misunderstood. Really, scaffolding is the process of planning and assessment, which are interdependent and inseparable. Too often we teach one way and assess another, like providing lots of hands-on, interactive activities in Science but assessing with a written test that focuses on recall. This doesn’t make sense but it is an issue often overlooked in pre-service education courses. Summative assessment should reflect teaching practice in order to be fair, valid, and meaningful.

Finally, new teachers often remember that it’s important to collect evidence of learning and they use it to guide their own decisions in the classroom. They also tend to acknowledge that feedback is generally helpful for learning. What is most often forgotten is providing ample opportunities for students to apply the feedback in a timely manner. Spending hours on thoughtful comments is not meaningful if there is no opportunity for students to respond and/or try again. It also isn’t meaningful if it comes weeks after the experience. Whether it is with the same task or different but similar ones, students need multiple and frequent opportunities to practice and apply the feedback provided. Summative assessment – our end goal – is assessment of learning. How can we assess an end result if it is students’ first time doing something? This may seem simple, but I believe it is one of the most profound mindset shifts we can make as teachers.

I’ve learned so much over the years thanks to those who have shared and questioned their practice alongside me. Obviously, this post is not a comprehensive overview of assessment, but it’s always worth sharing stories and ideas. Formative assessment changed my entire practice as a teacher. It was the key to unlocking my students’ potential, and it was right in front of me all along. I hope there is something here to inspire you… or at least, to familiarize you with one of my nerdy teacher passions!

Photo Credits: Pixabay

Core Competencies in Action

Today, I just want to share a quick activity I did with my class last year to promote the Core Competencies found in BC’s redesigned curriculum. If you’re unsure what Core Competencies are, you can read about them here.

The activity below is simple but I found it powerful. My Grade 6/7 students really enjoyed it but it could be tailored to any grade level. You can find this and many other Core Competency activities designed by Surrey teachers here. Thanks to Chloe for providing her art and poetry sample.

Title: Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox

Core Competency: Positive Personal & Cultural Identity

Curricular Connections: Language Arts & Fine Arts

Description:

As a class, we explored the term “totem.” We created a brainstorm of what we thought this word meant and what some examples might be in our own or others’ lives. Next, we read aloud the Author’s Note from the picture book Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox to help solidify our understanding of the term. We used the Think/Pair/Share strategy to discuss the following questions: What might you choose as a personal totem and why? What might it be like to grow up not understanding your own culture? How do we know what our personal strengths are?

Following these discussions, we read aloud the picture book Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox. Students worked either independently or collaboratively to brainstorm their positive personality traits and how they were like a specific animal of their choice. Students created poetry in a style of their choice and a piece of art to represent the connection between their positive personality traits and their animal totem. We based our artwork on the style of the book by author/artist Danielle Daniel.

Prompting Questions:

• What might it be like to grow up not understanding your own culture?
• How do we learn about ourselves? When and how do we learn about our strengths?
• What guides you in making personal decisions?
• What are some of your positive personality traits? How are they like those of an animal?

Learning Intention:

I can represent my positive personality traits through animal totem poetry and art.

Criteria:

• Poem describes how one animal represents the positive traits of my personality.
• Poem uses metaphors, similes, or analogies.
• Poem includes descriptive and varied language.
• Poem uses rhyme or repetition as a writing technique.
• Artwork includes a representation of myself and features of my chosen animal.

Next Steps:

• Sharing family recipes and traditions
• Selecting totems that represent our identity
• Video reflection on our positive sense of self

I am a dog, loyal to my friends.

I am, and have loyal friends.

I am a dog, my tail starts to wag as fast as a plane propeller when I see my friends.

I get excited and start to tag along all my friends.

I am a dog, I worry when my friends are struggling.

I scurry everywhere to help my friends in troubling situations.

I am a dog, unique and different.

My friends always find various personalities I’ve got.

I am a dog, a man’s furry, comforting best friend.

I am a caring best friend who helps you feel better.

I am a dog,

I was, am, and will always be a friend who is loyal, friendly, caring, unique, and comforting.

 

The Values of Our Actions

Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts. I’m not someone who has ever understood the appeal of audio books or podcasts. However, with some big chunks of time in my week newly available to me, I feel as though the inspiration that comes from podcasts is really infusing new life into my long commute.

Some of the most inspiring listening sessions I’ve had over the past couple of months have been financial podcasts. One in particular called Afford Anything exposed me to interviews with people I likely wouldn’t have come across if I had stuck to my usual book reading. One message I have taken away from this show is the importance of our values aligning with our actions. Basically, if we are not clear on our values – what’s most important to us – then we likely won’t align our actions with those values. According to a few of the show’s guests, this often results in a lot of frustration as people realize they’re not achieving their financial goals; if they could just be clear about what matters most, they would make more decisions that help them achieve their goals and they would be much happier.

