TESL 0140 Assignment 3: Self-Evaluation
TESL 0140 – Assignment 3: Self-Evaluation
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Your goal
for this course:
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How are you
going to learn it?
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How will
you know you have achieved it?
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How will
you demonstrate that you have learned it?
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Notes:
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GOAL 1: I
hope to be able to effectively use resources and strategies to assess the
needs of my students and evaluate their progress.
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I
will use the assigned readings, various assignments and class discussions to
educate myself on suitable methods. I also plan to use my PLN and discuss
with them how they approach assessment and evaluation in their own
classrooms.
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I will be able to look back at the assignments I
have completed and reflect on how I’ve used different approaches to
assessment and evaluation. In addition to this, I will be able to apply what
I have learned to my own teaching situations in the future.
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I will use the skills I have acquired over the
next four weeks and apply them to a specified teaching context in Assignment
4.
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I will set aside time each day in the evening to
complete the necessary readings and research for this course, about an hour
each day.
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GOAL 2: I
hope to be able to distinguish the differences between formative assessment
and summative assessment and to incorporate them properly into my lessons.
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I
will complete the assigned readings and do additional research to educate
myself on the two forms of assessment and how they can be implemented.
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I will be able to incorporate both forms of assessment
in a variety of ways using a wide range of approaches suitable to the context
at hand.
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I will apply the knowledge I have learnt when
completing Assignment 4.
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GOAL 3: I
hope to be able to properly assess assessment and evaluation tools, to decide
whether or not they are appropriate for my given situation.
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I
will look at the assigned readings, especially focussing on those from unit 3
and do additional research to better inform myself.
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I will have successfully taken an assessment tool and
critique it’s effectiveness for a particular situation (Unit 3, Activities 1
and 3).
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I will be able to complete activities 1 and 3 from Unit
3: How Do I Assess What Should Be Assessed? In addition to this, I will be
able to apply this knowledge to Assignment 4.
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As I look over the learning goals I
set for myself at the start of the course and compare them to where I am now,
it really gives me an invaluable perspective on what I have been able to
achieve over the past four weeks. While things don’t always go exactly as
planned, I feel that overall, I was able to meet the criteria I set out to
complete.
When I first registered for the
course, I had already taken a few TESL classes and had touched slightly on the
topic of assessment and evaluation. However, my knowledge was limited, and I
really did not know much about the different types of assessment and evaluation
that exist. In fact, until taking this course, I had simply assumed assessment
and evaluation were one in the same! As I reflected on my learning, I decided
to go back and look at the lesson plans I had put together for three of my
former TESL classes. One thing I noticed is that although I had incorporated
some assessment methods, I was unaware of the different purposes of each
assessment method, whether that assessment be informal or formal, formative or
summative. With this knowledge, I now know that formative assessments track a
student’s progress and guide them in their learning, whereas summative
assessments look at what a student has been able to accomplish at the end of a
unit or a term. I can now distinguish when it’s best to use informative
assessments such as in-class observations, or when to use formal assessments,
such as weekly quizzes. One point that especially stood out to me (and I will
keep in mind moving forward) is that formative assessment should prepare
students for summative assessment. Essentially teachers are empowering students
to grow through formative assessment. Now that I am aware of the different forms
of assessment and their uses, I can more effectively implement them into any
future activities I prepare.
In addition to being able to know
what type of assessment to use, I’ve learned that it is equally important to
assess the assessment tools that I will be using. I hadn’t given much thought
to it before taking this course, but now that I am aware of this process, I see
that it is invaluable. I find it extremely helpful to now have a guide when
developing or selecting an assessment tool. Validity, reliability,
authenticity, and especially washback are all things I will now look for. One
thing that stood out to me was the concept of ‘face validity’, or how the
students perceive the test. A test can be said to have good face validity when
students are confident it is covering the materials they studied and is testing
their abilities fairly. This isn’t something I had ever considered, and yet it
is so important!
In order to accomplish my goals, I
made sure to look at all the assigned readings, complete the weekly unit
activities, and share my ideas with my peers on the discussion forum.
Furthermore, I was able to find additional resources that helped me to further understand
the course materials. I have listed them at the end of this post. However, one
area where I fell short was reaching out to my PLN to learn more about
assessment and evaluation. Initially when I drafted my learning plan, I had
hoped to speak with some of my friends who are currently ESL instructors.
However, life became busy for me and before I knew it, this course had come to
a close with me not having reached out to them. I think it would have been interesting
to hear their ideas and methods surrounding assessment and evaluation. With
that said, not all is lost, because there is nothing preventing me from
speaking to them in the future about assessment and evaluation! My journey as
an ESL instructor is only beginning, and I am sure that I will be continuously
be learning and adapting my knowledge along the way.
Holistic
Assessment Rubric:
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Criteria
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Score (out of 9) and Comments:
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(7 – 9 points) I was able
to accomplish all the stated goals through the assigned readings, completing
the various activities, participating in the group discussions, reaching out
to my PLN and doing additional research.
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8/9 points – I was not able
to reach out to my PLN and discuss with them their approaches to assessment
and evaluation. However, I was
able to achieve all of my goals by using the rest of the stated methods.
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(4 – 6 points) I was able
to accomplish most of the stated goals and did so by doing most of the following: reading the assigned readings, completing the various
activities, participating in the group discussions, reaching out to my PLN
and doing additional research.
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(1 – 3 points) I was not
able to accomplish most of my goals and put little effort into achieving
them. I failed to do most of the following: reading the assigned readings,
completing the various activities, participating in the group discussions,
reaching out to my PLN and doing additional research.
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Helpful Resources:
AMLE: Formative and
Summative Assessments in the Classroom
Bow Valley College:
Instructor Tools for PBLA
West Virginia Department
of Education: Examples of Formative Assessment
ESL Council of the
Alberta Teachers’ Association: Understanding ESL Learners: Assessment
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