ALOHA!Empower Students

through Self-Assessment

Violet Harada and Patricia Louis2011 AASL Conference

Minneapolis, MN

Who we are

Violet HaradaProfessor, Library and Information Science, University of Hawaii

Patricia LouisLibrarian, Aliamanu Elementary, Honolulu, Hawaii

A note

This version of our slide presentation captures the content without the visuals.

Game plan for session

• Share why self-assessment is vital• Provide examples of how self-assessment can

be built into K-12 lessons• Engage everyone in developing simple self-

assessment tools• Invite questions and exchanges within the

session and beyond it

We believe. . .

• Self-assessment is the most overlooked aspect of learning.

• It should be an integral part of learning, not an add-on.

• Self-assessment is a learnable skill.• It is essential for lifelong learning.• And. . .examining what students say and do,

helps us teach better.

Why bother with self-assessment?

• Students actually learn more deeply• They achieve comprehension and application

at higher levels• They become more self-confident about

themselves as learners• They are more motivated to improve

Lessons we are learning• Shift from a teacher-librarian focus to a student focus in

assessment.• Make sure that learning goals are clearly stated for

everyone.• Make sure that criteria to assess achievement of goals are

clearly stated for everyone.• Tweak assessment tools you already use.• Use student-friendly language.• Add log features to existing checklists and rating scales to

have students support their ratings.• Keep assessments simple and do-able for you and the

students.

What might self-assessments look like?

Samples of lessons and assessment tools

Gr. K – Zoo Animals• Essential questions

• What are reptiles?• What are mammals?• What are birds?• How are these animals alike?• How are they different?

• Become an information detective and learn new facts about these animals from Discovery Learning

• Draw something I learned and explain my picture• Use a checklist to assess what I did.

Gr. 2 - Poetry• Essential questions

• What are different forms of poetry?• What is the connection between music and poetry?

• Read and listen to different poems.• Identify different forms of poetry such as haiku, acrostic and

shape poems using e-clickers.• Connect a poem about friends to friends in my own life.• Use a checklist to see how well I know different forms of

poetry.

Gr. 4 – Ancient Hawaii• Essential question

• What was Hawaii like in the past? Why?• Search for information to our questions in books, photos, and

online sources.• Describe the way Hawaiians managed their natural resources

through the Ahupuaa system.• Create a digital poster with my information using Glogster• Use a rubric to assess my digital poster.

Gr. 6 – Internet Safety• Essential questions

• What is social networking?• What are tools for social working?• What can we do to be safe online?• What are the consequences of unsafe online practices?

• Research a popular networking tool such as Facebook.• Identify do’s and don’ts for using the tool.• Create a print or digital FAQ sheet to educate others about

safe and unsafe practices.• Use an exit pass to assess best questions for the FAQ sheet.

Gr. 8 – Greening Our Community• Essential questions

• What does greening a community involve?• How green is our community at this time?• How can we build a greener community?

• Research alternative ways to make a greener community.• Create an infographic display for a Green Day celebration at

our mall.• Use a check-log to assess the graphs in our infographic

displays.

Gr. 10 - Censorship• Essential questions

• Which books have been banned in the U.S.?• Why have they been banned?• Do I support or oppose book banning? Why?

• Identify books that have been banned and select one to research in depth.

• Take a stand for or against banning the book and post it in a wiki for comments from other readers.

• Use a rating-log to assess my stance.

It’s your turn!

Select a scenario from the handout and decide what to assess and the

tool you might use for this

What’s on your mind?

Short Q/A time

Rounding out our session• The questions that matter for students– Did I meet my goals?– How do I feel about that?– How can I do even better?

• Design learning for clarity and support– Make sure students know the learning goals and

criteria for self-assessment– Where possible, involve them in defining the criteria– Model and practice how to apply the criteria to their

own work.– Provide feedback on students’ self-assessments.

Keeping the action going

• Join us @http://aasl11harada.wikispaces.com/• Exchange your work• Pose your questions• Share more terrific resources

Useful books and articles• Brookhart, S.M. 2010. How to assess higher-order thinking skills in your

classroom. ASCD.• Davies, A. 2007. Making classroom assessment work. 2d ed. Connections

Publishing.• Harada, V.H., and J.M. Yoshina. 2010. Assessing for learning: Librarians

and teachers as partners. 2d ed. Libraries Unlimited.• Hyerle, D. 2009. Visual tools for transforming information into knowledge.

2d ed. Corwin Press.• Pappas, M. 2010. “Reflection as self-assessment.” School Library Monthly

27/3 (Dec): 5-8.• Preddy, L. 2008. “Research reflections, journaling, and exit slips.” School

Library Media Activities Monthly 25/2 (Oct): 22-23.• Reeves, D. (ed.). 2007. Ahead of the curve: The power of assessment to

transform teaching and learning. Solution Tree Press.• Stiggins, R., and J. Chappuis. 2011. Introduction to student self-involved

assessment for learning. 6th ed. Prentice Hall.

Useful online tools for assessment• iRubric

http://www.rcampus.com/indexrubric.cfm• Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/assess.html

• Webtools4U2Use http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/

• Rubistar http://rubistar.4teachers.org/

• Rubrician.com http://www.rubrician.com/

Mahalo (thank you)for joining us!

Patty and Vi