Authentic Assessment vs. State-Mandated Testing

The purpose of assessment is to gather valid information that guides instruction to benefit the student’s learning.  The idea behind authentic assessments is to have students demonstrate their knowledge in ways that are much more applicable to life outside of school. Standardized testing, on the other hand, is a more narrowly focused assessment tool.  By varying forms of assessment, it is easier to balance preparation for state-mandated End of Grade tests, yet keeping student learning more authentic. 

When using traditional assessments like tests or quizzes, I incorporate open-ended questions and higher-level questions that are more real-world.  Other assessments that we use in our class include technology-based assessments, inquiry-based projects, choice boards/tic-tac-toe boards, journal entries in their interactive student notebooks, foldables, graphic organizers, tickets-out-the-door, formative assessments such as “thumbs up” or whiteboard “Show What You Know,” and student choice to exhibit their creativity.  We are constantly assessing, whether it be formally or informally.  Pre-assessments are extremely crucial when customizing instruction and for making modifications for gifted students in order to prepare them for state assessments and individualized learning.  In our class, we use technology such as Kahoot or Padlet to quickly assess the students’ understanding. 

To establish and encourage rigorous assessments for the gifted learner, high expectations from the student and the teacher are essential.  In my experience, gifted students respond more positively to high expectations when they find value in the tasks they are completing, such as in authentic assessments.  I feel that motivation and engagement are linked together, and are critical in developing successful students.  By incorporating authentic assessments linked to the students’ interests, student motivation and engagement increases.  In addition to high expectations, gifted students need encouragement to help them fulfill these expectations.  A sense of belonging and a respectful environment are essential for gifted learners to succeed.  Authentic assessments that provide student choice are a powerful motivator for the gifted learner.  To maintain opportunities for rigor, gifted students must be given the opportunity to help design the content or process and product rather than just completing a teacher-created assignment.   In our classroom, students are given the opportunity to explore their own interests through inquiry-based projects.  By choosing topics that interest them, the students delve into their assessments with greater complexity and depth, therefore making their learning more meaningful.

Blending authentic assessment activities with opportunities to better prepare the students for End-of-Grade testing occurs daily in our classroom.  Other than formal assessments, I constantly assess the students informally through class discussions that center around questioning, with a focus on higher-level thinking skills.  While utilizing question stems from Bloom’s Taxonomy is important for all students, it is especially critical to implement a class atmosphere for gifted students wherein constant high-level questioning occurs.  The complexity of high-level thinking should be raised for gifted learners and questions should be relevant to real world situations to challenge them.  This helps prepare them for their state tests as well as keep their learning authentic.

Beyond the simple recalling of answers, more complex assessments evoke answers that are beyond grade level.  Assessments that we use in our class include inquiry-based projects, individual and group activities that encourage creativity and greater depth.  Students also create journal entries, detailed graphic organizers and foldables to demonstrate their knowledge.  Many of the assignments, such as their choice boards, encourage student choice of assessment. I think that when I organize instruction around assignments that demand higher order thinking, in-depth understanding, and make a connection to the students’ lives beyond school, the students produce more intellectually complex work, therefore preparing them for state mandated tests.  Assignments calling for more authentic, real-world concepts help to improve student scores on End-of-Grade testing.  Unlike standardized testing, authentic assessments are student-centered and allow students to demonstrate their knowledge in a way that best suits them.  Authentic assessments provide more opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding than a standardized test does; can give me more direct evidence about how he/she arrives at an answer; and takes some of the guesswork out of trying to understand how much they have really learned.  As a result, authentic assessments are better indicators of student learning than state mandated tests. 

Campbell, D. (2000). Authentic Assessment and Authentic Standards. Phi Delta Kappan, 405-407.

Kingore, B. (Winter 2011). Differentiating Instruction to Promote Rigor and Engagement for Advanced and Gifted Students. Tempo, XXXI (3), 9-15.

Tomlinson, C. (1997). It Means to Teach Gifted Learners Well. Instructional Leader. Retrieved July 12, 2015, from http://www.nagc.org/resources-publications/gifted-education-practices/what-it-means-teach-gifted-learners-well

Highly Exceptional vs. Just Gifted-"Emily"

When reflecting on the students I’ve taught over the last 15 years and pondering which student(s) are highly gifted, Emily immediately sprang to mind.  Emily possesses many of the characteristics of a highly exceptional student.  She learns at a much faster pace, processes material at a much greater depth, shows intensity in energy, imagination, intellect, sensitivity, and emotion.  (Hollingworth, 2007).  Emily also gets bored easily, is emotionally sensitive and sensitive to her surroundings, and is extremely stubborn with a need to dominate in most learning situations.  While Emily always scored highly on assessments, formally or informally, creating a learning environment challenging, yet encouraging for her is a difficult task.

