Week 2 of my 490 practicum was a memorable experience during my time in the B. Ed program. My learning focused on lesson planning and assessments. I can’t say enough about being open to receiving feedback from coaching teachers and practicum evaluators, all of whom bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the profession. I also have a better appreciation for BC’s Curriculum and the importance it is for educators to base their lessons on the big ideas, ensuring the goals of the learning are established from the onset and that the big idea(s) are tied to the essential question.
In our Education 456 course, we learned about the Understanding by Design (UbD) lesson planning process. This process has made me realize a very important concept about teaching…that of the ‘end goal’ as opposed to ‘a topic.’ Teaching to meet the end goal is very different than teaching a topic. I was able to ask my dad, a school administrator, how he was taught to do lesson planning. He was taught using the following steps: a) start with a topic or content that needs to be covered, b) plan one lesson or a sequence of lessons to teach that topic or content, and c) create and/or determine as assessment that measures the learning intended to have taken place for that specific or multitude of lessons. These steps make up the traditional method of lesson planning. The Understanding by Design method, commonly referred to as the Backward Design is exactly that – backwards from the traditional approach (Wiggins & McTighe, 2012). This design incorporates the following steps: a) identify what students need to know at the end of the lesson(s) – the goal, b) create and/or determine an assessment that will measure that learning, and c) plan a lesson or sequence of lessons for students to meet the intended goal of the lesson(s). I am now also realizing that this backwards design aligns very well with the redesigned BC Curriculum which identifies the big ideas and curricular competencies allowing for that flexible and innovative style where students gain the skills, knowledge, and abilities to succeed in today’s world (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2016).
The lesson that provided me with that aha moment about tailoring my lesson plans to the big idea(s) and relating it back to the essential question was social sciences, “We Live Here.” In “We Live Here”, students learned about the many things that live near Canadian rivers. Students met the cedar, the salmon, the bear, the eagle, and the orca. This lesson focusds on placed based learning. There are 2 major Canadian rivers in our community. Prince George’s local Dakelh Indigenous band is known as Lheidli T’enneh poeples. The band lived at the junction of the Fraser and Nechako Canadian rivers. Lheidli means “where the two Canadian rivers meet” and T’enneh means “the People.” These Canadian rivers are important in our community. The essential question was, “How can students use their own understanding of the things that live near our Canadian rivers such as trees (the cedar tree), the salmon, the bear, the eagle, and the orca to broaden their understanding of what each of these things teach us in our everyday life and how it has meaning to them?” Students created their activity book where they were able critically think and reflect on what animals in our community teach us and how these teachings connect us to our everyday lives.
Students also learned the journey of a river from the mountains to the sea. These are some of the picture they created:
References
British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2016). BCs New Curriculum. Retrieved October 25, 2020 from https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/overview
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2012). Understanding by Design Framework. Retrieved October 25, 2020, from http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf.
EDUC 491 Assessment
During my EDUC 491 Practicum experience I got to familiarize myself with these types of assessment strategies:
- Benchmark Assessment: Fontas and Pinnell
- Adrienne Gears: Powerful Reading and Writing Strategies
- Literacy and Numeracy Interventions
- I had an assessment binder and individualized student portfolios
- At the end of every lesson, I would do some type of exit slip to close my lesson off to see where my students were at. I would draw a tree on the white board and I would hand out a sticky note. Every student would have to either rate their readiness to move forward so 1-3 ( 1 being not ready, I need a review- 3 being ready to move on, I can explain my readiness to a friend). Or I would ask my students to either draw a smiley face or a straight face on their exit slip, so it would show me where my class is at as a whole.
- Thumb up, thumb to the side and thumb down – this was a very quick formative assessment for my all my students to show me where they were at. Instead of asking my students to show me with their hand raised, I would ask my students to face me at the front of the class and they would do their thumb movement close to their chest to show me.
- Every type of work that I received back from my students, I added comments, feedback, no grade and some type of sticker.
- I did many self assessments, we connected our self assessment to the core competencies while completing the six cedar trees.
Assessment
Assessment is an essential part of education; it provides evidence of student learning which informs teachers’ instructional decisions. Essentially, it provides the direction on what future lessons should look like. There are two main forms of assessment – summative assessments (of learning) and formative assessments (for learning). Summative assessments encompass activities such as the more formal end of unit/course/class testing by which learning is checked, however not necessarily acted on. Formative assessments occur throughout the unit/course/class with the purpose of driving the direction of learning and ensuring that the teaching and learning goals are met. Creating an environment conducive to learning with the focus on the process as well as performance is key to modern classroom practice; teachers must continually assess the progress and understanding of their students while encouraging independent and inquiry-based learning. The result is a curious and creative learner who is maximally engaged.
