Philosophy of Assessment

Assessments are an integral part of the teaching and learning process. I believe formative assessments are great tools to measure student learning. The data from assessments can also help educators, like myself, to improve and differentiate instruction. Observations of student engagement during lessons and course evaluations will also be a good indicator of how effective instruction is. In my classroom, formative assessments will be greatly used in forms of homework, quizzes, papers, and projects. These assessments will be fair, reliable, and valid as they will match the learning target. Incorporating technology is also important with the world shifting to more of a technology-dependent society. I will use apps such as Kahoot to do short in class quizzes and utilize online labs for biology since that is my field of expertise.

Since my content area is biology, I want to convey to my students that biology is applicable to the real world. I want to ensure that my in class assessment activities are hands on and relatable. This falls in line with creating assessments that are authentic as these types are meant to provide a stronger connection between instruction and assessment to make learning more relevant. Having different formats for testing like selected-response, short answers, and essays will benefit students who are stronger writers while students who are more on the creative side will benefit from portfolios, performance assessments, and self-assessments. Utilization of different forms of assessments and incorporation of different types of questions will also benefit students with special needs as they will be able to demonstrate their learning in a fair way while I keep in mind their accommodations.

As I’m nearing my journey to the classroom, there are a number of theorists and researchers that are great influencers of my teaching philosophy who will continue to shape me as a teacher. The first being Carol Dweck and her idea of mindset. Praising a student’s effort will go a long way rather than just praising for accomplishment, and I want all my students to know they have the potential to do great things if they put enough effort in. When writing objectives for unit plans, lesson plans, and even assessments, Bloom’s taxonomy will be important. The Theory of Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner will help shape a student-centered classroom and also helps me keep in mind that everyone has varied forms of intelligences. High school students are going through the period of adolescence so understanding Jean Piaget’s work is essential in understanding the cognitive development of my students and making sure assessments match their developmental level. My philosophy is that formative assessments are great tools for measuring student learning as long as they match the objective and are fair, valid, and reliable.