Using%20Assessment%20to%20Nurture%20Critically%20Thoughtful%20Learners

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Using Assessment to Nurture Critically Thoughtful
Learners

• Garfield Gini-Newman
• Lecturer, OISE/UT
• ggininewman_at_oise.utoronto.ca

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Brain Walk Activity

• Gathering our thoughts on assessment

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Brain Walk Statement 1

• Assessments can be a source of motivation and
  engagement for students.

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Brain Walk Statement 2

• Assessment for learning is one of the most
  powerful tools in a teachers repertoire.

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Brain Walk Statement 3

• Use of formative assessment is essential to
  nurturing critical thoughtful students who become
  active, engaged, and critical assessors of their
  own learning.

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Brain Walk Statement 4

• There are many right ways to support student
  learning through classroom assessment. There are
  no hard and fast rules, only ideas to be
  thoughtfully explored and decisions to be made.

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Brain Walk Statement 5

• Becoming is more important than being.
•  
• We live in a culture characterized by
  expectations of entitlement. In this culture,
  students learn to value what they have more than
  who they are, and success is measured by how much
  they have, not by how much personal effort and
  growth it takes to achieve something.

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Brain Walk Statement 6

• Curriculum and assessment planning are analogous
  to travel planning. Travel planning should
  provide a set of itineraries deliberately
  designed to meet cultural goals rather than a
  purposeless tour of all the major sites in a
  foreign country. The best curriculum and
  assessment designs are derived backward from the
  learning sought.

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Plan scaffolding
Identify Learning Targets
Determine appropriate evidence
Five Step Assessment Planning Process
Consider evidence to determine level of
achievement
Interpret results to determine next steps
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Three Keys to an Assessment Rich Classroom
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Navigating the Paradigm Shift in Assessment
Requires a Parallel Shift in Curriculum Design

• The most important shift in assessment is not
  how but why we assess primarily to nurture
  student learning

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Putting the Paradigm Shift in Perspective

• The heart of the paradigm shift in assessment is
• To gather rich, complex pieces of evidence
• To provide the necessary scaffolding, practice,
  feedback and guidance to students to help them to
  reach their fullest potential
• To consider most consistent to garner an accurate
  picture of the student
• To acknowledge that students have various
  learning styles and other factors may impact on
  their performance

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Rather than seeing assessments as formative or
summative, we should consider whether the uses of
assessments are formative or summative.
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Everything students say, write or do is evidence
of learningAnne Davies, Grande Prairie airport,
February 22, 2008
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Targets vs Methods
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Six Key Questions to Assessment Planning
4. How will I use the evidence I gather to
determine the students final grade? 5. How will
I determine the students grade if they do not
provide a complete body of evidence? 6. How will
I clearly communicate grading practices to
parents and students?

1. What are my key learning targets for the course?
2. What evidence of student achievement will I
   gather?
3. How will I provide students with feedback,
   guidance and an opportunity to improve their work?

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What resides at the core of my program?

• How will I know if students have been successful
  in my course?
• What will success look/sound like?

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What Evidence of Student Achievement will I
gather?

• Consider Grade level build on prior learning
  and prepare for future learning
• Consider Subject Area each subject area is
  unique honour the distinctiveness of the subject

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Menu of Summative Assessments

• Tests
• Quests
• Seminars
• Debates
• Essays/Reports
• Processfolios
• Learning Portfolios
• Writing Portfolios

• MI Journal
• Authentic Performance Tasks
• Labs

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How will I provide students with feedback,
guidance and an opportunity to improve their
work?

• Quizzes as practice
• Rubrics
• Conference with students
• Written Anecdotal responses

• Peer Assessment
• Self Assessment
• Checklists

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How will I use the evidence I gather to determine
the students final grade?

• Will you record marks as percentage grades,
  levels of achievement or other?
• How will you use the evidence gathered to
  determine the students most consistent level of
  achievement?

• How will you ensure a balance between the various
  assessment targets?
• Are each of the summative assessments of relative
  equal weight?

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Create A Summative Assessment Plan

• Consider what evidence will provide reliable
  information about student achievement - design
  down - plan summative assessments first
• Decide how much evidence is enough evidence
• Make sure all areas of the curriculum are
  adequately addressed

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Base Your Assessment of Student Achievement on
Fewer, but Richer Pieces of Evidence

• Use Authentic Assessment (performances which
  provide practical applications of learning often
  to an audience beyond the classroom)
• Use portfolios as appropriate
• Provide students with clear criteria for each
  required demonstration of learning
• Teach to the task and provide formative feedback,
  opportunities to practice and a chance to revise
  work

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Base Assessment on Pieces of Evidence Which are
of Relative Equal Importance

• Determining most consistent is complicated by a
  body of evidence which contains minor
  assignments, unit tests, and major projects
• Remember, quizzes are formative and pop quizzes
  have no sound pedagogical basis

