The Voice of Esa

Photo from www.goodwillnmi.org

Esa (not her real name) was one of my students during my first year of teaching in Thailand. She was under my Grade 1 English as Foreign Language (EFL) class when I first taught at a government school. Like the other kids, Esa had a very little grasp of English language but her physical features, which are apparently different from the other children in the class, made me wonder why it's difficult for her to speak in English. At first glance, you would notice that she's not Thai at all and I learned later that she's half British and half Thai.

She was still under my class when she was in Grade 2 that's why I was able to personally observe her progress in using English in communication although her being shy was still obvious. From her little grasp of English vocabulary, she gradually widened her skills as I have seen how her confidence in speaking in English in front of the class has improved the following year.

As part of our lesson in Grade 2, after having them master the basic vocabulary and simple sentence structures related to family, which was our focus that time, I asked them to draw a simple picture about their family. After that, I instructed them to use the vocabulary and basic structures learned in telling something about the picture they have drawn. Most of the students were eager to present their works in front and the feeling of fulfillment for being able to tell something in English about their family were evident in the faces of the innocents except for Esa.

When it was Esa's turn, she slowly walked towards the center of the platform in front but unlike the other children, she was hesitant to show her drawing. As her teacher, I approached her and sooner I noticed that her drawing had only two persons which is not a case of typical family. In her artwork, I saw a young girl which was obviously her and an old woman holding the young girl. That time, I knew what she was feeling deep within as I saw how gloomy her face had become. As her teacher, I still encouraged her to present her drawing by showing genuine appreciation to what she has done. She was convinced but when she started to show her drawing, mixed emotions started to conquer the learning-enhancing atmosphere of the classroom. To make Esa's presentation worthwhile like the previous presentations, I asked the children to pay attention to what Esa would present. However, before Esa could tell something about her drawing, tears started to fell into her cheeks. I knew what was happening so I immediately consoled her. Esa, with her demure look, slowly told me that the persons in her drawing were her self and her grandmother. I did not ask anymore where her parents were. Instead, with my broken Thai, I told her that she's so lucky to have a grandmother who loves her so much and she should be proud of it. I thought Esa got what I wanted to say as she threw back a fancy smile.

Later, I learned that Esa's parents left her to her grandmother since she was only four. I could not imagine how could they abandon a lovely and beautiful daughter like Esa. But still, Esa's very lucky to have a very caring grandmother who even asked me for an individualized English lesson with Esa after school hours.

Esa is just one of the learners who carries heavy loads in their hearts - they all need a caring teacher who would help them ascertain the best of themselves amidst their burdens. They need teachers who would inspire them and help them grow. I hope that many teachers would answer Esa's call. 

Total Quality Management: From Industry to Education

Theories and practices in Educational Management as a field of study were derived from management principles originally applied in the industry (Sergiovanni and Starratt, 2007; Bush, 2003; Oliva and Paulas, 1999; Hoy and Miskel, 1991). This is because educational administration, as a field of scholarly endeavor, developed later than related fields, such as business administration and public administration (Kimbrough and Nunnery, 1976). These theories and principles were carefully modified in order to fit in the educational setting. Hence, in order to fully understand the underlying concepts in a particular theory and practice in education administration, it is important to explore its origin and impacts in the industry – where it came from.

As TQM derived its language, concepts, and methodology from industry (Sallis, 2002), it is therefore important to investigate how TQM started in the industry. This way, we will gain better understanding on how it permeated in the educational setting. Moreover, the distinction between product-oriented industries and service-oriented educational institutions can be established when there is thorough understanding on how TQM gained popularity in the industry and then in education.

TQM had its first success in Japan during the post-World War II rehabilitation. It was introduced by an American statistician, Dr. W. Edwards Deming, who first visited Japan in the late 1940s to work in their post-war census (Sallis, 2002). The idea was embraced by the Japanese where they started applying it in the manufacturing of goods and then followed by service industries. From then on, Japanese industries became popular icons in the world when it comes to product quality. Few of the companies which applied Deming’s management principle include Ford Motor Company, Phillips Semiconductor, SGL Carbon, Motorola and Toyota Motor Company (Gilbert, 1992 as cited by Hashmi, 2000–2009). Dr. W. Edwards Deming is now celebrated in Japan as the “American father of Japanese industry” wherein the Deming Prize, established in 1950s, became Japan’s most prestigious industrial award (Schomoker and Wilson, 1993). It was only after Japan achieved tremendous success in the world industry that America realized that they also have to focus on quality as Japan started to dominate the world market.

