Assessing the Assessments that Assess Our Students

In what time period did Of Mice and Men take place?

 

Who is the main character in Of Mice and Men?

Describe the character of Lenny.

How does Lenny die at the end of the novel?

How do you feel about these questions?  I think these questions are ones that I see on assessments all the time, and I really do not like them.  I see the point behind them sometimes, but an entire assessment should NOT be made up of these types of questions.  Do you think you, as a teacher, would use these questions on an exam?  Well, to be honest, I might use questions like these for quick review quizzes at the beginning of class or maybe use them in a discussion setting to get the discussions started, but I would not ask questions like this on a big exam or assessment.  Have you, as a student, ever had questions like these before?  YES!  I sit down to take exams and do assessments all the time with questions like this on it.  It is unfair to me really.  I may have read the entire novel, but how do you expect me to remember little tiny details like “what color dress was Carrie wearing when she went to the theater for the first time?” or “What was the address of the building that the main character lived in?” or “On this page, there are a list of quotes.  From this list, choose seven and tell me the following.  What play it is from, who said it, where he or she was when he or she said it, what time period the play was written and set in, and who this was said to” (and yes, I have been asked those questions on exams I have taken) My response to those questions was either “ WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?” or “What does that have to do with my understanding of the story?  Many times, teachers may not be aware of the bad test questions, but sometimes it is just pure laziness!  I am guilty of this as well.  I have made and administered exams before with questions like this.  Well, many people do not realize the amount of work that goes into a proper assessment and that included me up to this past week. 

First, let me talk a little bit about assessments.  When someone says assessment, what is the first thing that comes to mind?  That would be test or exam.  Well, that is not always the case.  Assessments can come in many forms and many times students do not even know they are being assessed.  Right now I am taking a course entitled assessing students with a disability.  This class has been very helpful and some of what we talked about in there also carries over to this topic.  Assessments fall into many categories.  The two main ones are formative assessments (ongoing during teaching and provides feedback) and summative assessments (takes place at the end of learning and shows how well students have learned/teachers have taught).  These two types of assessments, in my opinion, encompass all the other types of assessment.  So, with formative assessments, the teacher is doing progress monitoring.  This is a check for teachers to see what the students comprehend and what the teacher has to reteach or teach in a different style.  Summative assessments of course are the after teaching check; so, after administering all of the formative assessments, making the changes in the course work, re-teaching or teaching in a different way a concept or idea, and repeating if necessary, the summative assessment is administered to the students.  I feel like these two types of assessments have been drilled into your head now, so enough with that…time for my assessment!

What is a formative assessment?

What is a summative assessment?

Which type of assessment is this?

J

I asked the question earlier, what is the first thing that comes to mind with the word assessment?  The answer for most people would be test or exam.  This is not always true.  There are many types of assessments; tests, exams, and quizzes are not the only ones.  I have come up with many types of assessments in my course work here at Shippensburg.  These include papers, board games, acting scenes, comic strips, web-enger hunts, pictures, and many many more.  To assess, as defined by my good friends at Dictionary.com, is “to estimate or judge the value, character, etc., of; evaluate”.  This is simply saying that any type of evaluation counts as an assessment.  The teacher is constantly assessing a student; this is a constant ongoing process.

Many hours go into making an assessment.  This past week, each of us in my methods class had to make two assessments; one objective (an assessment that is focused directly on what is asked) and one authentic (an assessment where the student has more freedom in what he or she is doing but still fulfilling the teachers intended goal of what was being assessed).  For my assessments, I used Samuel Clemens’ (aka: Mark Twain) short story “The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”.  This story was interesting to read at first because I had no idea what it was trying to convey.  Then I reread it, like a good English student, and found its purpose.  I don’t want to go too much into the story itself, just want to talk about the assessment portion.   

            

My objective assessment consisted of ten questions; five multiple choice, four short answer, and one essay.    This exam took me about three hours to make…IT WAS ONLY TEN QUESTIONS LONG!   I had to get up and leave the assessment at one point because I was so mentally drained!   This assessment still was not a “good” assessment in my opinion after talking about it in class on Tuesday.    Then I got to my authentic assessment.     I could have been much more creative, but I was still exhausted from my objective assessment that it ended up being a writing assignment with options.  I was not very happy with that assessment either because I am usually a lot more creative.  Doing these two different types of assessment really opened my eyes though.  I never knew how much work went into those projects and exams that are on the little piece of paper in front of you in class.

The next time you are making an assessment, ask yourself if the question is really asking what you are intending for it to ask.  Does it really have meaning or did you include it because you did not know what else to ask?  Most importantly, ask yourself WHY.  Why did I include this one here?  If you can justify your answer with something a little bit more than “I want to see if they read”, then you are on the right track!