HumaneMaths

Introduction      Assessment is the action or an instance of making a judgment about something, and Evaluation determines the value, nature, character, or quality of something or someone (The dictionary by Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Assessments the teacher, parent and student about progress made towards achieving learning objectives. All effective schools utilize assessment to promote deeper learning, growth and development. “There is considerable evidence that assessment is a powerful process for enhancing learning” (Rethinking classroom assessment, 2006, p. 5). My last school of work was an IB day school in India called Pathways World School, NOIDA branch. They offer IBPYP, MYP and DP programs. Assessment practices in the school “Assessment works best when its purpose is clear, and when it is carefully designed to fit that purpose” (Rethinking classroom assessment, 2006, p. 13).  Our teaching team is very reflective with continuous upgradations of ...

     Every student’s need is different and hence the need for resources is different too. All students need specific support for success. This is how I understand equitable assessment, which is not equal but right thing in right place (Kampen, 2020).       This is need of the hour as students are very diverse based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, language, culture, religion, mental and physical abilities to name a few, a it becomes imperative for a teacher to accommodate all of them (NEA, n.d.). This would involve for me, differentiation of teaching and differentiation of assessments.      I was a math teacher for IBMYP in a school where all kids are from affluent families hence speak both Hindi and English fluently. However we also have students from different parts of the world such as Korea, Japan and Non Resident Indians from all over. Hence the issue of language does come up in teaching and assessing. I needed to bui...

Formative Assessment Assessment is an important aspect of any education program. Most individuals believe however that evaluations ought to be after the education process but the data shows that formative assessments to be sprinkled through the academic year . Although the meaning is nebulous, the formative assessment is understood as evaluation that happens through the term continuously. Formative assessment can be understood as a method of adjusting teaching based on the information obtained through as assessment process . We can also see them as assessment for learning (Looney, 2011). As a teacher, I need to figure out where to move next in my curriculum and formative assessment tells me which curve to take. As an educator, I use them very often during or after teaching a concept (Erie, 2017).  The information helps me to redefine the pathways to teaching.  When is a formative assessment for teachers alone and when is it useful for both?  That is what I will explore in...

     Recalling my days in teaching exam going students, I remember assessments as decision makers for the students that formed a judgment about achievement of their goals. They were decision makers for students’ choices of subjects and movement to the next grade. In this sense, they were very harsh on the students who would often chase me with requests for increasing their scores to come into the coveted ‘first class’, as it was called in India at that time. Assessment affected the decision of placement and advancement (Edutopia, 2008).      However, the form of assessment that I love is the one where it affects curriculum, instructional techniques and relationships . These are formative assessments that is learning experiences, inquiry, activities and reflective feedback that aim to close the learning gaps in the students and empower them further (Looney, 2011). Formative assessment for me is an ongoing way to ascertain how much learning is happening dur...

Curriculum Curriculum for each group of kids is unique as it is based on a unique philosophical foundation. The foundation is a mix of what the teacher thinks and what the school expects to achieve. These can be classified under perennialism, essentialism, existentialism, progressivism, reconstructionism, and post modernism (Ornstein, 2011). But these are labels and hence for me, a practical teacher, what is more important is not just the ways of philosophy but how they impact the curriculum in day-to-day work (Belbase, 2011). This is where we align completely. For there is so much from a classroom that comes into the philosophy, always defining and redefining it. These elements are learning goals, contents, materials, methods and assessment, which is one of the most important components of the practice of curriculum work. My Classroom Curriculum In this paper, I examine the curriculum practiced in my class with the framework of Belbase's article (Belbase, 2011). Then I reflect and...

Why do we assess?  There are many reasons such as, (a) build on known content, (b) correct unknown content, (c) give constructive feedback and (d) academic achievements. But assessment is classified in different ways in an overarching way. 1. Assessment for Learning assesses comprehension of concepts during the teaching and learning process (Bennett, 2017). One of the ways my class does it is by keeping journals or learning logs (Rethinking…, 2006). These are student designed and driven journals of their process of learning. This helps students and hence the teachers understand on the go the level of learning achieved in the students. It also helps in creating a deeper learning of their own ways of thinking. As a teacher I read them to understand gaps in learning of my kids and also give constructive feedback as and when possible. Students who have been with me for long find it easy to journal as there is a comfort zone. New students often find it hard till they settle with me in ...

