ECS 401 Blogs

  "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." -Abraham Lincoln What we learned this week:    Last circle discussion for Anne Davies' Making Assessment Work . I felt a little sad knowing that this was the last time our group would come together to discuss the recent chapters. Part of me liked that we were finally through with the reading, but I also enjoyed our discussions. This whole experience proved to me how invaluable it is to learn from each other. As the we conclude this segment of the course, I am happy to assess that our group has shown constant improvement and willingness to connect with the book and to personal applications. We may have struggled with attendance at the beginning, but most of us stuck around and made it work. I would definitely give us an "insightful" this week as well. We delegated tasks equally and contributed to every discussion. I also thought that we were very organized and communicated well. We discusse...

"Each person must live their life as a model for others." -Rosa Parks What we learned this week:     Another successful learning circle! We got Angela back and rotated our duties once more. I was able to do the recap of chapters 7 and 8, and we had a wonderful discussion afterward. I think this week also merits an "insightful." Although we didn't have as much to talk about from the chapters, we made lots of personal connections. Some of the things we discussed were: Multiple scenarios with student involvement in assessment-making. There are math, science labs, research, read-aloud, clean-up. Relate to outside the classroom, analyze samples, and make acronyms. Will having students focus on the assessment criteria take away the focus on actually learning meaningfully? Learners need to be accountable and involved. They will practice organizational skills, improve the quality of communication, and show their parents. Keep it simple, involve students, value evidence,...

  " A little progress each adds up to big results." -Satya Nani What we learned this week:     You know the drill. We had a lovely discussion this week as well. The recap of the chapters was shorter than the previous weeks, but it went something like this: Evidence time! Collections of evidence may differ. The three types of sources are observations of learning, products students create, and conversations with students about learning. They are also called Triangulation. Reliability: students produce the same kind of result at different times. Validity: the extent to which the evidence from multiple sources matches the quality levels expected in light of outcomes. You can observe students doing pretty much everything. Observations are essential for assessment. Some students prefer showing what they know. Observing can assist in scaffolding for the next activities. Collecting evidence through products: anything to be taken in like exams, essays, presentations, etc. Products...