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EDS 103 Theories of Learning – Reflection for Asst 1

When my eldest daughter was in high school, she excelled in her subjects except in anything that has something to do with Math.  She studied in a school that specializes in Science and Mathematics. Often, teachers would say that you cannot be successful in your studies if you’re not good in Math. With the help of a tutor she survived her math challenge. She would have hated that school if not for her Social Studies teacher who commended her excellent thesis defense. She graduated from that school and moved on to college. She became the debate team captain, competed in national debate competitions, completed her Bachelor of Laws and passed the bar exam in 2016 in her first take. My 2^nd daughter was just an average student but definitely better than my eldest in Math. She also graduated from the same high school. She is the “madiskarte” type. She studied Occupational Therapy in college. She gets average grades in theory but excel in practical application and was given a clinical proficiency award. She passed her OT board exam in 2017 and currently in medical school. My 3^rd daughter excel in all her subjects. She has excellent grades in math and wins national math competitions. One thing though, she’s not a fluent speaker. She’s now in college and still tops the director’s list. My son, is an average student but gets high grades because he really studies hard. One ability that he is proud of is that he is good in arts particularly drawing and painting. He is still in high school and yearly gets in the director’s list. I see my children as different phenotypic expressions of intelligence genes. They have the same genetic materials, they were raised in the same environment, basically eat the same food but what could have influenced their different ability traits. I believed that there is a general intelligence gene but regulated by an internal genetic switch that turns on or off specific ability genes. So, it seems that Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory may not be contradictory to Spearman’s General Intelligence Theory rather an extension of it.   I used to worry a lot when they were young. As a young mother then, I did my best to help them in school. I personally teach them aside from enrolling them in tutorial school. My aunt who was a school teacher noticed that I was putting too much pressure on my children. She said that I should loosen up and let my children enjoy learning and discover the things they are good at on their own. I discovered that my children have different learning style. My eldest learns by gathering information first before gaining knowledge. She has a natural ability for evidence gathering and critical thinking. She learns well by inductive reasoning. That’s probably one of the reasons why she succeeded in her chosen profession. My 2^nd daughter is more of a deductive learner.  Like, “here is the knowledge; go and practice it”. She learns all the theories and principles and applies it perfectly. When under time constraint, I observed that she strategized her learning to pass her tests. Strategic learning may not be bad at all. My 3^rd daughter is more of a deductive learner. She is also an abstract learner. She uses her imagination and establish patterns. She abstracts from the examples. My son is more of a deductive and visual learner. He learns and understands better and retains information better when ideas, words and concepts are associated with images.

What I have realized is that in learning, what you see as obvious in your students may not always be true. It is very important to know each and everyone of them. Intelligence and abilities have varied expressions and learners have different learning styles. To these concerns that education theories become valuable. They can provide  guidance to both teachers and parents in dealing with these learning variations. As teachers we must be able to recognize these differences so we can adjust our teaching methods to help them achieve their learning goals. Most importantly, teachers should be the source of inspiration not discouragement.

            “Children need models rather than critics.”  — Joseph Joubert, French moralist

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

           

               

Hello Teacher Malou and classmates in EDS 103. I am Marie Lynn S. Fama and this is my e journal. This is the same journal where I posted my reflections in EDS 113. You are welcome to read them and give comments. Happy to be learning with everyone:)

Thank you Teacher Malou and classmates for a meaningful journey. I will always bring with me these phrase: “work with a happy heart”

It was simply amazing how I have learned so much in this course in a short period of time. A whole lot of assessment stuff that I’m eager to bring with me when I go back to my class. I hope to do it right this time around. As what Pearl Zhu contends, “The quality of assessors is critical to the quality of the assessment result.”

What I’ve learned cannot be contained in this page so I narrow my list to those that just “pops out” of my mind. That Assessment …..