However, the movement of total quality in education is of more recent origin as there were only few references in the literature before the late 1980s (Sallis, 2002). Sallis (2002) clearly narrated the beginning of TQM in education in the USA and the UK. He divulged, “Much of the pioneering work on TQM was carried out in the USA and by further education colleges in the UK. The US initiatives developed somewhat before those in Britain, but in both countries the surge of interest occurred from 1990 onwards.”

TQM was first applied in the higher education level but it then gained prominence in the entire levels of education specifically in the basic education level where schools, especially in the USA, became after of quality awards in education. However, even if TQM is proven to be applicable in education institutions, extra cautions must still be observed when applying concepts and practices from industry to education. In relation to this, Law and Glover (200) inscribe, ”While we need to recognize that a number of ‘commercial’ concepts may be applicable to educational scenarios as it becomes market-driven, it is clear that there is no ready-made or universally applicable theories we can simply pull off from the shelves.”

Defining TQM in Education

Plenty of definitions of TQM which exist in literatures define TQM as it is applied in business and industry. Although some of them are applicable in the field of education, others still need to be modified in order to fit into the needs of the education sector. In an attempt to define TQM in the educational context, Murgatroyd and Morgan (1993) defined TQM as a systematic management of an organization’s customer-supplier relationships in such a way as to ensure sustainable, steep-slope improvement in quality performance.

Ross (1994), Besterfield et al. (1995), Murgatroyd and Morgan (1993) and Mukopadhyay (2005) argue that TQM has to be viewed in a holistic manner. Mokupadhyay (2005) contends that a partisan or fragmented way of looking at quality in any organization is neither desirable, nor feasible, for an action in one area sets out a chain of reactions in several other areas of management of an educational institution. TQM provides an important opportunity to look at quality in a holistic fashion and also provides instrumentalities for managing quality.

Convinced that TQM is not an agenda of only the top management as opposed to other hierarchical management principles, Sallis (2002) inscribed, “The total in TQM dictates that everything and everybody in the organization is involved in the enterprise of continuous improvement. The management in TQM likewise means everyone, because everyone in the institution, whatever their status, position or role, is the manager of their own responsibilities.”

  

Underlying Concepts of TQM

Understanding the origin and impact of TQM in the industry and its transmission in education is not enough to fully comprehend what TQM really is all about. It has to be, first, understood that TQM is a management principle composed of many underlying concepts. Barry (1991), as cited by Binkley (1994), notes that TQM is a natural evolution of all the effective management techniques that are currently being applied by excellent organization.

Murgatroyd and Morgan (1993) argue that “the key word in TQM is management. Quality performance does not occur by happenchance or accident, it occurs because it is designed into the way the organization works; it permeates all aspects of the organization.”  Their statement has been supported by Sadgrove (1995) who believes that TQM is really just another word for good management.

Central to every TQM-driven organization is its focus on continuous improvement ( Rao et al., 1996; Schomoker & Wilson, 1993; Ross, 1994; Besterfield et al., 1995).  Ross (1994) contends that TQM is the integration of all functions and processes within an organization to achieve continuous improvement of the quality of goods and services. Besterfield et al. (1995) put the definition of TQM this way: “TQM is defined as both philosophy and a set of guiding principles that represent a foundation of a continuously improving organization. It is the application of quantitative methods and human resources to improve all the processes within an organization and exceed customer needs now and in the future.”

            Customer-satisfaction is a focus of every endeavor in a TQM organization (Sadgrove, 1995; Sashkin, 1993). Sadgrove (1995) points out that TQM means satisfying the customers first time, every time.

References:

Besterfield, D. et al. (1995). Total quality management. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Binkley, B. (1994). Total quality management and its impact on higher education with emphasis on academic libraries. Unpublished master’s thesis, Tennessee State University, Tennessee

Murgatroyd, S. & Morgan, C. (1993). Total quality management and the school. Buckingham: Open University Press

Mokupadhyay, M. (2005). Total quality management in education. New Delhi: Sage Publications

Sadgrove, K. (1995). Making TQM work. London: Kogan Page Ltd.

