Because I agree with Wiggins and McTighe that "understanding is about wise performance - transfer and use of big ideas" (250) I definitely believe that assessment is a core part of educational design. And assessment refers not just to teachers/librarians putting an arbitrary grade on work, but perhaps more importantly assessment is measured best by students' self-assessment - their reflection not just on what they learned, but on how it applies to past and future learnings, and also their reflection on the entire learning process and how they best learn (in order to ensure that they become Bruce-defined "informed learners.")
Wiggins and McTighe write, "Effective assessment is more like a scrapbook of mementos and pictures than a single snapshot. Rather than using a single test, of one type, at the end of teaching, effective teacher-assessors gather lots of evidence along the way, using a variety of methods and formats" (152). Thinking of assessment in this way opens the door for teacher librarian involvement in everyday curriculum. Libraries can be an ideal part of the school community for "outside-the-box" approaches to assessment that call on assessment projects that do more than simply quiz students on what they've learned. The high school TL I work with as part of my school fieldwork is a model for how to build assessment tools for library research that also tie in with larger class learning activities. By demonstrating an ability to create valuable assessment tools, a TL can instill in teacher's the idea that librarians are educators too, and can instill in student's the idea that their is something of value to be learned and reflected on in the library.
Is assessment just reflection, though? Your first paragraph almost seems to imply that (only from lack of any mention of testing understandings by having students demonstrate skills, etc.). I agree that a variety of formats and methods are necessary for assessment, but what sorts of "outside-the-box" approaches do you think librarians can make? What perspectives and new ideas could they offer that teachers couldn't come up with themselves? What can we bring to the table by virtue of being librarians instead of traditional classroom teachers? I'd like it if you could expand on your last section more. What kind of tools?
ReplyDelete-Kristin Laughtin
I think you’re right when you wrote that there are more ways to assess student’s learning than just through testing and grading. As mentioned by Wiggins and McTighe, teachers can observe and assess a student’s strengths and weaknesses without placing a grade on it. Self assessment by the student is also an option. Perhaps feedback from the instructor could be helpful too.
ReplyDeleteKristin - I definitely think assessment is also about seeing how students apply the knowledge they learn through tests, final project, etc. but I think that's already a fairly established part of most lesson designs and I wonder how teachers can incorporate new ideas of assessment into their evaluation of what students have learned. This is where I think libraries can help - because they can help on projects that take what students have learned in the classroom, and apply them to "real-life" situations. I'm thinking for example, of a research project that the students at the high school I'm working at this fall are working on. They start with a basic background on "service" and then spend the summer before their senior year working on a service learning project. Then they come back and spend time in the library researching the issues around their SLP before finally applying what they've learned in their overall educational track thus far to their practical experience and their research. The library isn't necessarily the final source of assessment, but it certainly provides a place and tools for students to take what they've learned in class to the next level so to speak - and gives them a tangible way of demonstrating what they've learned to both teachers and themselves.
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