I consistently find myself making connections to teaching. We often think we are clear about what matters to us in our practice. Whether it’s inquiry, storytelling, technology, or relationships, we tend to know what our passions are. But how often do we check in to make sure that our actions align with our values? How often are we actually doing things that are counter-intuitive to our values without being mindful of this disconnect?

I think these are important questions to ask ourselves because we are all human beings and teaching is hard work. The stress and frenzy of “the day” gets to all of us at one point or another. We can easily lose sight of what matters most when there’s a line up of emotional crises to deal with after lunch, the child who needs it most doesn’t have EA support again, or the phone rings for what feels like the 17th time that day. Nonetheless, taking the time to really dig deep, articulate our values, and map out how we might act accordingly can have a huge positive impact on our practice. It can save us time by minimizing decision fatigue and help clarify our expectations of our learners – not to mention make us happier!

So take the time to think about what matters to you… and more importantly, what you will do about it.

What Plant Best Represents You?

This past week in our Inquiry class, teacher candidates participated in a mini inquiry designed to integrate disciplines and active many of the core competencies in BC’s redesigned curriculum. For many, it was an engaging and useful activity, as it modeled how we might not always open an inquiry with the actual inquiry question! I think it’s important that teachers understand that we don’t expect students to jump in unarmed with skills and tools to help them be successful. Below is a general outline of our process.

Learning Intention: I can make detailed observations about my local environment.

Experiences:

• Sharing photos of plants and making observations as a group
• Nature walk where students took photos of plants they observed in our surroundings
• Sharing out observations in small groups

What do you notice about this plant? How would you describe its physical characteristics?

Learning Intention: I can use creative thinking to transform a physical characteristic into a personality trait.

Experiences:

• Teacher modeling of a short story “Chloe the Cactus”
• Writing a brief story about one of your chosen plants and what its physical characteristics might look like if it were a person

Once we had developed some of the key skills required to engage in the final experience, we introduced the inquiry question.

What plant best represents you?

Learning Intention: I can make a meaningful connection between a plant and my personal identity.

Criteria:

• Artistic representation is 2D or 3D and includes at least 2 different media.
• Connection is about the real, inside you – your essence (i.e. not your physical appearance).
• Description includes at least 3 thoughtful reasons why your plant represents you.

During this final stage of the process, teacher candidates engaged in their own online research to help select their plant. In a classroom setting, we discussed how we would need to provide more scaffolding at this point. It would be a great opportunity to teach digital literacy and credibility of sources through a model such as Get REAL. Some questions that helped guide our research were:

Where does your plant thrive? What else grows nearby?

What does your plant need to survive?

What are its physical characteristics?

What are some unique features of your plant that make it different from others?

This process was really beautiful to watch, as many of my teacher candidates used this as an opportunity to really reflect on their true selves. It is a good reminder that inquiry doesn’t have to be something overly complicated, but it can certainly be beautiful! Below are a few examples of the work that came out of this mini, teacher-guided inquiry. I hope they and the process inspire others to see how we might approach developing Core Competencies in a meaningful, inquiry-based way.

Succulent plants are known to be found growing in mild and warm climates and do not require frequent watering. Cold weather does not suit these kinds of plants. The desert rose succulent best represents me in terms of the climate of situations I have faced. Similar to the desert rose succulent, I have built enough resilience that I do not need frequent “watering” to combat a situation. The succulent resembles a colourful flower but its exterior is tough and thick, which is similar to how I view myself; vibrant and carefree but also tough enough that I can withstand and get through stress and pressure from all aspects of my life (school, work, social life). The individual I am on the inside likes to stand outside of the box, not inside, and likes to be unique in small but meaningful ways. The plant is different in the sense that it stands out from other cacti and succulents but not in an overwhelmingly neon-coloured way.

I found this decision quite easy, and associated myself with a Scotch Thistle quite quickly. My reasoning behind this is that this plant is nature to the Scottish highlands, the place in the world I feel most calm and happy. I, like the thistle, prefer wet and cold climates, to the sun. Thistles also are weeds, and tend to grow in the wilderness. Though they can come close to society they prefer to be on the outskirts and watch. Thistles also grown close to each other and other plants, but flower and leaf at the end of their stems, which are long. I connected to this because although I like to be near people, and to have people close, I like to have my distance as well, and am, at heart an introvert. Finally, thistles protect themselves by being bristly, and spiky. I too like to protect my inner self, and tend not to like to open up to many.

