Week 14 - Personal Post
Technology in my work this week has been helping my colleagues collaborate on their exams.
Five years ago, we took the policy in place for science and math - common assessments across similar courses on test and exams - and extended it to other departments like English and theology.
Our school tries to make sure there are at least two different teachers for each available course, but has never used a mechanism of evaluating or comparing those separate approaches to items that are indistinguishable on students' transcripts. At times, this has led to some difficult conversations between parents, teachers, students, and administrators as perceptions don't have a set frame to make the context consistent, regardless of the stakeholders' view of the course work.
The exams have been the first place English teachers have learned to expect that comparison. It has been a useful conversation - as teachers share exams and discuss the similarities between exam format and items and those on tests and quizzes throughout the course, our colleagues have learned a lot about what is going on in rooms that are supposed to be largely similar to their own.
Technology has greatly facilitated this process. In a culture where collaboration on instruction is uncommon, most of our conversations on assessment begin with a document emailed. This year, I've been working with teachers to show them how to collaborate on a document. This allows them to make comments and suggestions before making copies and personal adjustments from Google drive.
While I try to help my colleagues find more reasons to find one another and discuss comparisons and contrasts within their courses, the document sharing process has facilitated some feedback and interaction where it is newly required but never before had existed.
It's exciting to see technology working its way into common practice within the school, and I'm excited to see which teachers will become leaders in the growing process of collaboration and process-assessment.
Have a great week!
Five years ago, we took the policy in place for science and math - common assessments across similar courses on test and exams - and extended it to other departments like English and theology.
Our school tries to make sure there are at least two different teachers for each available course, but has never used a mechanism of evaluating or comparing those separate approaches to items that are indistinguishable on students' transcripts. At times, this has led to some difficult conversations between parents, teachers, students, and administrators as perceptions don't have a set frame to make the context consistent, regardless of the stakeholders' view of the course work.
The exams have been the first place English teachers have learned to expect that comparison. It has been a useful conversation - as teachers share exams and discuss the similarities between exam format and items and those on tests and quizzes throughout the course, our colleagues have learned a lot about what is going on in rooms that are supposed to be largely similar to their own.
Technology has greatly facilitated this process. In a culture where collaboration on instruction is uncommon, most of our conversations on assessment begin with a document emailed. This year, I've been working with teachers to show them how to collaborate on a document. This allows them to make comments and suggestions before making copies and personal adjustments from Google drive.
While I try to help my colleagues find more reasons to find one another and discuss comparisons and contrasts within their courses, the document sharing process has facilitated some feedback and interaction where it is newly required but never before had existed.
It's exciting to see technology working its way into common practice within the school, and I'm excited to see which teachers will become leaders in the growing process of collaboration and process-assessment.
Have a great week!
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