assessment, grading, motivation and instruction

Presented by:

Jonathan Vervaet@jonathanvervaet

September 18, 2014 - SFU

Assessment, Grading, Motivation and

Instruction

Disrupting commonly held assumptions…

“Stories matter. Many stories matter.”

- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“If students have not been told where they are going, it is

unlikely that they will arrive.” – Shirley Clark

Learning Intentions“I can find evidence of current

assessment research in my practice.”

Learning Intentions“I can identify ways to use

assessment to inform my instructional decisions .”

Learning Intentions“I can become curious about

something in the research I want to inquire further into.”

“Assessment is the beginning and the end of my teaching. It defines my culture, my relationships, my learning community, my values, and my beliefs about teaching and learning.” - Matt Rosati

HOW DO WE MAINTAIN AGENCY IN THE FACE OF EDUCATIONAL

CHANGE?

The habit of critical reflection is crucial for teacher’s survival.

- Stephen Brookfield

“a continuing reconstruction of

experience”

By focusing on specific ideas and events, coupled with our

emotional reactions to them, we learn the

most about ourselves. - Brookfield

How the worlds best schools come out on top.

1.Get the right people to become teachers.2.Develop them to be effective.*3.Ensure the system is able to deliver the best

possible instruction for every child.

* Coaching classroom practice.• Move teacher training to the classroom.• Strong School Leaders• Teachers learn from each other –

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)

How the worlds best schools come out on top.

Individual Teachers•Aware of areas to grow in their practice•Gain understanding of best practice that is

research based (meta-analysis)•Are motivated to improve•Have high expectations•Shared purpose

Reflection: How is seeing ourselves as learners important for us as teachers?

Instructional Design

The Science of Learning

Instructional Design

90% of what we know about the brain we have learned in approximately the last 2 years

Instructional Design

The same will be true 10 years from now

Motivation 2.0

True or False:

Rewarding an activity will get you more of it. Punishing an activity will get you less of it.

Harlow (1949)

Radical finding, there was a third drive.

The performance of the task provided intrinsic reward.

The monkeys solved the problem simply because they found it gratifying to solve

the puzzle.

2Harlow (1949)

Rewarded the monkey with raisons.

“Introduction of food in the present experiment served to disrupt performance, a phenomena not

reported in the literature.”

The monkeys made more errors and solved the puzzles less frequently.

Deci (1969) – Carnegie Melon

Soma Block Experiment

Deci (1969)

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Group A No reward

CashReward

No reward

Group B No reward

No reward

No reward

Deci (1969) – Carnegie Melon

Soma Block Experiment

“When money is used as an extrinsic reward for some activity, the subjects lose intrinsic interest for the activity.” Rewards give you a short term boost, but the effect wears off and can reduce long term

motivation.

Commissioned vs. Non-Commissioned Art

Blood Donations

Rewards transforminteresting tasks into drudgery.

Offering an award signals that the task is undesirable.

Focus on Short Term vs. Long Term Benefits

When goals are imposed and incentivized…

Focus is narrowed on achieving only that goal.

and…

and…

Here’s the kicker…

It leads to unethical behaviour in an attempt to

reach the goal.aka..

Cheating…

When rewards do work…With routine and mechanical tasks.

You can’t undermine intrinsic motivation in

boring tasks.

If it is true that carrot and stick motivators don’t

work and often do harm, what are the implications for us as teachers in our grading and assessment

practices?

Carol Dweck (2006)

Fixed vs. Growth Mindset.

Fixed – Believe they have to work with whatever intelligence they have because it

can’t be increased.

They resist novel challenges if they can’t succeed immediately.

They’d rather not try than be perceived as dumb.

Carol Dweck (2006)

Fixed vs. Growth Mindset.

Growth – Believe intelligence can be built through life.

See working harder as a way to improve.

They persist and try a wide variety of solutions when given novel tasks.

Carol Dweck (2006)

Csikzentmihalyi (1990)

Flow Theory – The exhilarating moments when

we feel in control, full of purpose, and in the zone.

Csikzentmihalyi (1990)

Skill Level

Challenge Level

Daniel Pink (2009)

Autonomy –over task, time, team, and technique.

Mastery – Becoming better at something that matters.

Purpose

G.O.S.S.I.P. StrategyGo out and selectively search for important

points.

Strategy: Mining for Gold

A/B Partner – Mining for Gold

A – says what the most important idea was from the reading.

B – asks “Why is that important?”A – answers and explains.

B – again, asks “Why is that important?”

Do this until A can synthesize thought to a single word or phrase;

The NUGGET.Repeat for partner B.

Marks or levels tell students more about their success or failure than about how to make progress in their learning.

“Is this for marks?”

The Benefits of Formative Assessment

Constantly weighing the pig won’t make it fatter...

Assessment is done

with, and not to,

students to help them

grow in their

learning.

The Latin root word for assessment is "assidere" which means to sit beside.

The Trouble with Marks

The research shows very clearly that three things tend to happen

when students are encouraged to focus on

getting good grades.

The first is that they become less

excited about the learning

itself.

The second is that they tend to become less

likely to think deeply.

The third thing that happens is when you get kids focused

on grades they pick the easiest possible task

when given a choice.

— not because they’re lazy,

because they’re

rational.

Marks or levels tell students more about their success or failure than about how to make progress in their learning.

“Is this for marks?”

If you are going to put a mark on a piece of work, you are wasting your time writing descriptive feedback comments.

“Is this for marks?”

Core Competencies

The Ministry has defined three core competencies at the centre of the curriculum and assessment redesign:

Core Competencies

Thinking competency

Communication competency

Social and Personal competency

Core Competencies

Table Talk:

How might these competencies be addressed in different subject areas at different grade levels?

Principles for Classroom Assessment

Students should be part of the assessment process and involved in setting criteria, setting their own learning goals and designing demonstrations.

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"We must constantly remind ourselves that the ultimate purpose of evaluation is to have students become self evaluating. If students graduate from our schools still dependent upon others to tell them when they are adequate, good, or excellent, then we’ve missed the whole point of what education is about.”

- Costa and Kallick (1992)

The Paradigm Shift

• Learning vs. Teaching• Outcomes / Standards vs. Tasks• Quality vs. Quantity• If students learn vs. When students learn• Confidence vs. Anxiety• Practice vs. One Chance• Improvement vs. Coverage

Tom Schimmer

Teaching is not rocket science. It is, in fact, far more complex and demanding work than rocket science.

- Richard Elmore (Professor of Education Leadership at Harvard Graduate School of Education)

“Mistakes are not mistakes; they are calibrations for the mind.”

- Jane A. Kearns

Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals who can go it alone.

- M. Wheatley

“I’m still learning.”- Michelangelo, Age 87

Contact Information

Jonathan VervaetEmail:

jonathanvervaet@gmail.comor

Twitter: @jonathanvervaet