I ended up choosing a lotus flower. The obvious reason being that I literally have them tattoo’d on my shoulder. However, the lotus flower is quite a symbolic flower – which is what drew me to them enough to get a few permanently inked into my skin. In the buddhist culture (and I want to declare that I am not buddhist, nor am I trying to steal part of their culture) lotus flowers are a symbol of purity as it is a flower that physically has to push up through the mud to bloom into something so tranquil and part of this reason is why it also represents patience. The structure of a lotus contains multiple layers of petals that protect its core centre. I feel like we can relate to these characteristics of a lotus. Like others, I feel as though I have  had to push through the mud multiple times in my life to be the person that I am now. While I try incredibly hard to be patient, and would label myself as patient, it is still a quality I would like to have more of. The structure of the lotus is something I feel as though I can use to describe myself as well: I have a true inner self that protected by my outer layer personalities. I present myself as outgoing, funny, sarcastic, and confident – but these are just the outside petals I’m not afraid to show. As so many people do, the more vulnerable parts of myself I keep tucked away behind those petals. The firey red colour of this lotus also holds a meaning. A red lotus, according to the buddhist faith, symbolizes emotional attachments of the heart. I find that I can be quite an emotionally attached person and try to live life with passion and compassion.

 

I would be a lime tree.  I chose a lime tree for a number of reasons:
The first is that my name, Linnea, means lime tree in Scandinavian, so I have always had an unusual fondness for lime trees despite not caring all that much for limes.  But having looked a little more into the plant itself, I uncovered a few similarities beyond simply the name.
Because it is a tree, it appears strong and sturdy.  However, lime trees actually require considerable care and support (such as consistent watering) in order to thrive.  They are “heavy feeders” which require regular fertilization (I love to eat!).  While they will still produce limes in colder weather, these limes would be small and dry, and few in number.  Lime trees produce the most and best fruit in warm climates!
In all, while lime trees appear to be hardy and resilient, they are actually quite needy.  They need lots of care, support, food, and warm weather to be the happiest trees they can be!  I feel like this description also fits my own personality quite well.

Credit given to Yvonne Dawydiak for the original inquiry question and art activity: What plant best represents you?

2018: A Year of Reflection

Although I don’t write nearly as often as I’d like to, it is something that genuinely helps me reflect on myself both personally and professionally. Same goes for photography. Last year, I chose an intention to help guide me in my daily life: to simplify. Now, those who know me well know that I very frequently struggle to make decisions that relate to myself and my goals. I will often over-analyze a decision until, quite frankly, there is no decision left to be made for one of the following reasons:

1. time ran out
2. something out of my control made the decision for me
3. I decide that decisions are too difficult and it was a silly idea in the first place – maintain status quo

Ultimately, this process leaves me feeling frustrated and limits how many new challenges I take on in my personal life.

Having a conscious intention in 2017 helped me make some decisions that I may have habitually over-analyzed. For example, I became much more dedicated to my yoga practice; this is something I have always had the desire to do but have always struggled to maintain in a consistent way. I would often find excuses why I couldn’t attend class or couldn’t practice from home. “I don’t have the time/money/energy to do _____________” is fairly common language in our society and I definitely fell prey to this thought pattern. While I have always understood on an intellectual level that we make our own choices in life, thanks partly to my intention, I am finally starting to internalize this in a meaningful way. I started to ask myself “Do you want to practice yoga?” and if the answer was a yes then I made it happen. Eventually, this led to it becoming a more important aspect of my life, and then I reaped more personal benefits, such as an increased sense of self-awareness, the ability to actually relax, and a healthy way of managing my anxiety. The intention to simplify also helped me accept that, at this time, yoga is more of a restorative practice for me than anything else, so I have stopped pressuring myself to attend certain types of classes and am trying to focus on what makes me feel good.

Having an intention certainly didn’t apply to every decision I made every day – unfortunately, I am not that focused or dedicated – but it did help me decide to become much healthier, more grounded, more focused on my personal interests, and to take on a new challenge in my career. I was also more willing to forgive myself if I slipped up in any way, which made my daily life much more enjoyable.

Although I definitely did not stick with it in 2017 like I did the previous year, the #photoaday challenge is another great tool that helped me reflect retrospectively on my year. Rather than selecting what I felt were my best photos this year, I chose nine that represent important people, moments, and connections in my life. This process helped me realize what a rich year I had despite feeling disappointment over cancelling a big trip abroad.

#photoaday2017 #bestnine @beverley_bunker

From left to right, top to bottom:

1. Connecting with my dad about photography
2. Having fun in nature with my students
3. Celebrating my best friend’s upcoming wedding with delicious food and wine
4. Spending time at “the lake” in Ontario both before and after my father-in-law passed away
5. Pushing through intense anxiety during a mountain hike in the desert
6. Greater confidence through traveling alone… for the first time in a long time
7. Visiting my mom in Ottawa
8. Attending my first yoga retreat on a beautiful island with a good friend
9. Something to remind me of the day we said goodbye to my father-in-law

Tools that help us reflect in some way are so important. These two worked well for me in 2017 and I have some ideas about what I’d like to try this coming year.

My intention for 2018 is to find joy; whether this means looking within or reaching out to others, I am looking forward to whatever this coming year has in store for me. What do you intend to try, change, or explore in 2018?