Assessments are a necessary evil of public instruction. Assessments result in several benefits. First they allow the instructor to rate individual progress. Additional analysis also leads to trends in and across class periods. They show good instructors what needs to be corrected through reteaching and corrective instruction. Furthermore, they allow students to see progress (or lack there of). This can lead to goal setting conversations and actions that bring forth additional progress.
Assessments aren't necessarily finals or big end of quarter exams. It can be a simple exit slip, an observation, a brief conversation, even a yes or no question. They should be performed at often and regular intervals and used to make decisions in the path and pace of instruction.
However, in order effectively proctor an assessment, no matter how minor, there needs to be a culture of assessment responsibilities and actions already in place. Instructors and students need to value the assessment at hand. Feedback needs to be swift, generous, and kind. A classroom of respect needs to be already generated, and the crazy kid needs to be removed.
Case in point:
Today's assessment in 253 was more of the formal kind. Formal assessments are always my least favorite as students struggle the most with them; they find them long, tedious, and unforgiving. Being the end of a quarter and a random district requirement that mandates a pen and paper test rather than project based learning I complied. I don't believe in multiple choice tests. Mostly because I am one of those few that is an excellent guesser. I scored over 1400 on my SATs (prior to the essay requirement) not because I knew those analogies and quadratics but because I am an excellent guesser. I don't like assessing children's guessing abilities, I pretty much already know. So I ask them to tell me what they know on paper, and for those with a true struggle in written expression, I make spoken accommodations. Somehow the crazy was over taken.
To speak on classroom culture, we have a classroom contract. For the most part we are able to abide by the contract. We agreed at the beginning of the year to lift one another up, form collegiality in relationships, and respect one another's opinions. Usually, we are successful at those things. Each period has its separate struggles, but all know the expectations brought forth daily. Before any formal assessment we always visit the contract and discuss which aspects of it are especially important during a testing time. Nothing was different today, but the crazy did come out, regardless of my set forth expectations.
That being said, today's assessment was thirty three short responses on food webs, food chains, and energy transfer. Most questions required reading a diagram or food web. All honestly were review, but some required quite a bit of higher order thinking skills to process and synthesize information about each ecosystem and the counter reactions to issues brought about. Today's manic is one of my highest. This formality should have taken him no longer than twenty minutes. He is well above average on every assessment, and is a knowledge sponge, sometimes taking in things by osmosis alone. No sooner did he sit down than the outbursts begin. He was loud, shouting, "I aint the one!" He was obnoxious, he was downright defiant. Apparently, as he expressed on multiple occasions today, I am "a goofy".
Side note: the new "a goofy" terminology really bothers me. Not necessarily the word used insultingly but the participle before it. By saying a goofy you are referring to a particular person, place, or thing. Which in my mind (maybe I'm old) refers to Disney's Goofy. So if I am a Goofy am I a member of the Goofy family? Which could mean that I am not necessarily like Goofy per say. Wasn't his son quite quick and well put together? Dating myself yet?
Digression aside, his most disturbingly manic behavior was the wave. Every three minutes without fail for nearly thirty minutes straight he would call my name, and when I responded with eye contact he would put up the palm of his hand which said 'HI' on it, then tell me, "I just wanted to say hi." Don't forget there is an assessment going on which students need that calm and serene testing culture to be successful. I used every tool in my teacher tool kit today. From redirection, to ignoring, to peer mentorship, to even sending him on an errand, nothing worked he still insisted on being a distraction and refusing to attempt the assessment. Luckily, the rest of the class managed to pretty effectively ignore him (I use a Ron Clark strategy, that if you're in the mess you're part of the consequence, so usually students don't bother themselves with whoever is manic that day). This particular student thinks going to another class is a reward, so sending him to another teacher is ineffective, as is our office, as the building wide culture is NOT one of any level of discipline. I finally spent the last ten minutes with him standing just outside the door while I stood in the doorway so I could monitor him and give the other 33 students some peace.
My real question is, when does the mentoring of one child (because clearly he was looking for my attention) trump the learning (or in this case assessing) of 33 others? I really struggle with that on a daily basis. Why does one manic get to disturb the learning of others? If your child were a bystandard today how would you feel about my teaching/assessing? If your child was the manic?
