Teachers have been using these four categories (Knowledge and Understanding, Thinking, Application, and Communication) to grade students for the past 10 years. I believe that the four categories are necessary to assess students in their learning development in any subject area. The categories help teachers to really diagnose where the students strengths and weakness lie. Teachers can then take those assessments and make the appropriate modifications and/or accommodations for the students, as well as communicate to parents more specifically areas their son or daughter need to improve on. The problem is using the four categories effectively, and I feel teachers have trouble figuring out what question belongs to which of the four categories (Knowledge and Understanding, Application, Thinking, and Communication). That being said, teachers need to be given more resources and workshops to understand how to use the four categories properly in order for them to be an effective tool in the classroom.
I am still trying to learn and understand how the four categories are used properly in assessing students. I feel that the four categories are necessary to assess cognitive skills needed to be successful. They are also a great tool to help teachers focus not only on students’ understanding of knowledge, but also on the development of skills such as thinking, communication and application.
I definitely agree. When we had to take the small quiz where we had to identify which category each question belonged to, I bombed it. It was just not good at all. Which is further indication that I need some extra help with determining which category a question belongs to. I don't necessarily think that the categories are needed, but as they don't seem to be going anywhere, I'd love a bit of extra help determining which is which!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you too. In the discussion about categories I’m sitting on the side of those who embrace this system and think that teachers and students need to be aware that assessment could be correct and fair if it is structured into well designed categories such as Knowledge & Understanding, Application, Thinking, and Communication.
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact good teachers are able to assess their students accordingly even without the need of the categories. Teaching in another country where these categories are not sorted and identified this way I have seen teachers in their math test put exactly questions to test students how they know formulas, how they apply their knowledge in certain math situation, how they think to have a plan to solve a problem, and how they put their ideas in paper. However among teachers I’ve seen many of them that didn’t use common sense to figure out which way to go to assess students properly.
That being said, I think that especially math teachers need a well organized system to assess students in order not to fall into subjectivism. Working as tutor as well in Toronto and Mississauga I’ve seen many times students’ tests assessed wrongfully and with no objectivity even when their teachers work under this guidance and are asked to follow categories when assessing students. Mathematics is the most exact discipline, which requires also a precise system to be assessed. This way these categories are identified and sorted out leave no room for wrong interpretations when assessing students’ work and put teachers in a position to test the ability of their students accordingly.