Today we explored seeds. The exploration was fairly successful, as judged by the engagement and ability to reach the objective. I still struggle when it comes to evaluating student work though. Above is an example, and perhaps it is one of the pitfalls of the form. It doesn't lend itself to multiple entries. Clearly the form doesn't lend itself to much more than a few things in each box (fewer the further right you go). I should have gotten rid of it and made my own.
But does filling in boxes mean you've met the objective? Well they can identify characteristics accurately of the various seeds. Did each get multiple characteristics? Yeah, kinda. The bottom one was a sunflower seed. Black, white and tiny are good characteristics. What about oval, rough, bumpy, salty? I am left trying to figure out whether the quality is there, or if it is that I want to raise expectations of what can be done?
I'm still early in my ElEd courses so I can't offer much in the way of experience, but you bring up an interesting point, especially with children this young (1st or 2nd grade I am guessing?)
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should base your assessment off of the best work, choosing the assignments that showed the most effort and understanding and then use those to set the basis for the grading process. Any parts of the objective that you feel were not fulfilled by most or all of the students you can go over together in class.
Some of them may have been aware of certain attributes of the seed that they picked up on but don't know the appropriate way to relay it in words.
Thanks for the reply Julie. I am indeed with 1st and 2nd graders. I'm hesitant to use effort, mainly because it is difficult to judge. The kids filling in the boxes with one word are putting in the effort, they just missed the overall objective of getting ALL the observations. The idea of going over missed parts is a great idea. I've done something similar when starting the engagement of the next science lesson. It is a great way for everyone to contribute and be involved. If nothing else, this informs my instruction.
ReplyDelete