Assessment:
Assessment is an essential part of education. Teachers can use ‘information about student progress’ (MCEETYA 2008, p. 14) to ‘improve learning outcomes’ (Ferguson 2011, p. 391), and to make informed decisions about future planning and strategies (Godhino 2011, p. 200). This type of assessment is known as ‘assessment for learning’ (Godhino 2011, p. 201). Assessment can also be used to ‘make judgements about students’ achievement of objectives, goals and standards, [this is known as] assessment of learning’ (Godhino 2011, p. 201). Another form of assessment is ‘assessment as learning’ (Godhino 2011, p. 201) which involves students reflecting on their progress.
Assessment can be used as ‘norm-referenced assessment’, comparing the
…show more content…
7). This concern is valid as students and teachers can fall into the trap of focusing on achieving national standards and a high ranking, rather than focusing on whether …show more content…
14). This means teachers will do a large amount of the assessing, but are held accountable through national assessment. The curriculum has achievement standards that ‘provide an expectation of the quality of learning’ (Godhino 2011, p. 203) for particular year levels. This will be used to influence my planning and assessments in order to help my students achieve the expected quality of learning. The Australian curriculum states that the achievement standards for history at a year 9 level, include the ability to ‘explain different interpretations of the past [and to] explain the significance of these events’ (ACARA 2010). The tasks of discussing and analysing these different understandings of ANZAC day, using primary and secondary sources, will enable the students to explain the various interpretations of ANZAc day and its significance to different people.The curriculum also states that students are able to ‘examine sources to compare different points of view [and] develop their own interpretations about the past’ (ACARA 2010). Though critical analysis of articles with opposing arguments, the students will critically examine and compare different points of view. By providing students with information about different views and engaging in dialogue and a reflection task
The Australian Government has made many changes over the years to promote the memory of ANZAC Day. In regards to education, ¬¬¬programs included in schools were put in place whilst society’s view of ANZAC Day has also changed due to an emphasis in the community and wider media . Around 420,
Anzac Day is a significant national event within Australia and it commemorates the anniversary of the foremost military battle that took place on the 25th of April 1915 in Gallipoli. ANZAC signifies Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Furthermore, Anzac Day was battled by the Australian as well as the New Zealand armies throughout the First World War. Moreover, through the articles, “The Anzacs: Military influences on Australian identity”, written by Jed Donoghue and Bruce Tranter, “Postscript: Remembering the Fallen or Reflecting on Fallen-ness?” written by Tom Frames, as well as “ANZAC Day to VP Day: arguments and interpretations” written by Joan Beaumont, Australians appear to be emotionally attached towards Anzac Day, which is a military
Various Authors (2012) Oxford Big Ideas Australian Curriculum History 10, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Victoria
The Australian curriculum has been designed for children in their schooling years from foundation to year twelve. Currently the curriculum has covered four learning areas (English, Mathematics, Science and History) from kindergarten to year ten. “The Australian Curriculum describes knowledge, skills and understanding organised by learning areas.” (ACARA, 2010 d). Each learning area contains a: rationale – describing the nature of learning, aims – the intended result of learning from the curriculum, year level description, strands – interrelated broad organisers for the content in each learning area, content descriptions – describe what teachers are expected to teach, content elaborations – content description sup...
The district is now making all teachers use an assessment tool called iReady. It is a website that assesses students in math and reading. They are first tested on a kindergarten through fifth grade range to find out what they know. Then the program takes that score and determines the right level for the child and they are tested again on the level. Once all students have been assessed the program orders the students from highest to lowest and by average grade level skill they are on: early second grade, middle second grade, late second grade or any other grade. The teacher uses those scores to create her reading groups, math groups and the students she will give extra assistance to. They haven’t officially established how many times and when they will do this iReady assessment but for now they are doing it once a week for forty five minutes. The test also flags if they spent too long or too little time on a question. The ones that spent less than 15 seconds per problem are to go back and do the assessment again.
Assessment has been the greatest challenge in my development as a professional. My coursework as supported my growth in this area, especially in understanding the broad range of assessments used to support students’ growth and development. My courses have also supported my understanding of how ongoing observational assessment and standards-based measures can be used to inform instruction and support the cycle of observation, reflection and planning. Coursework
Stiggins, R. J. (2006, November/December). Assessment for learning: A key to motivation and achievement. Edge, 2, 3-19.