  “How was my day? Which part was clear and which one was blurry? What is the nagging discomfort that I still carry?”   This is how my day ends everyday as a teacher. Discomfort or discontent is the way to clarity that I seek on daily basis in order to improve myself. Critical reflection, as it is called, is a part of a daily practice. Reflection is an ongoing process of observing, identifying, questioning and rediscovering our deepest held values and assumptions with the goal as change in our daily practice of life (Benade, 2016). This is the path of progress for me and it is hard to go to sleep if there is something that is nagging my subconscious. This is what helps me to pull meaning from a teaching and learning experience and makes life worth it (Stanchfield, 2013). It challenges the commonly held practices in one’s psyche and analyses one’s own responses to circumstances.      Reflection is important for both the teacher and the taught. Students ne...

What is an Authentic Assessment? Authentic assessment is when it is connected with transferring the learning to a real-world scenario (Frey & Schmitt, 2006). This is when students very thoughtfully apply their understanding by transferring the knowledge to real world. This is so that the learning has a value beyond the school into real life or for life (Wiggins, 2006). What are the benefits for students? When students are working on thinking about real about implementation of a learning, they are active participants who see the knowledge as relevant. They learn to use the knowledge by engaging in activities such as (a) research, (b) outdoor work, (c) discussions with peers, (d) writing a report and (e ) reflective writing. (Frey & Schmitt, 2006) “compared competing for views as to comparability in meaning between performance assessment and authentic assessment. the field. This allows them to think outside the box and explore themselves”. Most skills are woken up through th...

Assessment is a very general term that includes all methods we can use to gather information about the ability and understanding among the children, (Wiesnerova, 2012).  Hence it is important for both the teacher and taught as it provides feedback to them. My main assessment tool in the class is the formative assessment as it is intended to generate ongoing feedback that improves and accelerates learning (Sadler, 1998). I love diversity hence a variety of methods that can be used to conduct in-class and in-process evaluations of learning needs are my favourite. It is as good as an assessment for learning as it influences the way learning processes are defined for me in an ongoing fashion. It gives me a feedback loop that helps improve my teaching and also students’ learning (Carnegie Mellon University, 2021). This loop is a most powerful way of moderating one’s teaching on a continuous way. In assessing my students: · I give feedback in a sensitive manner, focusing on the task and ...

My Favourite Formative Assessment Practice Formative assessment is a tool to supervise learning with an efficient and constructive feedback (Carnegie Mellon University, n.d.). It helps a teacher to be self-guided while learning-teaching process is going on. In any formative assessment, a teacher can check progress among the students and adapt the curriculum side by side along the way. It is a most creative way of teaching while designing curriculum simultaneously. I am a grade 6 teacher and one of my formative assessments is projects where they make personal presentations . I give them a task or a project and the product is differentiated and the students choose the means of presentation via a power point or a document or any other manner. This is my favourite for every time I give such a task, I am surprised by the creativity that I witness in the students. The presentation is generally followed by a peer discussion that is done in an empathic space. Empathy is something I nurture by ...

What is a Rubric? When students work on a task, there is a need to identify different degrees of excellence using a set of performance requirements. This is defined as a rubric. However, rubrics need an explanation for criteria to be effective (Brookhart, 2013). Then a rubric is deemed as an assistant to the students and instructors for evaluation that leads to an enhancement of teaching learning process. The evaluation techniques are deeper for the areas covered are wider (Laurian & Fitzgerald, 2013). A rubric must be sent to the students well in advance detailing the requirements of the task and the metrics. Consequences of using a Rubric When we use the lens of constructivism, we can see that each child thinks in his own was based on his own scheme and hence, learning process is a flow that is unique to each child. Definitely one flaw of using a rubric is that evaluation becomes uniform for all, even though there is structure within which some diversity is present. Even the bes...

