Hi everyone -- the first chapter is a little dry with the history of formative assessment. If something stands out to you - so that we can begin to dialogue about current formative assessment.
Agreed on the Introduction - I did find the teacher pay incentive comment/paper having little to no effect on student performance on standardized tests interesting; ie bonus pay of 5 to 15k for the teacher - resulted in no increase in student performance. Reworded as - pay incentives only work if your assuming the people doing the job don't already care and are not already doing their best. I found it interesting as I am forever reading, hearing about how non teachers think we would improve our teaching practice if our pay was cut and bonus's such as these were added in to "incentify" us to perform better. Its odd how we are considered a "hands" job ie put bolt on a car, do over again and again and everything will be fine as all bolts (kids) are the same vs an actual thinking profession where complex problems/solutions are needed or sought after all the time. The whole chapter makes the case for improving "already in-service" teachers and not firing the lot of us for varying reasons, which was at least partially reassuring as it seems the only consistent means of improving student achievement seemed related to the experience a teacher accumulates over time (ie the more experienced the teacher, the better the students actual learning appeared to be - as measured by standardized tests - so take it with a grain of salt).
The next chapter is still a little dry as it goes over the ideology behind what formative assessment is but it starting to get interesting on page 38-39 - described the how one teacher used a summative tests in a group situation to provide formative feed back from peers and I assume the teacher. Where I am at.
Very interesting so far. Loved the quote 'A bad curriculum well taught is invariably a better experience for students than a good curriculum badly taught.' Maybe all the money the ministry spends on revising the curriculum would be better spent on PD for teachers to improve their practice. I think this is where we are going, the idea that the process of learning is more important than the content.
Hi everyone -- the first chapter is a little dry with the history of formative assessment. If something stands out to you - so that we can begin to dialogue about current formative assessment.
ReplyDeleteAgreed on the Introduction - I did find the teacher pay incentive comment/paper having little to no effect on student performance on standardized tests interesting; ie bonus pay of 5 to 15k for the teacher - resulted in no increase in student performance. Reworded as - pay incentives only work if your assuming the people doing the job don't already care and are not already doing their best. I found it interesting as I am forever reading, hearing about how non teachers think we would improve our teaching practice if our pay was cut and bonus's such as these were added in to "incentify" us to perform better. Its odd how we are considered a "hands" job ie put bolt on a car, do over again and again and everything will be fine as all bolts (kids) are the same vs an actual thinking profession where complex problems/solutions are needed or sought after all the time.
ReplyDeleteThe whole chapter makes the case for improving "already in-service" teachers and not firing the lot of us for varying reasons, which was at least partially reassuring as it seems the only consistent means of improving student achievement seemed related to the experience a teacher accumulates over time (ie the more experienced the teacher, the better the students actual learning appeared to be - as measured by standardized tests - so take it with a grain of salt).
The next chapter is still a little dry as it goes over the ideology behind what formative assessment is but it starting to get interesting on page 38-39 - described the how one teacher used a summative tests in a group situation to provide formative feed back from peers and I assume the teacher. Where I am at.
Cheers
Very interesting so far. Loved the quote 'A bad curriculum well taught is invariably a better experience for students than a good curriculum badly taught.' Maybe all the money the ministry spends on revising the curriculum would be better spent on PD for teachers to improve their practice. I think this is where we are going, the idea that the process of learning is more important than the content.
ReplyDelete