Do we have consistency in learning in our classes? Do we translate our ending goals into daily learning? Do our tests, quizzes, and daily classroom activities reflect that same learning? This backward planning follows the Understanding by Design model. For example, if a social studies curriculum wants students to answer the universal questions of Why is there war?, How do people fight wars? and What are the consequences of wars?, then social studies book tests should not have students memorize the names and dates of battles for a particular war in a specific country. That microscopic view does not help students answer the essential questions.
Likewise, if modern language teachers want their students to be able to converse in the target language, then do students spend most of their time in class conversing? Do the language tests reflect conversations or do these tests focus on discrete grammar and vocabulary?
Do English teachers who want their students to be better writers really focus on writing? Do these teachers spend more class time on doing punctuation exercises than on developing good ideas? Do they have their students spend more time watching a movie than writing about the movie?
When teachers want to improve subject area learning through Web 2.0 tools, do the students spend more time on the technology or on the content learning?
I do not believe that we need to add more days to the school year to improve student learning. I believe that we can increase learning best when we are consistent in what we want students to learn and then following through in our daily activities, in our quizzes and in our tests.
How consistent are you in your students’ learning?
My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.
Also, my book, Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.
Teacher Portfolios- Real Student Success or Faked Success?
Published March 26, 2009 Academic , Accountability , Achievement , Administrator , Assess , Assessment , Comment , Content , Data , Eportfolio , Evaluate , Portfolio , Proficient , Teacher 2 CommentsTags: Accountability, Achievement, Data, examples, Feedback, Portfolio, Proficient, Student, student work, Success, Teacher, work
Individually, I talked to two teachers who had to present teacher portfolios and had received back comments on their portfolio. One teacher had glowing feedback. He told me how he had only put student material in the portfolio that demonstrated above proficient work. He explained that usually only one or two students in all of his classes had reached that level for each standard and so he included that work.
The other teacher had put in student work at all levels of proficiency. Her feedback focused on how she had to help students to be successful. She had included the percent of students at each level of proficiency; she had even included a graph for the proficiency rates on the four major standards. She indicated some strategies she had tried and whether each strategy succeed or did not succeed with these students.
The administrators were looking for measures of the teachers’ success in helping students to learn. They did not discern the difference between a staged or fake representation of success for a teacher and a teacher’s full disclosure about classroom learning.
How can your teacher portfolio show your growing success in reaching more and more students?
My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.