Saturday, December 24, 2011

stephen hurley

hey Stephen.. love your post on assessment.
tried to comment.. needed to register or log in.. when i tried both - they said i needed my canadian username..
so responding here..

you write:
The word assessment is derived from the Latin verb, assidere, which means, quite literally, to sit beside. In Roman times, the assessor was connected with the taxation process and always sat beside the judge. Despite its ancient origins, it is a term that has taken over a good deal of our thinking about modern schooling. It is difficult to imagine opening up any classroom resource, attend any professional learning conference, or attend any faculty meeting without there being some mention of either assessment practice or policy.
this is huge Stephen.. just huge. our focus in public ed is assessment, and yet, it's the very thing we have all wrong. most often, practically, it becomes.. i teach you, you test, i grade, then test is trashed. we miss the most important part... the sitting beside and nurturing feedback loops. and then on top of that.. we're not even assessing authentic learning, we're assessing compulsory buy in. how well have you done what i told you to do. 

what we're calling this - is mentoring alongside, listening without an agenda. ch 4 of the book we are crafting.

for assessment to be authentic.. what have i (you/we) learned or done - i think it needs to be this very nature. you sit down alongside in order to know the person better, in order to get into their mind and heart. not in order to check something off your list. or to get them to follow your heart and mind. the presumption of any prescribed learning or curriculum wipes out authenticity, any life long learning. and in the end, any quality of life.

i would also say, self-assessment is drastically missing. none of us have time, and many are afraid of that solitude. but sitting beside oneself, ridding your mind of chatter. creating your own feedback loops, self reflection, daily. huge.

thank you Stephen. would love to add some of this in the book..