Throughout my secondary years, I now realize that the use of formative assessments was very minimal, and in some classes completely absent. My experiences have helped me realize why I am so fearful of exams; final exams especially. A tremendous amount of weight was placed on final exams, which didn’t give me much hope in being successful. It was a one-shot, do-or-die situation; ‘one crack at the can’ so to speak. Apart from the odd oral questioning that spontaneously occurred during some lessons, assessments for learning didn’t occur. Another major feeling that I have come across in my studies is disappointment. Far too many times, I have suffered the experience of spending countless hours studying for a major assessment, only to discover and be disappointed that the material studied was different from what the teacher advised would be on the test OR, even worse, what the teacher had not taught. I remember my dad, who is now a school administrator, constantly saying the following, “A teacher can’t test what they don’t teach.” I have carried this saying and see its value so clearly today. Testing students on what is not taught messages two unfortunate things. First, students realize that hard work and effort doesn’t pay off – the results don’t show it. And second, students learn that they cannot trust their teachers (Guskey, 2000a). Critics (including my dad) contend that this approach sometimes means “teaching to the test.” In other words, if the test primarily determines what teachers teach, then they are indeed “teaching to the test” (Popham, 2001). This approach falls short of teaching the desired learning goals. Teachers must reverse this approach and instead, test what they teach. According to Guskey (2000b, p. 7), “If a concept or skill is important enough to assess, then it should be important enough to teach. And if it is not important enough to teach, then there’s little justification for assessing it.” Another niggle that I have experienced (and to some extent still do) is the secrecy that teachers exhibit in testing. Many teachers believe that they must keep their assessments secret, making students see assessments as guessing games. Success, in their eyes, is dependent on how well students can guess what will be on the test or other assessments. I have experienced scenarios where teachers pride themselves on out-guessing students, asking questions about isolated concepts or untaught material just to ‘test’ the student. Although I don’t believe any teachers were doing this maliciously, such “gotcha” feeling was prevalent and felt by some students. Unfortunately, in many cases, I have been one of those students.
Now more than ever, I realize that assessments must be a continuous process for students as opposed to a one-shot, do-or-die experience. Further, teachers must incorporate corrective instruction, allowing students a second chance in the learning process. Having a second chance to demonstrate understanding equates to student success. I have experienced teachers expressing concern over giving a second chance, saying things like, “life isn’t like that” or “this is not how the world operates.” I agree that in some situations, giving a second chance is not an option (a surgeon operating on the wrong limb, for example), however school is different. School is a place where learning from previous mistakes should be acceptable, allowing and encouraging students to improve their performance. What better way to instill lifelong learning and learning-to-learn skills than allowing that second chance and encouraging students to learn from their mistakes. A mistake could be that one chance that begins a memorable and successful learning journey. Wiggins (1998) argues that students learn best when their initial performance is less than successful, allowing them the opportunity to receive feedback for improved performance. In regards to making mistakes, I like the “FAIL” letters to spell F – First; A – Attempt; I – In; L – Learning (see image below). It is a powerful acronym to represent the many benefits of learning from previous mistakes.
A comparable example to learning from previous mistakes is the driver’s license examination. Many individuals do not pass their driver’s test on the first attempt. On the second or third try, however, they may reach the same high level of performance as others did on their first same privileges. The same should hold true for students who show that they, too, have learned well on their second or third time around.
In my first year of the B.Ed. program, many of our courses focussed on one’s educational philosophy and one’s approach to learning and teaching. I knew very early on that I favor the progressivism philosophy where education comes from the experiences of the learner focusing on the whole child and their relationships with the many partners that make learning possible. John Dewey calls those experiences ones that have meaning to the child and connects them to the real world. In a progressivist school, students are actively learning by interacting with one another and developing social skills such as cooperation, collaboration, and open-mindedness. This helps to fuel the curious and creative mind. In my short tenure as a teacher candidate, I have come to better appreciate the importance of classroom atmosphere. Students learn better when the classroom atmosphere fosters openness and open-mindedness, an environment where students interact with each other, their teacher, openly sharing learning objectives, sharing what they are trying to achieve, and how they will achieve it. This process is fostered by assessments, in particular formative assessments which allow that space for more informal and instinctive practices such as questioning, listening in to students talking together, self-evaluation, peer assessment, discussions, observations, and feedback. Together, this is parceled into fostering the whole child, their interactions with themselves and others, their communities, their land, and their people. This, in my opinion, is the growth that needs to occur in today’s school. The social aspect of learning needs to be enhanced where assessments for learning take place and take shape into a multitude of tasks, activities, locations, and contexts. This will maximally engage students in learning so that they develop the skills and knowledge they need to function in today’s world.
