A Meaningful Lesson
It has been a very long time since I
have been on a traditional classroom.
Therefore, the only lesson I can recall from my school days is one on
reading comprehension. The only reason I
remember this lesson is because of the project I made. The details of the lesson are vague but the
final project is what I remember the most.
I needed to design a diorama on a book that I had chosen to read. The book I chose was The Hundred Dresses by
Eleanor Estes.
It
was about a little girl that was picked on in school because she was
different. She decided to tell the
children picking on her that at home she had one hundred dresses in her
closet. The project I designed was a
diorama of her closet containing all one hundred dresses. As I said before I do not recall the lesson
just the final project that I made.
Assessments
The type of assessment that stressed
me the most was the summative assessments that were standardized tests. I did not stress if the final assessment was
a project or report of some kind.
However, final exams and pop quizzes whether multiple choice,
true/false, or essay, unnerved me every time.
According
to the text, “stress produces cortisol which directs the brain’s attention to
what is stressing the individual.”(Sousa, 2011)
That is why students, myself included, may do poorly on assessments if
they are stressed about them.
The least threatening assessments were the ones
where I got to choose how to present what I learned. This gave me the option to excel in my
assessment in a way that was comfortable and less stressing to me.
Teachers
should use multiple types of assessments for students because every student is
different. Just like every brain is
unique every students learning style is unique.
Therefore, every student will excel in different assessments. Some students may be very good at recalling
what they have learned very quickly so are good at timed tests. Some may be good at presenting projects about
what they have learned. And some may be
good at neither but excel in a different assessment. Teachers need to take this into account when
planning their lessons and assessments.
My learning
would improve with options where I can show what I learned. I am better at project based assessments than
ones where I need to recall specific facts.
I feel that in my earlier education I would have done better in school
if I had had those options instead of just taking the standardized tests.
Reference
Sousa, D. A. & Tomlinson, C. A. (2011). Differentiation
and the brain: How neuroscience supports the learner-friendly classroom.
Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
