350: Life Simulation / 410: Student Self Assessment

350: Life Simulation

     In education 350, we played a life simulation game called "C'est La Vie: A Game of Social Life." In this game, we were each randomly selected a paper that gave us our character, social classes, and money starting off. The point of the game was to gain as many experience, health, and money points as we possibly could, which was determined by decisions made in the game. I quickly realized while playing the game, that I was at a huge disadvantage. There were many disadvantages to the neighborhood I chose to live in based on the money I had available, and the social classes I was affiliated with also made it harder to advance. Starting out with very little money, I had little to no opportunity to advance in the game. On the other hand, those with a considerable amount of money to start with as well as favorable social classes advance rather easily and likely doubled what they started with. As we debriefed after the game, my class quickly realized that this was a very good representation of what happens to people in real life. If you do not start out with anything favorable in this country, it is rather difficult to better yourself. On the other hand, those who have rarely struggle to gain more. This is a perfect representation of how generational poverty is very real in this world.
     So the question is, how can educators make a difference? Standard 1, element a, of the North Carolina Teacher Candidate Standards tells us that "teachers lead in their classroom." It goes on to say that teachers prepare students for "life in the 21st century" as well as "set goals" for students. As educators, we often get so focused on the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, the lesson plans, the assessments, etc, that we may forget that some students are just trying to learn how to survive in the world they live in. The way teachers can help students prepare for "life in the 21st century" may not always involve literacy or math skills. Some students may need teachers to show them what their life options are if they come from poverty, and what they can actually do to better themselves in the future. Some students goals may need to be focused more toward survival than education. As educators, we need to realize this, and make sure we don't get so wrapped up in the educational side of things that we forget about those who can't handle that yet. Abraham Maslow, a psychologist, designed a hierarchy of needs that explains why students who are still trying to survive cannot continue their learning.
Unless the physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, and esteem needs are met, a students cannot begin to fully achieve their learning potential. In my future classroom, I hope to be aware of the fact that some of my students needs still lie at the bottom of the hierarchy, and accommodate for them as best I can. I will do this by recognizing what their priority needs to be, and what I need to teach them, whether that is educational instruction, or simply survival and betterment instruction.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html


410: Student Self Assessment

      In education 410, we discussed students learning to assess themselves, and whether this is more important than teacher feedback. This is something I had not previously considered, due to the fact that I want to teach kindergarten or first grade. The truth is, kindergarteners can be taught to self-assess, and to figure out where they need to continue to work. It may not be as in depth as an older student's self-assessment, but it is important none the less. We discussed data, and if we would be able to hand assessment data to a kindergartener in order for them to assess themselves, and my class came to the realization that data doesn't have to be numbers on a chart. Data can be brought down to a kindergarten level in many different ways. For example, Lyndsey Stuttard, a kindergarten teacher, had her students create a portfolio for each subject. They put every piece of work they completed into their separate portfolios, and at the end of a unit they would self assess themselves through the use of assessment worksheets created by their teacher. For example, students would be given the assessment worksheet shown here:
 
The students would then go back and look at their work and write down the date of the assignment that proves that they can accomplish the statement on the assessment worksheet. This seems very simple, but for kindergarten students this is a great way to get them to look back and what they can, and cannot accomplish. This connects directly with standard four of the NCTCS, specifically element a, which states that "Teachers know the way in which learning takes place." I think teaching students how to self-assess is important for further student learning. Self-assessment teaches students to take responsibility for their learning, and therefore helps them understand the importance of learning. They will be excited when they see growth, and will engage more in order to see that growth in the future. This helps students find an inner motivation for learning that will help them throughout their entire education as well as their future careers. In the future, I hope to find ways to promote self-assessment for my students, because I want every student to be intrinsically motivated to learn. I believe that through self-assessment, my students will begin to see why learning is important, and find a love for learning and achieving.

http://completelykindergarten.blogspot.com/2013/10/student-self-assessment.html