UbDDI+Chapter+5+Block+2

Synthesis By Kelsea Trefethen

The biggest thing we all seemed to have taken away from this chapter is the idea of assessing students in portfolio format. Almost everyone mentioned viewing student assessment as a photo album rather than a snapshot. We all seemed to have agreed that one exam is not a sufficient or accurate measure of a students knowledge for various reasons. In this course we have stressed the importance of differentiated learning. Know that we have mastered different ways to teach with multiple intelligences in mind, we must assess the students similarly. It doesn't make sense to teach students in a variety of ways, appealing to each students most developed intelligence, and then have each student sit down and answer 50 multiple choice questions. Assessment must be a reflection of how the material has been learned. A portfolio of work and various assessments is a great resource for measuring how a student has used their knowledge in a multitude of ways. These portfolios can serve many purposes besides assessment, like student reflection and organization. Mr. Johnson enjoyed keeping a [|portfolio] when he was in school, stating, "I was able to actually witness my progression in knowledge of the subject matter." That experience is an important part of education. When students can observe their own learning the get a chance to reflect and take ownership of their education. Letter grades and percent grades are the least informative forms of grading. Very seldom did letter grades or percent grades give me insight to what I did well or what I needed to improve on; and I'm sure my colleagues had similar experiences. It is important for teachers to create networks to share ideas, experiences, and other important information.[| PD 360] is an online tool that provides teachers with a space to save and share all there information. Whether or not PD 360 is a reputable tool is definitely debatable.

Tyler Oren
Chapter five of //Integrating Differential Instruction and Understanding by Design// is committed to discussing suitable assessment to measure learning, understanding, and growth for by students and teachers. The authors Tomlinson and McTighe come to a consensus on three key principles of effective assessment. Their first principle asks teachers to consider a “photo album” of tests rather than a simple “snapshot” as the end that does not really tell the whole story concerning their learning. Tomlinson and McTighe examine the short comings of the typical practice of testing a great deal of knowledge at one at the end of a semester or quarter, leads to high stakes tests where teachers begin to “teach to the test” rather than teach what is important and meaningful. Principle two asks that teachers calibrate their assessments or “measures” to match their desired goals of what they want their students to learn. This section breaks types of knowledge down into three distinct types, declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and dispositions, and gives assessment strategies to match each type of knowledge. The authors assert that matching these knowledges with test correct type of test because it provides the most appropriate results. The chapter’s final principle describes types of tests, summative, diagnostic, and formative, and gives suggestions when and why to use each type to ensure that instruction remains focused and assessment stays accurate.  While the three principles of effective assessment create the framework of the chapter there is much more that the authors discuss throughout the chapter. Before they even complete their discussion on the three principles they break to examine the ubiquitous and uncontrolled nature of the definition of understanding and its ability to cloud goals and assessments greatly. They instead provide the reader with the six facets of understanding which clears up the vagueness of understanding an replaces it with words like, explain, interpret, apply, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge.

