Learning Assessment Strategies

Field Study

EPISODE 3

                                       LOG ME

Name of FS Student:     Abigail Y. Aggabao Course:                         BSE                                                                             Resource Teacher:        Mrs. Pataueg Cooperating School:       Isabela National High School

 

My Target

            At the end of this activity, you will be informed on the principles of authentic assessment and its usefulness in the classroom.

My Task

            Authentic assessment is an alternative way of assessing students’ learning to be able to use it; you must have a deep understanding of it. To help you reach your goal, do the following task:

1.       Visit a classroom and interview the teacher on his/her experiences in using authentic assessment.

2.       Describe how the teacher uses the authentic assessment.

3.       Write a reflective journal on the activity.

My Tools

            For this learning activity, please document the information gathered from the interview with the teacher on authentic assessment. Write your documentation using the activity form provided for you.

MY INTERVIEW NOTES Why it is important to use Authentic Assessment? It is important to use authentic assessment; for it requires “hands on activities” it measures directly the student’s ability in performing a task. Here learning became meaningful to students because they are the ones who are doing it, the only thing the teacher does is to facilitate them.   Advantages of using Authentic Assessment? Authentic assessment uses tasks that reflect normal classroom activities" (real life learning); authentic assessment focuses on higher order thinking skill( cognitive, affective, psychomotor); requires active performance to demonstrate understanding" (kinesthetic, being involved); promotes a wide range of assessment strategies" (interesting and engaging assessment tasks); involves the teacher and student collaboratively in determining assessment" (student-structured tasks); and focuses on progress, rather than identifying weaknesses" (ensure success for every child) What is the goal of authentic assessment? A goal of authentic assessment is to determine if student knowledge can be applied outside of the classroom. This means that a physics assessment should involve doing physics by performing experiments and solving problems the same way that a real-life physicist would. An authentic history assessment requires students to ask questions, do independent research, and formulate answers to their questions, just like a real-life historian does. What else is authentic assessment meant to do? ·         It asks students to synthesize information and use critical-thinking skills. ·         It is a learning experience in and of itself. ·         It measures not just what students remember but how they think.

Analysis

1.       What is Authentic Assessment?

Authentic assessment is the practical application of tasks in real world setting. It does not encourage rote learning, instead; it focuses on student’s analytical skills, ability to integrate what they have learned, ability to work collaboratively, etc. Under this mode of assessment, students solve math problems that have real world application, write stories, reports, and do science experiments and other “hands on activities”.

2.       How was authentic assessment used? Was it used to measure learning through the product?

The teacher formed her students into five groups with eight members each. She made an activity about the concept of “Acceleration” to be demonstrated by her students. She prepared a rubric and presented it to the class for the students to know how they will be judge. She used rubric as her tool of assessing her student’s performance. Through the use of rubric which is one of the best useful tools in assessing the child performance she was able to meet her desired outcome.

Reflection

·        What are your insights and feelings about the use of authentic assessment?

For me, teachers do not need to eliminate the traditional mode of assessment but they should minimize using it for it just assesses the knowledge of the students only. Teachers can combine the two modes of assessment (traditional and authentic assessment) in assessing their students but authentic assessment should be practiced more because students are able to perform, construct on their own to produce something, solve problems, conduct experiments, and do other “hands on activities”. Here teachers are ultimately less interested in how much information students can acquire than how well they can use it.  Authentic assessment is undoubtedly effective because class is alive and most of all, students are engage in doing the hand’s on and minds on activities.

·         Describe how the teacher used the authentic assessment?

Their topic was all about the second law of motion which is the law of acceleration. Instead, of doing the talking’s in front of her students, she made an activity entitled “Roll, roll, and away!” she let her students to form a group with five members. In  this  activity,  the  students are  tasked  to  determine  the  acceleration of  rolling object by recording the time to travel different distances on an inclined plane. Everybody should have a part in the activity. In this activity, the teacher let the students do the activity with her guidance of course, for them to understand more the concept of “Newton’s Second law of motion”. Just after they finished the activity, the teacher prepared a real- world problem and then she let her students to analyze and solve it in front with justification. This is one way of how my cooperating teacher used authentic assessment.

·         How did you feel about the teacher’s experience in the use of authentic assessment?

Through my teacher’s experienced in the used of authentic assessment, I as the interviewer  felt fortunate  and blessed because I was able to reaped some knowledge that soon I know will help me a lot in my chosen career.I learned that through the use of authentic assessment, we can able to see directly if the students are progressing, the good thing in authentic assessment is that we can able to rectify mistakes easily.

           

·         What could be the gains of the students and teachers in using authentic assessment?

Through the use of authentic assessment, It helps the teachers to improve their instructions and also the teachers will able to enhance their strategies to be an effective teachers.On the part of the students, it helps the students, see themselves as active participants, who are working on a tasks, rather than passive recipients of facts. It also helps students to analyze whatthey've learned and apply it on their own. They don’t have to memorize facts for a test. It helps the students refine their writing and oral presentation skills.

Which part of the teacher’s use of authentic assessment do you feel like improving or revising?

I was impressed to the teacher for she knows how to facilitate her class in such a way that she uses several techniques in the form of authentic assessment when assigning a task. For me, there’s no need to revise the teacher’s use of authentic assessment because it was properly planned.