The Australian Curriculum is organised in a few different ways. There are two main design elements, Curriculum content (what the teacher is to teach) and Achievement standards (what the student is to learn). There is also Reporting Framework which incorporates elements of both areas. These elements were designed to provide guidelines as to what would be included in the Australian Curriculum. The Curriculum Content is organised into categories (strands), and are presented with descriptions to report and describe what is to be taught at each year level. Together, these descriptions form the scope and sequence across all covered years of schooling (Foundation to Year Ten). The areas of study covered in each year build upon the previou...
By explaining how people commemorate Anzac and Remembrance Day, what memorial symbols stand for and how the Anzac Legacy is important to Australians, can provide a greater understanding of how Anzac Day and Remembrance Day play a very important role in the history
Assessments are an important part of teaching. Assessments are a good way for teachers to monitor students’ learning and understanding. Knowing students’ level of understanding can help teachers improve students’ learning and guide their instructions. In the future, I plan to continue assessing students in multiple ways such as, asking questions, illustrations and writing to adjust my instruction. I also plan to encourage students to assess their own work so they are involved in their own learning as well as look for ways to “employ technology to support assessment
Evidence – some centres will have their own procedure in place when it comes to gathering evidence and making assessment decision. For example, some centres will require you as an Assessor to have not less than three direct observation sessions with your learner, anything less than 3 will not be acceptable. Sometimes, centres might have a minimum number of times that a criteria has to be covered before it is signed
In the past, assessments were popularly conducted for the purpose of accreditation, but with the growing change in the quality of education, it has become evident that assessments aren’t just products to qualification but as Sieborger (1998) identifies, is that assessment is the process of gathering and interpreting knowledge to make valid and justifiable judgements about the learners performance and the assessors ability to transfer and establish knowledge to the learners. What is pivotal in assessment is that it enhances teaching and learning; it is also the crucial link between learning outcomes, the content that is taught and learning activities. Furthermore, Sieborger (1998) states that assessment is a reciprocal process; as it is used by both learners and teachers to decide where the learners are at in their learning and where they need to go and how best to get there. The characteristics that Sieborger identifies to be contained in assessment are made up of: tasks, exercises, tests and exams, which are set and assessed by educators. There are different methods and uses of assessment that are used in the Education system, the reason for this, is that not all assessments serve the same purpose for its methodologies, the feedback that learners receive needs to correspond with the purpose of the assessment.
Assessments are according to Edglossary.org (2014), “the wide variety of methods that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning process, and skill acquisition of students”. Assessments can be used to identify several important aspects of learning and development. First, they can be used to distinguish a child’s strengths and weaknesses as well as measure specific knowledge and skills. Assessments can also be used to demonstrate what a child has learned and what they understand (“Assessment,” 2014). My opinion of assessment has not changed; however, now I understand how to use assessments that will help ensure that I am providing the most benefits for my students.
As teachers, we have to monitor the progress our students make each day, week, quarter and year. Classroom assessments are one of the most crucial educational tools for teachers. When assessments are properly developed and interpreted, they can help teachers better understand their students learning progress and needs, by providing the resources to collect evidence that indicates what information their students know and what skills they can perform. Assessments help teachers to not only identify and monitor learners’ strengths, weaknesses, learning and progress but also help them to better plan and conduct instruction. For these reasons, ongoing classroom assessment is the glue that binds teaching and learning together and allows educators to monitor their efficacy and student learning.
Through assessment students and teachers are able to determine the level of mastery a student has achieved with standards taught. Both formative and summative assessment should be purposeful and targeted to gain the most accurate data to drive further instruction (Ainsworth, 2010). While this syllabus does a good job of identifying the need for both formal and informal assessments, the way in which this is communicated does not provide enough detail for understanding. Simply listing assessment types does not give any insight into how these assessments fit in the learning process of this course. While some of the assessments mentioned could be common assessments chosen by the school or district to gain insight into the effectiveness of instruction, the inclusion of authentic assessments is most beneficial to students and demonstrates learning in a context closer to that of a work environment (Rovai, 2004). Unfortunately, this particular course, according to this syllabus, relies heavily on quizzes and traditional tests and essays to form the bulk of assessment opportunities. While other activities, such as formative assessments, journaling and discussions are mentioned as possible avenues for scoring, they are given a very low percentage of the overall grade. This shows that they are not valued for their ability to show progression and mastery. If this is indeed the case, this puts the students as a