Johnny Buys
Chapter 5: Considering Evidence of Learning in Diverse Classrooms Tomlinson and McTighe suggest teaching becomes more effective, “by considering in advance the assessment evidence needed to validate that the desired results have been achieved” (59). They define assessments as a “process by which we make inference about what students know, understand, and can do based on information obtained through assessment” (60). As assessment becomes both a gauge of understanding, teacher effectiveness, and student awareness about skills, the importance of diversified and focused assessment is important. Tomlinson and McTighe offer three guiding principles for structuring assessments. First they argue that, “reliable assessment demands multiple sources of evidence” (60). By providing various assessments, learners can fulfill the necessary requirements on an assessment that utilizes their strengths, thereby increasing their ownership and potential for success (63). If teachers desire their students to be successful, they will make the extra effort to find viable paths of success for their students. The authors’ second point is that “an assessment must provide an appropriate measure of a given goal” (64). Declarative knowledge (what students should know) should be matched with appropriate objective test items, while procedural knowledge (what students should be able to do) requires performance assessment (64). Finally, dispositions (metacognitive abilities student should display) should be matched with assessments that function as a result of time: portfolios, self-assessment, etc. (64). Again, while this may require more effort and difficult explanations to “’defend’ grades to students, parents, and administrators,” teachers’ effective use of assessment measures and goals will benefit diversified student learning. Tomlinson and McTighe also suggest that proper assessment should reflect understanding’s flexibility to indicate: “use, empathy, transfer, and metacognitive” (66). Each of these in turn becomes an aspect of creating “authentic application” (68). Teachers need to create applicable, real-world context to their classroom if students are going to recognize purpose and motivation for them to learn. This also is effectively demonstrated in the GRASPS method that includes: “goal, role, audience, situation, products and standards” that reflect the real world (70). Tomlinson and McTighe’s final principle argue for Diagnostic, Formative, and Summative assessments to be used throughout the learning process while providing options and appropriate feedback throughout the process. Teachers need to recognize the benefits of varied assessments as their classrooms are filled with a variety of learners.

Leanne Fasulo
The fifth chapter of UBD/DI focuses on assessments. Teachers should realize that one size or test does not fit all. Not only should lessons be differentiated to fit different learning needs, but also assessments should be to. The problem with standardization is that teachers will begin to focus on how to take the test and pass rather then teaching the important topics. Also, standardize testing is bias towards people who excel in recall and will hurt those who have disabilities or problems with the language. Thus, when testing there should be a variety of options. Students should be exposed to essays, and creative projects along with the traditional paper test. Students should also have options within projects like the tic-tac toe model shown in the chapter on page 74. Using this method will allow the student to have a chance to work with learning methods that they do the best in. It is also important to help connect the assessment to the student or the real world. This way the students are doing something relevant to what they will need to know when they become adults. Since I have never planned an assessment before I found this chapter helpful in thinking of what I could do when it comes time for me to actually plan one. There were a lot of great ideas on different ways to assess students, and I am sure I will be coming back to this chapter again when I have a class to teach.

Christina L Quach
Chapter 5 discusses how to assess what a student has learned. It discusses different forms of assessment such as pre-assessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment. There is also a section on the importance of looking at a number of assessments per student. They compared this to a photo album, saying that it was important to look at all the pictures to determine who the person really was, and that one picture alone did not do justice. I thought that the section on students self-reflecting and assessing themselves was important in teaching. The exact quote was, “The most effective learners are metacognitive; that is they are mindful of how they learn, set personal learning goals, regularly self-assess and adjust their performance, and use productive strategies to assist their learning.” (79) There was another section about providing feedback as a teacher. I do not remember many teachers taking the time to do this. I was always the one going to my teachers to see how I was doing. Sometimes it would come too late because I was doing worse than I thought I had, and the teacher said there was nothing I could try to redo for a better grade. I also think that these types of assessment can help students who are doing well or not so well for another reason. I think that the students who are not doing well could benefit from my assessments so that I can try to teach them in a different way that could be more helpful. I think that it would give them motivation. Also, for the students who were doing well, it could provide a sense of accomplishment and allow them to feel good about the job that they are doing.

Kelsea Trefethen
This chapter stressed the fact that “assessment is a process.” I could not agree more. One test or quiz is not a reliable source for a students overall assessment. Some students are poor test takers, some struggled with the content for a specific reason, etc. There are flaws with tests and quizzes. Assessment should be an overall summary of how a student grew in the classroom and how he or she can now use the knowledge. I enjoyed reading about the inauthentic and authentic assignments. I was always so relieved when a test or homework assignment was multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank. Those inauthentic exercises are easy and require little effort. Those assignments were an easy A, however, they did not help me understand the material in the long run. An authentic exercise where a student must utilize their knowledge and be creative is more beneficial to the students understanding. When the chapter discussed proper feedback procedures it reminded me of different teachers I have had in the past. One of my teachers was really good about getting our work back. We always got our homework back the next day and test and quizzes were just as timely. It was very helpful and helped me succeed in the class. I had one teacher who literally never handed back some assignments he said he would, which really held me back. This chapter talked about how assessment is useful in both gauging student understanding and improving class lessons. I am excited to learn more about assessment and how to design assessments.

