Throughout my building, I am one of the teachers who is labeled an “Outside thinker.” As I attended a workshop yesterday, I was told that I am the epitome of the phrase “think outside the box.” And rightly so, throughout this school year, I have been trying a variety of new tools and tricks and have had amazing success with them. I think it would be a good idea to have students build a portfolio throughout their course and have them tie in the NETS-S standards as part of their portfolio. My strategies this year have been focused primarily on project based learning through differentiated lessons and activities, which has made each student’s learning experience quite unique. As the semester is winding down, I am starting to think of final assessment methods to coincide with the learning methods we have used throughout the term. As I was doing so, I realized that it would be quite beneficial for students to plan out and build their portfolio throughout the year.
One of the Virginia SOL’s options students can use is demonstrate their mastery of the standards is to create a binder that demonstrates their understanding of the materials in the course. As I read more about differentiation and hear several views on the matter, I realize this style of learning is quite beneficial for students, so that they can demonstrate their abilities in other methods than standard based assessments. Using a portfolio would be quite interesting to cover all standards, not just the science content standards, but also the NETS-S as well. In order to do this, I would have a list of the standards and have the students fill in a way they want to be assessed to cover each standards, and a reason as to why. This way students could plan out their learning, as well as suggest various forms of technology we could use as a class to complete various projects as well.
I am still toying with the idea, but I think it could have a great deal of potential in the future if I can organize my thoughts more effectively.
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Travis,
ReplyDeleteThis is also the epitome of authentic assessment. There are countries who use portfolio-based assessment to measure progress as opposed to standardized testing. The results are increased capacity for achievement in math, science, language, history, the arts, technical and physical education. Creation is the main reason for this - once a student masters instruction well enough to create new items or ideas, he or she can solve educational problems in a new and exciting way. This idea is awesome, and totally worth the effort you will spend to integrate it. Good luck - keep us posted!
-Stephen St. Georges
This is a great idea. As I was reading about your plan, I thought back to when I was a young student and my mother created a big portfolio of all of the work I did during the school year. Unfortunately, I do not have it now. But, it would be a wonderful thing to look back on now and see what I had done. Same for your students. They will be able to reflect on what they did in your class ten, fifteen, twenty years from now. Also, since they are having to meet every standard, your principal can look at any one student's portfolio to see how effective you are as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of using a portfolio to assess the student's progress toward the standards is a wonderful idea. Many times testing alone does not truly give an assessment of how well the student knows the material. Students are always more excited about learning material when they can play to their strengths. Students creativity is increased when they are given the freedom in how they demonstrate their knowledge. Your thinking outside the box is very beneficial to your students.
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