I know what it’s like to be “talked around.” You know, when others discuss your strengths and/or shortcomings, but they leave you out of the conversation…the one who needs to be involved the most is more “third party.” When school progress reports initiate with adult-to-adult conversation, I wonder if we are talking around our students. What if students self-assessed more and initiated progress reporting? What if the driver’s-seat learners took the wheel and posted updates about how they are performing relative to the learning standards? What if teachers and parents then JOINED the conversation started by the lead learner in the equation? I bet the long-term benefits would be profound!
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Pingback: CHANGEd 60-60-60: CHILD-CENTERED « Toward Wide-Awakeness
Chapter by Douglas Tsoi in “Tuning In” is a great example of really authentic student self-assessment and how it translates well beyond the classroom. He comes from a Friends School place, but the example could be used anywhere. Am going to find out where he is now and get more detail in his methods.
In Synergy, we use this method of progress reporting. When discussing it with our 8th graders, we talked about being present where two people are talking about you as if you were not in the room. I hate that; they seem to hate that too.
I think it is an amazing learning opportunity for the facilitator or teacher to read what each student says about their learning and growth. Talk about informing assessment…what a great way to calibrate what you think you have learned with what your teacher and your parents think you have learned.
Because of our new policies, I cannot provide a sample of student-reported assessment, but I can offer a reflection of my learning by reading and responding to their self-assessments.