Kyle Kuvaja
Chapter five of Ubd/DI is mainly concerned with developing a system to effectively derive evidence of student learning. Not only is this directly beneficial to the students in the classroom, but also the teacher, who can use this clear evidence from assessments to further develop their techniques. Tomlinson and McTighe describe three techniques that should be used as a guide when assessing students: “consider photo albums versus snapshots”, “match the measures with the goals”, and “form follows functions”. The first technique, “consider photo albums versus snapshots”, involves assessing students multiple times with various methods. A snapshot is analogous to a teacher giving a single test at the end of the year to sum up everything the student has learned. A photo album is a metaphor for the multiple assessments These multiple assessments allow students to continuously reflect on their learning and teachers to gain a better understanding of their students’ learning. The second technique, “match the measures with the goals”, is the development of goals that give reasoning to the assessments. Students, parents, and teachers can all appreciate when the end results have meaning. The third technique, “form follows functions” includes the regular use of summative, diagnostic, and formative assessments throughout the teaching process. These assessments summarize learning, check prior knowledge, and guide teaching, respectively. The UbD/DI chapters on assessing students in the classroom bring forth many new ideas that will prove useful when developing units and lessons. “Consider[ing] photo albums versus snapshots” was a concept that was only recently brought up in class, but the imagery is impacting. After hearing this, I tried to begin to think about different labs that could be done in groups, atomic modeling, and non-fiction books about chemistry that are enjoyable and factual. Those are only assessments that immediately come to mind. Chapter five impacted me in many ways, but this imagery changed my perspective.

Richie Johnson
The focus of chapter five in Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design is the consideration of assessing what students know and have learned in a specific class. Naturally, the chapter begins explaining how, though useful in some instances, standardized tests are not accurate enough to fully assess a student- an idea that I have encountered a few times throughout the assigned readings. This is something I absolutely agree with, and so then raises the question as to what the alternative(s) may be. The list that begins on page 61, and continues on page 62, of ways in which a teacher can assess a student’s growth is awesome! When I was trying to think on my own about replacements (or ideas in addition to) tests, I was unable to think of many ideas. This list gives me hope! Arriving to a conclusion regarding an assessment of a student will undoubtedly always be hard, but using the “photo album” (Tomlinson, McTighe) technique will certainly make it a bit easier and accurate. Certain ideas on the list seem like they may apply better to different scenarios where a student is to be assessed, and this is good- using different ways to assess students specifically to the task will likely increase the accuracy of the assessment. Another idea I like is the portfolio one. I’ve had a few classes in which we were required to keep a portfolio, but only one that the teacher used the portfolio for grading, to my knowledge. In that class, I excelled because I was striving to keep a nice portfolio, and also because I was able to actually witness my progression in knowledge of the subject matter. I am certain that the portfolio in this class also helped the teacher in assessing the student’s growth.

Kalib Moore
I was unaware of all the different types of assessment a teacher can place upon their students. Chapter 5 of UbD/DI describes the different forms of assessment in depth and in what situations one should use them. I found the chapter eye opening as well as a little surprising. I never realized that though my teachers would grade my assignments and tests based mostly off of the content, they were also assessing the way I presented my assignment, how I organized my assignment, and how efficiently I finished my assignment. I thought that the Product and Performance Tic-Tac-Toe found on page 74 was a good way to give students options when deciding how to present a project. Having the option to choose the path of a stronger learning style is an easy was to better one's understanding of the content. In my future classroom, I plan on giving my students as much feedback as possible. Throughout my years of school, I hardly ever received constructive feedback to help me become a better learner. "Pinning a letter (B-) or a number (82%) on a student's work is no more helpful than comments such as 'Way to go' or 'Try harder." (Tomlinson & McTighe 78) I found the quote to be a perfect representation of what my past educations was like, and what my future classroom's education will //not// be like. I hope to give my students positive feedback to encourage them to continue working hard, but also critical feedback to help them become better learners and more engaged with the content.

