The backwards model for assessing students. What stood out to me upon reading chapters 3 and 4 was the idea that teachers should create their curriculum with the end goal in mind. In this context, teachers’ identify what must be learned by the end of the course. Firstly, in chapter 3, Cooper presents the idea of “INTU’s” or I Need to understand. This idea stood out to me because, as claimed by Cooper, “students become far more engaged in the research process if, instead of being assigned questions, they have to formulate their own” (29-30). During my academic career, I have had numerous teachers and professors who have followed this model. Of course, for each of these classes, the professor had to be informed and approve the question before beginning the research process. In each case, the specific professor was great at providing informal feedback to help us formulate a specific question. As I sit here, writing this post, my mind wanders back to three professors who truly abide by INTU questions. My first experience with INTU was in Cegep, in a history class entitled: Twentieth Century History. For our final project, Professor Corless allowed us to formulate a question regarding twentieth century history that sparked a particular interest with us, and subsequently write a formal essay. It can easily be argued that twentieth century history is quite vague and the ideas and topics our endless, but because the student was allowed to choose a specific area of interest, we were, as claimed by Cooper able “to make more critical and thoughtful decisions” (30). If you are curious, my final project explored homosexuality in Nazi Germany. In the same vein, in University, I encountered numerous professors, but two stand out to me as write this post, Professor McCutcheon and Professor Staines. Both these professors allowed us to choose areas of their specific subject that sparked an interest with us. Professor Staines, who teaches Canadian Literature at the University allowed the class to study “INTU’s” for the final project. While his list of required reading was quite strenuous, for our final essay, he gave our class the opportunity to write about any book or novel that we studied throughout the course. Once again, if you are interested, I did an expose of Margaret Atwood’s The Journals of Susanna Moodie, in which I argued that Susanna Moodie’s lack of awareness and understanding of herself upon her arrival in Canada, leads to a moment of transcendence when she is forced to bury son, and subsequently becomes one with the country. I’ve attached to this post a picture of all the novel we read in case anyone was curious. At last, I strongly believe that Professor McCutcheon plans her course with the end result in mind. All the assignments that she plans for the class require a great deal of reflection, but also provide a great deal of insight for the final take home exam, in which students are asked to demonstrate a summative understanding of assignments, workshops and reading seminars. I also wanted to note that for each assignment, it is the students who decides what they want to look at and present. Often, in Professor McCutcheon’s course requirements and evaluations, you will read: “students will select,” which clearly pertains to the INTU’s model. I also believe that the triangulation of data was an important part of Professor McCutcheon’s lesson plan because she provided students with numerous opportunities to achieve success in her course. By combining workshops, reading seminars, projects, and a final take home exam, Professor McCutcheon recognized “the importance in maximizing the reliability of our assessment” (57). Briefly, as explained in Growing Success, “every student is unique and each must have the opportunity to achieve success according to his own interests, abilities, and goals” (1). Therefore, it is important for teachers and future educators to recognize that all students are different and everyone has a unique learning style. But, in my opinion, it is also important for students to step out of their comfort zone and try something new. In elementary school, I was extremely shy, quiet, and never raised my hand. I tried to blend into the background as much as possible. One day, our teacher, Madame Julie, assigned a science experiment, which we would present to the class. As a child, I would watch this children show called “Zoom.” This show would play every evening on PBS kids at 4:00pm. This show was centered around a group of kids who would perform plays, experiments, and would on occasion make healthy snacks. My dream, although I was shy, was to be apart of the cast. (I had big dreams as a child!!) As presentation day approach, I was nervous, but decided to channel my inner Zoom cast member. Turns out, I did great! The teacher was so impressed, she wrote a note to my mother expressing how shocked she was that I was able to do such a good job public speaking. So, although I understand the importance of adapting lessons plans, I also understand the importance of allowing students to step out of their comfort zone to try something new. Hey! they might end up doing great !!
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The Mishra and Koehler article titled “Too Cool for School? No way!” reminded me of a similar situation I encountered upon entering University. As I entered my first class with my laptop in hand eager to learn, I was stopped when the professor told us that all laptop computers were forbidden in the class and that all notes would be taken by hand with a pen and paper. Several professors explained to us that students retained more information when notes were taken the “old-fashion” way, and that is why they enforced the pen and paper rule. It is also important to note that cell phones were also forbidden in these classrooms. For the first year of my undergraduate degree most notes I took were by hand, but things did change in my second year of school when I encountered a professor that not only encouraged laptops and cellphones in class, but also taught her course using Lecture Tools. Lecture Tools is a great alternative to traditional teaching methods because it allows students to follow along, take notes, ask questions, and flag certain slides that are considered important. And, yes this is all done online! Professor McCutcheon taught our class the importance of technology in the classroom and also encouraged us to search any ideas that seemed foreign to us during her lesson. As claimed in the Mishra and Koehler, it is important to repurpose these technological devises because they are such a huge part of our everyday life. Of course, it is also important to note that technology in the classroom does not imply spending an hour and thirty minutes on Facebook or following the what’s tending tab on Twitter. Repurposing technological devises means using computers as a way of learning that stimulates students by using something that is familiar to them. By using computers in the classroom, I noticed that students were more prone to engage in meaningful conversation because they were able search and find information that pertained to the discussions. This text also reminded me of Principle Walker from Rideau High School. Principle Walker along with his teaching staff encouraged students to use their cellphones as a classroom aid rather than a forbidden object. These professors and teachers acknowledged the importance of technology in the classroom and use it as leaning tool that provides students with more learning opportunities.
In the same vein, Damian Cooper author of “Talk about Assessment: High school Strategies and Tools,” besides introducing the eight big ides of assessment, talks about grading in the digital era and how the word “grade should be used exclusively to denote the summary score on a report card” (9).This idea stood out to me, and reminded of my high school days, which now seem so long ago. I remember anxiously awaiting my name to be called to pick up my test with the grade on it. I would nervously walk up to the teacher’s desk, take my test, and sneak a quick peak at the grade marked at the top, circled in red ink. Most of the students in my class would do the same thing, just look at the grade and see whether it was a pass or fail. In this context, no one would ever take the time to review their test or ask the teacher for clarifications. We would breath a sigh or relief if we passed, and feel upset or uneasy if we had failed. That number on the top of that page signified so much for us, it was a determining factor of our abilities and our intelligence. That number decided whether we understood the course material or did not. As maintained by Cooper, “feedback is an important factor in assessing children” (9), and in most cases students do not take the time to read the feedback because they are so preoccupied with the grade. It can also be easily argued that grades sets up competitiveness in the classroom. Often, if a teacher or professor asks the class: Who is the smartest? The same names would show up time and time again. The students in question may have stronger personalities, may be singled out by the teacher to answer question or may often raise their hand to answer questions. In my opinion, grades can often create a fixed mindset in which students have trouble to see past. |
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