Chapter 4:Three Important Types of Assessment

Chapter four discussed the three major forms of assessment, portfolios, rubrics, and self-assessment. In discussing portfolios, the teacher works to assess the long term assessment of student growth. Students choose work they are proud of and are able to set goals based on current work. Teachers choose work and they are able to see progress as well as areas where the student needs assistance. In addition, the parents are able to see the progress of the students. When considering a rubric, teachers should make their own practice rubric based upon simple, everyday activities. Therefore, we are able to recognize all of the small details which do not need to be addressed. Instead, the focus should remain upon the task requirements, proficiency within the task, importance of certain steps, and whether the criteria are clear. One thing that must be avoided in designing a rubric is allowing students to believe that they do not need to shoot for exemplary. Looking back at my own educational experiences, I recall times when I felt that acceptable was high enough to shoot for, and exemplary was actually unnecessary. Therefore as a teacher, my focus remains upon pushing students to work toward creating their best work in an effort to gain real life experience, rather than merely working for the sake of doing work. The final assessment addressed was self-assessment. Rather than simply giving them a quiz to self assess, the book suggests using various forms of media so that students may record themselves and then see how far they progressed. I feel that this is far more effective as students may become bored with merely quizzing themselves on their knowledge. In addition, students should be prompted to keep journals or logs of progress and continue to assess themselves at all times throughout the year.