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Scoop.it!
"Peter H. Reynolds, creativity advocate and best-selling author and illustrator, and co-founder of FableVision Learning, has created a new animated short called The Testing Camera — a whimsical poke at high-stakes, standardized testing and a reminder that real assessment is as easy, and — at the same time — as challenging as getting to really know the gifts and talents of every child." 
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Scoop.it!
Performance assessments are real-world scenarios that reflect the ambiguity of real-world challenges. They require higher-order thinking and problem solving. They are concluded with authentic performance.
Beth Dichter's insight:
One key part of the Common Core is performance assessments. One question many may have is just what is performance assessment. This post provides a number of descriptions of performance assessments including ones from ETS, five criteria from Wiggins and McTighe based on Understanding by Design and ASCD. Performance tasks may include project-based learning, drawings, videos, and more. There is also a discussion on four reasons to use performance assessment. They are: * Personalized Learing * Formative Assessment * Competency Education * Standards-based Education For more information click through to the post.
niftyjock's curator insight,
January 8, 2014 4:18 PM
Would role-plays fit into Performance Assessment?
Scoop.it!
"Publishing student thinking can be among the most powerful ways to improve learning. There are a variety of reasons for this, but the biggest reason is that the 'threat' of publishing moves the lodestone from the classroom to the 'real world.' This, of course, changes everything."
Beth Dichter's insight:
The post continues to explore what should be published, noting that "finished products and the thinking process itself are two very different things." Why publish? Think of it as a process of authentic experience. Students like to have the ability to see their work online and have others respond to it. The post provides a table that lists 25 apps that range from "videos to graphics, blogging to concept mapping" across many platforms. This is interactive and links to edshelf where you may learn more about the app. In addition there is a list of 27 tools (many of which are listed inthe table).
Scoop.it!
This post links to a SlideShare presentation that looks at educator "best practice" as well as student choice and Bloom's Taxonomy when it comes to designing digital lessons for assessment. When we look at digital lessons our goal is to meet the standards, and the tools we choose should help us enhance, extend and reinforce the material. This is an excellent example and a rubric is included.
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Scoop.it!
"Wherever we are, we’d all like to think our classrooms are “intellectually active” places. Progressive learning (like our 21st Century Model, for example) environments. Highly effective and conducive to student-centered learning. But what does that mean? The reality is, there is no single answer because teaching and learning are awkward to consider as single events or individual 'things'..."
Beth Dichter's insight:
Have you thought about what the characteristics of a highly effective learning environment are? This post may provide many ideas for you. Several of the characteristics are listed below. You will find many more in the post as well as some detailed descriptions. * The students ask the questions—good questions. Do your students know how to ask good questions? Do you know how to teach them to ask good questions? Are they supported when they ask questions? * Ideas come from a divergent sources. Are we asking students to use multiple sources and to see more than one view of an issue? * Criteria for success is balanced and transparent. This is a tougher one to meet (based on the post). Do your students understand the criteria for success? As we come to the end of this school year this is a great time to reflect and think about what we might change next year. Looking through these 10 characteristics may lead you to some changes in your classroom next year.
Henrietta Marcella Paz-Amor's curator insight,
June 17, 2014 11:15 AM
What are the characteristics of an effective learning environment? Read on... 
Ruby Day's curator insight,
June 18, 2014 3:24 PM
These criteria really outline some solid principles that should direct our planning and thus be evident in our learning environments. Principles such as: student enquiry, work readiness, personalised learning, flexibility, authentic and transparent assessment. I like the focus on critical thinking here :) 
Sue Alexander's curator insight,
June 21, 2014 5:02 PM
Great scoop Beth. I love the goal of "intellectually active" classrooms.
Scoop.it!
"Emphasizing students need to learn proper grammar can sometimes feel like we are talking about 20th century skills because, in this day and age, we seem to focus on STEM, the 4 Cs and 21st century technology skills. I appreciate the importance of all these topics.. but being able to communicate effectively through writing is truly a basic life skill every person in this world needs. Being able to utilize good grammar is absolutely essential..."
Beth Dichter's insight:
NoRedInk has made many changes to their website and if you have not looked at it recently you may want to travel over and check it out. The site is to help students learn writing and grammar skills. Now you can: * Create assignments and quizzes without doing any grading * Target Common Core skills using your students’ interests * Provide students with unlimited help whenever they need it * Track growth using our color-coded heat maps To help students stay engage they "generate questions from each student’s favorite celebrities, hobbies, TV shows, and friends." When it is time for an assessment of student work they will "drag in commas, click words to capitalize them, throw out unwanted punctuation, and edit the text directly" resulting in a more authentic assesment. And as we are asked to personalize instruction this site will help in the areas it covers. To go directly to NoRedInk click on this link: https://www.noredink.com/
Jennifer Hurley-Coughlin's curator insight,
September 10, 2013 3:43 PM
We used this site last year a lot and were really hoping for new strands. The kids love the personalization.
Scoop.it!
From
digitales
"When you reflect on digital products in your classrooms or see student work created with technology tools at conferences, try to peer past the technology glitz and ask questions about rigor. Does the content have substance worth sharing? Are your students’ digital products demonstrating what they know and deeply understand about the topic beyond existing facts? Or are their digital products primarily demonstrating the exploration and acquisition of technology skills?"
Scoop.it!
"These days it seems lots of "Education Reformers" and politicians what to assess students (and teachers) through more and more standardized tests. But that's not how we assess someone at their job. People are assessed in their jobs in their performance on the tasks for their job. We should do the same for students. We need to assess their ability to complete tasks and apply what they have learned to more than some multiple choice, standardized, made by some big corporation test."
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Peter Reynolds shares one view of how students may feel in the high stakes testing environment that exists in schools today. The movie may bring a tear to your eye. The video is short, about 4 minutes, and there is also a poster (shown above). This video could be a great way to begin a discussion on authentic learning and why it is important.