Evgeni Bouzakine
Chapter five talked about the importance of assessment. There are three principles that can correct your unit for your student. First one is to look at Photo Albums versus Snapshots. Standardized tests are more like a snapshot of a students learning. A portfolio is more of a variety for the teacher to assess It could also contain other pieces of work like visual products or oral performances, rather than taking standardized tests. The second is matching the measures with the goals. There are three types of goals: declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge and dispositions. Each has the ability to determine a student’s understanding and how far they have come along. The third principle, form follows function, which deals with the assessments themselves. The way we design our assessments need to answer questions about our students learning. We have different assessment for before a unit, during a unit, and after the unit. I want to use an assessment to figure out what my students already know on a subject. I want to know if my classroom students have an understanding on a unit that I have been teacher for a week. I also want to know if they grasped my concept after I finish my unit. I think it is vital to know what improvement I must make on my lessons in order to be a successful teacher. It is a great tool to see how affective my units are.

Cyril Lunt
In tonight's edition of "Dredging through UbD + DI", I bring you chapter five: //Considering Evidence of Learning in Diverse Classrooms//. In this chapter, Tomlinson and McTighe talk about assessment and student learning, and how to go about it within the classroom.

The chapter starts out by talking about how many teachers want to make assessment reflect their students actual learning, and how pure standardized tests merely show one part of a student. They then suggested the following:

1. Make testing a "photo album" (a collection of different works over the year[s]), rather than a "snapshot" (a single high-stakes test). This will make the students more at ease, give educators a better understanding of the student's strengths and weaknesses, and also boost the student's want for edutation.

2. Have the students expectations met within the goals you set. If they're too broad, students will get lost within the mess. If too narrow, they'll either suffocate or simply throw a hasty response back.

3. In order to make students learn the most, you need to make your curriculum understandable. If you can't explain it easily, you don't even understand it all that well. As the chapter put it, "form follows function".

On the whole, this chapter brings up an important issue: being able to adequately understand where one's students are in their learning, and how to assess it. Does it do a good job? Yes. It also does a good job at putting me to sleep, but I must press on to the next blog entry.

Brittany Blackman
Chapter five is all about assessments, and how different assessments are good for different things. The chapter discusses how one test is not sufficient evidence of a child. You need to look at a multitude of assessments to get more of a portfolio. I think this is important, because many teachers (and parents) look at one test, and that’s all that matters. They don’t often take into consideration whether or not this behavior is a pattern, of if they were just having a bad day. On the same note, the book talks about how standardized tests are important, but they should never be what it is all about. It is completely unfair to make important decisions based off of one test (for instance whether or not a college accepts you), because it favors children that can easily recall information, children that speak English at home, and children that do not have any disabilities. The other problem is that schools may begin to depend to highly on “test prep” instead of contextual content.

The chapter explains that there are three different types of knowledge and each one uses a different type of assessment. The first is declarative. This is what they need to know and understand and can be assessed by simple tests. The next is procedural which is that the need to be able to //do//. This would require a performance-based assessment. The last is dispositions. Dispositions are attitudes and habits that the students should have. These would need to be observed over time. There are also summative and formative assessments. Summative assessments are what you have learned and are usually learned through an evaluated test of some sort. Formative assessments are //for// learners and help the teacher know what they need to change to better teach the classroom. They can be formal or informal. I do believe that I will use informal assessments in my classroom.