EMPOWERING LEARNERS
The process of assessment is not black and white. It’s not about shades of grey, but rather, about an understanding that each student has a spectrum of possibilities within them – a rainbow of ideas and potential.
Do you sometimes feel like you’re stuck? You may feel like your wheels are spinning? I spoke with a principal last week and that’s how she was feeling.
Take a moment to breathe, slow down and reflect on the first part of this academic year.
Elementary educators across Ontario are preparing to send home the Provincial Progress Report Card – the first formal reporting communication home to parents.
I learned about differentiation and personalization in a truly authentic way.
To harness the power of assessment to improve learning, you must examine and possibly reconsider your role and how you see your relationship with your students.
“…we need to transform our assessment and instructional practices, and that means that we need to be open to considering our role in the classroom differently.”
As a learning community, students uncover possible success criteria, giving an educator the opportunity to listen deeply, assessing what students already know and understand.
When you give students information that they can use to improve, and they see and understand that they can do it… students will experience feelings of control over their learning …
“…the more students interact with the criteria, the more they are able to internalize look-fors and apply them when assessing the quality of their work or performance.” (Nicol, Macfarlane-Dick, 2006)