Sallis, E. (2002). Total quality management in education. London: Kogan Page Ltd.

Schomoker, M. & Wilson, R. (1993). Total quality education: Profiles of schools that demonstrate the power of Deming’s management principles. Bloomington: Phi Delta Kappa

Teacher Complacency

I could still remember those days when I was still in a teacher-training institution preparing myself for my future teaching endeavors. When I was in fourth year and about to graduate, I was exposed to the real teaching atmosphere by having me attend a daily observation and participation session in our college's laboratory high school. I observed and assisted my cooperating teacher's high school Math classes for four months. At the same time, I learned to prepare those teaching materials like lesson plans, teaching reflections, assessment and feedback forms and others. That time, the importance of those materials in assisting the learners' need was clearly introduced to us that's why, as future teachers, we adhered on making the best possible output because we believed that those things were not just mere chores but a huge help to our learners as well. 


When I had my teaching practicum during the second semester, I passionately prepared my lessons and promptly did all those paperworks considering that they were of great importance for the learning of my students. I used to enter my classes carrying loads of visual aids and full of enthusiasm to teach. I have observed that the same attitude could also be observed from other student-teachers. All of us were very enthusiastic to teach and we loved to share our teaching experiences every time we go back to our college. Personally, when I had my off-campus teaching practicum in a government high school 72 kilometers away from the college I was attending, I took bundles of references with me. I had my portfolio, professional articles, notes and a variety of Mathematics book which guided me throughout my near-independent teaching practicum.


With all the enthusiasm I and my fellow student-teachers had during our practicum, a sense of confusion struck my head when I saw how 'experienced teachers' had become in their profession. Most, if not all, of them had become complacent in their respective fields. The enthusiasm that we had, could hardly be seen to these experienced teachers. Unlike the passionate sharing of teaching experiences evident in every student-teacher, professional conversation could hardly be heard in the faculty room where these experienced teachers stay during their free time. These teachers normally have complaints against their students and the tasks which they were mandated to do. It's very sad because those things directly affect the learners. 


Why do teachers tend to become complacent during their service years? What are the factors that demotivate teachers to pursue their passion in teaching? 


Like other professions, teachers need support in order to grow professionally. Everybody needs constant motivation to sustain one's passion. However, we know that teachers are the least paid professionals and most of the times very little support is given by the management of the school to meet the professional needs of the teachers. Professional development trainings are provided but they are not actually given to those teachers who need them. Instead, those who already have the potential and the passion for teaching get the best support from the administration. Aside from that, teachers are not considered as collaborators in the planning stage. Plans are usually done by those who are on the top and teachers are just asked to implement what has been planned. 


For instance, if there are changes which need to be implemented in the classroom, teachers are usually asked to implement the changes without enough information that would help them understand the urgency and the importance of the implementation. Changes in school forms and giving of additional loads to teachers are ordinarily given without considering the impact of such change to the teachers who directly influence the learners. Some of those forms and paperworks are just additional loads for teachers and they do not even contribute to students' learning. Instead of focusing on the support that every teacher could possibly give to the learners, much focus is given on asking teachers to provide unneeded reports and documents and sad to say, these reports are not even read by anyone--they're just kept as a files. Most of the times, it leads to teacher burn-out as teachers would eventually find out that they spend much of their time making those unnecessary reports than finding fulfillment through helping the students out in the learning process.


I hope that administrators would be awakened and would realize how the current surge of the system negatively affects the teachers. Teachers need support and encouragement to reinvent their teaching and be motivated with the help they are providing to the students. I hope everybody would realize such thing before it's too late. One day, we might witness a huge number of dedicated teachers shifting careers for they do not find fulfillment and happiness in what they are doing anymore. After all, it's the desire of every human being to find fulfillment at what he/she is doing and I believe that such fulfillment can only be achieved if we see impact of our efforts. Such impact can be seen in the number of lives we have touched and not in the bundle of irrelevant files we have finished.

FUN WITH COOPERATIVE LEARNING

Before the second semester started, as part of my long-term plan, I decided to incorporate cooperative learning strategies in my Mathematics classes to enhance the learners’ learning of Mathematical concepts and the contextual uses of the English language. Provided that it would be properly implemented, I believe it would help both the average and the fast learners in the classroom.

