Assessments can either be one of the best tools in a teachers arsenal or one of the absolute worst and it all depends on the teachers approach. On one hand you have an easy benchmark for how much someone has learned and whether or not they understand what is being said and taught. On the other hand if you are lazy with them than you have created the perfect time wasting device for a class. As well as having killed all engagement students may have accidentally stumbled into had you done nothing at all. But despite the opportunity for some misuse I ultimately believe that as a whole they can be very useful and versatile.
There are many types of assessments one can use ignoring standardized tests and bubbling in nonsense. A kahoot where you allow the students a chance to answer questions is an assessment as well as work done in a group count even a bell ringer and a closer count as a type of assessment. So with this in mind it is one of the most versatile teaching tools we have as educators. As it allows us to have a value top gauge understanding. As a teacher knowing where your students stand is very important and is a must have tool for any educator. but why?
Simply put if you don’t know how your students are doing with some kind of indicator you have no idea if your lessons or effective or even if you are reaching anyone. This is a problem as without the ability to gauge understanding there would be no point in being a teacher in the first place. This in my opinion makes anything that can measure a students understanding and measure it effectively a must have for all classrooms. Without these indicators student scores would be lower overall when they take a state final as they haven’t been tested at all and are now being thrown to the final challenge. It would almost be like having some children on a track team and you show them running drills but never see how fast any of them can run. Than there first time running competitively is a 5k against Usain bult I dont have to tell you that they would probably fail spectacular. With that in mind I rest my case that assessments in my opinion are our most important teaching tool.
You made a good point about diversifying your assessments. A standard, black and white multiple choice test isn’t something that is going to engage students and produce the best results, however, like you said, a Kahoot, could be something that both engages students and gets their brains thinking.
Lessons without assessments are definitely a shot in the dark: you really don’t know whether or not your lessons are reaching anyone. My last two years of high school I did almost exclusively through North Carolina Virtual Public Schools and I had many teachers who simply posted the lessons online and called it a day, only to post a massive 50-question test every few units without really giving us any studying tools. Had I not already been interested in the topic, I really would have had no motivation to keep study tools or take notes within the class since our notes weren’t graded. These types of assessments really can be the death of a student’s grade, whereas more engaging assessments can be the difference between a student passing and failing.
I agree with you that assessments can be a blessing or an absolute nightmare for a teacher and their students. From my experience assessments have been negative rather than positive. In my opinion, even though it may take more work I feel papers are a better way of showing you understand the material, especially in a social studies class. I have never been good at exams and many people are probably in the same boat. That doesn’t mean that I don’t understand the material it just means that I ain’t good with exams.