Of all the things that stood out in the reading for this week, the emphasis on making assessments authentic and useful was high on my radar. In UbD, we find yet another acronym: GRASPS.
Real-world Goal
Meaningful Role
Authentic or Stimulated real-world Audience(s)
Contextualized Situation
Student-generated Culminating Products and Performances
Consensus-driven Performance Standards
Even if you can't remember what GRASPS stands for, it might help to think that you want assessments to evaluate how well students grasp what you've taught. Real-world applications may not always seem easy, but it can be done. I remember that when I was in language courses in grade school and high school, my teachers made sure that we contextualized the words we were learning. We put on fashion shows, labeling the clothing articles and writing descriptions to read during each person's walk. Not only was that fun to participate in, it also helped us develop public speaking skills. Instead of having us arbitrarily filling out worksheets that required us to label different clothing items, we worked on a project that made us think about how to use our newfound vocabulary.
It's important to be flexible when it comes to how students demonstrate their understanding. Assessments like rubrics allow for multiple approaches while still demonstrating content goals. When students have a choice, they become more relaxed about the "final" assessment. I encourage you all to think back to times when you were allowed to decide how to go about a final project and to look at the assessments your mentor teachers are giving.
When is it time to give them options? Depending on the educational goal, what type of assessment should be used? How can units be assessed over time? Food for thought. We'll talk more about this on Monday.
Cheers!
xx
J
So when I think of good assessment, the first that that comes to mind is a model that revolves around not just information recall, but more importantly, on the students’ ability to apply their knowledge in context and maybe even solve complex problems with it. There is an old saying in education that says rather than “teaching to the test”, we should instead “test what we teach.” In addition, assessments should evolve throughout the semester to accommodate the needs of the students. What I mean by that is that instead of just providing a student with a score, it should also inform the student on what they need to do to improve through good feedback.
ReplyDeleteJaymie, thank you for highlighting the GRASPS acronym. I believe that providing hands-on activities and opportunities for real-life application of what we are teaching is an essential part of being an effective educator. I like the grasps approach as it encourage us (educators) to keep in mind our students’ needs and prioritize on the aspects of our lessons that will encourage their application in life.
ReplyDeleteHi Jaymie,
ReplyDeleteI like your mention of making assessments/activities "fun" in the classroom. Obviously "fun" isn't necessarily the goal, however making things interesting is. Now clearly we cannot incorporate real-life activities for every single lesson, however creating such scenarios for big overview ideas is a great idea. How much more will students truly "understand" what they have learned if they can apply it to a real-life situation as opposed to answer questions about it on a quiz? This relates to your point about being flexible in allowing students how to demonstrate their understanding. If we allow students to apply what they have learned to real-life scenarios, there are a variety of roles to be used, and therefore students can work together to use their strengths to be part of the group.
Hey Jaymie,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is equally as important to be just as flexible in your assessments as you are in your instruction, but still find common ground to have honest assessments as well. That is pretty much the aim of the GRASPS acronym I think, insuring that students are learning the material that you are required to assess them on. I think the letters of the acronym are a little off and they cheated to get it to say GRASPS, but I think that is besides the point on whether or not it is effective.
Hello Jaymie,
ReplyDeleteI also like the GRASPS idea. If we do not teach students things that they can use in real life, then what is the point of teaching them anything? School-life only lasts for so long and we must teach students to be active participants in our society. By assessing through authentic assessments with GRASPS, we can teach students to be better citizens, and make better decisions in their lives, which I think is one of the ultimate goals of education.
Hi Jaymie,
ReplyDeleteJust like the other classmates have mentioned already, the GRASPS frame could be really useful when assessing students’ understanding. Depending on the student and whether or not the student is a highly advanced learner or a student who struggles, “ Both students should be expected to demonstrate genuine understanding of essential principles in real-world situations.”(pg.70) I do believe that by connecting the concepts or ideas learned in class to real life situations could help students not only to remember what it is they learn better, but also to apply or relate it to their own lives. I think that students will more likely grasp a concept better if they are given a choice in the way they could be assessed, and of course the choices should all value and why not challenge the students’ understanding at different levels.
Hi Jaymie,
ReplyDeleteNice post. I agree with the part of having real world applicable goals in the lessons to make them connect to the students. I also enjoy talking about flexibility in the classroom. By giving students a variety of options, it makes the learning more effective for all the learners you may have in the classroom, giving them all opportunities for success.
I agree that it is important to give students options because as chapter 5 said "students vary in the manner by which they best show what they have learned" and this best works when applying differentiated instruction. Allowing students to choose their type of assessment will allow them to highlight their strengths. I do also think it is beneficial to use real-world applications in the classroom because this will get students' attention and keep them engaged.
ReplyDeleteHey Jaymie-
ReplyDeleteI agree- it is so important for us to be flexible, especially when it comes to grading. Not only do students become more relaxed when they are given a choice, they are given agency to decide how they are going to demonstrate their learning and how they are going to focus it. The more often we are able to give them a choice, the better.
However, there are times when we need something specific out of them. For example, a written paper assessment. I liked in the book the tic-tac-toe idea- where the format of the assessment is set and the students can choose which type of that specific format they want to do.
Hey Jaymie,
ReplyDeleteI really like the flexibility that your teacher showed by allowing the assessment to be so non-traditional. This definitely shows the importance to assess our students in a way that helps them show us their understanding instead of how well they can take an exam. Just like we discussed in class, when creating a lesson plan, it is valuable to think of the assessment first and work backwards so that the content taught matches what they receive a grade on.
Jaymie,
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to hear about the examples that your language teacher did for your class to really understand and "grasp" the material. The idea of having the ability to choose a way to be assessed is great to ease the anxiety that many high school (and college students face.) But the problem is the impact to the teacher, if a teacher is teaching material and many students go about different ways to be assessed a teacher has to come up with a rubric to every different way, which would end up being time consuming to grade (which is something we as college students know is a hassle when professors take time to grade.) Nevertheless, it is important to give flexibility when it comes to benchmarks or checkpoints to see if students understand and grasp the material, when you see students with different understanding that's a great time to find different ways to alter your teaching. Once you and every student is clearly on the same page you should expect something similar from every student, for example, a paper, portfolio, etc.
Student choice is important in the classroom. When it comes down to assessments, having students pick their own way of being assessed makes sense. In my observations and even in my own high school experience, I have seen students complain about and fail at writing an essay but excel at making a video and vice versa. I believe giving students a choice in their assessments makes the classroom more engaging and beneficial.
ReplyDeleteFrom my personal experience when students sere given the opportunity to participate in the creation of rubrics it went over really well. Students possessed a copmpetitive spirit that helped raise the bar of expectations.
ReplyDelete