Assessment giving Voice, Choice and Ownership

This article is reflecting on how summative assessment can give voice, choice and ownership to learners.

Ruchi Joshi, PYP teacher in Silver Oaks International school in Bangalore.

My class of grade 4 inquired into Who we are with the central idea “Knowing our rights and responsibilities leads to a healthy life style.” They explored the following lines of inquiry; rights and responsibilities in society; choices that impact our health; and making safe and informed choices. As they have gone through whole inquiry cycle and attained knowledge about rights and responsibilities for making healthy informed choices, need of healthy balanced diet and nutrients, PSPE integration for the need of exercise and hygiene, they planned to make their own Health Magazines as their assessment. As they were reading different articles on healthy life style during the inquiry this led to the idea of health magazine.

We discussed as a class what criteria to follow to know that they succeeded or not. So, we developed an information sheet as to what we expect in their magazine.  We created a Rubric. They gave feedback about each other’s magazines to support the assessment.

Collaboration

Students collaborated in groups and worked on different topics according to their interests. The magazine consists of different pages on the need for a healthy diet, exercises that help, and the importance of body hygiene. It enable them to develop different skills.

Front cover of magazine

Pre-Planning and First draft

The students started with pre-planning first using different strategies and tools.  They worked on mind maps, graphic organizers, T- charts and various other strategies. After developing a rough draft, they started working on their final draft. It was interesting to see how students worked in different stages of planning in a strategic way. At the end they selected the name of their magazine unanimously.

It was wonderful to see them following the IB mission to be knowledgeable and caring towards each other. They developed differently and showcased different learner profile attributes. Through this process they also developed and demonstrated skills like research skills and, self-management skills.

Assessment can be a powerful tool for learners to showcase understandings, and to put them into action. It can also provide students with, voice, choice and ownership in their learning.

Ruchi Joshi, PYP teacher in Silver Oaks International school in Bangalore. She holds master’s degree in Genetics and is passionate about teaching. She has teaching experience with different educational boards in India.