Evaluation/Assessment

    Hello everyone !        

           This week i choose to write abour assessment and evaluation processes .Assessment is important in every teaching and learning environment .It shows us what have already been learnt and informs us what  is needed  to improve. Traditionally, tests have been the main form of assessment , usually at the end of the cycle for example at the end of semester or end of the  year . Now we know that this kind of assessment is called summative assessment .Students have one chance to demonstrate their learning .This is how we used to be assessed in previous years in high school and middle school . Literally  this is how i thought students should be assessed before i begin the university .Than i saw that our professors use other kinds of strategies to assess us ,and those strategies i have noticed during the years were actually the lecture on assessment was about 

.I remember a say from one of our professors during the bachelor .It went something like : Exams are like taking photos .sometimes you get a very good picture but sometimes what we get are some terrible ones .So just a snap shot of the moment can't assess your knowledge .Students may not give their best in an exam in the end of the semester because of many reasons .That’s way on this post I am going to focus more in other alternatives of assessment rather than Summative assessment.

I think that a regular self -reflection is very important in evaluation process because students become more aware of their own strength and development .That means that they are less rely on the teacher feedback and grade and gradually become more autonomous and independent learners .If we focus more in the process of learning than the end product ,strategies of learning students use and the effort they put in we give every student a chance to succeed ,

We all remember the stress and pressure of final exams because the exams were very important in our evaluation, apparently the most important ones  .I think that this pressure need to alleviate and we have to help our students have a positive experience of learning .Also this kind of assessment gives students the confidence  to react more directly . We can see that in subjects that feedback and reflection on what we learnt  is direct ,we  react immediately and with the time we know what is a decent performance we can have in these subjects .Furthermore it is very important for students to know that teachers are there to help and support rather than  to test and grade ,and to make the learning environment a positive and enriching one .

We as teachers don’t need to wait till the end of semester test to assess the progress of our students.As feedback is more immediate and a classroom routine ,students know what to expect and what is expected .Teachers too ,have a better understanding of student’s progress and their needs and adjust teaching methods when necessary .

There are undoubtedly many elements (that we have noticed even in our process of assessment during  the University ) of this kind of assessment that you already plan to use in your future classroom .

Now I am  going to list some of the strategies that i found really useful in this lecture .

Setting aims and objectives -It should take place At the beginning of each lesson ,what students will be learning about and what are the objectives and this will be revisited at the end of the lesson when students reflect what they learned and what they still need to improve .

Continuous assessment and feedback – actively observing the students to predetermined objectives .It contains on how well students participate during pair work ,what strategies they use to find the answers etc.This information is recorded throughout the semester and can be used to give personalized feedback .Designing a rubric might help for this strategy of assessment . 

When the two groups had the presentations last week, I tried to provide a feedback on their work lying on the rubric of the assessment of the presentation that teacher have designed and i felt  that it is a very good  strategy to use .

Peer learning –this involves being able on their own work and on the work of their classmates.

Using Learning Diaries  and Portfolios is another strategy that as i mentioned before focus on student progress rather than on a finished product .

 In my opinion   we don’t need to use all the strategies all at once .We should experiment and see what works for us and our students .

Thank You!