Through cooperative learning, the learners’ social skills could be enhanced as they work with their teammates in ensuring both individual and group success. In addition to, I found this strategy to be very interesting because learning usually happens in a very natural way wherein everyone could get support from every member of the group. Other advantages of cooperative learning strategies include a greater chance of developing the learners’ social skills, oral communication skills, self esteem and most of all their academic achievement regardless of their academic background.

However, in order to accomplish tremendous success in this strategy, as teachers, we need to fully understand how cooperative learning works best in the classroom. We need to effectively communicate to the learners that through this strategy, no one of the team members could be considered loser for every member gain from each other’s efforts. Instead, we have to make sure that the learners fully understand how every member share a common fate, thus, how one’s performance could positively or negatively affect other members.

TEAM BUILDING

Before fully implementing the strategy in the classroom, learners need to completely understand the importance of each member in a team. At this point, they need to understand that they would not only be working with those students they like or the ones who are good. Instead, they need to recognize their individual responsibility in helping one another in order to succeed in every learning endeavor.

In my all-boy class, I related a learning team to a football team. In every game, one or two players would always stand out but that is not important at all because what is more important, is that, they won the game as a team and no good player could win without the support of other team members and the same is true in a learning team. One might be good in one area and the others might be good in another area. As a team, they could use their differences as a tool to learn from one another.

And to personally build their respective teams, I gave time to my students to creatively think of a name that would best describe their team as learners of Mathematics. I gave them enough time to discuss and decide for it and in the end they were able to coin interesting names which they cheered as I read them. Some of the teams came with names like MathMatrix, The Absolute, Math Boys, Super Math and Math Rangers and they all justified why they came up with such names for their teams. Teams could also create their team logo or team tag to keep the spirit of their teams alive.

TEAM LEARNING

After building their respective teams, we are now confident to move to the next level which is the heart of this learning strategy. Of course, we didn’t just divide the class into teams for the sake of doing it. The very reason why learners are with their respective teams is for them to maximize learning on the subject matter.

This is the very reason why we encourage heterogeneous type of grouping because we want learners of different levels and abilities to help each other in achieving common learning goal. In my class, I always emphasize to every group that they need to consult every member of their team if they have any idea about the lesson and I also encourage them to be as resourceful as possible. I tell my students to make their teacher as their last resource so they could practice doing appropriate actions when problems occur during the learning process. As teachers, we have to be extra careful in entertaining simple questions which sometimes lead to the answer and in helping a group because when other teams will see that you are spending much time with one group, they would also ask for your help and the domino effect goes on. When that happens, dividing the class into teams do not make any sense at all because what a teacher would usually do is move from one group to another teaching the concepts.

During the group learning process, the responsibility of the teacher is to facilitate the activity by monitoring each group. We need to observe each group and keep a record of the students’ behavior and level of participation in the activity. We also have to constantly provide immediate feedback to each team so that they would know how to improve in the following activities.

TEAM TOURNAMENT

To make the class livelier and to keep every team’s spirit alive, have each team participate in a team tournament. Show which group is excelling and monitor each team’s standing from time to time so that every team will be encouraged to participate. The score of each team could be taken from the score each member earned during individual assessment and group assessment. Authentic assessment is highly encouraged in cooperative learning. Assessment should be anchored upon the learning objectives specified before the introduction of the subject matter. Constantly communicate these objectives so that it would become a goal for each team.

TEAM CELEBRATION

After working so hard for the achievement of their goals, it’s always good to end it up with a rewarding team celebration. As teachers, we need to recognize both individual and group efforts of our students.

In my class, I am awarding certificates and other prizes to the best performing team at the end of the semester. I also give special awards to add more fun during the awarding day. However, this reward is a long-term reward and this could not contribute to the present learning needs of the students. To keep each team’s enthusiasm, I do give constant rewards in the form of simple recognition every time a team does something worthy of recognition.

Total Quality Management (TQM) and Thailand's English Program (EP)

Image Source:  www.stock.adobe.com

In the course of a decade, the world has tremendously experienced rapid change in various aspects which eventually led to the globalization of economy and the transformation of society. Competition became a cliché in all aspects from economy to education and others.

