As long as I have been a World Language teacher, I have had a love/hate relationship with the word "assessment." I can certainly understand the benefit of having an easy-to-grade test that gives you a meaningful score (percentage which matches the traditional grading system of most schools in the United States) at the end of a term, especially when you start teaching new students the next day. Paper and pencil multiple choice tests are easy to grade and they can and do tell me something about what my students know, but they don't tell me what my students can do.
My goal as a language teacher, is to teach my students to listen, read, write and speak in German. A multiple choice test can tell me if students understood the main ideas of an audio or written text, but cannot tell me if my students can write or carry on a meaningful conversation. So although they may be more difficult to create and more time-consuming to grade, I have spent a considerable amount of time developing a group of assessments to supplement my multiple choice and short answer tests including role plays, projects, and journals. My current assessments give me a better picture of both what my students know (understand in German) and can do (in German). So "assessment" and I are on pretty good terms most of the time now.
However, as a 21st century language teacher, my responsibility is greater than teaching my students how to communicate successfully in German. My responsibility now also includes preparing my students to be risk-takers, to be flexible and adapt to changes, and to be able to use, evaluate, and create using technology. Which brings me back to my "challenging" relationship with "assessment." How exactly do I integrate more 21st century skills into my German curriculum and how then do I assess them?
I've already started the task of integrating 21st century skills into my German curriculum. I'm taking an online class on developing 21st century skills, I've developed my own framework of 21st century skills, and I've discovered many free tools that I can use with my students. The wheels in my head seem like they are constantly turning about how I can now integrate technology into many of my existing lessons and projects, and I've been brainstorming some new lessons and projects as well. This task seems exciting and not so daunting.
Yet assessing 21st century skills seems very daunting. How exactly do I document that my students engaged in higher level thinking skills and contributed equally while working on a wiki? What are the characteristics and qualities of an excellent podcast? How will I assess how my students use an emerging technology in six months that doesn't even exist today? Thankfully, all of these questions do not have to be answered overnight. And I do have some ideas about where to start.
1. Some of the tools I am already using can be "tweaked" to incorporate the evaluation of 21st century skills. The rubrics I am using for my performance assessments can be redesigned to include categories such as "collaborative effort" and "use of multimedia tools." I can use student portfolios (or even better--e-portfolios) to document students' development of skills, reflections on their learning, and growth over time.
2. There are some resources out there to help me. Partnership for the 21st Century Skills has launched "Route 21" which provides resources for teaching and assessment. Although the project and site are relatively new, a search for "assessment" brings 5 pages of results. One of the most inspiring was a sample e-portfolio created by a 15 year-old female student. Dr. Helen Barrett has also collected many samples of e-portfolios created by K-12 students, college students, faculty, and education students which can serve as guides for me. (To access her links, click here.) And I'm following the blogs of my colleagues as well.
3. I can collaborate in person and online with other educators facing the same challenges of integrating 21st century skills and then assessing them.
4. I can be patient and realize that teaching (and life in general) is a process that involves making decisions based on best practices, taking a risk, reflecting on experiences, being receptive to feedback, revising as necessary, adapting to each situation, and trying again, if necessary!
While "assessment" and I may be heading through a few rocky passes, I think we'll work them just fine.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like the way you are thinking out loud here. It is clear to me that you have a “game plan” for approaching 21st century assessment in a cool, calm, and collected manner. You are such a pro!!! I admire the way you are assimilating course content and applying it to your own teaching. I am inspired by your ideas and reflections. I think that your point about collaboration is so important. We are not alone! Every educator who is taking on these challenges has the same questions and issues regarding effective 21st Century assessment. As a fellow language teacher, I will be very interested to know the techniques and methods for assessment that you will develop this year.
ReplyDeleteI echo your comments and Aron's. You have a great start in that you are open to new ideas and tools of the 21st century "variety." You have obviously learned a great deal from this class and your own personal reflections and research, and that is inspiring. You're a "teacher's teacher!"
ReplyDeleteI also agree that assessment of these skills is more daunting and challenging than playing with the tools and techniques themselves. There is a learning curve, but the most important thing is that we all get out there and just try some of this stuff. All of us have experienced assessments that haven't worked, but so what? You move on and learn from it. I love that you're not satisfied with pencil and paper assessments. That could be so tempting in a language class. You can't say "Okay, you know the German word for 'hello.' Let's move on"! I was a Spanish student, but even I know German must be so much more than that.