The Hardest Part of Teaching

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The Hardest Part of Teaching

• March Faculty Development Workshop
• Sponsored by PETAL

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A Brief Note

• For most of us, the hardest part of teaching is
  not really the grading.
  
• Its the waking up in time for the 8AM class.

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Timeline of Events

• She shoots! She scores!
• Scooby Doo, who are you?
• Consider this, Batman!
• Im a doctor, not a dictionary!
• Can we talk?
• Wrap up

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She Shoots! She Scores! Goals for the Workshop

• Understand some of the terminology of assessment
  as springboard for thinking
  
• Define our goals in creating systems for
  assessing students here at Fisher
  
• Start the dialogue about grading and assessing
  students here at Fisher

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Scooby Doo, Who Are You?Lets Get Acquainted

• Who am I?
• Dr. Kris Green, MST/CS/Mathematics
• I hate grading reducing students to a single
  symbol
  
• I enjoy providing feedback to my students to help
  them learn
  
• I think tests, etc. should be a place to continue
  learning, rather than a proof of learning
  
• I rarely use the exact same anything twice
• Who are you?
• Name, Department, Ideas about grading

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Consider This, Batman!Case Studies for Comparison

• This is the tale of three students in a high
  school Latin II class. Each has an 85 average,
  but got there differently.
  
• Kris has received, despite his efforts, a score
  of 85 on every test, homework, and class
  exercise.
  
• Cindy started off in the 70 range, but has
  consistently been in the 90 range for the second
  half of the year.
  
• Mike is the opposite of Cindy. He started in the
  90 range, then spent the second half of the
  semester in the 70 range.
  
• Do all three deserve the same course grade,
  traditionally a B?

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Im a doctor, not a dictionary!The Basic
Terminology

• From Grant Wiggins (Educative Assessment)
• The aim of assessment is primarily to educate and
  improve student performance, not merely to audit
  it.
  
• Assessment should be educative in two basic
  senses
  
• It should be deliberately designed to teach (not
  just measure) by revealing to students what
  worthy work looks like (offering authentic
  tasks)
• It should provide rich and useful feedback to all
  students and to their teachers

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The Guiding Light(s)Where should we head?

• Assessment reform must center on the purpose, not
  merely on the techniques or tools, of
  assessment.
  
• Assessment reform is essentially a moral matter.
• Assessment is central, not peripheral, to
  instruction.
  
• Assessment anchors teaching, and authentic tasks
  anchor assessment.
  
• Ass performance improvement is local.

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What Are Little Grades Made Of?Components of
Assessment

• Collecting the data
• Consider the sources of the data
• Consider the frequency of the data
• Consider the relevance of the data
• Evaluating the data
• Comparison against standards
• Comparison against other work
• Providing effective feedback
• Assigning a grade-symbol

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Just the Facts, MaamSome Possible Data Sources
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Caveat GraderQualitative v. Quantitative

• But remember, the data we collect is qualitative
  data how students are doing with the material,
  what students have done, what students are having
  trouble with.
• Consider the typical math scheme
• Hand work in (qualitative)
• Put a percentage grade on work and average
  (quantitative)
  
• Assign a letter grade (qualitative)
• Multiple translations like this will loose
  meaning without clearly defined grade standards
  (not simply percentage point or total point
  requirements).
• We should provide Grade Profiles to our
  students qualitative descriptions of what
  student performance at each letter grade looks
  like (good examples from Foundation for Critical
  Thinking, www.criticalthinking.org)

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Another DichotomyObjective v. Subjective

• Objective grading measures performance relative
  to fixed, universal standards
  
• Subjective grading is based on more relative
  measures like the rest of the classs performance
  or a students earlier performance.
  
• But, all assessment requires judgment. Hiding the
  judgment in a single letter grade is dishonest
  and does not really help the student learn from
  his or her mistakes.

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Another DichotomySummative v. Formative

• Summative evaluation is like a final exam a one
  shot sampling of topics are covered and you are
  assessed as to whether you know/understand/can do
  them at that point only.
• Formative evaluation is on-going and is designed
  to help the student improve thus, it is a part
  of the learning process writing and revising a
  paper, for example.

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Can We Talk?Questions for Discussion

• What do I want the students to know, understand,
  and be able to do? How does this affect my
  teaching and planning?
  
• What does an A student look like? What about a B,
  C, D, or F?
  
• Are these profiles of A, B, C, D, F students
  consistent across the curriculum, or should they
  change as the level of the coursework changes?
  
• What is the role of standards in assessing
  students should we hold them up to a rigid ruler
  or should the ruler flex based on the other
  students?
• How can we avoid grade compression and grade
  inflation?

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The Check(list) is in the mailChecklist of
Requirements

• Lets come up with 3-5 items in each group that
  would be necessary components for any system to
  assess students here at Fisher.
  
• Well share these and generate a master list with
  descriptors. Ill email this to everyone and
  place the information on my website, along with
  this PowerPoint
• http//keep2.sjfc.edu/faculty/green then look for
  teacher resources.

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Selected Resources for Perusal

• Grant Wiggins, Educative Assessment
• Tom Bourner and Steve Flowers Teaching and
  Learning Methods in Higher Education
  www.bbk.ac.uk/asd/Bourne.htm
  
• Part III of the New York State MST Standards
  Guide at www.emsc.nysed.gov/guides/mst/
  
• Office of Academic Planning and Assessment, Univ.
  of Massachusetts Amherst at www.umass.edu/oapa/oap
  afiles/oapaindex.html

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