Today the topic is formative assessment, something we discussed at length last week in 416.  Personally I feel that formative assessment is THE integral part of teaching, because it allows us to see if learning is taking place.  My own philosophy mirrors much of what is outlined in the First Peoples principals of learning, where the focus of teaching is on a student's individual growth, rather than against a particular criterion of reference. I believe that an educator's role is to foster growth and reflection in the students, so that they can become mindful of their own learning strengths and weaknesses.  Education eventually becomes a self-evaluative process whereby we are constantly checking to see if we are expanding in our ability to know, understand and do.

Formative assessment can also be a very useful tool for teachers to plan and differentiate their instruction. It is difficult for a teacher to be truly inclusive and teach to every student until he or she has some idea what their individual educational needs are.  They may opt to begin to plan their Units by incorporating various modes of instruction, in an attempt to reach all members of the class, but only once he or she has received feedback from each individual student as to how they learning process is going, can they truly adapt their instruction and assessment accordingly.  The curriculum may indicate the for Chemistry 11 for example, 7-12 hours should be dedicated to the study of the different phases of matter.  However through formative checks it may become apparent that the students have no problem grasping the concepts of matter, and the teacher may then opt to move to more advanced matter discussions, or spend time on other areas of the curriculum.   The opposite is equally possible; perhaps members of the class are having more difficulty with a topic than was initially expected.  By analyzing student work, self-reflections and other formative checks, the teacher is better able to adapt their method of delivery to suit the needs of the student.  It may be that the student is understanding the concept partially, but not to the degree that is required for the summative assessment piece.  This lets the teacher know where they need to dedicate more time, or to alter their approach.

My own favourite form of formative assessment is through open forums such as online blogging.  Platforms such as blogger, wordpress or google classroom are ideal for this, because they utilize the online format which many students are familiar with, and they allow the student to begin to develop their self-reflective capabilities.  I am always surprised just how well many students are able to grasp their learning progress, and where they are having difficulty.  Additionally, I often learn things about the student that are beneficial not only from an assessment viewpoint, but from a personal view as well.  This can help tremendously when building relationships of trust and care, and it allows the educator to reach the student more authentically by learning about their own passions and interests.  One other advantage is that this format allows for other students to learn from the reflections of their peers, and in a sense it extend the classroom community outside of the traditional realms of school.  I have found that many students do not know what is expected of them when it comes to self-reflection, but when they are able to observe the work of their peers, it gives them a bit of a scaffold in their own growth tracking process.  Finally, it allows the educator to see what parts of their instruction could most use adaptation and or improvement.  I have had lessons that I thought were extremely unorganized that students loved, and still others that didn't meet particular needs which I thought went reasonably well (it is important for the teacher to reflect!)

I firmly believe that personal growth is the most important part of education.  We may no all be able to meet every benchmark that is set for us in life, but if we are mindful of our own learning process, and what we need in order to best develop our individual gifts, then we have developed an important skill that is applicable in all walks of life.  This I think should be the core focus of school, and can be best done with formative assessment, by all members of the classroom community.  Blogging as reflection is not new, it is just the 21st century method of retaining a journal or diary, and it can be implemented with ease even by the most technologically illiterate of educators.  Almost all students have mobile devices in the modern classroom, and it is the savvy educator who sees these as additional learning tools, rather than unfortunate distractions.