Formative Assessments: How Do We Know They’re Learning?
It stands to reason that if students are not learning the way we are teaching them, then we must teach them the way they learn! Let’s use an analogy to make this point clear. When you go fishing, do you use bait you like or bait the fish likes? Whether you refer to them as multiple intelligences, like Howard Gardner, or to them as gifts, like Marcia Tate, students come to class with many different ways of knowing. Experience 20 brain-compatible strategies for unwrapping those gifts, strategies such as role play, drawing, music, or movement. Once teachers have taught students in these ways, how do we know that they have truly learned what we have taught? Experience over 50 ways (including the use of products and performances) to determine if those strategies are making a difference in student achievement in your classroom. The workshop will deal with both traditional and more authentic forms of assessment since both forms should be included in a student’s overall portfolio. After all, isn’t it better for students to produce their own knowledge rather than to simply reproduce yours!
This workshop is for year 2 novice teachers.