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What Exactly Is "Understanding?" And How Do We Assess It?

Terry Heick's article on the subject of defining and assessing understanding definitely piqued my interest especially with the discussions in class on types of assessment, testing to teach, and learner diversity. The comments made by others further highlighted the point that there really is no test that is one-size-fits all, unfortunately there will be students whose true capabilities or understanding of a particular subject that won't be showcased to their full potential. A couple of comments that I could relate to were:

"As I was reading this article, it reminded me of when I was in high school. I would study and study for a test and still get a B would walk away thinking "But I know this stuff." Sometimes just giving students a paper and pencil test, doesn't give them the opportunity to show us what they really did learn. Yes, it is important they are learning the main objectives and standards, but why limit them to just those. Allow students to show and demonstrate what they have learned instead of using so many "snapshots" to form a grade."-Nym

"...I had this little guy who the teachers claimed had a low IQ--whatever that means. He failed every test even though he seemed to be able to do the class work. When working with him one on one, I found him to be very quick at grasping concepts; he could not only reiterate what he learned, but often he could think deeper about what he was learning. However, this student did not make it past his sophomore year in high school. "School was not a good fit for him," some would say. Sad..."- mkpeterson

The consensus seems to be that a broader definition of understanding in education needs to established or allowed to positively engender the availability/diversity of quality assessments teachers can use to help their students. 

Parts of the article that got my attention:

"Alternatives to Bloom's Taxonomy

Of course, Wiggins and McTighe also helpfully provide what they call "6 Facets of Understanding," a sort of alternative (or supplement) to Bloom's Taxonomy. In this system, learners prove they "understand" if they can:

1. Explain

2. Interpret

3. Apply

4. Have perspective

5. Empathize

6. Have self-knowledge

Robert Marzano also offers up his take on understanding with his "New Taxonomy," which uses three systems and the Knowledge Domain:

1. Self-System

2. Metacognitive System

3. Cognitive System

4. Knowledge Domain

The Cognitive System is closest to a traditional taxonomy, with verbs such that describe learner actions such as recall, synthesis and experimental inquiry.

Solution

Of course, there is no solution to all of this tangle, but there are strategies educators can use to mitigate the confusion -- and hopefully learn to leverage this literal cottage industry of expertise that is assessment.

1) The first is to be aware of the ambiguity of the term "understands," and not to settle for just paraphrasing it in overly-simple words and phrases like "they get it" or "proficiency." Honor the uncertainty by embracing the fact that not only is "understanding" borderline indescribable, but it is also impermanent. And the standards? They're dynamic as well. And vertical alignment? In spots clumsy and incomplete. This is reality.

2) Secondly, help learners and their families understand that it's more than just politically correct to say that a student's performance on a test does not equal their true "understanding;" it's actually true. If communities only understood how imperfect assessment design can be -- well, they may just run us all out of town on a rail for all these years of equating test scores and expertise.

3) But perhaps the most powerful thing that you can do to combat the slippery notion of understanding is to use numerous and diverse assessment forms. And then -- and this part is important -- honor the performance on each of those assessments with as much equity as possible. A concept map drawn on an exit slip is no less evidence of understanding than an extended response question on a state exam.

In fact, I've always thought of planning, not in terms of quizzes and tests, but as a true climate of assessment, where "snapshots" of knowledge are taken so often that it's truly part of the learning process. This degree of frequency and repetition also can reduce procedural knowledge, and allow for opportunities for metacognitive reflection post-assessment, such as the "So? So What? What now?" sequence.

If you are able to show all assessment results -- formal and informal -- for the most visible portion of the learning process, the letter grade itself, learners may finally begin to see for themselves that understanding is evasive, constantly changing, and as dynamic as their own imaginations."

Full article at http://www.edutopia.org/blog/slippery-notion-assessing-understanding-terry-heick

Food For Thought...

How A Good Teacher Becomes Great

01/20/2013, Terry Heick

Good teachers are amazing–and rare.

The ignorance of the Those who can’t, teach mantra is frightening–being a good teacher is an incredible challenge to achieve consistently.

Good teachers use data to drive instruction, know the ins and outs of their curriculum, have refined assessments over and over until they measure depth of content knowledge and not procedural knowledge or some crazy game of remember what the teacher said, or guess what the teacher’s thinking.

They support students in self-directed learning, know how technology actually improves learning, and exude a charisma that makes students eager to learn from them.

They know which assessments are for “show,” and which are for “go”—that is, which look good from 10 feet, and which provide visibility for both the student and teacher where the learning needs to go next.