Realizing the current condition of the world, the National Education Act of 1999, which is the blueprint of the modern Thai educational system, has profoundly expressed, “The urgently needed reform will undoubtedly redeem the country from the downward spiral, so that Thailand will rise in the immediate future as a nation of wealth, stability and dignity, capable of competing with others in this age of globalization” (ONEC, 2007).

Heeding the latest national education reform which calls for competency among Thai citizens in the global arena, the Ministry of Education spearheaded the transformation of the education system through a strategy based around enhancing moral and ethical values together with a core program of enhancing the quality of education in which the transformation of language learning is one of the focuses. The learning of English language has been given main focus through English Program which aimed at providing full Thai curriculum subjects in English (Thailand MOE, 2004).

However, as an emergent practice in the field of basic education, a plethora of problems has stricken the operation of the program and has caused several impediments in achieving the nation’s goal for its citizens. These problems include difficulty in finding textbooks that would match the Ministry of Education’s curriculum, hiring qualified teachers to teach the subject matter in English, low level of students’ conception over the subject matter, lack of motivation to learn the subject matter in English among students, internal conflicts among teachers and school administrators resulting to low level of teachers retention, lack of awareness of the program’s vision, mission, goals and objectives among most of the stakeholders and dissatisfaction of some parents over the operation of the program. Beyond the school organization, there is a pungent competition among the basic education institutions offering English Program.

The abovementioned problems are supported by an array of local researches and literatures which reveals the current status of language education in Thailand especially in the English Program. As pointed out by Wiriyachitra (2007), with all the efforts to enhance English language teaching and learning, Thailand is still facing many problems that inhibit her from standing tall in the “Knowledge” societies. She further revealed that one of the factors that inhibit Thailand’s capability to be in the “Knowledge” society is that foreign teachers in the English program are less qualified. Hence the students, on average, do not excel in mathematics and science.

Furthermore, a study of attitudes and problems in teaching and learning English in Islamic religious schools in Yala conducted by Rattnanayart, Charumanee and Chiramanee in 2006 has revealed the following results:

1. English teachers in the three school sizes perceive English teaching problems mostly at a critical level. These problems, ranked in order of seriousness, are those concerning teaching and learning materials, evaluation and testing, students, and workload.

2. All administrators agree that they have not yet succeeded in their management; they want to improve the quality of teaching and learning English to make it more effective.

3. School administrators face similar problems concerning financial support from the government, students, English teachers, curriculum, the environment, teaching and learning facilities, and assistance from the educational authority in charge.

The problems cited in the previous paragraphs are few of the dilemmas which can be addressed by a well-implemented TQM Program. However, even if TQM can be a panacea of the various problems facing the English Program in basic education institutions, it has to be understood that TQM is not a solution which ordinarily comes out of the blue. As mentioned by Sallis (2003) in his book Total Quality Management in Education, "TQM is not an imposition. It is not something which can be done by somebody for you and for the others. TQM needs to be implemented by individuals who are of utmost commitment in achieving the customer-focused vision of the program."

TQM, in general, could be an answer to Thailand’s dream to redeem itself from the downward spiral and become a country capable of competing with others in this age of globalization. As pointed out by Fitzgerald (2004), “Now that the technologies of transportation and communication have replaced national economic systems with a global economy, nations and businesses that do not practice TQM can become globally non-competitive rather rapidly.” He further divulged, “This march towards non-competitiveness can be avoided if citizens are helped to become TQM practitioners.”

References:

Fitzgerald, Ron (2004). Total quality management in education. Minuteman career and technical high school. Retrieved December 18, 2008 from http://www.minuteman.org/topics/tqm.html

Rattnanayart, W., Charumanee, N., & Chiramanee, N. (2007). A study of attitudes and problems in teaching and learning English in Islamic religious schools in Yala. ThaiTESOL Bulletin, 20 (1-2), 73–100

Ministry of Education(2004). The education system in Thailand. Towards a learning society in Thailand (pamphlet of the Bureau of International Cooperation). Retrieved January 26, 2009 from http://www.bic.moe.go.th/fileadmin/BIC_Document/book/MOEleaflet/Thai-ed-system.pdf

Office of the Education Council (2007). National Education Act of B.E. 2542 (1999). Office of the Education Council. Retrieved January 26, 2009 from http://www.onec.go.th/publication/law2542/index_law2542.html

Sallis, Edward. Total quality management in education. Kogan Page Ltd. London: 2002

