Assessing for tomorrow

Tomorrow I am facilitating a staff PD session on assessment in the digital age. We are lucky enough to work in a BYOD school where access to technology is generally not an issue. The conversation is a timely one, given the recent announcements by NZ's Minister of Education. It is an important conversation, and one in which I, by no means, have all the answers (and perhaps not any of the answers). My role tomorrow is to pose some questions and get the conversation started.

Re-thinking Appraisal

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
- Albert Einstein

Appraisal has a new look at our school. After a thoughtful consultation process, we now have an on-line process that asks us to think about our strengths and weaknesses and how this impacts student achievement. Appraisal is moving from a tick-box administration process to a design that seeks to encourage teacher reflection and personalised development opportunities. I, for one, am very happy with this change.

For many of us, our identity or sense of self is closely aligned with what we do for a living. As teachers, we can often fall into the trap of feeling like we must know everything: we are teachers, after all. This is perhaps, where recent titles such as facilitators and learning leaders seek to remind us that we are just one part of the process. Students should be at the centre of it all. If we have spent much of our teaching life at front and centre of the classroom, it might be difficult to let go. But, in order to keep moving forward, we must acknowledge what we don't know and take action. There is no weakness in that. A good appraisal system should allow us to feel safe in our reflections on and explorations into our teaching practice.

I had the opportunity to contribute to part of the new appraisal document. I used the SMART criteria as a base:

• Specific: Goal(s) should be clearly articulated and described
• Measurable: Goal(s) should be easily measured by a collection of evidence
• Achievable: Goal(s) should be challenging – perhaps taking you out of your comfort zone – but focused enough to be achievable
• Relevant: Goal(s) should be informed by and have reference to school goals
• Time bound: Goal(s) should have a clearly defined timeline

And then I added some reflection questions to get the thinking started:

• What do I know about my students’ achievement?
• How could I enhance my students’ learning?
• Which particular teaching skill would I like to develop?
• How familiar am I with current best-practice educational theory?
• Where are the gaps in my professional development record?
• What evidence collection methods could I use to support my goal(s)?
• How is my appraisal goal linked to a school or faculty goal?
• How will my appraisal goal help to strengthen my teaching practice?
• How is my appraisal goal linked to the RTCs?

I am hopeful that my faculty sees this newly redesigned process as encouraging and enabling them to think critically and deeply about their own pedagogy. We have a number of cycling enthusiasts in our team; as a peloton, we could certainly achieve the momentum required to reach our individual bests.

Out and About Visibly Learning

It can be a breath of fresh air to get out of your classroom, out of your school, and perhaps out of your comfort zone. So heading off on Friday to the Visible Learning Summit was much anticipated by our small exploratory team.

Sometimes it happens that the presentations of the day leave something to be desired, and the learning happens from the conversations with colleagues. On this particular Friday, the thing I enjoyed most at the Summit was hearing from two principals who have got in there and lead change from the top; the embodiment of leaders of learning was on display in these two and it was quite inspirational.

However,- and here I may be being rather contentious - what didn't inspire me was the (not choosing my words diplomatically) at times sycophantic adherence to certain theories and certain people. I ask my students to think for themselves and I will occasionally play devil's advocate to see if any of them challenge me. I didn't really see any of this on Friday. Real discussion seemed lacking. People who disagreed with ideas or aspects of presentations did so in hushed voices, afraid of upsetting the cart or being different in a room full of disciples.

Don't get me wrong, I am fully in favour of research, best practice, and doing what works for our students. But I want to know what works and doesn't work, what the problems and constraints are, what workarounds might be necessary. I want real-world scenarios, not the text book practices. I want discussion and difference. How can I learn if I can't see anything of myself or my situation in your story? How can I grow if I am too afraid to be derided for offering a different, but perhaps valid, perspective?

In the end, the journey back home gave our small exploratory team the time to debrief, and this was perhaps the most valuable aspect of the whole day; an opportunity for colleagues to process their responses and reach shared understanding. Professionally developing and growing together.