Thursday, September 23, 2010
Education 107
I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this course so far. I find most of it interesting, however it's still very weird to me to be learning about learning. This could also be why I feel the course can seem difficult, just because it's a hard concept for me to grasp. One thing I do enjoy about the class is blogging. I find it very helpful for me to be able to try and put my thoughts on concepts in this class into my own words in order to better understand them. One thing that I don't really like about this class is that nothing is graded. I find it very difficult to feel okay about this class when I truly don't know how well I am doing. I find it hard to access my own learning when all the concepts are new to me, if that makes sense. I'd much prefer a grade for all assignments and etc, so I could know what I need to do to better myself in this class. I am very much a person who likes deadlines and grades, but this is probably because I've always had them, so i'm so used to it. I am curious to see how I feel about this class in the end because it is such a new experience for me.
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I find it interesting that you feel like your progress in class is hard to validate, without the reassurance of a grade or score. It is easy to understand, as like many others, this is the only grading system we have ever known. Although, I find these new theories of teaching and assesment to fit in quite well with my schema of education, given my special education background (CLT). Maybe this information can help you understand this type of assesment in a more concrete or familiar way (DLT).
ReplyDeleteWhen a label or diagnosis is given to a teacher, to describe a student, the teacher (as all humans) has an itial reaction to make many assumptions. Given Cerebral Palsy, a teacher might say, "this child will need help with writing, room accomodations for a wheel chair, help to use the restroom, etc." What the teacher is not thinking about is how many ways this disability can be displayed within a person. Some people only have a sort of shuffle or gait to their walk while others merely have a tick of some sort. What would really be beneficial for the teacher is to have a description of each child's strengths and weaknesses. What the student actually can do and can not do. I feel like this is really comparable to this new method of assesment we are learning about. Giving a grade or score does not tell a student, parent, or teacher what the student actually knows and what he/she is struggling with. It only says, well this student could be doing a bit better or a lot better but the question remains, "Better at what?" I think the system that is used to assist children's learning needs to be more descriptive and accurate for that matter, instead of using a blanket label to asses a child's understanding. -I hope this information helps a bit.
I agree that it is difficult to assess how well we're doing in class without the grades. I feel like I'm learning a lot and still need room for improvement but I think that it's scary that we don't find out our true grade until the end of the semester.
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