It
is morel mushroom season in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Finding these
elusive, tasty morsels can be as challenging as it is rewarding. Mushroomers are
secretive about where they hunt, but even if you know where to look, they can
be hard to find among the leaf litter.
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Authentic
Learning
happens in authentic settings (notice I did not say it had to be real-life), therefore,
that is where we need to look for it. You will not find mushrooms where they do
not grow. A test can be a learning experience but these can be difficult to
write; that is why a prefer projects and portfolios as ways to demonstrate
learning.
Standards
We
need to know what we are and are not looking for when it comes to learning.
When it comes to mushrooms, not knowing what you are looking for can be deadly.
Metaphorically speaking, the same can be said about learning. Focusing on
memorized facts can “kill” a person’s interest in learning.
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Unsafe |
Slow
It
is difficult to observe learning under unreasonable time constraints. Trying to
identify learning using 10 questions on a 60-minute test is akin to trying to
spot mushrooms on a fast-moving motorcycle. Someone might be able to do it, but
I cannot. It takes time and patience to assess learning.
Experience
With
experience, it becomes easier to know where to look, when to look, and what to
look for; this is true whether you are talking about mushrooms or learning.
Lacking experience we tend to rely on tales or traditions. We get stuck using the same types of tests
that we encountered as students without considering other places we might find
learning.
Support
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Spontaneous
One
never knows when learning might be demonstrated, so teachers must always be on
the lookout. If we only look where we have always looked, we may be missing the
morels in our own backyard. Teachers who use observational assessments often
are able to identify learning that might not show up on a test. Furthermore, if
teachers inform students of what learning is expected, the students can help to
demonstrate that learning occurred even if it happened in ways the teachers did
not anticipate.
This
is what I thought about as I hunted mushrooms and considered the parallels to
assessing learning. I certainly refined some of my thinking as I wrote this
post, but the key point remains: we need to rethink our assessment practices if
we are to find true learning. Hopefully, ASSESS will remind me of what this
shift might entail for me.