Differentiating Assessment



Differentiation of assessment can have tremendous benefits for the students in a classroom. Research strongly suggest that there are many different types of learners that possess various strengths and weaknesses in terms of the methods in which they retain information most effectively. Blooms development of the multiple intelligences is a great example of a framework showing the various ways that educators can convey concepts so that the students are most likely to have a clear understanding of the material being presented to them. It is important to use the strengths that the students possess in order to help them achieve at the highest level possible. But as educators, we must also recognize the importance of developing the students weaknesses and building them into strengths as well. Giving students options and choices in the classroom can act as a huge motivator. If the students in our classroom feel that we as teachers take the time to create an assessment that is tailored to their individual learning needs, they are likely to feel empowered by their success and accountable for ensuring that they achieve further successes in their learning career. Differentiating assessment is very supportive of the process of assessment for learning also known as formative assessment. The intention of formative assessment is to provide feedback to the student that lets them know what progress they have made and where improvement is still needed in their work. Formative assessment is also a tool for teachers to see what strategies they are using that are helping the students to grow and learn and which are ineffective with the students. By using differentiated formative assessment teachers are far better able to pin point the strengths and weaknesses that their students possess and work toward using their strengths to build and develop their areas of need.

Tomlinson's Elements of Differentiation!

Tomlinson created a framework to identify the elements of differentiating both instruction and assessment. The basis of his work is described in the following sentence: The teacher modifies content, process and product, through student readiness, interests, and learning. The sentences implies that the teacher has control over three factors, the first is content, content refers to the what or the materials of learning, this can include the curriculum, textbooks, or movies to be viewed. The second factor is process, this refers to the activities through which the students will learn and could include such things as group work, individual work, or teacher directed lecture. The final factor is product, this refers to what the student produces and is the vehicle by which the student will demonstrate their knowledge. Beyond these factors which the teacher has full control of is the characteristics of the students they are as follows. Readiness refers to where the student is currently achieving in terms of knowledge skills and attitudes. The teacher must provide the student with a challenge by providing the students with task that are just beyond the point where the student currently is, Vygotsky termed this concept, the zone of proximal development. The second characteristic is the students interest this simply reders to the topics that the student is curioous or passionate about, by incorporating these into the lesson student engagement increases. The third and final characteristic is the learning profiles of the student, it is important for the teacher to consider as many different features of how a student learns and incorporate them into the lesson that you are creating.
By using Tomlinson's framework teachers are provided with a sort of guideline that can assist them in beginning to better differentiate both instruction and assessment. differentiation can be extremely beneficial in meeting each individual students needs in the classroom.

Link to Richard Lavoie Fairness Video Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G9--hUQDwY&feature=related

The above video is a clip from Richard Lavoie's movie, F.A.T. City. I chose to post this short video on my blog because it was a part of the movie that really opened my mind to the true meaning of the word fairness. Lavoie expresses common sense knowledge in the clip but until I stop to think about what was being said I failed to see how logical the sense behind his definition of fairness really is. I think that to understand the logic behind what Lavoie is saying I had to seperate the entities of fairness and equality in my mind, fairness is indeed exactly what Lavoie describes it as, whereas equality refers to the concept that everyone gets the same.

The IPP!!



Today we had yet another group meeting to discuss the collaborative IPP project that we have been working on. Although we are making great progress with the project, I can clearly see that coordinating an IPP team and ensuring that all members are on board with the decisions that are being made is a difficult task. This is not to say that I am having anything other then a positive experience with my group. But rather that it is difficult to work in everyone's opinion and still consider the best needs of the hypothetical student while creating the IPP. I think that so far the process of creating the IPP has been enlightening. I am learning alot about the effort that goes into ensuring that all students recieve a quality education that meets their needs. One observation and question that I have about the IPP process is the reasoning for limiting the number of goals to just three. I understand the importance of being concise and ensuring that the IPP is a workable document for all parties. Having said this, when reflecting on our finished IPP I felt that some of the student's areas of need were not being directly met through the goals that we set. This is not to say that the goals that we set were ineffective. Rather I felt that the student had so many weaknesses it was difficult to incorporate each of them into the three goals that we set. I think that in a real life situation I would have incorporated a few more goals into this specific student's IPP in order to better reach all of the students individual needs. Overall I am proud of the finished product that we created as a group and I sincerely feel that if it was used for Danny in a real life situation it would be instrumental in helping to further his education.

Observation Week

After being at Mother Theresa Catholic School in Sylvan Lake for a week, I observed a great deal of inclusive classrooms. The students with learning disabilities in this school did not experience full inclusion, but rather they used a resource room approach to inclusion. Prior to this experience I did not support the concept of the resource room. I felt that by pulling students out of class to get special help they would feel stigmatized and embarressed in front of their classmates. In my opinion the resource room approach attached a prominent label to the children with learning disabilities. After spending time in a school that used this approach it became clear to me that this is not the case at all. The students that need extra help with specific subjects were recieving the help that they needed to feel successful. The resource room had the opposite effect that I had anticipated, rather then feeling stigmatized the students had the self confidence to contribute in their regular classes without feeling inadequate. This experience has shown me the importance of seeing a theory in practice prior to making a judgement as to whether or not it is effective.

Strategies

Stategies are skills that the students can be taught that will help them to learn in all subject areas. The use of strategies is intended to help the studnets to develop the tools that they need to learn in all siruations. Strategies are not limited to special education students, they are often used by all learners and often without even realizing that they are being employed. When developing a strategy for an individual student it is important to include them in the process, if they can see how the change benefits them then they are more likely to work towards it. Involving the student in the process also encourages meta-cognition. This encourages the student to consider their own thoughts and the way that they learn best. I think that the use of strategies could be very instrumental in the learning process for some students. I think that it would be beneficial as a teacher to share the strategy that one of the students may be using with all students in the classroom. Giving all students the opportunity to use the strategy can help you to see which students feel they need extra help, it can also encourage students to open their mind to strategies and help them to develop their own unique strategy that they could use in the future. I can see great benefits for all students with the use of strategies in the classroom and it is definitely a concept that I will employ in my classroom as a future teacher.

Assessment and the IPP process.

When learning about assessment it is important to recognize the distinction between assessment and evaluation. Evaluation is a tool used to determine a final grade for a students learning. Assessment on the other hand is a research instrument that is employed to help the teacher determine what the student has learned, and what areas they are lacking in. The information that is generated from assessment is also beneficial for the child as it shows them what they are doing well. There are three types of assessment, they are, assessment for learning, assessment of learning and assessment as learning, or self-reflection. Assessment as learning gives the teacher a great sense of what the student feels they know, if the student is constantly reflecting on their work then the teacher is provided with an opportunity to reflect on how effective their teaching style is and change it to meet the students needs.
Classroom assessment can also be very supportive of the IPP process. The assessment that we as the classroom teacher collect can both compliment and supplement the information that is included in the specialized assessment data section. In the past the goals in the IPP were set almost exclusively based on the specialized assessment data that was provided by the psychologist or other trained professional. In the present the goals are also directed to the students curriculum based learning needs. The inclusion of goals based on teacher provided assessment affirms the professional opinion of the teacher and reaffirms the importance of teacher observations and assessments.
This information shows me as a future teacher that the assessment data that I contribute to the IPPs of my future students can have a profound impact on the direction of the goals that are set for them in the IPP process. Ensuring that appropriate goals are set that are tailored to their needs can be instrumental in ensuring that they are developing in the areas in which they need it most.