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Mark Student Performances, Not their Learning

• Separate learning from demonstrations of
  achievement
• Students need to have an opportunity to muck
  around with what they are learning before being
  asked to perform
• Worksheets, homework, cooperative learning
  exercises are all part of the learning process

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Consider the Best Formative Assessment Tools to
Support Students in Their Learning

• Well written rubrics can be an invaluable tool to
  assist students and reduce teacher workloads
• Quizzes, conferring with students, checklists are
  other useful tools for formative assessment
• Remember Level One is the bare minimum you would
  accept for a pass

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A Clear, well thought-out Summative Assessment
Plan Makes Getting to the Grade Much Easier

• Calculating grades is manageable when teachers
• Work with fewer, but richer pieces of evidence
• Gather evidence which is of similar importance
• Ensure all areas of the curriculum are addressed

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So, what is critical thinking?

• A complex activity, not a set of generic skills,
• Concerned with judging or assessing what is
  reasonable or sensible in a situation,
• Focuses on quality of reasoning,
• Depends on the possession of relevant knowledge
• Can be done in endless contexts and is required
  whenever the situation is problematic
• Is effortful but not necessarily negative

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When is someone thinking critically?

• A person is thinking critically only if she is
  attempting to assess or judge the merits of
  possible options in light of relevant factors or
  criteria.
• Critical thinking is criterial thinking thinking
  in the face of criteria.

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A Definition of Critical Thinking

• TC2 defines critical thinking as the thinking
  through of a problematic situation about what to
  believe or how to act where the thinker makes a
  reasoned judgment that reflects competent use of
  the intellectual tools for quality thinking.

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Critical Thinking Vocabulary
Habits of Mind
Background Knowledge
Criteria for Judgment
Thinking Strategies
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Three Types of Questions
Type 1 Type 2 Type 3
What are the ingredients in Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans? What is your favourite flavour of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans? Should Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans be sold in school cafeterias?
What are three activities in Smiths Falls? Would you like to move to Smiths Falls? Would your familys needs be better met in Ottawa or Smiths Falls?
Identify several natural disasters that impact on the environment? Which natural disaster creates the most fear for you? Which natural disaster poses the great threat to the Ontario economy?
List three types of exercise. What is your favourite type of exercise? Which sport would best meet the needs of someone with asthma diving, soccer or tennis?
What did the Inuit use to make tools? What geographic feature of Nunavut do you like the most? Which natural resource diamonds or fish are most important to northern society?
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Come up with your own examples!
Type 1 Type 2 Type 3
Why do people go shopping? Do you like shopping?
What is your favourite genre of movie?



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Criteria defined

• Criteria are the factors or attributes that help
  us recognize whether something is what we say it
  is. We use criteria to make reasoned judgments
  about issues in social studies and to make
  judgments about the quality of student work.

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Criteria Data Set Assessment
List A List B
Research notes are 4-5 pages in length and draw upon 3-4 sources Research notes are comprehensive and reflect a variety of perspectives
Bibliography contains 8-10 sources Bibliography is comprised of a variety of relevant and reliable sources providing multiple perspectives
Essay contains three arguments with supporting evidence Essay thesis is supported by the use of sufficient arguments that are convincing, relevant and insightful
Title page includes a title, name, course and date Title page is informative and visually appealing
Poster includes 3 visuals, titles and a 30-word caption Poster is visually appealling, informative and convincing or provocative.
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Defining our Assessment Targets

• In a critically thoughtful classroom our targets
  are the intellectual tools for quality thinking.

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Consider this framework for assessment targets

• Background Knowledge
• do students know and understand the important
  concepts, facts and ideas?
• are students able to select relevant and
  important information to meet the challenge?
• Criteria for Judgment
• are students able to identify important and
  relevant criteria?
• do students use criteria to guide their
  thinking?
• are student judgments consistent with the
  criteria and the available evidence?

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Assessing critical thoughtful responses

• Critical Thinking Vocabulary
• do students demonstrate an understanding of key
  vocabulary?
• are student responses consistent with the
  demands of the critical challenge?

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• Thinking Strategies
• are students able to effectively organize
  information to guide their thinking?
• are students able to select relevant
  information and connect the information to the
  criteria for judgment?
• Habits of Mind
• do students demonstrate the habits of an
  effective thinker through the process of
  gathering and weighing evidence?
• do students demonstrate the habits of an
  effective thinker in the process of their
  deliberations?
• do students demonstrate the habits of a an
  effective thinker through the manner in which
  they attack a challenge?

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Differentiation in a Critically Thoughtful
Classroom
Product
Process
Clear Learning Targets
Background Knowledge
Habits of Mind
Criteria for Judgment
Thinking Strategies
Groupings
Critical Thinking Vocabulary
Background Knowledge