Summary In the article Seven Practices for Effective Learning by Jay McTighe and Ken O’Connor, several assessment and grading practices are presented. Characteristics of summative, diagnostic, and formative assessments are outlined. Based on these categories, descriptions of each practice is provided and compared with other typical forms of assessment typically used by teachers in the category. Justifications of how and why the practices enhance student achievement are also revealed. Evaluation The clarity of the article makes it easy to read, understand, and most importantly implement. Each practice listed in this article begin with a scenario of a teacher using that particular practice in a classroom setting. I consider this to be a …show more content…
Sixth graders really struggle with the self-evaluation component of rubrics. Having them check the boxes will serve two powerful purposes: self-assessment and self-improvement. Reading Practice 1: Use summative assessments to frame meaningful performance allowed me to make a connection with the big idea of Project Based Learning projects which I recently studied. I strongly believe that authentic learning tasks allow students to apply their knowledge, motivates and engages students, and develops critical thinking skills. Projects of this nature make it easy for the teacher to present summative performance tasks to students at the beginning of such assignments instead of the typical summative assessments at the end of a unit of study. My classes will be doing a Project Based Learning task later this year. I will be certain to present the summative performance assessment tasks to the students before the project has begun. The practices in the article closely align with the ideas of leading researchers in the field of assessment. Concluding the article by classifying the seven practices into three of Marzano’s (1992) factors that influence student motivation to learn strengthens the validity of the article’s message even more. In conclusion, I would recommend this article to any educator possessing a sincere desire to impact student
Stiggins, R. J. (2006, November/December). Assessment for learning: A key to motivation and achievement. Edge, 2, 3-19.
Firstly, the author said that rewarding students based on their result are not an effective way because the strategy only lasts for a short period. The cost of the strategy is impossible for the school to maintain. The author further highlights, it is not an effective motivator. It may be effective if the study comes with mechanical skill and straight but not if the task requires conceptual or creative thinking. Moreover, the students are confused because they did not know what matters and does not matter.
Many researches have been conducted to investigate what motivates students for better academic performance and whether it has a correlation with achievement motivation.
The article is written in a clear language and offers easy to implement strategies to use in the classroom. I also appreciated the explanations given with the strategies to help educators understand the relevance of trying this method with their students.
Keller, John M. (2006). What Are the Elements of Learner Motivation? Retrieved July 4, 2011
“Motivation is the process whereby goal-orientated activity is instigated and sustained” (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008. As cited in Eggen & Kauchak, 2010, p.284). Motivation comes in many forms and can be divided into two broad categories - extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivators are external factors which can motivate a student; rewards are an example of this. An issue with extrinsic motivators is that the desire for the learner to participate often lessens, once the rewards are withdrawn (McCullers, 1987). On the other hand intrinsic motivation comes from within - learning for the joy of it - where the desire to learn leads to a higher level of knowledge, and is a reward in itself. Kohn (1996, p.285) states that research suggests, “Rewards actually decrease interest in intrinsically motivating tasks, therefore sending the wrong message about learning” (as cited in Eggen & Kauchak, 2010a)
Developing effective self-assessment takes time and effort. However once fully embedded in learning and teaching, these assessment strategies can be particularly effective in motivating learning. An effective
It is first important to understand how motivation works in the classroom. There are infinite procedures teachers use to achieve desired effects from their students, but there are general patterns these motivational tools follow. In order for teachers to communicate with their students, they must identify with their needs on an individual basis (Gawel, 1997). This proposal is much akin to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which states five basic needs that must be met in order to achieve full motivation. These needs, in ascending order, are as follows: physiological, security, love and belongingness, esteem and self-respect, and self-actualization (Gawel, 1997). Each of these needs details a very important issue in motivation inside the classroom and out.
Student motivation can be affected by several factors. These elements include parent involvement, teacher enthusiasm, rewards, peers, the learner’s environment, personal experiences, personal interests of the student, and self-esteem and self-image.
