juliannrosizky

Current Mood: working

Right off the bat, this chapter was talking about alternative assessment and authentic assessment.  It confused me a little bit at first, however when reading through the first few pages; I came to understand the differences.  Personally, I believe that authentic assessment is less acknowledged in classrooms, as alternative assessment seems to be easier to mark and distribute.  Fro my own experience growing up, I was always much better at showing that I understand how to do something by actually “doing” the activity/task.  However when it came down to doing tests which tested everything together, I, for some reason, always froze up and could never remember anything.

            Technology assessment can indeed work to benefit a student in the class and a teacher.  “formative assessment- that is, gathering assessment data quickly and easily only to determine if learners are “getting it” (not to record a grade), potentially revise instruction, and then move on” (pg. 219).  This type of assessment in my opinion is a wonderful way for the teacher to keep track of all the activities he/she is doing, and to get a quick overview as to if it is working for the classroom, or if I needs to be revised.  I believe that even in a younger grade level, this could be very practical for a teacher.  This technological assessment is not used to grade children, therefore, teachers should use this to make sure that their lessons and activities are working for the children in their classroom.  Over many placements in which I have been in, I have seen teachers observe children and keep a mental note on how they are progressing.  I think that if they are able to take the time to set up an assessment on the computer, this will not only show “visually” how they are progressing, but will also come in handy when it comes to parent-teacher interviews.  The teacher will have past experiences and progression that that child has made throughout the past week, month or year.

            The last thing I would like to hit upon is the technology based rubrics.  A lot of teacher, I have found use rubrics as an easy way to assess and make children’s work.  Even in university, I still see professors use them.  I believe that teachers need to be very careful in how they use them.  Rubrics can be a very good and clear way to make an assignment of a child’s work, however rubrics are very precise and leave very little or no room for a teacher to comment.  As well, most rubric either show if the child “got it”, or “didn’t get it”.  I find it can be very white and black.  Teachers, if using a rubric must make sure they it is appropriate to their particular activity or assignment.

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