Assessment, Always and Forever

Assessment is constantly in my life. It's like my best friend. Or that person I don't really like but is everywhere I go.
That's assessment and it takes multiple forms. There is the assessment we all know oh so well that comes in the form of tests or more generally, as grades. Participation, quizzes, papers, team projects, blog posts, etc. are all forms of assessment to see how we are doing with either learning and understanding the information or finding a way to memorize it and retain it long enough to be evaluated on it. In the academic world, assessment is as obvious as the love tweens have for the Biebz and the world's newest boy band, One Direction.
But assessment is truly everywhere. I work as an office assistant and if I do anything wrong or can't answer a question because I don't know the answer, I have to ask my boss. My assessment comes in the form of how many times I need to go and ask him a question. The more I know about the job, the more I can do it on my own which is his goal because I'm there to relieve him of certain duties such as answering resident's questions and concerns.
Even in more personal and low-key activities such as watching a television show. My roommates and I will discuss what is happening and they may assess me on my knowledge and understanding of the show by asking certain questions if they forgot what happened. If we play Harry Potter Scene It (which happens) and I forgot that Hermione was indeed the one that said "I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed, or worse, expelled", I've been assessed on my knowledge and ability to play the game.
Another example occurred when I was practicing for a flash mob with Dream Project. After doing it on our own, we all got together to practice and we were all assessing each other on how well we knew the dance moves.
Time can even be a form of assessment. If it is 2:30am on a Sunday "morning" and I am still doing work, perhaps that is an assessment on how my work ethic is. Perhaps it is saying I should have managed my time better. If I miss my alarm in the morning, I've been assessed as doing a poor job at waking up on time.
Assessment is everywhere and we cannot escape it and maybe we don't need to. Would we get work done if we weren't constantly being assessed? Maybe, it depends on the form of assessment.

Motivation Madness

My motivation is absolutely different for each aspect or activity in my life. It is for that reason that I do assignments late because I feel I don't have time but I can lose sleep to make 3 batches of cupcakes to give mentors at 8am twice a week. At times, it doesn't make sense. 

I've always known that intrinsic motivation is the most effective type of motivation because it always has been for me. And there are definitely different levels of being intrinsically motivated. If we continue with the blog posts - I enjoy them. I love writing about my thoughts and the minute I start one of these, it's difficult to stop. Yet still, here I am, waiting until the very last minute to submit them. It's not because I'm not interested - I truly am or I wouldn't be happily writing this at 2am. The problem is that I wanted to do other things for which I was also intrinsically motivated to do, but just more motivated. I love every aspect of Dream Project and in a short amount of time, that program became my life. I would drop everything to do something Dream Project related because I love everything it does. I love that it takes undergraduates to help high school students get to college or help them with whatever they want after they graduate. I love that it gives undergraduates valuable leadership experience. I love that I get to work with undocumented students. I am truly interested in the work Dream Project does and for that, I am more motivated to do something for Dream Project than I am for anything else. There is definitely some extrinsic motivation in there; I get valuable experience for the work I do. My reward is seeing high school students become college students. But my interest in the program, regardless if I "get anything" out of it, motivates me more than anything else. I love it so I do it all. 

I wish I was more motivated to get work done because even when I absolutely love the subject of the material I am learning, I still don't feel as motivated. Studies have shown that external rewards can reduce motivation for one to actually do the activity. In my case, that reward would be the grade. However, when grades work so well for so many people, why is it that it doesn't do much for me? As long as I pass the class, I tend to do minimal or average work. It could be the pressure and the expectation. Grade scales show that anything without a 3 in the front or for some, below 3.8 or 3.5 is not good enough. My standards have become low so that I don't have to have those expectations. Dream Project, on the other hand - there are no expectations. So I excel because as long as I'm there, I'm doing a good job. There is no limit, no standard so I go above and beyond. 

My motivation is all over the place. I wish I was better at motivating myself to do better in classes but after 17 years of school, I haven't been able to figure it out. 

The Meaning of Intelligence

Oh hey, look who is finally doing the blog posts? My bad, team.

I asked some of my friends and family about what smart and intelligence means to me. Most of them responded with ideas similar to what I said in class without really thinking about it. They associated intelligence with possessing knowledge and it was usually used in an academic sense.