• is not just the tests but all the methods and processes that you used to measure student’s learning
• can give information to improve strategies of teaching
• assessment information can help develop and improve a program of study
• is not the same as evaluation. That evaluation is determining the value of something by comparing it against a standard
• it is a continuous plan-do-check-act cycle until the student attain the learning outcome
• the tests and rubrics I used are instruments or tools of assessment
• direct methods ask students to demonstrate their learning while indirect methods ask students to reflect on their learning
• formative assessment help improve process of learning and conducted while learning is still in progress while summative assessment is given at the end of a course to determine the students’ over all achievement
• there are many forms and types of assessment and their value depends on how you use the information they provide
• that effective assessment should be valid, reliable and practical
• that student engagement in their assessment improve their performance. A properly conducted self-/peer assessment will improve learning
• rubrics, checklists and scoring scale can be reflected upon by both teachers and students to gauge learning
• in holistic rubric all the criteria to be included in the evaluation is considered together and assigned a single score while in single point rubric the criteria are individually scored
• feedback is a critical part of assessment and learning
• good assessment design established validity and reliability of assessment
• alignment, precision, rigor, bias, scoring are elements to be considered in designing assessment
•  rigor or cognitive complexity of each assessment item matches the rigor or cognitive complexity of the skill you intend it to assess
• assessment plans and table of specification facilitates effective assessment
• engagement of learners in the assessment process improves performance
• the value of good assessment goes beyond the classroom as it has the impact to improve a person’s life by improving students’ outcome and better job opportunities.

As I was browsing over the internet looking for something inspiring to write as my final e journal post, I came across this quote, “Don’t let your mistakes define you. Use them as springboard to create a stronger, wiser and more powerful version of you”.  It brings an encouraging message of optimism about the future. Something that everyone needs in this life. So, I decided to post in my Note Pad. While pondering on it, I came to a realized that mistakes are life’s feedback. It may arise from your experiences, your friends or yourself. Feedbacks are supposed to help you evaluate your learning using the three questions: Where am I going? Where I am now? and What’s my next step? Feedbacks are supposed to help you attain your learning objectives in as much as mistakes can help you attain your life’s goals, when appreciated and made used of- as springboard.

         Dr. Neil Rosenthal, a licensed family and marriage therapist, wrote, in response to a client seeking advice about being embarrassed of the mistakes he had made in his life, “View your mistakes as valuable teachers. If you think about it, some of your greatest lessons have come from your mistake — that teaches you what you can and cannot do in the world. It’s how we grow, how we gain wisdom and maturity, how we acquire a better understanding of the way the world works, and it teaches us how we can and cannot behave. Mistakes give us feedback”

          I know I made a lot of mistakes in my activities and assignments here in EDS 113, but that’s just part of learning. Like what the Teachers Pay Teachers say, “Mistakes are proof you are learning”.

References:

https://boldomatic.com/p/Ce7nTw/don-t-let-your-mistakes-define-you-use-them-as-a-springboard-to-create-a-stronge. Retrieved 3/18/19

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mistakes-are-proof-you-are-learning-display-2979708.Retrieved 3/18/19

 ROSENTHAL, N. (2014), Learn from your mistakes but don’t let them define you. Retrieved from https://www.denverpost.com/2015/10/14/learn-from-your-mistakes-but-dont-let-them-define-you/. Retrieved 3/18/19

There is a test that can tell you where your students’ learning stand. It tracks students’ learning progress and predict their readiness to undertake standardized test in the future. It is called Benchmark Assessments. These assessments are given periodically (e.g., at the end of every quarter or as frequently as once per month) throughout a school year to establish baseline achievement data and measure progress toward a set of academic standards and goals (Hicks, M. 2013). It is different from formative or summative tests because its purpose is not to measure content mastery but to establish students’ weaknesses and strength to support instruction.

