Week+4+Discussion5364

“The way to gain insight into learning processes is not by giving an end-of-unit test, but by examining the interaction between a student and curriculum over time, assessing performance and the factors that underlie it. What cues does the student attend to? What strategies does the student use? What motivates the student? This interaction also involves studying the effects of different aspects of curriculum. What changes in the content presentation are helpful? What kinds of feedback and supports help build skills? What content and what kinds of activities are most engaging?” This quote from this week’s reading over UDL design emphasizes that teachers should use Assessments **//for//** Learning instead of Assessments **//of//** Learning.   //Assessment for Learning // is rapidly becoming a big “buzz-phrase” in our district and is one area teachers in my district are making changes in. There are many “check for understanding” strategies teachers can use during a lesson: CPS (clickers), whiteboards, thumbs up/thumbs down, green/yellow/red triangles for students to indicate understanding, turn to a partner and share, quick quizzes, class blog or wiki for students to discuss and post questions, etc.   It is important for teachers to gauge the understanding of their students **during** the lesson and to make adjustments or modifications to ensure that everyone is “getting it”. **It is better to perform checkups rather than autopsies**. This may take a little more time, but will prove wise in the long run. If the teacher only discovers at the end of the unit after grading the tests that most of the students don’t understand the concepts, he now has to decide whether to go back and re-teach certain topics (which will take even more time) or go “full ahead” and ignore the fact that his students don’t get it. Neither of these choices is a great one, so it is in **everyone’s** best interest to incorporate //Assessments for Learning// into each lesson. It’s what we call in the biz a “win-win”…    Rose, D., & Meyer, A. (2002).//Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning//. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Chapter 7. Available online at the Center for Applied Special Technology Web site. Retrieved October 5, 2009, from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/ 