Formative assessment is when we use day-to-day work to analyse the students’ grasp of a subject (Handley, 2020)/ This helps to focus on real learning needs and thereby improve the learning (Looney, 2011). Summative assessment is the overall evaluation of the student’s accomplishment through the year in a consolidated manner . In my milieu, we use both formative and summative assessments. This is to obtain diverse data about the learning and that in turn improves teaching. Summative also is used for qualifying the kids for higher levels of education (Looney, 2011). I use formative as a diagnostic assessment for my classes. I use them before I start a lesson and through the lesson. I don’t grade them formally but use smileys. These give me and my middle school students information on their gaps in learning. The critical information received helps us to modify curricula if needed (Eberly Center, n.d.). I also assess them continuously using diverse ways such as (a) journal writing, (b) c...

As an IB teacher, I used computers a lot as all the kids and teachers in our school had a laptop with free Wi-Fi. In fact, that is when I realised the efficacy of technology in teaching. The boom has come due to the pandemic when we all had to move to technology for communication and teaching the kids at school. Although the phase is gone, and we are back to hybrid mode, I still see the value of computer-based assessments for my kids. There are many reasons for the same. · It is an interactive platform with so many portals on internet that can be tapped into for learning and self-assessing. · There is a better possibility of a personalised feedback to the kids that is possible through online mean and relationships are better. · Communication between me and the kids is more that has improved engagement (Shute and Rahimi, 2017). For example, in a google classroom I can see their work, respond immediately and privately. · With the use of AI based online assessments, I can adapt them to th...

My Milieu The Indian education system is inherited from the British, hence its evaluation is an average of few periodic assessments through the year and then a one-time examination at the end of the year. These tests are not differentiated and all kids are ranked against them. The emphasis is on grades defining the passing or failing for the kids. Every year there are kids who commit suicide for they failed the final examination and were retained in the same class. The system is barbaric for instead of constructive feedback, it provides judgments. Our society uses a grade or numerical ranking to determine a child’s educational worth and merit (Duncan and Buskirk-Cohen, 2011). Further, as governments change, system changes too. There was an effort to bring in continuous assessment in a formative way but due to not having a clear implementation plan, it failed to leave an impact and the subsequent government removed it. My Frustration I have been very dissatisfied by the grading system ...

          Assessment can be defined in multiple ways, (a) research done in a classroom to provide useful feedback to help improve teaching and learning (“Assessment and Evaluation”, n.d.) or (b) feedback from the student to the teacher about his/her learning. Evaluation applies “methods and measures to judge student learning and understanding of the material for purposes of grading and reporting” (“Assessment and Evaluation”, n.d., p. 1). Hence both represent feedback to the students about their learning. Though we need to know that in the assessment process, students’ data is systematically documented to measure whereas evaluation emphasizes students’ grades (Knowly, 2020).           My school, when I was a student, was traditional and the only assessments I have known are standardized testing. We had unit tests and examinations. The objective was grade to decide if we were ready to move to the next level or not. Hen...

          PISA stands for ‘Program for International Student Assessment’. It was launched in 2000 in the USA. The coordination agency is Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (ETP401 compendium, n.d.). The goal is to study performances of students of age 15 years in reading, mathematics, and science literacy. There is also a focus on skills such as collaborative problem-solving and financial literacy. Although PISA is conducted every 3 years, interestingly the focus of assessment is different in each cycle. One of the domains is major and the rest minor. Students gain a lot of knowledge in school education. The purpose of PISA is to give them a challenge to assess the application of skills for real world tasks (IES, NCES., n.d.). As it has a prestige, it indicates standing for the countries that participate in the examination. The outcome leads to motivation of policymakers towards reforms in education. PISA in India    ...

          All teachers need to know about the learners in order to understand what is needed for them. Hence an assessment is needed that is conducted at the start of anything new, a course or a year or a lesson. The objective is to comprehend the students’ past knowledge, strengths and weaknesses. This is a diagnostic assessment (Ronan, 2015). It is also a process of using multiple measures to identify an student’s needs in specific skill set areas to personalize the instruction (Illuminate Education, 2021). Hence it is a type of pre-evaluation (FormPlus Blog, 2021).           Several types of assessments can be used for diagnoses such as (a) universal screening, classroom observations, progress monitoring and qualitative data (Education, 2021). Further, in a simple way, initial writing prompts, KWL charts, Running Records, Informal Reading Assessments, Pre-tests, Surveys or Journals (Erie, 2017).       ...