I think that the McTighe reading tied in very well with the Shoob and Stout reading as well as the material covered in class. The McTighe reading described four key goals of education that I think should be covered in varied assessments. The first, knowledge, implies that the student should know what is factual and concrete like vocabulary and basic concepts. I think that this knowledge is foundational and necessary to achieve the other goals of education and should be tested in a concrete manner that has less variability in response. The second goal of education is for the learner to acquire basic skills. I believe that this should be assessed much like the reading puts it, with on a continuum through observation and examination once their is a final product. I believe that this goal allows for variability in assessment like creative projects and can be summative. The third goal is understanding of the “big idea”. This can be assessed through justification using evidence that I think can take place in argumentative or persuasive papers or a short answer test. The final goal of education is long-term transfer of knowledge. This means that the information you learned can be applied to a new situation. I think this can be assessed with hands-on creative projects as well where the student is given the liberty to apply the content to something they are interested in.
In the Shoob and Stout reading, I really liked the idea of using models of student work as examples for the different grading levels on the rubric. I think this gives students a better idea than just the rubric of what exactly their work should look like. I also think that incorporating self-assessment is key to the classroom environment because it creates accountability and ownership for student’s work. Additionally, I was intrigued by all of the intricacies of rubric making that we discussed in class. I see now that it is much more complex than writing simple categories and attaching them to numbers. Feedback is crucial for aiding students and nourishing their potential.