Sunday, October 23, 2011
Knowing Literacy
"I argue that the ability to listen is a teacher's most important assessment skill." I think Peter Johnston makes a really good point. There is so much you can learn from your students if you take the time to really listen to what they say. Having a discussion with students about literacy, whether they know it is about literacy or not, may be just as effective if not more effective than the traditional paper and pencil test. By listening to a student, you are able to better understand what they are thinking and what their understanding of a topic is. Some students have a hard time translating their thoughts onto paper, so by allowing them to talk about it you may find a deeper understanding. Johnston also states that "children have interesting things to say and that the more you listen, the more you find they have to say". It is easy to assume that because we work with young students, they do not have much to contribute to a conversation because of their age and inexperience. However, I agree with Johnston that if we take the time to actively listen to students, they have a lot to say and much of it is very interesting.
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I agree! Listening is definitely a better way to assess a students understanding of something. On a paper and pencil test they might guess right but that doesn't mean they actually know what they are doing, also there may be something they get wrong but actually know a lot about. Listening to your students would be the only way to know for sure how much they understand.
ReplyDeleteI also agree! I think it is so important to listen to your students, and I definitely think there are better ways to learn about what your students know about what they read. I think it might be harder to implement an assessment based on a discussion though, and some kids are a lot more shy than others so they might not say much out loud about a book even if they have read it and got a lot out of it. So I agree, but at the same time a lot of kids won't say a lot no matter what you ask them. I would have liked a pen and paper test more when I was a kid.
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