Rethinking Assessments Workshop Reflection

*This post was written with voice typing. I then went back to edit it but I may have missed some things.

Today I went to a workshop at OYIS called Rethinking Assessments. It was geared towards PYP teachers but was accessible to teachers of any program.

Interesting Reactions

Accountability

Self Control

In the beginning of the workshop, we were put in groups; parents, teachers, and students. The question for each of the groups was why do we assess?

I understood this was that we were to answer what is the purpose of assessment for parents and I said accountability. I got a laugh from other teachers in my group. One colleague of mine says that I was being too critical of teachers. 

But from my point of view, if they're paying money to the school, they want to know that their child is getting the best education that they can get.

Don't they want to know that teachers are doing their jobs?

It is entirely possible that I misunderstood the prompt or the directions which is why I said that the prompts and directions should be written on the slides. When a student doesn't hear what is being said they can look at the slide to see what they should be doing.

There were a few times in this workshop where I felt like I was a little off from the other participants. The way that I understood what to do was different from others. My answers sometimes felt very different.

Another time was when we were asked to reflect on an activity that we did we were in a group and we were talking about something. There were a few people in my group and when I wanted to say something I held back. I let others share and then I missed what I was going to speak about, the topic had changed.

When we were asked what skills we used, I said self-control. Everyone thought that was a joke. It wasn't a joke. I actually had to be patient while other people were talking instead of me because I didn't want to talk over them.

And that brings me to my next reflection.

Reflection on Myself

I learn differently

I don't know what it was about this workshop but I what's a little off. My thinking was going in a different direction from the other participants I don't know what it was.

Also, I need time to process. It would be good for me to take a breath once and a while to allow myself time to think.

Reflection on the Environment

The desks were in the same haphazard way they were when the school day ended the day before. 

It made me realize that the room, or environment, should be intentionally set up for each activity. 

Reflection on the Workshop

Allow for more modality

I had to sit in the back of the room because I could not see the whiteboard very well. A lot of the font on the slides was hard to read. There were two problems; 1) it was too small, 2) the colors were not contrasting. I think a lot could be done for readability if the contrast had been better. 

Another thing that could have made the slides better was for the props to write the prompts on the whiteboard or the slide because sometimes I could not hear what was being said and I had no way of knowing without asking another participant. That was not always possible because sometimes others were working or talking with someone else. Instead, teachers can give students or participants a lot more agency if you write the prompt or the question on the slide. 

Another thing that might be good is to add a timer to the slide. That way the timer can be visible for the participants or for students. They don't have to wait or rely on the teacher or be surprised when the timer goes off.

How can I apply this?

When planning lessons I can think through the following questions:

How many students are like me? 

How many are too far from the front? 

How many need time to think? 

How many can't read the screen? 

How many get lost in the directions?

How many have other things going on in their lives?

"The Fall" a Small Moment Example

We are inquiring into small moment stories now in the writer's workshop, and it just so happens that something happened to me that is a small moment. So I wrote about it.

Click the above image to access the book.

Using Google Keep as a Writer's Idea Book

I am in the thick of a course about teaching writing.

One suggestion I learned from this course, and I've heard it before in a workshop on the Readers and Writers Workshop Models, is to have students keep a notebook of ideas for future writings. These ideas, or seeds as I first heard them referred, are just that -- seeds for future stories to grow out of. It's another way of saying curation.

While reading, I thought of what I would do if I were keeping a notebook. In fact, I am keeping a notebook, it's just in the form of this blog. So understanding that I am more digital than paper, got me to think about how I curate content from around the web.

I use Twitter and have an IFTTT recipe set up so my "favorites" on Twitter are saved to a separate blog I keep for me or anyone who is looking for interesting teaching ideas.

That got me thinking about students. I would prefer that students use a notebook. But what if I had students who were able to curate content from the internet? This year in Grade One, it seems like a far-off dream, but I will be teaching Grade Four next year, so teaching curation is on my list.

Two tools came to mind - Google Bookmarks and Google Keep. I don't bookmark much, so aside from messing around with it a little, I don't have much experience with Google Bookmarks. I wonder if bookmarks can be shared.

I do use Google Keep regularly, however. I like how notes can be tagged and colored. I was thinking for a seed journal to introduce students to the Google Keep Chrome Extension that allows you save web content with a click of a button. 

Once content, or seeds, are collected in Keep, they can be tagged and color coded. If students are already using Keep, maybe they could choose a color to use for their writing notes since you can filter notes by color in Keep.

Diigo could be another option. It also allows for tagging and sharing. In Diigo, you can make groups.

Moving Workshops Into The Faculty Lounge

Part of my responsibilities when I was a technology coach was to conduct regular workshops on tech topics as a way to move the faculty forward in their knowledge and skills.

Most of the time, the workshops were during the "lunch hour" (Although this period of time stretched out over two hours. Maybe lunch period would be more suitable?) They were also held after school quite a bit. These periods of time were chosen based on surveys given to teachers, and feedback received from teachers.

At the beginning of the second year, I wondered what would happen if I moved the workshops I delivered the heart of the action, the faculty room.

I wanted there to be people to be in the vicinity. The idea was to have people who thought they did not have the time for the workshops to at least get ideas or tips in passing.