Teachers balance so much. From manic outbursts, to hormonal rages, to district mandates, we are constantly juggling and left to make brash decisions about the education of our future generation. I just hope I respected the 33 while trying not to damage the one.
Assessments aren't necessarily finals or big end of quarter exams. It can be a simple exit slip, an observation, a brief conversation, even a yes or no question. They should be performed at often and regular intervals and used to make decisions in the path and pace of instruction.
However, in order effectively proctor an assessment, no matter how minor, there needs to be a culture of assessment responsibilities and actions already in place. Instructors and students need to value the assessment at hand. Feedback needs to be swift, generous, and kind. A classroom of respect needs to be already generated, and the crazy kid needs to be removed.
Case in point:
Today's assessment in 253 was more of the formal kind. Formal assessments are always my least favorite as students struggle the most with them; they find them long, tedious, and unforgiving. Being the end of a quarter and a random district requirement that mandates a pen and paper test rather than project based learning I complied. I don't believe in multiple choice tests. Mostly because I am one of those few that is an excellent guesser. I scored over 1400 on my SATs (prior to the essay requirement) not because I knew those analogies and quadratics but because I am an excellent guesser. I don't like assessing children's guessing abilities, I pretty much already know. So I ask them to tell me what they know on paper, and for those with a true struggle in written expression, I make spoken accommodations. Somehow the crazy was over taken.
To speak on classroom culture, we have a classroom contract. For the most part we are able to abide by the contract. We agreed at the beginning of the year to lift one another up, form collegiality in relationships, and respect one another's opinions. Usually, we are successful at those things. Each period has its separate struggles, but all know the expectations brought forth daily. Before any formal assessment we always visit the contract and discuss which aspects of it are especially important during a testing time. Nothing was different today, but the crazy did come out, regardless of my set forth expectations.
That being said, today's assessment was thirty three short responses on food webs, food chains, and energy transfer. Most questions required reading a diagram or food web. All honestly were review, but some required quite a bit of higher order thinking skills to process and synthesize information about each ecosystem and the counter reactions to issues brought about. Today's manic is one of my highest. This formality should have taken him no longer than twenty minutes. He is well above average on every assessment, and is a knowledge sponge, sometimes taking in things by osmosis alone. No sooner did he sit down than the outbursts begin. He was loud, shouting, "I aint the one!" He was obnoxious, he was downright defiant. Apparently, as he expressed on multiple occasions today, I am "a goofy".
Side note: the new "a goofy" terminology really bothers me. Not necessarily the word used insultingly but the participle before it. By saying a goofy you are referring to a particular person, place, or thing. Which in my mind (maybe I'm old) refers to Disney's Goofy. So if I am a Goofy am I a member of the Goofy family? Which could mean that I am not necessarily like Goofy per say. Wasn't his son quite quick and well put together? Dating myself yet?
Digression aside, his most disturbingly manic behavior was the wave. Every three minutes without fail for nearly thirty minutes straight he would call my name, and when I responded with eye contact he would put up the palm of his hand which said 'HI' on it, then tell me, "I just wanted to say hi." Don't forget there is an assessment going on which students need that calm and serene testing culture to be successful. I used every tool in my teacher tool kit today. From redirection, to ignoring, to peer mentorship, to even sending him on an errand, nothing worked he still insisted on being a distraction and refusing to attempt the assessment. Luckily, the rest of the class managed to pretty effectively ignore him (I use a Ron Clark strategy, that if you're in the mess you're part of the consequence, so usually students don't bother themselves with whoever is manic that day). This particular student thinks going to another class is a reward, so sending him to another teacher is ineffective, as is our office, as the building wide culture is NOT one of any level of discipline. I finally spent the last ten minutes with him standing just outside the door while I stood in the doorway so I could monitor him and give the other 33 students some peace.
My real question is, when does the mentoring of one child (because clearly he was looking for my attention) trump the learning (or in this case assessing) of 33 others? I really struggle with that on a daily basis. Why does one manic get to disturb the learning of others? If your child were a bystandard today how would you feel about my teaching/assessing? If your child was the manic?
Teachers balance so much. From manic outbursts, to hormonal rages, to district mandates, we are constantly juggling and left to make brash decisions about the education of our future generation. I just hope I respected the 33 while trying not to damage the one.
