Some educators feel that there is too much testing in the schools. What would you tell a teacher who says that doing pre and post assessments is just time wasted that could be used for instruction?
I would tell them that teaching without assessing is a waste of time. Without knowing what the students already know you cannot know what needs to be taught, and without assessing what was learned you won't know if your teaching was effective. At least not until it is too late for the students who did not learn what they needed from your instruction. Teaching without assessing is like trying to bake a cake without instructions: you most likely will not get the desired result. Using pre and post assessing you, as a teacher, can move past subjects that the students already know, focus on areas of weakness, and really make your instruction worthwhile all the way around.
April - I would suggest trying informal assessment for some lessons. Informal assessment can take less time and still get you the information you need. You have to assess your students so you know what you need to teach and if they are actually learning. It does not always have to be a formal assessment that take up a lot of time though. It is lot better to use a little of you instruction time to do assessments than waste your time teaching something the students already know or that is completely over their heads.
I would say "you are sadly mistaken, friend." :) I would tell them that pre and post assessments are essential to knowing where to even begin with each student. Testing in schools seems like a necessary evil that teachers don't have much control over. If we want them to do well on those tests and more importantly gain a meaningful education, then we have to teach them according to how they learn and what they already do or don't know by giving preassessments. Post assessments are useful because they tell us what they learned and what they missed from the instruction given. We go from there and differentiate when and where we need to. Pre and post assessments are extremely important. Without them, it would be pointless to even teach.
I would first ask them how they know what children already know and how they know what children learned after the lesson. Then I would tell them the benefits of having pre assessments and post assessments. It would not make a lot of sense to teach without knowing where children are at in their learning and also it would be difficult to teach children without knowing if the children were able to learn and gain the concepts that were taught. I would also tell the teacher that having these assessments does not have to be done in a boring way, but they could make it fun and exciting for the children.
I would tell them that teaching without assessing is a waste of time. Without knowing what the students already know you cannot know what needs to be taught, and without assessing what was learned you won't know if your teaching was effective. At least not until it is too late for the students who did not learn what they needed from your instruction. Teaching without assessing is like trying to bake a cake without instructions: you most likely will not get the desired result. Using pre and post assessing you, as a teacher, can move past subjects that the students already know, focus on areas of weakness, and really make your instruction worthwhile all the way around.
ReplyDeleteApril - I would suggest trying informal assessment for some lessons. Informal assessment can take less time and still get you the information you need. You have to assess your students so you know what you need to teach and if they are actually learning. It does not always have to be a formal assessment that take up a lot of time though. It is lot better to use a little of you instruction time to do assessments than waste your time teaching something the students already know or that is completely over their heads.
ReplyDeleteI would say "you are sadly mistaken, friend." :) I would tell them that pre and post assessments are essential to knowing where to even begin with each student. Testing in schools seems like a necessary evil that teachers don't have much control over. If we want them to do well on those tests and more importantly gain a meaningful education, then we have to teach them according to how they learn and what they already do or don't know by giving preassessments. Post assessments are useful because they tell us what they learned and what they missed from the instruction given. We go from there and differentiate when and where we need to. Pre and post assessments are extremely important. Without them, it would be pointless to even teach.
ReplyDeleteI would first ask them how they know what children already know and how they know what children learned after the lesson. Then I would tell them the benefits of having pre assessments and post assessments. It would not make a lot of sense to teach without knowing where children are at in their learning and also it would be difficult to teach children without knowing if the children were able to learn and gain the concepts that were taught. I would also tell the teacher that having these assessments does not have to be done in a boring way, but they could make it fun and exciting for the children.
ReplyDelete