{"id":2084,"date":"2019-04-03T17:33:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T21:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/edt431-531\/?p=2084"},"modified":"2019-04-03T17:33:42","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T21:33:42","slug":"something-fun-but-i-thought-you-said-we-were-being-assessed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2019\/04\/something-fun-but-i-thought-you-said-we-were-being-assessed\/","title":{"rendered":"Something Fun??? But I Thought You Said We Were Being Assessed??"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Whenever a student hears assessment, they immediately think &#8220;Oh no&#8230;a test.&#8221; The anxiety and stress begins. Or you may have some students say &#8220;Oh thank goodness, I need to improve my grade.&#8221; Whatever it is, giving a test at the end of every unit is <em><strong>NOT\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>the best way to assess student growth and learning, especially with diverse learners.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-M9jbaZpA_s0\/Wi3vKTkT_bI\/AAAAAAAABxY\/pQWeH_3RJXw0Gm3-hZiMUAVoqdMXQYxDwCEwYBhgL\/s1600\/Exam%2BStress.jpg?resize=329%2C242&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Image result for test anxiety\" width=\"329\" height=\"242\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>So then what do I do?<\/h2>\n<p>Try to assess your students throughout the unit, not just with a test at the end! Give students plenty of ways to show that they are learning the material, not just that they can answer a question on a test verbatim to the study guide. Students are already tested so heavily because of state testing, and though they do need to know how to take these tests, there are other, more engaging ways to assess students.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.talentedk12.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/shutterstock_765811738.jpg?resize=381%2C254&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Image result for assessment\" width=\"381\" height=\"254\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This clip shows how ridiculous a lot of testing can be and how even tests you may give students aren&#8217;t actually assessing the important concepts that they need to know. Some students may excel, and others may perform better in other ways.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Standardized Testing\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kOLwDBcgSjs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>The Science Teacher<\/em> says that one way to increase engagement and to assess students is by incorporating more <strong>pictures<\/strong> and <strong>images<\/strong> into your classroom (Brunsell, 2011). When provided with a series of images, students could <strong>arrange<\/strong>, <strong>sequence<\/strong>, or <strong>match<\/strong> images together to show comprehension of a concept. Images could also be a great way to <strong>generate discussions<\/strong> in the classroom to see where students are in the learning process.<\/p>\n<h2>Can I Have an Example?<\/h2>\n<p>One thing you could do to assess students instead of a test is to have students record a commercial or infomercial about a concept. For example, if you are in a unit about the cells, you could ask students to pick their favorite organelle (or assign everyone a different one) and ask them to create a commercial stating why a consumer should want to have that organelle. They can be as creative as they want while still showing that they understand the material.<\/p>\n<p>A rubric for this could look like this:<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/uni.edu\/ietti\/impact\/experiences_in_inquiry_secondary\/evaluation\/presentation_rubric1.gif?resize=496%2C470&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Image result for science presentation rubric\" width=\"496\" height=\"470\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The rubric still assesses whether the student understands the material, but allows them to show it in their own way.<\/p>\n<h2>Differentiation<\/h2>\n<p>To differentiate for ELL students, students could be put in pairs or groups so that they can take their time to work through the language. Also, many visuals could be used so that the concepts are still shown, but not necessarily through spoken language.<\/p>\n<p>For visually impaired students, an option for a podcast could be included and the rubric could be adjusted in the graphics category.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Assessments don&#39;t have to be anxiety-inducing! Look into this to post to see other ways to gauge student progress in the classroom! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/scienceteaching?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#scienceteaching<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NSTA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NSTA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AnnMacKenzie?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AnnMacKenzie<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/EDT432?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#EDT432<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Margaux Haiber (@margaux_haiber) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/margaux_haiber\/status\/1113555049563738113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 3, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Brunsell, E., &amp; Horejsi, M. (2011). Science 2.0: Picture This Assessment.\u00a0<i>The Science Teacher,<\/i>\u00a0<i>78<\/i>(1), 10-10. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.miamioh.edu\/stable\/24122188<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Whenever a student hears assessment, they immediately think &#8220;Oh no&#8230;a test.&#8221; The anxiety and stress begins. Or you may have some students say &#8220;Oh thank <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2019\/04\/something-fun-but-i-thought-you-said-we-were-being-assessed\/\" title=\"Something Fun??? But I Thought You Said We Were Being Assessed??\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2517,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2517"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2084"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2085,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2084\/revisions\/2085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}