In spite of the importance of assessment in education, few teachers receive proper training on how to design or analyze assessments. Due to this, when teachers are not provided with suitable assessments from their textbooks or instructional resources, teachers construct their own in an unsystematic manner. They create questions and essay prompts comparable to the ones that their teachers used, and they treat them as evaluations to administer when instructional activities are completed predominantly for allocating students' grades. In order to use assessments to improve instruction and student learning, teachers need to change their approach to assessments by making sure that they create sound assessments. To ensure that their assessments are sound they need include five basic indicators that can be used as steps to follow when creating assessments. The first of these indicators and the first step a teacher must take when creating a sound assessme...
Through assessment students and teachers are able to determine the level of mastery a student has achieved with standards taught. Both formative and summative assessment should be purposeful and targeted to gain the most accurate data to drive further instruction (Ainsworth, 2010). While this syllabus does a good job of identifying the need for both formal and informal assessments, the way in which this is communicated does not provide enough detail for understanding. Simply listing assessment types does not give any insight into how these assessments fit in the learning process of this course. While some of the assessments mentioned could be common assessments chosen by the school or district to gain insight into the effectiveness of instruction, the inclusion of authentic assessments is most beneficial to students and demonstrates learning in a context closer to that of a work environment (Rovai, 2004). Unfortunately, this particular course, according to this syllabus, relies heavily on quizzes and traditional tests and essays to form the bulk of assessment opportunities. While other activities, such as formative assessments, journaling and discussions are mentioned as possible avenues for scoring, they are given a very low percentage of the overall grade. This shows that they are not valued for their ability to show progression and mastery. If this is indeed the case, this puts the students as a
To a certain extent it can be said that without a sense of motivation, whether it be intrinsic or extrinsic, a child’s ability to learn and reach their potential is greatly lessened. Motivation is best described as an internal state that not only arouses and directs behaviour but also helps to maintain it (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013). Motivation not only plays a large role in a child’s learning ability, it also shapes a student’s interests and enjoyment of school and study (Martin, 2003). For both pre-service teachers and expert teachers it is easy to see that if a student possesses high motivation to learn, their behaviour towards their school work is more positive and in turn leads to higher academic success, whereas a student with little to no motivation will exhibit negative behavi...
Motivation is really important tool in a learning environment. Also motivation effects student learning and their behavior as well. It directs behavior towards particular targets. Also it effect the decision which students takes. In motivation mainly we have two types which is intrinsically and extrinsically being motivated. For example: when a student is intrinsically motivated they just do it for themselves not because of the reward that they will get back. It’s just because they have their own interest and they enjoy doing that. On the other side, when a student is extrinsically motivated they just do it for the reward that they will get. That’s why in learning process it’s important that each student should
As I reflect on my past assessment process, I realized how much my assessments have changed over the years. In my early years, I used tests for informational recall as my assessments. I felt these were appropriate guidelines in which I needed to follow in order to substantiate a student’s grade. Every assignment or tests was given a point value and then based on the amount of points, a grade was given. Every student’s assessment was exactly the same, and the assessments did not contain any subjectivity. I felt confident in giving the grade based on a valid point system. However reflecting back, I see that I did not include any performance-based assessments or individual learning styles in my early assessment. I also did not take into consideration the individual needs of my students. My assessment approach was awful. I am embarrassed that I use to assess students in this manner.
Our second best practice, formative assessments, “provide insights into learning in progress. Timed well, they can reveal issues of misunderstanding or confusion before they become obstacles to student learning” (Martin-Kniep & Picone-Zocchia, 2009, p. 73). Most assessments should be formative and, if aligned to Learning Targets, useful for both the teacher and the student to better understand the knowledge and misunderstandings held about content, or strengths and gaps in skills. Marin-Kniep & Picone-Zocchia (2009) identify three characteristic of formative assessment; they occur during the course of student learning, not at the end; their purpose is to monitor student learning; and they provide data to the teacher to adjust instruction to better meet the learning needs of students (p. 74). Through this lens, formative assessments are another means to gain strategic data points for all students that allow a teacher to be proactive rather than reactive or inactive before a summative assessment occurs. After all, “the aim of teaching is not to master state tests, but to meet worthy intellectual standards. We must recapture the primary aim of assessment: to help students better learn and teachers to better instruct.” (Wiggins,