Data and artifacts of learning for ECE, G/T, and other “special populations” (as if they all wouldn’t benefit from such individualization) are always current and accessible.

Good teachers create positive environments for students where each learner feels safe to share thinking, ask questions, and participate in conversations naturally.

In assignments, learning objectives are clear and within each student’s zone of proximal development—not too easy, not too hard. Resources come at just the right time, as do questions, grouping opportunities, and literacy strategies.

Transfer of knowledge is clear and apparent, backwards-planned for at the beginning of every intentionally planned and intricately-designed learning sequence.

Parents know what’s happening in the classroom as well—not just when report cards come out, but persistently through a combination of technology, visibility relevant work that ends up at home and in the communities, and on conference nights, where that good teacher stays until 8 o’clock to make every learner and learner family feel hear, valued, and understood.

Good teachers also attend staff meetings on time, are active contributors during team meetings, and know when a colleague needs advice, a resource, or just a listening ear.

They don’t break the copy machine with too many copies, submit their attendance on time, and always have all of the forms, training certificates, and documentation when office staff needs it.  They don’t bogart the computer lab, show up to PLC meetings unprepared, or forget to create neat and accessible make-up work for absent students.

During walk-throughs, good teachers make sure everything is exactly as the district wants it—compliance binder near the door, learning targets and essential questions posted clearly, evidence of data use as far as the eye can see, with every student on the edge of their seat ready to comply under the tutelage of such effortless and positive classroom management.

But for a teacher to truly become great, the above isn’t enough.

In fact, becoming a great teacher requires that much of the good teacher code be broken.

How A Good Teacher Becomes Great   

10. By Making Relationships a Priority

Learning should result in personal and social change. This requires personal relationships as much as it does academic progress, no matter what the data tells you.

9. By Showing True Content Expertise

As a teacher, you play many roles: colleague, sounding board, designer, task-master, friend. But lost in the hubbub of recent efforts to improve education seems to be a respect for the teacher as a content expert. Most university programs require very limited demonstrations of content expertise, and the folks that interview you in most K-12 schools and districts have for so long focused on assessment, classroom management, and other significant requirements of the job that their content knowledge, while perhaps not entirely perishable, has proven to wane over the years.

Great teachers are constantly seeking not simply more effective ways to teach, but more ways to understand the nuances of their own content area better themselves.

8. By Striving For Personalization

Differentiation of instruction is an excellent response to learner differences. Different learners have different needs—not just in terms of learning styles, but pace, sequence, and content. In a traditional environment, learners must be brought to the same standards and a similar level of proficiency, which is crude and dishonest. Though full-on personalized learning for every student is still beyond the reach of most educators (and thus students), great teachers strive for personalization of learning experiences.

7. By Always Seeking Meaning

Great teachers seek meaning—in the minds of students, in their content, in the role of the school in a community, in the roles technology should and should not fill in their classroom, and so on. While they honor popular opinion, great teachers independently seek their own meaning for everything they do—and not simply as part of an emotional check-list (Find meaning? Check.), but rather authentically, and with a playful, curious spirit.

6. By Modeling Curiosity

Speaking of curiosity, great teachers model it. Content expertise is crucial, but the tone of that expertise should never sound self-assured or arrogant. Teach like your classroom is a TED Talk, full of inquisitive minds that, while exceptionally bright, probably lack the specific sliver of expertise that you happen to have. By modeling curiosity—during discussions, presentations, conferences, meetings, and even Reciprocal Teaching panels—you’ll not only show students how curiosity leads all learning, but more importantly change the tone of your classroom entirely.

5. By Integrating Technology Meaningfully

This one sounds vague and obvious, but let’s clarify what it does not mean: to integrate technology meaningfully doesn’t simply mean to simply do what couldn’t otherwise be done without that technology (connect with global peers, embed a voice-over on a presentation, create a 3D model of a widget before pitching it to classmates). For it to truly be meaningful it has to result in understanding that somehow—in depth, duration, or complexity—exceeds that which it might have without that technology.

Learning is not about showmanship, or even learner engagement, but understanding.

4. By Collaborating With Other Great Teachers

Start with your local department, school, and district, and then make your way to twitter, facebook, and blogs everywhere. Birds of a feather….

3. By Measuring Understanding In Diverse Ways

Understanding is complex. It’s almost impossible to explain what it looks like, and two teachers in the same building teaching the same content might disagree passionately about what students should be able to say or do to prove “they get it.”

