Taking a class that starts as your school year finally (sometimes painfully) comes to an end and extends into the summer, isn't the easiest. However, this class occurred at the perfect time. Some of the best learning occurs when reflection can occur. Considering that this class centered on student assessment and with the school year ending, both formative and summative assessments were still fresh in the head, it made things easier to do. I found a few of the modules to be beneficial when reflecting on my current practices. The first being Module 2: Formative Assessments. This module assignment allowed us the opportunity to build an infographic that compared different formative assessments. What I liked about this more so than looking at different types of formative assessments, was having to create an Infographic to do so. I have my students create infographics, at times in class, but I have never done one before. The best way to understand how a tool can be used, is to personally use it. I have a better understanding, not only of formative assessments that I use, but how an infographic can be developed and used to increase understanding of a topic.
The second module that I found to be beneficial during this course was Module 6: Digital Portfolios & Self Assessment. During this module, I was able to reflect on some of my new practices in my new Sports Medicine 2 class, along with ways to possibly incorporate it into other areas of my PE curriculum. Being in a PE curriculum, a traditional portfolio might not work, but there are elements of it that can be enriching to the students and allow for a personal connection to the curriculum. Self-assessment is a powerful tool, especially in PE. There needs to be a connection from the individual to the curriculum and back again to complete the feedback loop.
All in all, this class has made me reflect on current practices in student assessment, student self assessment, and the use of technology. It has confirmed things that I am doing right and found areas in which I definitely could be doing more to benefit my students.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteYou are right! Starting a class an the end of the school year is not an easy task, but I love your observation about reflection: "Some of the best learning occurs when reflection can occur." It's true of our students, so it should be true of ourselves. Like you, I really liked the infographic assignment. I have never assigned an infographic before, but I am going to now. Are you going to change how you approach the assignment now that you have done one yourself? Now that the cohort is over, who knows if our paths will cross again, so good luck to you!
Hi Mark,
ReplyDeleteI would agree that the summer gives us more time to reflect back on our work and not feel so rushed. With this class being about assessments, it would have been nice to try some of these ideas out right away to see the student responses, but that just means we can jump start the beginning of the year. I also agree that self-assessment is extremely important and it sounds like your kiddos get a lot of opportunities to do that.