One video that has inspired me deeply in education 421 is the one from John Hattie as he talks about the concept of achievement. Hattie (2012) asks a very important question in the learning process. As a teacher, “do you believe achievement is fixed or changeable?” A teacher’s own beliefs are powerful determinants of student success. According to Fives and Buehl (2012), the beliefs that teachers hold about their students’ ability to learn and engage in school will affect how they filter, frame, and guide their planning and instructional choices. Teacher beliefs influence how they interpret new information and how they analyse their experiences. Teacher beliefs “shape what and how they learn about teaching” (Fives & Buehl, 2012, p. 479) which then affects their practice and student outcomes. According to Hattie (2014), teachers can be change agents making student success possible by helping students predict their success. For example, asking students before an assessment such as a test on how they think they will do on the test. This sets the motivation for students to be successful. It also involves the students in their learning.
I experienced a very memorable experience during my 490 practicum that has broadened my appreciation and understanding of assessments. I was writing my lesson plan for my practicum evaluator who noticed some shortfalls in the assessment section of my lesson plan. She took the time to show me examples of how assessments must relate back to the essential/guiding question(s), those of which relate back to the big idea(s). Focusing a lesson on the big idea(s) and essential/guiding question(s) ensures that the goals of the learning are established right from the onset. In our Education 456 course, we learned about the Understanding by Design (UbD) lesson planning process. This process has made me realize a very important concept about teaching…that of the ‘end goal’ as opposed to ‘a topic.’ Teaching to meet the end goal is very different than teaching a topic. I was able to ask my dad, a school administrator, how he was taught to do lesson planning. He was taught using the following steps: a) start with a topic or content that needs to be covered, b) plan one lesson or a sequence of lessons to teach that topic or content, and c) create and/or determine as assessment that measures the learning intended to have taken place for that specific or multitude of lessons. These steps make up the traditional method of lesson planning. The Understanding by Design method, commonly referred to as the Backward Design is exactly that – backwards from the traditional approach (Wiggins & McTighe, 2012). This design incorporates the following steps: a) identify what students need to know at the end of the lesson(s) – the goal, b) create and/or determine an assessment that will measure that learning, and c) plan a lesson or sequence of lessons for students to meet the intended goal of the lesson(s).
As a future teacher, and in keeping with the whole child and the progressivism philosophy, I am quickly realizing that we have the great challenge and responsibility in instilling the skills and the values necessary for students to experience success in the present and the future. The question becomes – how can we provide opportunities for students to move beyond being passive recipients of knowledge to becoming knowledge builders, capable of creative and innovative solutions to problems? More importantly, how do we engage students to become active participants in our assessment practices? I package this up to having the ability to trigger and activate one’s curiosity, both individually and within the larger classroom. Curiosity is activated by knowing each child’s abilities, knowledge, skills, and perspectives. Assessments in teaching provide the vehicle for students to arrive at their destination in a confident way, knowing that they have accomplished their learning goals every step of the way. Essentially, they have successfully passed that driver’s examination, paving the way to their desired destination. Activating one’s curiosity needs a teacher who believes in their students and their potential. I know wholeheartedly that a central goal of teaching is to maximize the capacity of each learner. As Hattie (2014) nicely sums this up: “it is never a teacher’s job to help a child meet their goals, it is their job to help a child exceed their goals.” I promise to use this sentence to guide my efforts in ensuring that every child exceeds their potential.
References
Guskey, T. R. (2000a). Twenty questions? Twenty tools for better teaching. Principal Leadership, 1(3), 5–7.
Guskey, T. R. (2000b). How Classroom Assessments Improve Learning. Educational Leadership, 60(5), 6-11.
Popham, W. J. (2001). Teaching to the Test? Educational Leadership, 58(6), 16-20.
Wiggins, G. (1998). Educative assessment. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
