Talking about assessment, I find myself recounting the awkward moments during my elementary years where I can say that we are more exposed to a teacher centered learning and got used to it, at least for myself. I say awkward because I was very competitive back then and I always felt I was a smart student whenever I can answer questions asked by our teacher. I can say I was very good at memorizing words and terms. I was always one of the top students because I study hard to get better grades. It was all traditional and I was an achiever so to speak.
Passive learning is how I described it where we constantly just receive information from our teachers through listening and just like a robot respond to questions that have objective answers and read and copy whatever is written on the board. I can say that I may have graduated but I honestly don’t know if I was truly prepared to a more challenging stage of learning in high school.
During my high school days, I learned to become more expressive. The non-traditional assessments could motivate students to take up lessons in a more positive and independent manner. Although I struggled a lot in the beginning, I learned to somehow enjoy along with my other friends. I think that our school adapted a learner centered way of teaching because we were more engaged in our lessons in a Laboratory High School. Our Social Studies teacher always make sure to give us a diagnostic assessment through oral recitation before discussion. It was fun in a way that we are able to condition our minds before we got into details about history lessons. Then, we do a lot of collaborative learning through group activity.
In our science experiments, our teacher would give us questions that triggers our curiosity then keep posing questions until we can make hypotheses and draw conclusions more clearly. I remember we even participated in a Science Investigatory Project. After all these experiences in high school I was able to decide on what course I will take up in college. During college, I think that non traditional assessments are more practiced rather than traditional. We do a lot of research on our own and a lot of reporting too. Our teacher rarely gives us a test but more on movies to watch and topics to research then make essays of any type depending on the topic such as cause and effect, problem/solution, description, reflection and etc.
Taking up a course at UPOU, I was able to identify the differences of these types of assessment. Now being a teacher, I can think which of the two assessments work well with my students and which doesn’t. I believe that the most important thing of being a teacher, more than anything else, is how you can leave an impact to your students and help them become active learners comfortably learning not necessarily forcing them to complete a task. Their motivation to learn is also as important as their cognitive ability. Being aware that students are also going to make major decisions in their lives, a teacher should influence them though an assessment that unlocks their deepest selves and purpose.
“Teachers affect eternity; no one can tell where their influence stops”
Henry brooks Adams
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