Tan, Hedda (2009). English language teaching in Thailand: where do Filipinos fit in? Filipinos in Thailand: Filipinos living, working, traveling in Thailand blog. Retrieved February 20, 2009 from http://www.filipinosinthailand.com/english-language-teaching-in-thailand-where-do-filipinos-fit-in/

Wiriyachittra, Arunee (2007). The present perfect for the future perfect. ThaiTESOL Bulletin, 20 (1-2), 101–110

Learning Assessment: From Theory to Practice

This article is the first part of a condensed series of discussions on Seminar-Workshop in Ethical and Legal Issues behind Students Assessment presented for Seminar in Ethics and Legal Issues in Education class at St. Theresa Inti College- Bangkok Campus.

The seminar-workshop aims to provide better understanding towards learning assessment – its definition and purpose/s, the transition from traditional to modern assessment methods, the teachers’ roles in assessment for students’ learning. Built upon the foundation on understanding the basic theories and practices in students assessment, case studies on ethical and legal issues teachers’ prejudices in providing authentic assessment among the students will be presented and analyzed.

What is Assessment?

In this context, assessment is primarily regarded as gathering relevant information concerning the learners (e.g. learning styles, needs for improvement, learning difficulties encountered, and students’ progress) in order to evaluate their existing knowledge and assist them in impending learning endeavors .

To define learning assessment in the general context of education, I adopted the definition of The UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (2000) in its Code of Practice as cited by Harvey (2004-8) which states:

Assessment is a generic term for a set of processes that measure the outcomes of students’ learning, in terms of knowledge acquired, understanding developed, and skills gained. It serves many purposes. Assessment provides the means by which students are graded, passed or fail. It provides the basis for decisions on whether a student is ready to proceed, to qualify for an award or to demonstrate competence to practise. It enables students to obtain feedback on their learning and helps them improve their performance. It enables staff to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching.

The abovementioned definition of assessment attempts to discuss the three kinds of assessment happening in the classroom level which will be discussed in the following section of this article.

Kinds of Assessment and their Purpose

As cited by the Government of British Columbia (2007), there are three current approaches, as literature suggests, to classroom-based assessment that can be used in conjunction with each other to support student achievement.

1. Assessment FOR learning refers to formative assessment through which teachers collect information about student achievement and use this information to plan follow-up classroom activities.

2. Assessment AS learning refers to the active involvement of students in assessment of their own learning. Assessment as learning assists students in understanding what they might need to improve upon in order to successfully meet learning outcomes.

3. Assessment OF learning refers to assessment practices that take place at the end of a lesson or unit so that student achievement can be reported.

The three approaches to classroom-based assessment stated above are the two general types of assessment referred to as formative assessment (numbers 1 & 2) and summative assessment (number 3). Formative assessment, as defined by Tan (2008), is the one designed to provide direction for improvement and/or adjustment to a program for individual students or for a whole class. Formative assessment generally takes place during the discussion of the subject matter in order to provide learners with immediate feedback on their progress and inform development.

For instance, in my Mathematics class with young English as Second Language (ESL) learners, I give students worksheets and other activities to work on wherein I give immediate feedbacks and provide support (scaffolding) to those who are showing difficulty in doing the activity. Before presenting the activity (worksheet), I communicate with my students the expected output and encourage them to do the activity by their own and ask for my assistance if ever they will encounter any problem in doing so. I always assure them that such activities are given in order to help them understand the lesson better so they have nothing to worry if they get high or low marks. When students submit their works, I observe for possible errors and give them time to go over their work for correction in which they are happy about especially when they are able to correct their own mistakes.

The second type of assessment is a very common one and is not difficult to understand. Summative assessments are given after finishing a certain chapter and/or a course/subject. The purpose of which is, primarily, to provide information on how much the students have learned and/or how well the subject matter was taught.

Traditional vs. Authentic Assessment

Traditionally, assessment which is typically done in a form of test or quiz provides negative notion among the students. More often than usual, traditional assessment methods merely expects the students to recall knowledge through multiple choice tests, enumeration, identification, and others. Such method of assessment usually causes anxiety among the students which hinders them from giving accurate response as to what they have really learned – thus, hampering valid formative assessment and feedback.

