Elementary School Professional Learning on Assessment- Oct. 22, 2021
This past Friday, October 22, our Elementary Staff was co-led by Nina Pak Lui (TWU Assistant Professor of Education and Post-Degree Program Advisor) and Lori Carpenter (LCS Elementary School Principal) in some professional learning around the keys to quality assessment. The essential question that shaped our time together was “why is assessment important?”
Elementary School Assistant Principal, Anita Wood, shares some of her reflection and learning from the session:
“Assessment is important because it honours students. Feedback highlights student success as well as ways in which they can move forward in their learning. Nina challenged us to ensure that the assessment we do is meaningful and that it is used not only to inform us about current progress but also to help guide us in supporting student learning more accurately and effectively. As a veteran teacher, I appreciated the reminder to evaluate my practice and affirm the ‘why’ behind what I do every day in my classroom – honouring God by honouring His children.”
Here are are some of the other reflections that came up from our elementary staff:
- Formative assessment is the information that directs how we move forward.
- Knowing the “why” behind your assessment is the place to start.
- Having clear learning targets and a clear purpose for why we are doing the learning is essential.
- We are doing assessment all the time, day in and day out in all learning activities.
- Assessment is the bridge between teaching and learning – it is how we know learning is happening and what to do next in our instruction.
- Look forward to continuing this work in building authentic assessments that are practical and informative.
- “The WHY is critical for a student’s learning and understanding as to why things are being taught. The WHY, connected to real life, tangible experiences, makes learning make sense for students. As teachers, we are not just teaching what’s in the curriculum because we have to, we are teaching it because it translates to the big, real life, real world.”
So where are we going with our assessment learning journey this year? We were invited to reflect on an important point that was raised in the session about assessment in the life of a Christian learning community and take this up as our shared responsibility: “When [we] orient and re-orient again and again to Christ, his light illuminates [us]. We have to move there, to practice staying there, to recognize when [we] are not there. As [we] practice Christ’s Way, [we] become filled with the light of God and this will permeate in [our] practices and build the community our school is striving to create” (Dr. Kim Franklin, Educating with Reverence).
We are excited to continue to work with TWU’s School of Education in our partnership as we support their student teachers and develop opportunities for continuous growth together. We look forward to a follow-up time of learning in the spring as we continue to reflect on our assessment practices that support student learning.
