My wife gave me The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus for my 48th birthday. I just got around to watching the first episode and saw the following sketch. It demonstrates perfectly what happens when we fail to use formative assessment to inform planning and instruction.
It is important to understand that formative assessment does not need to be in the form of a test. We can gather data simply by observing. Imagine how this Italian class might have looked if the teacher had really seen the students during the lesson and adjusted his instruction accordingly. In the Design Thinking methodology, this is a part of the first phase - Empathy.
This reminds me of an article by Dr. Rheta Rubenstein titled, "The Learning of Mathematics: Perspectives of Different Researchers." (It comes from our text, Teaching and Learning Middle Grades Mathematics.) Under the section on Vygotsky, she includes the following diagram attributed to Dr. Lauren Resnick.
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| Vygotsky in Venn Diagram Form |
As Terry Jones's character discovers, when teachers use scripted lessons that do not take learners' current level of understanding into account very little learning actually occurs.
Ha - Nice. And I like the egg graphics. I can use those in my department meeting on Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteThe Reflective Educator,
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it. I'd be interested to know how it goes over at the department meeting.
Peace,
Dave