We have just found out that we will be sheltered outside of our school until the end of the school year. That brings about feelings, and in my case, some pretty weird dreams. When we transitioned to this four weeks ago, one big recurring thing I heard from teachers was the fear that there would be no way to properly evaluate learning as no tests could be given because there was no secure way to administer a test that excluded options to cheat.
This fear got me to thinking about our whole educational system. Truth be known, everything gets me thinking out our whole educational system so why would this be different?
I specifically went back to thinking about Clayton Christianson’s book Blended in which he writes that kids come to school for two reasons:
1) to feel successful
2) to interact with their peers
(Note: I did not put that in quotes because his book Blended sits on a shelf in my office at Carondelet)
Thus what the adults are worried about is not what weighs heavily on the hearts and minds of our students. The focus on exams feels misguided for a few many reasons.
For one thing, we must lead with our ultimate objective: our objective is not to turn students into trained monkeys who can spew out facts but rather intelligent adults who know how to learn, who know how to seek information they want or need, and who are able to process this information in a way that will allow them to use it effectively AND consciously and unconsciously make connections between this new thing and all the other things that they have encountered. All new information is a puzzle piece towards the construction of a never-ending individual masterpiece.
Then, there is the basic premise about testing that we know to be flawed. We know that we retain things that we have practiced often and used over and over again. An exam invites students to cram for a one-time event which is the exact opposite of sustained learning. We cram, we test, we forget. Sometimes we go back and do a take two on cramming if it is something that may show up on a final exam.
This pretty grim scenario is a best case. It is for a student who does not experience any anxiety that impairs her ability to demonstrate mastery in high stakes, timed, and pressure ridden situations. When you consider that exams are one of the leading causes of anxiety in students and that the primary accommodation awarded to students in Ed support programs is extended time, you have to acknowledge that placing any human in a state of elevated anxiety triggers flight or fight responses in students that actually make them less smart…
Both these realities are not exactly big reveals and I am certainly not stating anything that we all don’t already know. So why is the biggest cause of teacher angst (in and outside of Carondelet) in this switch to online learning the fact that we can’t test because we fear students will cheat?
I think our mistake in this transition is fearing that because they can’t test they won’t learn — forgetting that the test is not why they learned things in the first place. They learn because of the thousand other creative things teachers do with them along the way that I read about in your blogs and see in your classrooms that create the lasting learning outcomes we strive to get.
If anything, the online format forces each student to engage in the work individually whereas live classrooms allow them to sometimes hide behind their peers. I have taken masters level English courses online and bottom line, no one wants to do your work for you (at least not consistently) so you are stuck with producing something on your own.
So, how do you know if a student has learned something…? Truthfully, in similar ways that you do in a traditional class:
- You use varied, frequent, short assessments to force them to quickly re-use and relive things that need to be remembered.
- You take away the cheating piece by making longer assessments similar to those open book take home things you did in college (and breaking that up to be digestible to a high school student).
- You leverage video systems and force them in situations where they have to teach something in their own words. I know that I learned more about what I actually understood when I had to explain something to my students as a young teacher.
- When you do need to test, you can use lockdown browsers which will not keep students from pasting stuff on the wall just beyond their device, but it will cut down on things like “cut and paste” or switching to browsers… Again it is more about developing test questions that focus more on analysis and less on regurgitation.
That sounds like a lot of grading! Well, it is and it isn’t… we can leverage tech tools to automatically grade some quizzes in a quick way to provide instant feedback on drill and kill stuff (Schoology, EdPuzzle, and Go Formative all have viable options). On longer assessments, we can share the workload and bring students into the feedback loop — especially in the early stages of a more complex assignment. For those steps, we can start focusing on engagement over perfection… It also brings back other students into the lives of peers who have otherwise potentially become disconnected as they shelter in place.
The bottom line is that we need to shift our focus because to mourn not being able to give exams is misdirecting our energies on what the true loss is… Our mourning should be for the loss of the two things that bring them to school: the loss of real human connection — the interpersonal relationships they forge when at school, and the opportunity to feel like they can succeed… Our solutions should have us focus our energy on recreating those two realities… and diversifying the way we engage and assess helps us do that.
A lot of really good thoughts here and I agree with you that I am one of those teachers who have worried about tests. Part of my concern is that in the math program we have about 50 tests that students are taking at various times. So in addition to needing to create new versions of these tests in this remote learning environment, I am also dealing with the reality that not all students are taking the test at the same time. We are experimenting with just using Cumulative Skills Assessments on GoFormative and so far that's working well enough (we've only had one testing date so far) but we shall see how that works on the next round. I've definitely been putting some thought into how else we can ensure understanding especially when it comes to an assessment that allows the student to move on to the next course.
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Definitely a challenging time. Taking the testing piece out (I know, I know)… I do think the key here is to continue to build connections and strengthen relationships so that they stay motivated. Building connections in an unfamiliar (for some us) format makes a steep learning curve for all. In a way… we are ALL students and teachers.
I agree that there are multiple ways of assessing learning. In fact in graduate school most of my assessments were papers, projects and presentations. I think these types of assessment lend themselves to deeper level of learning where students can use their critical thinking skills.
I just read your post. You and Albert Einstein agree that “intelligent adults know how to learn.” You have made my morning because teaching students how to learn has always been my foremost educational goal and was my main focus for this year.
This year in US History I backward designed my assignments from the final project. The objective, “Students will demonstrate their ability to do an independent research project.” The subject could be anything each student wanted to learn more about in US History from 1607 to 2020. Assessments are made on the quality of research, strength of thesis and claims, and clarity of the presentation. The presentation might be an essay, a lecture, a video, a podcast, or an old fashioned written report. Whatever the product, the same steps are involved in the creation. In the case of the final project the product is a website that may include student created video or audio content.
Students might remember some of the facts we learned during the one time we studied the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt. They will remember the steps in creating an analytical report, from research to final product while studying Teddy Roosevelt because they have done this same kind of research over and over throughout the year.
When it comes to assessment. There is no need to assess the retention of facts and figures. Students will remember what is important to them. For example, students generally remember that Teddy Roosevelt was the catalyst for the creation of the teddy bear. They rarely remember how he orchestrated the Panamanian Revolution. Their research projects do not show retention of facts. They do show how well students have learned to use the analytical process. Each project is a step toward attaining the goal of the final project. The final project will tell us how well students have learned how to learn, which brings us back the ultimate goal of creating intelligent adults.
Your post is very exciting because it reflects where we should be going and what we should be assessing. This is PBL. This is teaming. This is portfolios. This is no test and no BS learning because any teacher can tell in a matter of minutes if a student is mastering the skills. Did the student really do the work or did she cheat? A few quick oral questions and the extent of learning will be obvious. It is also learning students get excited about. It is learning they want to share with their peers and discuss with their peers. It is learning that creates lifelong learners.
The coronavirus will change much about our worldviews. The way we view education might be one of the big changes. Thanks for the inspiring blog post.
Yup!
thanks for the informative post… I will probably retain that Teddy Roosevelt inspired the teddy bear… I am now curious enough to go Google the reasons why 🙂
Your blog post is a reminder to me that whether I am working with students in person or online, I need to have greater focus on making students feel successful. This makes sense as I think about that personal feeling of self-satisfaction when a teacher/facilitator recognizes and affirms a contribution. Positive verbal feedback is important, but I try not to overdue this unless the praise is truly deserved so that they know I am being authentic. Through online learning, I have started using the comment tools in google docs which I think is a nice way to give simple praise to help students feel successful.