Response to Chapter 9

In chapter 9, the assessment is important in education. Test may derive the curriculum. In traditional education, teachers and students pay much attention to perform well with high score in testing. We always focused on the result of the test in the past. However, learning is not just for tests but students need to have the ability to communicate with each other and to use the knowledge they learn from school in practical ways. Technology gives teachers more opportunities to create different assessments for students. Nowadays, education not only focuses on the result but also the process of learning and the possibilities for increased interaction with others. Technology also changes the ways to test. For example, TOFEL test was in paper and handwriting in the past but now it changes into using Computer to take the test. TOFEL CPT can save time and money to check the answers. Moreover, in order to improve students’ ability of listening, the TOFEL changed into IBT to increase reliability of the test. Therefore, the need of society changed and the methods and approaches for education also need to change.
Alternative assessment is very important for students to accomplish complex and meaningful tasks. Process is viewed to be as important as product. For example, when I were elementary school to learn the change of cloud in science class, teacher just showed us the pictures on book and asked us to memorize whole the names of cloud. We only can recognize the cloud in the book, however, when we go out to see the sky, we don’t know what kind of cloud today is because it’s different from the science book. We can get great score on test, but we can’t use the knowledge to observe the nature. Teacher only focused on the result of test but not on the practical use. Nowadays, I was an elementary school teacher, and I will use different ways to teach my students and focus on learning process. First, I explained the features of different kind of cloud in the textbook and using Power Point to compare different pictures in the same name of clouds with analyzing features. Then, I asked students to be group of four to five people. I prepared digital camera for the whole class. Students need to take a picture of cloud everyday and observe what kind of cloud it is and post on their blog with picture to analyze the feature of cloud. In science class, I give them open discussion time to check the other groups’ blog and I would give them some feedback on blog. After the task, I knew every of students know how to observe the cloud, and they are familiar with the features of different cloud even the names of cloud. This is a kind of task activity for students to accomplish. They don’t feel it’s a serious assessment but it’s what they are willing to know and to understand.