Personal Communication as Assessment

1. Personal Communication as Assessment Chapter 8 Andy H. Beth W. Kirk G. Matt B. Mitch E.

2. What is Personal Communication Assessment? • It is verbally communicating with students in a purposeful manner • It’s an effective and efficient way to both gather information about students to plan upcoming classes and • To introduce a topic or to probe students’ depth of understanding

3. When should we use it? • First consider the type of learning target to be assessed • It is good for assessing… • Knowledge • Reasoning • Those skill targets requiring oral communication • Speaking foreign languages, group discussions, and oral presentations

4. When else should we use it? Some other considerations influence the choice of this type of assessment: • Teacher and student must share common language • With shy or withdrawn students • The classroom is a safe learning environment • It can make and adequate inference about student performance

5. Types of Personal Communication • Questioning • Conference and Interviews • Class Discussions • Oral Exams • Journals • Logs

6. Questioning • The instructor poses questions to the class as a whole, has students ask each other questions. • It is used to encourage deep thinking and deep learning • What are keys to using successful questioning? • What are question strategies that promote reasoning? • What are other strategies that may promote reasoning/deep thinking in the class?

7. Conference and Interviews • Serve as structured or unstructured audits of student achievement. The objective is to talk about what students have learned and have yet to learn. • We talk to students about their levels of achievement, levels of comfort with the material, specific needs, interests and desires, or any other achievement-related topics • What are some keys to successful the Conference/Interview format • Strength is that the assessment can have impact on relationship with the student

8. Class Discussions • Strength is that discussions reveal a great deal about student levels of understanding and achievement. They have the effect of enhancing learning and ability to use what they already have learned. • How does this differ from questioning? • Discussions require a rubric for assessing student involvement.

9. Oral Examination • It is planning and posing questions for students, who reflect about the questions and then provide oral responses. • Are similar to extended written response assessments, but provide for the ability to ask follow-up questions. This makes them more open-ended. • What are some keys for successful oral examination? • Example: Conduct a conversation in a foreign language. • Running Records: Part performance assessment, part personal communication is direct observation or oral reading skills

10. Journals and Logs • Allows students to share views, experiences and insights in written form. • Is at the heart of assessment for learning • Four forms: • Response Journals • Personal Writing Journals • Dialogue Journals • Learning Logs