8/3/2019 Edu Reflection #5

1/2

Jorge Merino

Professor Coats

EDU-106

March 31, 2011

EDU Reflection #5

What is the purpose of assessment? Due to many scary laws being passed and the

constant fear for new teachers of keeping their jobs, assessment isnt guiding students

understanding of curriculum, but the number on the standardized test. This is essentially taking

the necessity of purpose, which should be felt by the student, away and making them feel like

just another slot in the grade-book. Assessment is used to help students learn and feel confident

doing so.

Even the most valid and reliable assessment cannot be regarded as high quality if it

causes a student to give up, (Stiggins). In sports, there is an invisible line between the

successful athletes and their fans. Their fans being the athletes who know that they arent

successful and know the statistics of the successful athletes and what they do for practice. You

will never hear the successful athlete speak like this of the unsuccessful athletes, because they

are focused on their progression and naturally dont hinder their success by worrying about

others. The same thing happens in education because you will hear the kids who dont learn as

well talk about the student who is the best at math or who writes the best essays, but like in

sports you will not hear the student who is good at essays talk about the student who is not good

at them because they are focusing on progressing. I have been able been able to generalize these

8/3/2019 Edu Reflection #5

2/2

observations because I am that successful athlete and I used to be that student who was not good

at school. As I look back I used to hold myself back in school because of constant failures and

acceptance that I couldnt do certain things in school.

Just like in my example above the unsuccessful athletes dont think they can be

successful because they base their learning of ability off of successful athlete and dont try to

find a way of learning that will work for them. Just like athletes, students are different in the way

they learn and express understanding. Like explained in the articles and what I have learned from

experiences in the field, helping a student find the way they learn best or by assessing them and

finding it for them by trial and error, which is used especially with special education students.

Mrs. Clancy has students work in both small groups and on their own, along with three other

students to bounce ideas off and help each other. She does this because she knows that some kids

learn better on their own to challenge themselves and others need more guidance. I was coming

to understand that learning is multidimensional and that assessment could help me understand

learners as multidimensional as well, (Tomlinson). Many teachers want to spark an interest in

their students and raise their self-esteem by adapting different assignments like giving students a

choice of tests, whether to write an essay or multiple choice test. Another example would be

making a poster for a project or a power-point. By doing this teachers allow for students to use

the grading assessment that will show their understanding best and give teacher a better chance

to give student positive feedback.