Assessment Practices

There are lots of educational terms that get thrown around in conversation with teachers and administrators.  Two key ones are "formative" and "summative" in relation to assessment. Formative assessments are those that provide information to the teacher and student to guide changes in instruction or for improvement on the next try.  Formative assessments generally refer to the practice work that students do.  Summative Assessments are those that occur at the end of a unit or course of study that allow the teacher and student to see where they stand in relation to the established criteria.

Why are these important distinctions in assessment practice?  As we work with students we are constantly assessing their work and providing them with feedback in order to improve (formative). When we take this information and use it to determine a letter grade or final mark we change the perception of practice.  Practice can no longer be seen as a way to make mistakes and improve, it must be a finished product because "it counts". 

At David Cameron Elementary we are working as a staff to ensure that we understand the difference between these two forms of assessment and the impact that they have on student learning.  Our staff is constantly looking at our practices to ensure that we are supporting student learning in the best way that we can.

Change

Change is a difficult thing.  We are all confronted with change on a daily basis, it takes us out of our comfort zone, it forces us to examine our values and what is most important to us. Our school this year has certainly had its share of change.  As we navigate our way to becoming a new, blended school community, we continue to face the dissonance of past practice and future directions.  

Michael Fullen speaks often about the change forces that affect us.  In his words, "Change is mandatory, growth is optional".  This is to say that change is continually happening around us, it is our personal decision how we deal with it.  At David Cameron we are continually striving to find the best ways to support our students and to ensure learning for all.   L. Dysart said that "apparent peace should be continually re-examined."  It is not good enough to sit on our past laurels, we must continually strive for better, more efficient ways to support learning. This does not mean that past practice was wrong, only that it was the best we knew of at the time.  As more research is conducted and newer ideas emerge it is our professional responsibility to examine them and find ways to  embed them in our practice.  In this way we are no different than the medical practitioner who must adapt and learn new techniques as medicine advances in its treatments.

Keeping all of this in mind, we must still be cautious in our approach and reasoned in our decisions.  Change for the sake of change is not what we are after, we all want what is best for our children and being open to new ideas and ways of doing business is what's needed.

Artist In Residence Program to Begin

We are very excited that we will have the opportunity to work with noted children's musician Paul Hann for the next month or so.  The Artist in Residence program allows an artist to come into the school setting and share their expertise with students.  Paul Hann has worked in several schools over the past years and brings a tremendous energy and creativity to his music.

During the program, students will work Mr. Hann to create an original song that they will then be able to perform and record.  At the end of the program, Mr. Hann will record the students' songs, complete with the student voices.  We will then have CD's available for families as a great keepsake from their elementary years.  In addition, each class will learn one of Mr. Hann's existing songs to round out our concert performance.

This is such an exciting way to extend the musical learning for our students.  We have been fortunate this year to be able to offer music instruction to all of our students through the expertise of Ms. Garry.  I believe it is important to offer a balance of instruction for our students in academics, the arts, and physical development;  we have been doing a great job of this.

David Cameron Elementary continues to grow and become a truly remarkable place for students to learn, and families to connect to their community.

Happy New Year!

Well, it seems that we were just gearing up for the Christmas Holidays and here we are ready to come back.  I hope that the holidays have been restful and rejuvenating for all of our families and staff.  I am looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that the new year brings as we work together to create a great school community.

Our first change for the new year is a slight adjustment to our lunch hour routines.  We are going to do a test-run of having students play first and then eat their lunches.  Many schools have gone to this option for a number of reasons; first of all it allows students to burn off some of their morning energy and build up their appetites.  Secondly, we see many students anxious to get outside to play and therefore, many lunches go in the garbage, despite our best efforts.  Thirdly, students will already be in class, ready to begin the afternoon session rather than slowly making their way in to the school.  We will be encouraging students to take a snack with them if they are hungry at noon, and similarly if some students require a bit more time to finish their lunch they will be able to do that as the afternoon session begins (usually with silent reading).  We will be seeking feedback from staff, students, and parents towards the end of January to see how things are going.

Getting Our Students Active

I am excited about the level of activity that I see each day at our school.  Students are actively engaged in a variety of activities that get them moving and having fun.  Our school marathon program is proving to be very popular with our students.  I see students running laps around our school at recess and lunch in addition to our regular school-wide run days.  We have also added a new fitness/fun circuit for our playground.  Have a look at the map of the course shown on the window of the staff room.

The importance of these activities and getting our students moving has always been important to me, but was reinforced in a conversation I had with Peter Mason of Speakwell (www.speakwell.com).  This is an organization that started with Dr. Martin Collis of the University of Victoria and involves getting people active through the use of pedometers.  Peter was reminding about the obesity and diabetes statistics in our country that are directly attributable to lack of activity.  Peter wears a pedometer every day as he works toward his 10 000 steps.  What was amazing is that he has now gone over 700 consecutive days meeting a minimum of 10 000 steps per day.  It is a commitment to a healthy lifestyle that doesn't have to involve sports activities or days at the gym.  It is a mindset, a way of looking at health care as preventative, and choosing to be active.  It made me think that as we continue to implement our Daily Physical Activity mandate of 30 minutes per day, the use of pedometers may be a great way to instill in our students' minds that fitness is an everyday commitment.

November 24 - 28

PARENT/TEACHER INTERVIEWS:

This week, our staff will be involved in meeting with families to discuss student progress so far this year.  To support this, we will be having an "early closure" on Wednesday, November 26.  This means that students in grades 1-6 will be finished school at 12:00 noon and Kindergarten students will not be in session.  On the following day, November 27 no students will be in session as it is a District-wide non-instructional day.

Parent-Teacher conferences are designed to provide the detail behind the report cards and to assist in the goal setting process for the next term.  Report cards provide a symbolic representation (numbers or letter grades) of student ability in relation to the criteria for the term.  In addition, brief examples of what your child has demonstrated or needs continued support in are provided as comments.  The P/T conferences allow for more in-depth examples  and for parents to actually be able to see some of the work their child has done.  These meetings are an important part of the on-going dialogue between school and home.  Please be sure to attend your child's interview.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Welcome to our first test of the David Cameron Blog.  Next week is a busy week for staff at DC with Parent/Teacher interviews happening over several days, an Early Closure on Wednesday, and a Non-Instructional Day on Thursday.