Assessment

Assessment is a central aspect of any effective teaching and learning program. Assessment is most obviously necessary to assess whether or not students have understood the content they are being taught and have developed the skills outlined by the curriculum, but its uses and purposes go much further. According to Churchill (2021), for optimal learning to occur, students need to be active participants in the learning process. This means they must understand what it is they are being asked to achieve, which speaks to the importance of setting clear learning intentions, but also clear criteria for the successful application of their learning in the form of assessment. This is partly why, according to Churchill (2021, p. 393), “most contemporary curriculum designs” involve setting clear priorities around learning and assessment and then working backwards to determine the kinds of tasks and activities can build towards those priorities. Churchill (2021, p. 400) points out that while summative assessments have typically been understood as “assessment of learning” and formative assessment as “assessment for learning” there is a third aspect to assessment known as “assessment as learning”, which involves students continually reflecting on their own learning in a metacognitive way that invokes “self-assessment and response”. 

According to feedback from peers and mentors, the opportunities for formative assessments I included in my unit plan did well to link back to previous learning, such as with the “seven persuasive strategies”. On the other hand there is a notable lack of opportunities for the kind of metacognitive self-reflection involved in assessment as learning. Setting aside five to ten minutes at the end of each class for a reflection writing activity, in which students reflect on whether they have achieved their learning intentions for the day, is a strategy that would allow for metacognitive self-reflection. Ash and Clayton (2009, p.27) that the reflection part of learning and teaching is essential as learning does not happen best “through experience alone but rather as a result of thinking about—reflecting on—it.”