Recently I suggested that “the first (step) is to be aware of the ambiguity of the term “understands,” and don’t settle for simply paraphrasing it in overly-simple words and phrases like “they get it,” or “proficiency.” Honor the uncertainty by embracing that not only is understanding borderline indescribable, but is impermanent itself.”

The more diverse the evidence for understanding is that you accept, the more empowered and successful the learning in your classroom—and the more “real” it will all be—less about compliance, more about the students and that critical notion of understanding.

2. By Prioritizing

Great teachers have the same number of expectations placed on their shoulders as good—or even mediocre—teachers. And rarely do they get more done than these less than breed of educators. But they simply get the right things done. The important things. Like what? That’s another article for another day.

1. By Getting Out of the Students’ Way

Challenge students, convince them they can juggle planets, then get out of their way. So often good teachers—in their tremendous goodness—have tightly scripted the learning process to make sure to elicit all the hallmarks of learning. Only they bleach the learning in the process. Impose an authentic need to know on the students, give them the tools, and get out of their way.

The classroom of a great teacher is not filled with their own voice, buzz, or spirit, but that of the learners.

Perhaps the greatest strategy of all, then, is to know when to break the rules, and be willing to move out of the accepted archetype of “good teachers” to give your students what you know they need.

from http://www.teachthought.com/learning/how-a-good-teacher-becomes-great/ 

Week 1 Thoughts on YouTube Video watched

It seems that we’re not alone in Malaysia in the debate of traditional standardized assessment versus alternative assessment. Even in U.S.A this subject is hotly debated, and more and more parties see the necessity for a more productive and holistic assessment system that also evaluates students’ ‘intangible’ soft-skills besides knowledge, and better equips them for real-world scenarios and challenges. I like what Ms. Eeva Reeder (Teacher at Mountlake Terrace High School) has done as regards performance based assessment. She made scoring guides for different aspects of a project she oversaw and invited relevant professionals or experts in the field to give feedback and comments to her students. Granted, alternative assessments take time to plan and implement, but as said in the video, it is time well-spent (time= teaching + learning). It is important to note that although students are allowed to choose learning projects; high standards, objectives and criteria on the quality of the projects can be set by teachers and administrators so that effective learning is achieved. In my opinion, fair as well as judicious standardized test and high-quality local assessment can contribute to in-depth learning and learning how to learn for life.

Week 1 My feedback on Anderson's article

Three things I liked about the article

Firstly, I like how the issue raised by Anderson is so relevant to the current changes in the Malaysian assessment system. Anderson mentioned that a shift from the traditional assessment to alternative assessment requires “a reconceptualization of how learning occurs”. I concur that “the overuse of lecture (chalk-and-talk)  as a primary teaching method and objective tests as a primary assessment measure, (2) the increasingly diverse student population in higher education classrooms, and (3) constructivist learning theory are major factors involved in restructuring how learning should be facilitated and assessed. There are more productive methods such as performance-based assessment, portfolio assessment, and authentic assessment that could draw out students learning potential and better our education system. Hopefully with PBS, the traditional assessment methods can be effectively combined with alternative methods, so that students can enjoy and benefit from assessments- to see them as learning opportunities rather than stressful, standardized outcome-evaluation tests.

Secondly, I appreciate Anderson’s clear comparisons on the differences between the philosophical beliefs and theoretical assumptions of traditional and alternative assessments in 9 crucial aspects. Namely: Knowledge, Learning, Process, Focus, Purpose, Abilities, Assessment, Power and Control, Individual vs. Collaborative Process. It gives food for thought as to the strengths and weaknesses of both assessment types. If this is taken into consideration with a specific learning objective, teachers can decide on which assessment type to use or to emphasize.

I like Anderson’s candidness when she states that the paradigm shift from traditional to alternative assessment will require time. Sometimes we can get so passionate about an idea that we expect too much and get frustrated when expectation goes unfulfilled or is slow in becoming reality. The important thing though is to start the ball rolling, being aware for the need to change, and be willing to make the effort that will bring the change. I am glad for University project work that implements elements of alternative assessment, which allows a hands-on and discovery approach. I hope that this assessment method will filter-down more effectively to secondary and primary school assessments so that the system can be changed for good. Such paradigm shift can be achieved if there is a consensus and negotiation between the teacher and students, to facilitate the transition from traditional to alternative assessment. The effort is worth it, as Anderson puts it, “an alternative assessment paradigm is a teaching tool that promotes students’ learning and is a significant and powerful tool” that will assist “instructors in being fair, thoughtful, and creative when assessing students’ work.”