             

             

Reference: Hicks, M. (2013) Interim assessments-What they are and how to use them to benefit student learning. Retrieved from
https://www.nwea.org/blog/2013/interim       assessments-use-benefit-student-learning/. Retrieved 2/25/19 Retrieved 2/25/19

                        

                         

                        

                        

             

             

                        

                       

I’ve just realized that Diagnostic assessment is very important yet often neglected. This is a pre-assessment that allows a teacher to determine two things: (1) learners’ current knowledge on a topic to be studied in the course and (2) students’ individual strengths, weaknesses, knowledge and skills prior to instruction. Diagnostic information gathered can be used to guide lesson and curriculum planning. However, some teachers may choose to use their old lesson plans year after year after year. Diagnostic information can also be used in diagnosing students’ individual learning needs and used as basis in developing students self- assessment portfolio. Diagnostic assessment is not applied anymore in big classes due to the difficulty in diagnosing every single student. The consequences of neglecting this form of assessment is inadequate coverage of subject matter, use of instruction strategies that is ill adapted to the learning capabilities of students and failure to develop in the learner responsibility to their own learning. The result is poor attainment of learning outcomes and wasted time and effort in instruction.

Before Module 2 (Assessment Framework) in EDS 113, my idea of student learning assessment can be summarized by these words:  tests, scores, passed or failed. Going through the learning resources, my brain is overwhelmed by the flux of new information. While learning about the assessment cycle, I realized that I failed to do certain components of the cycle. The idea of completing the whole assessment cycle seems cumbersome until I came across this very simple but dynamic representation of the assessment cycle by the Westminster College.  In their post, the cycle is built on four distinct but interrelated actions: Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA). It starts with a “clearly articulated outcomes statements guiding course design, course activities yield data that measure student learning, and evaluation of this data informs course and program revision. Revised outcomes are implemented and student learning evaluated, following a process that may lead to further revision”. I guess that this cycle can go on and on …  until the process is improved.

To translate their diagram in words:  Plan is write outcomes; Do is teach and learn; Check is evaluate student work and Act is to revise and reinforce.

             By following this simple principle…I have all hopes that I can do it.

Reference:
The Assessment Cycle
Retrieved from  https://www.westminster.edu/about/accreditation-
assessment/cycle.cfm on February 3, 2019

• Most of us are anxious about examinations. Some of us fall short in our performances not because we lack the knowledge and skills but because of our anxiety towards the process. I have students who perform well in laboratory activities, oral reports and developing conceptual diagrams but perform poorly in written exams which requires mostly reliance on memory. This varying outcome can put the teacher in dilemma. Jackson, G.T. and Rivera, D.Z. in R and D Connections, talked about Conversation- Based Assessment: “An interactive conversation helps reveal what the student knows and is able to do and areas where more learning is needed. This adaptive method allows the student to fully express his or her knowledge and provides the tutor with more diagnostic information…”. Engaging the learner in a more casual conversation can lessen the stress of assessment and more meaningful insights and evidences can be gained. I see that this technique can be modified to include a little bit of mentoring and counselling. Its worth trying. 🙂

Reference:

Jackson, G.T. and Rivera, D.Z. (2015). Conversation-Based Assessment. R and

D Connections, 25, October, 2015. Retrieved January 20, 2019, from

http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/RD_Connections_25.pdf

I often hear people talk about “blog” or a “famous blogger” but I never bothered to know about it until EDS 113 so I googled how it is done. The Cambridge English Dictionary defined it as a regular record of your thoughts, opinions, or experiences that you put on the internet for other people to read. That’s it? I guess I can do that. Well, except for the very complex task of creating a “blog web page”.  My daughter who helped me create my e journal wondered why I wanted to learn all these “blog stuff.”

Whether requirement or not, I believe that keeping your brain active by learning new things make it healthy. Speaking as someone not belonging to the Millennial generation, this is a new experience that I can feed my brain to keep it young. According to the Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School, research in human and mice showed that brainy activities stimulate new connections between nerve cells and may even help the brain generate new cells. Likewise, strong social tie is associated with lower risk of dementia, lower blood pressure and longer life expectancy. So, let’s enjoy every tread of this mental gymnastics.

May I invite everyone to drop by my “Notepad” every now and then. I’m looking forward in learning new things with you! 😊

Reference:

12 ways to keep your brain young. Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School. Published 2006. 

Updated January 16, 2018. Retrieved:  January 16, 2019 from

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/12-ways-to-keep-your-brain-young