Emily, originally diagnosed with ADHD and Oppositional Defiance Disorder, has the ability to concentrate on tasks for long periods of time; however she could not sit still when she was bored.  She cries very easily and is quick to lose her temper.  In addition, Emily is bossy to the other students when they don’t “do it right” and can’t keep up with her personal items.  She is also obsessed with situations being viewed as “fair” by her standards.  Emily is often misunderstood and her behavior can be troublesome.  She was even labeled a bully by one of her teachers.   In addition to bossing around her classmates, Emily has difficultly relating to many of her peers because they don’t’ share common interests.  Rather, she identifies more closely with her teachers and other adults in the classroom setting and older students.  Emily also has an intense desire to research and evaluate meanings of things and why they happen.  Unlike many of the other gifted students, Emily doesn’t want the answer given to her-she wants to devise it on her own.  Extremely independent, Emily needs a great deal of attention and stimulation both inside and outside of the classroom.  She’s a member of the Battle of the Books and Robotics teams, as well as active in various sports, gymnastics, and dance.

While many of the students in my classrooms have possessed characteristics commonly found in gifted students, very few have demonstrated the distinctive characteristics of being highly gifted.  Gifted students in my experience have the following tendencies:

·  a strong curiosity

·  a zealous reader

·  able to think and process information quickly and logically

·  observant and empathetic

·  can recall facts and has a powerful memory

·  creative

·  morally conscience

·  intrinsically-motivated

Many of these characteristics are also present in Emily; however, she also has a high activity level, possesses poor judgment in correlation with her intellect, and often gets involved in power struggles.  Emily’s extreme intensities such as being too sensitive, too needy, too excited, and too disorganized also set her aside from her gifted peers.  While there are not as many resources for accommodating students such as Emily, the following suggestions are beneficial: (Kamal)

• A stimulating environment
• Challenging tasks
• Lots of encouragement
• Relationships with people of similar intelligence levels
• The freedom of choosing which activities to pursue
• Stimulation of all senses
• Interactive assignments rather than passive lectures
• Autonomy to explore curiosities

Emily’s high intelligence, creativity, extensive vocabulary, ability to grasp new concepts quickly, and highly sensitive and intense feelings set her apart from her regularly gifted peers.

Kamal, R., & Kamal, T. (n.d.). How Are Highly and Profoundly Gifted Students Different? Retrieved July 5, 2015, from http://www.specialneeds.com/children-and-parents/general-special-needs/how-are-highly-and-profoundly-gifted-stude 

Who are the Highly Gifted? (n.d.). Retrieved July 5, 2015, from http://www.hollingworth.org/highlygifted.html 

AIG Practicum

The ideal gifted classroom provides multiple strategies for student learning, uses many tools to reach diverse learners, and remains flexible to meet the needs of it’s gifted students.  In my classroom of 29 7th grade students, 18 of which are identified as AIG in either math, reading, or both, I try to engage my students through student-centered activities to guide their understanding.  I’m fortunate to have had an exceptional group of students this year who display many of the positive characteristics associated with being gifted.  Creative, hard-working, skillful leaders, intrinsically motivated, good sense of humor, and a passion for learning are a few of the skills I observed through the school year.  However, I also observed students who displayed social awkwardness, shyness, lack of organization, and a strong sense of what is fair or just. Whether it be traditional best practices or problem-based learning activities, with a varied array of instructional strategies, I feel that my gifted students can be better educated through meaningful and challenging experiences that are research-based and student-centered.

Developmental differences in individuals with gifts manifested in various learning domains:

One observation very easily made is that the students, whether gifted or not, participate more readily in activities that interest them and are meaningful for them.  However, even with a high level of participation, the students do not always reach a successful outcome.  In my classroom, I could almost predict which students would preform well on various tasks.  Students such as Jordan, who is highly gifted in both math and reading, always started an activity trying to find the best solution, idea, etc for that particular activity.  He would spend time analyzing the assignment and plan out the best way for him to complete it.  He also always went beyond what my expectations were by spending additional time working on projects at home, staying after school, and providing a depth of complexity not usually observed in a 7^th grade student.  On the other hand, Logan, who is also gifted in both reading and mathematics, would jump right in to complete an assignment without regard to structure, the timeline, or any plan.  Logan was extremely creative, yet disorganized, wasted time with a lack of focus and did not pay attention to details.  Jordan and Logan were both extremely social and leaders in their own domains.   Emily, also highly gifted in both reading and mathematics, preferred to work alone on most assignments (unless required to work with a partner) and was a perfectionist.  While her assignments and presentations were excellent, her method of delivery of her presentations was lacking.  And while Emily and Jordan both excelled with technology, Jordan would offer to help others and show them how to make their presentations better.  Emily did not offer to help.  Instead she would keep to herself and not share ideas with others-she enjoyed the other students making positive remarks about her work.