On the other hand, authentic assessment or alternative assessment usually entails tasks in which the students will be involved and an accompanying rubric which will be used in evaluating their performance on the specified tasks. Wiggins (1993) as cited by Mueller (2008) defined authentic assessment as engaging and worthy problems or questions of importance, in which students must use knowledge to fashion performances effectively and creatively. The tasks are either replicas of or analogous to the kinds of problems faced by adult citizens and consumers or professionals in the field.

In other words, authentic assessment is the provision of direct application of knowledge learned through practical tasks designed to evaluate the students’ ability to apply learning (transfer of learning). According to Mueller (2008), authentic assessments, on the other hand, offer more direct evidence of application and construction of knowledge compared to traditional assessment. Going back to my Mathematics class with young ESL learners as concrete example, along with mastery in the fundamental mathematical operations the students are also expected to develop their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills while studying Mathematics. When I taught “Money and Budget” among the learners, I assessed their ability to solve problems related to money and their ability to integrate the four language skills by asking them to look for a practical problem which involves money. I asked my students to write them down in paragraph form, interpret and express them in mathematical symbols, and then present their problems and solution in class. I developed a rubric to evaluate their works (oral and written) and communicated it with them beforehand. That way, I was able to provide authentic assessment among my students for their presentations have reflected how much they have learned and my feedback (which was based on the rubric) was clear with them beforehand, thus, learning what needs to be improved next time.

References:

Harvey, L. (2004–8). Analytic Quality Glossary, Quality Research International. Retrieved, February 7, 2009 from http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/

Mueller, J. (2008). What is Authentic Assessment?, Authentic Assessment Toolbox. Retrieved, February 7, 2009 from http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/whatisit.htm#definitions

Province of British Columbia (2007). Classroom Assessment, British Columbia: The Best Place in Earth. Retrieved, February 7, 2009 from http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/classroom_assessment/

Tan, H. (2008). 7 Ways to Assess Effectively FOR Learning, Teaching English Literacy: A TEFL Blog by Hedda Tan. Retrieved, February 1, 2009 from http://www.heddatan.com/7-ways-to-assess-effectively-for-learning.html

Eat it Up and Spit it Out

OPINIONS. We couldn't avoid them, could we?

Every time I open a newspaper or a magazine, I couldn't deny myself from opening the opinion page. Away from those factual articles which, oftentimes, give me up-to-the-minute information, opinion-containing essays give me insights on how people perceive certain issues that confound life. Sometimes, the writers' opinions also invoke me to give out my own point of view of the issue and compare it from theirs. They often leave deliberations in my psyche which encourage me to rummage around for facts.

Lately, I have discerned that, indeed, life could never be separated from opinions just like a newspaper without editorial is not newspaper at all. As long as we do not isolate ourselves from others, we could never take fudge from those opinions which would either construct or destruct our characters.

Being an educator at a very young age, I often receive both positive and negative opinions from other people – my friends, colleagues, family, and superiors (as they call it). Naturally, I feel conceited when I hear positive opinions and inhibited when I hear negative ones. However, I always try to patch things up by not focusing on those things for I don’t believe the necessity of living an opinion-driven life. My initial reactions are just part of the so called sudden and instinctive human response.

However, people’s judgment biologically keeps on bombarding us as we live life from day to day. Seclusion could be a very good deterrence to those sharp gazes but we could not desert the reality that we are irrefutably created for one another – we live not for our own selves. The world is systematically functioning in which each one is conscientious for a particular mission.

Other people’s opinion would never stop bearing us down unless we look at it in a positive way. Opinions are away from our sway and we could never say that they’re right unless supported by facts or wrong just because they don’t coincide with ours. What the world needs is respect – an unfailing deference that would not necessarily buy other’s opinion but rather the one that could listen to others and understand how such things happen. We are uniquely created and so what works for me would not necessarily work for others.

As Stephen Covey suggested in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” the first habit that we have to develop to become personally effective is the habit of becoming PROACTIVE. According to him, proactive people are driven by values that are independent of the weather or how people treat them.

Certainly, we have direct control over problems caused by our own behavior. We could solve it by changing our habit. However, we have indirect control over problems caused by other people’s behavior. We could not dictate them what to do and how to do. The best way in dealing all those perplexities in life is to set ourselves as examples – a model worthy of emulation. As an old adage says, “Win your enemies by making them your friends.”