While most people replied rather quickly, my roommate took her time and rather carefully said intelligence means "the ability to apply knowledge that you have to a situation that will produce a substantial result". This was different than most responses because it wasn't just the possession of knowledge but it was applying it. I wondered what she meant by substantial and she elaborated be saying that the knowledge needs to be applied correctly or towards the correct way. It seems we are constantly using intelligence with having the right answers. Just like it was mentioned in other posts, intelligence is usually associated with academics. Even if it's not included in their definition, academics is usually the context in which they are speaking or the example they use when defining smarts and intelligence.

I personally dislike the manner in which we use intelligence. We normally don't call someone who possesses incredible amounts of knowledge in other areas as "smart". A lyricist is usually called creative and has a way with words, but rarely considered intelligent. Poets, sure, they are considered smart at times. But rappers, with similar amazing lyrical talent, are not always considered "intelligent". This is only one example of certain intelligent individuals but there are plenty more who aren't given the title they deserve. How do we change that? Can we change that?

Assessment- becoming a teacher and student

At one point in class this week, it was brought up how assessment can also involve immediate feedback, so a teacher may not always be needed. Outside the classroom, I think this can be very subconscious. We can simultaneously be the teacher and student. For example, going window shopping, we might get feedback that our outfit is not in style, which would be assessing both the window clothing and ourselves. We can "teach" ourselves, based on our environment, and apply the learning as a student would. It seems like through assessment we determine a lot of cultural value or just plain significance, from assessing the safety of crossing the street to our manners in a restaurant.

Different Types of Assessment

When we think assessment, we automatically think tests.  Can you think of other examples of assessment beyond tests?


Why yes I can. Jasmine and I had the wonderful opportunity to take an entire class devoted to assessment. Here are two examples of assessment that are different than testing:


Early Childhood Environmental Rating System (ECERS): The ECERS does not rate a student's performance, instead, it rates the classroom environment. On a scale of 1-6 (or 7, maybe 5), classrooms get rated on a very wide range of factors. These factors have a lot to do with things that can be literally numbered or measured--such as the number of books showing people of diverse backgrounds or the depth of the mulch on the playground. It dips a little bit as well into behavior management and student-teacher interactions. The main problem I find with this assessment is the level of feedback given to the teacher. An independent rater comes in to the classroom for one day and then observes for a few hours. The classroom will receive their scores but they won't know why they got the high/low score. The feedback is simply a number, which doesn't allow for much improvement.


Work Sampling: This assessment uses more of a portfolio approach to assess children. Teachers will collect a range of assignments and take notes throughout the year to look at the student's development over the course of a year. They will be focusing on a certain number of developmental benchmarks, such as one-to-one correspondence and holding a pencil correctly, and the teacher will check over the year if they fall under the "needs improvement", "in progress", or "proficient" category.

assessing everywhere, everyday

What role does assessment have in your life? How does assessment show up for you as a natural or unnatural part of your life inside and outside of school?

I feel like assessment is apart of all aspects of my life.  In formal settings like school it's through finals or at work it's through my performance and task completion.  In informal settings like with friends it's through assessing our relationships and problems or even more simply assessing an outfit.  The purpose of assessment is reflecting and trying to improve/better whatever aspect of your life, so assessment is or should be consistent in all contexts of our lives.


What ways do you guys see assessment happening in your lives?

I am motivated (:

What motivates you to participate in different activities in your life? Is your motivation different for activities such as school, hobbies, family obligations spending time with friends, etc.? How might you explain any differences you experience?


I am motivated to participate in different activities for different reasons.  For example, I am motivated to complete my academic work because it is the means to an end and the end being my undergraduate degree and starting my graduate program where I get to gain experience specific to my desired job.  I am motivated to spend time with my friends because I love them and hanging with them is enjoyable and they keep me sane (:  


The differences in motivation for different activities can be explained by knowing what your goals are and knowing what activities help you achieve those goals.  Also, motivation has a lot to do with your culture and what values and expectations you were raised to accept.  Motivation is such an interesting concept as it is so individualistic to every person and can involve many different types of motivation for such a specific task.