The Impact of Formative Assessment on Student Learning - Research Paper Example

Primary Education: Identification of 3 targets associated with pedagogy in preparation for 8 week teaching experience in a mainstream primary setting Nowadays, there are many forms of classroom management, and ways of assessing hat the students have learned in such as way that the path to communication between the students and their practitioners remains always open. Some of these methods such as 'circle time' have the purpose not only to teach the children a certain knowledge , but to create critical thinkers and individuals who can master their knowledge ; as the same time, these methods also show how it can affect the relationship between the student and the practitioners during the learning process. In this paper I will first discuss the use of use 'circle time' to develop aspects of my (practitioner's) classroom management; the I will refer to questioning children using 'open' questions effectively and confidently and present the formative assessment; also I will discuss about how children select a talk partner and give children a chance to talk between themselves and reflect upon the question and their answer before answering the teacher's 'open-ended' questions ; usually , this encourages them to become reflective learners and to take ownership of their learning experiences. The analysis will be done in presenting the implications that these three teaching targets may have on the practitioner. It well know that circle time is "a group activity in which any number of people (although anything up to about twenty is most practical) sit down together with the purpose of furthering understanding of themselves and of one another." Usually the practitioners engage in this sort of normal activity with the purpose of "building bridges", enhancing the dialogue between teachers and students or among the students themselves. According to teachers net, this technique that practitioners undertake seems to work for elementary and secondary students, but the practitioner needs to pay attentions to the cases when the circle time does not works and "avoid pitfalls". "A Circle time has known a lot history and since that has developed into three guiding principles that practitioners usually follow when using it; for instance, "Circle time is a space within the school curriculum into which each person comes with unconditional acceptance. It is not the place for judgment or coercion. It provides an opportunity to learn and explore through the discussion of experiences and individuality ". The use of circle time must be employed in such a way that the practitioner does not overuse it and is aware of the children's needs (for example, there are "no barriers" among the participants). Also, when working in circle time the teacher must set up certain rules for the circle time to functions. Such rules are "only one person is to speak at any one time", as well as avoiding embarrassing subjects and respecting one another. There are many ways in which circle time can affect the practioner. Specifically, during that time the teacher is creating a new environment in which the children are the leaders, and the teacher's role comes second, unless he or she is required to intervene. In addition to that, the teacher should be able to "demonstrate the skills of emotional awareness"; that is to show who he or she is and to set the role model for the entire class. At the same time, there are issues that a practitioner must be aware of such as identifying if time is spent inefficiently, and finding ways to deal with that (for example creating more space in the circle); or showing sensitivity where matters of "disclosure or confidentiality are concerned" ( for instance, a child's health or personal issue). Furthermore, the teacher must deal with whatever resources are available and try to do the best of it. Benefits such as the following have emerged from using the circle time: "Increased levels of self-motivation among pupils Enhanced communication between pupils and between pupils and staff Greater social and community awareness among pupils Enhanced self-esteem and self-respect among pupils Greater skills of assertion among pupils Increased ability to empathies with others Heightened abilities to behave altruistically Improved focus on the spiritual, moral, social and cultural dimension of the curriculum". Regarding the second target, the formative assessment, this is a "time consuming exercise", and its popularity has decreased over the years according to Alice Bone in her article "The impact of formative assessment on student learning." It is known that usually formative assessment does not reflect a student's grade; rather, it is a form of learning experience. With respect to the practitioner, there exist many forms of a assessing a student's knowledge rather than just by giving him or her "piece of work". Usually, it is recommended that another form of assessment such as a good tutorial for example, where the numbers are not too big, and the tutorial is structured in such a way that it represents a powerful form for "exploring the understanding of the participants." Nevertheless, as it was mentioned previously such methods of formative assessment for providing feedback are more and more reduced due to the increasing number of students. However, even in this case, a model has been developed by the Student Enhanced Learning through Effective Feedback (SENLEF) in order to provide the formative assessment feedback. This enhances the following recommendations such as: "Facilitates the development of self-assessment (reflection) in learning Promotes peer and tutor dialogue around learning Helps clarify what good performance is (goals, criteria, expected standards) Provides opportunities to close the gap between current and desired performance Is responsive to the learners' needs Ensures consistency across assessors about criteria and standards Encourages positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem." We notice that this model represents a mix of the most important elements for formative assessment: first of all, it focuses on self-assessment and on individual learning; next, it encourages the dialogue between the practitioner and among the students; thirds, it provides a good clarification of the assessment criteria with respect to the goals, and standards expected by the practitioner when it comes to the students' assessment. In addition to that it creates the appropriate environment for the enhancing of the performance, being as the same time a" responsive to the learners' needs"; it also provides a steady criteria of standard for the assessors and encourages a positive attitude among practitioner and students so that it builds self-esteem. Going further to the third target which is the 'open-ended' questions we state that this type or testing usually enforces the open communications not only between the student and the teacher, but also between the peers. For instance, in Mathematics the use of open -ended questions provides the teacher or the practitioner with feedback regarding the communications of the mathematical thinning of the student, but also with what open-ended questions content must be. In the case of Mathematics five important rules have been identified when it comes to asking open-ended questions; they questions should: "- Involve significant mathematics - Elicit a range of responses. - Require communication - Be clearly stated. - Lend itself to a scoring rubric" Specifically, in the case of Mathematics, the open-ended questions may help students as well as practitioners communicate freely and openly about real world issues such as how Mathematics can represents the phenomena. When it comes to the teachers it is important that the questions be structured in such as way that the answers is not simply a number or a yes/ no answer, but the result of a critical thinking process. The advantage to it is that in this way the student may experience the joy that comes with learning mathematical facts rather than just memorizing some sort of information for the sake of the grade. Another advantage of the open-ended question when it comes to students and educators is that "when students are required to communicate their reasoning processes, we have a better chance of understanding what they know and can apply it to a given problem." In addition to that an open collaboration between the practitioners and the students during the open-ended questions help the students realize the educator's expectations while giving teachers the sense of where their students are in terms of their knowledge. As we have seen so far the final purpose of the open-ended questions is to enhance participation among the students regardless of whether how these questions are graded (like giving some partial credit is the student is familiar with part of the answer) In conclusion, we have noticed that all three targets 'circle time', the 'formative assessment', as well as 'the open-ended ' questions represents some for of classroom management, and some fort of evaluation the student's knowledge, of enhancing communication between the students as well as between the students and their practitioner. These methods' ultimate purpose is to help students reflect more on what they have learned and become owners of their learning experience. Works Cited Teacher Net, A virtuous circle. http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/teachingandlearning/library/circletime/ Instructional Development Experiences, Applications and Solutions for Assessment for Learning, Assessment Methods, October 2005. http://celt.ust.hk/ideas/afl/Mexam/index.html Open-Ended Assessment in Math, Characteristics of Open-Ended Questions. Alison Bones, The Impact of Formative Assessment on Student Learning, 2006. http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/2006/issue3/bone3.html. Read More