NOT ALWAYS ABOUT TESTS.

In her article on "10 Ways to Assess Learning Without Tests", Edna Sackson highlights 10 plausible tasks meant as alternative modes of assessment. I have selected 3 of them for the purpose of this post as they appear to be the most applicable in the field of teaching, learning, and assessing Literature.

Making a Video:

Sackson suggests that video making as a form of assessment is effective as it allows students to demonstrate their learning and inject their own interpretation to their understanding of the subject matter. I find this quite pertinent and useful as the process of creating a video requires a fair extent of personal insight and perspective, which allows both the student and teacher to view the content from a fresh angle. While Sackson has not indicated if video generation should be done individually or in groups, I would propose the latter, so as to allow students to consider multiple perspectives within the same context. When I was in Secondary 4, I was similarly offered this mode of assessment as part of the Language Arts programme undertaken by the school. The whole process of writing the script, casting, filming, and editing spanned a period of almost 2 months; but the eventual product was amazing because it encapsulated a whole spectrum of preliminary ideas, filmic techniques, as well as post-processing effects. One aspect which our assessor/teacher found particularly fascinating was our ability to showcase alternate dimensions of time and space within the same video – something that is difficult to achieve and effectively portray in a standard role-play or face-to-face presentation. Through the use of costumes, dialogues, and editing especially, we were able to transcend the boundaries of limited space and time to present to our audience the characters’ ability to be teleported from one era to another. This was particularly effective in communicating to our fellow peers the essence and significance of transgression, as well as the contrasting characteristics of past and present contexts.

Composing a Song:

Next, Sackson proposes that song composition offers students an avenue to articulate their learning, comprehension, and opinions. Sackson suggests that song composition can be carried out in two ways: students can create their own music from scratch, or “write new lyrics that can be sung to the melody of an existing song” (Sackson, 2010). At this point, I cannot help but recall how the latter process effectively taps on students’ prior knowledge. In lower Secondary, my class was partially assessed on such a component: creating, composing, and then singing a song relating the events of the Japanese Occupation during WW2. I fondly remember how my group adapted our piece from the song “When you Believe”, by Whitney Houston (I think). Our assessor took quite well to it, commenting that we had chosen an appropriate melody which matched the mood and atmosphere of the Jap Op and reflected the agony, pain, and sense of loss experienced during the war. I would definitely incorporate this means of assessment in my future classes as well – perhaps I could task my class to compose a song describing the plot progression/character traits/character relationships within a particular drama/prose/poem. This can be further improvised by instructing students to present their analysis of setting and characterization through their songs. And of course, I intend for my students to perform their completed masterpieces in class too – imagine how much fun that can potentially be!

Student Choice:

Finally, Sackson recommends that teachers may create room for students to present their understanding, findings, and analysis in any manner which they find appropriate. At the same time, she recognises that such a proposition may be overly simplistic and ambiguous as it depends on what is being assessed. While I do acknowledge the limitation of such a flexible and open form of assessment, I think there is potential to administer it in certain streams in the local classroom. This might be more suitable for the higher-ability students, who are likely to possess a higher capacity of comprehension and understanding, and tend to be discerning in terms of the format they choose to employ. If students display the ability to take ownership of their learning and have demonstrated a considerable degree of independence and self-motivation in their work, it is likely that allowing them to choose their own mode of assessment would yield refreshing and perhaps even eye-opening results. J

Works Cited

Sackson, E. (2010, September 10). 10 Ways to Assess Learning Without Tests. Retrieved from What Ed Said: http://whatedsaid.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/10-ways-to-assess-learning-without-tests/