~~ Differentiated and Personalized Assessment in the Classroom ~~

I have been an advocate for individualized learning for a while. Since my first year of University (approximately 3 and a half years to date), I truly thought that as long as I knew the curriculum I would become a great teacher. But there are so many more factors thrown in then just the bare minimum criteria for teaching. I have learned over the past years, in not only academic settings but social/work settings too, that everyone has their own ways of learning and their own muse. Not one person in this world is the same and in turn lead me to come to the conclusion that I should become an educator who can intangibly shape education to conform to a child's educational needs. This should be done through a hopeful attempt at establishing great rapport with my future students, yet making sure I remain entirely professional. But how should I be able to assess such a vast amount of individualized assignments, answers and learning???

Well, the answer is a difficult one but should be well-known to those knowledgeable in the study of curricular dynamics and assessment. By interweaving personalization of students prior knowledge into current curriculum, the ability to develop students higher-level thinking skills becomes much greater. Higher-Level Thinking, or HLT for short, is a term used to describe skills that perpetuate beyond the basic knowledge or meta-cognitive abilities of learning. I believe that by incorporating these HLT skills, many children can use them to enhance interdisciplinary assessment criteria and therefore show the necessary connections inside and outside of the classroom between common curricular subjects. This shows the educator how the student has come to such conclusions or how they resolve answers. If a student links one subject-area to another, for example; using English communication skills during an oral presentation on a Science or Math topic, a student can positively relay this learned information appropriately and in an advantageous manner.

Here is a Video on Higher Order Thinking in the classroom which greatly relates to Differentiated Learning... (It's a tad long though, just a warning!)

No one student is the same, and that correlates greatly with solutions, conclusions and arguments communicated by these individuals. Everyone has the capability to make connections. So by progressively giving students various resource options when it comes to different assessment criterion, they can use the best tools available for academic success. As an example; a student is having difficulty formulating questions in regards to a humanities subject... Some easily available options to personalize the assessment could be to either give additional time if necessary, provide some more examples or even do a class-wide review of the rubric making sure that each section is properly explained in terms that are understandable. Another possible example; a student is having a tough time analysing concepts. The students are either having a tough time communicating, or are possibly lacking confidence in their answers. The same personalized options, as mentioned in the first example, may suffice. Although, some others could be anything from creating groups with flexible students who display HLT skills or even by merging some quieter students with some more outgoing ones. For simple class-work and discussions, these transitional styles are very useful tools in teaching material and evaluating "Assessment AS learning" in the classroom. 

~~ My Personal Experience ~~

I recently had to perform some Observational based placements at my old High School for a different Education course for University. It was a grade 9 French academic class and hosted students who weren't completely unknown to the French language but who were by no means bilingual. Of course, some students excelled, and others found it hard to stay up to pace with the curriculum. But, each and every student used their own individual skills and capabilities to use their potential in order to succeed in this class. During one school day, the class had a work period to continue finishing their French assignment based on travelling to a country anywhere around the world that spoke French or had a certain percentage that knew the French language. Due to a limitation of computer resources, some students did not have the Chrome book laptops, but would partake in art, music or communicative based portions of the assignment. This did not stop these groups who depended on technology from working on their assignments though. They were given a large amount of electronic freedom in the class and so were allowed to use their phones. One student actually changed their phones settings to the French language and logged into the Google+ app on their phone. Here they could see the assignment in full, being completed in real-time, right on her phone. While watching this being done, she helped the group by using the Speech-to-text feature and the phone corrected her common grammar mistakes and told her tips for future knowledge, all in French. This absolutely blew me away and definitely was unexpected by grade 9 students. They not only used tools to personalize their assignments and individually use their potential, but every student had moments where their HLT skills would shine. 

Now, in the school system today... Many boards and schools use Rich Performance Assessment Tasks (or RPAT's for short). This RPAT is an assignment based on curriculum knowledge students "should know", which is then applied in a culmination type task. These are used to give students various options for assessing their learning. They typically have different questions, based on curriculum units, that relate to the curriculum subject learned in class. Even though the schools try integrating some options for culminated work, they still lack other possible assessment styles and so keep it usually to written work involving basic skills or topics learned in the curriculum. 

But there are other, more differentiated styles of assessment that are used as a high percentile for a students overall grade. Many teachers use these differentiated assessments to incorporate written, oral, visual or even kinaesthetic components that shows a students true potential. These typically generate higher interest, and so better use of a classes HLT skills which is relayed through to each individual student. Peers can expand on points in open discussion or with questions at the end and often give a more comfortable appearance when being assessed. If a student has choice in what they are about to educate a topic to their classmates, there is a greater possibility that they will use their passion to implicitly provide detailed analysis on the subject. 

Other common versions of personalized learning sometimes fly under the radar to those who may not see them as clearly as those with a truly broadened mind. Individualized Education Programs (IEP for short) are used for students who may simply need some academic assistance throughout their school career and those who may have a learning disability of some sort or may be deemed as gifted. IEP's are often seen in a negative lens but is actually quite a positive attribute to learning! There are many students who may need certain additional personalized education. 

In conclusion, I believe that anyone can incorporate personalized and differentiated learning into their lesson plans. With an open mind to making connections, allowing students to use their strengths in the classrooms and by supporting students and building to eliminate their weaknesses, any child has the potential to reach greatness and succeed in the modern education system. 

References:

Text Citations:

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21st Century Learner. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

Lewis, A., & Smith, D. (2001). Teaching for Higher Order Thinking: Defining Higher Order Thinking. College of Education: Ohio State University. Theory into Practice, 32,(3). 

Siry, C. (2013). Exploring the Complexities of Children's Inquiries in Science: Knowledge Production Through Participatory Practices. Res Sci Educ, 43, 2407-2430.

YouTube URL:

What happens when Classroom's meet Higher Order Thinking, presented by Dylan Hyman - TED:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2X0Yuks2TE

Differentiated Learning, presented by Ilana Vines - TED Youth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M1lKf-94q4

Image URL:

Teacher helping Student:

http://blog.thearrivalstore.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/The-Arrival-Store-The-Student-Teacher-Relationship-in-South-Korea.jpg

Student hand printing/writing:

http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/C73A0EB5-E461-4EDE-BC63-0A9EEC51A944/54729/Writing_on_Test3.jpg

IEP flow Chart:

http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/corvette/iepProcess.jpg