Similarities and differences in learning patterns of individuals with gifts, as compared to the general population:

Generally students identified as gifted in math were able to understand new concepts and think and process information quickly and logically, whereas students who were not gifted in math took longer to “digest” the information.  Students like Jordan, Emily, and Logan could recall math facts and had a powerful memory, which aided in their ability to comprehend new material.  Retaining prior knowledge is beneficial in acquiring new knowledge.  Many times students who were not gifted in mathematics would spend additional time trying to remember or re-learn previously taught facts, therefore giving their brains less time to process the new information.  Students like Madison, Taylor, and Lauren utilized their interactive student notebooks to review material previously learned in order to aid in their understanding of new math topics.  While many of the gifted students preferred to work alone or with just a partner, many of the regular students would rather work with a group.  While working with partners or groups, most of the gifted students were able to balance the appropriate amount of work time with talk time.  However, groups of students not identified as gifted, regularly had to be redirected to ensure that they would be able to complete their activities in a timely manner.

Influence of social-emotional development on learning and interpersonal relationships of individuals with gifts:

Though their giftedness manifests itself in various ways in many of my students, it is most evident in their interpersonal relationships.  The students were grouped according to ability level, with the majority of them identified as gifted in one or more areas.  I had a class full of gifted students with the ability to dream, the desire to learn, willing to take risks, who were mature (according to 7^th grade standards) and divergent thinkers, self-motivated, and set high standards for themselves.    I also had a class full of students who wanted to conform, felt isolated from their peers, felt misunderstood, were full of anxiety and sadness, cheated or didn’t turn in work for fear of failure, and who had lost their creativity and originality in order to be accepted by their peers, family, and teachers.  Although my class was grouped according to ability, their characteristics of giftedness were heterogeneous.  Students like Jordan, Jared, and Logan had little difficulty socializing, being leaders, fitting in.  However, students such as Keaton, Ruby, and Rachel struggled academically and socially.  Whether it was allowing someone else to do all of the work in a group project, copying someone’s homework answers, not turning in assignments, or preferring to work alone so as not to have to socialize, several of the gifted students in my classroom display some of the negative characteristics often seen in gifted students.  Through private conversations with the students, conferences with their parents, regular e-mail correspondence, referring to school counselors when needed, and making sure the students knew that I cared about them and was there to help them, they were able to make advancements.  Gifted students are often misunderstood and need the support of their family and teachers in order to reach their potential.  Sometimes we forget that they are still children and suffer from the normal childhood behaviors because they are more mature and able to reason abstractly; however, a strong support system is essential to their intellectual, as well as emotional and social well-being.  In my classroom I try to incorporate a variety of activities and instruction in order to meet the needs of all of the students, offering time when students work independently and other times with a partner or group.

Effective Teaching Practices

Activating prior knowledge, framing their learning, and checking for understanding are some effective teaching practices I incorporate into my classroom.  Activities like gallery walks, introductory kahoots, and “grab bag” activities are ways that I try to grab the students’ attention to introduce a new concept.  Framing the students’ learning is also an idea that I use regularly in my classroom.  By using the daily objective and “I Can” statements posted on my classroom board, I can help benefit the students’ understanding by directing their focus.  I currently practice several methods to check for student understanding in my classroom such as quick writes in their Interactive Student Notebook, a ticket-out-the-door, whiteboard practice, and iPad activities with apps such as Kahoot .  These help me to determine student understanding and provide structure, yet keep students engaged. 

Differentiating the curriculum to meet the needs of gifted students is essential.  Building upon Bloom’s Taxonomy, offering inquiry-based instruction and open-ended flexible grouping has benefited my gifted students.  In addition, I like to increase the students’ learning through problem-based learning tasks. Developing PBL units allows students the opportunity to sharpen their thinking skills, as well as their listening and conferencing skills.  I incorporate PBL’s in my classroom because they enable students to use their critical thinking skills, creativity, and other skills essential for success in the 21^st century.  Gifted students needs cannot be met by only one style of learning, so I provide many methods of instruction and activity choice aids in the development of the gifted students in my classroom.

Callahan, C. (2004). The Social and Emotional Development of Gifted Students. THE NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER ON THE GIFTED AND TALENTED, 1-15. Retrieved June 26, 2015, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED505462.pdf

Hebert, T., & Speirs Neumeister, K. (2002). Fostering The Social And Emotional Development Of Gifted Children Through Guided Viewing Of Film « SENG. Retrieved June 28, 2015.