Yancey's article opened an interesting topic for me, the idea of the 'self' in literacy testing. For me, standardized testing has always been about giving the graders what they want to hear, a strategy that teachers have driven into my head over the years. Never has testing been in any way associated with the formation of a self (I would like to hope that my 'self' was not/is not created by answering in a way that will appease the grader). I'm also a little curious about the idea of identity formation through testing. Maybe someone can help? Do you agree with the idea that the 'self' is a part of testing?
3 comments:
I found the idea of the “self” in assessment interesting too, Meg. To me, this seems like an oxymoron. We don’t take tests in order to develop and satisfy ourselves; instead, we take tests to ensure a good grade by writing answers that the grader would find acceptable. The “self” in that equation is completely lost during a test. The article suggests using a portfolio as an assessment tool in order to put more “self” into the assessment; however, portfolios are usually constructed with the grader in mind. Therefore, I don’t think portfolios are a true reflection of our “self.”
I think the real question though, is whether we really need to worry about putting the “self” in a test.
To me, the answer is obvious. I am completely opposed to focusing a classroom around a writing assessment. The “self” development should be done during the journey of learning the material, and the test should just be a check-in point. It should only be used to make sure students are learning what they should, a measuring device for THE TEACHER to see how students are progressing and to assign grades. This will then take the pressure off of “the test” to aid in identity development, something that sounds absolutely ridiculous even as I type it. Development of the self is probably the most important aspect of any education, however, I don’t think that needs to be accomplished through a test.
I'd tend to agree with this. I think the biggest challenge that I face as a future English teacher is balancing the assessment and creativity. The self is indeed eliminated in most writing assessments. In my high school, every sentence of our graded paper was dictated by an outline created by the English department. I found this method of teaching and grading writing to be very limiting in terms of creativity and self-expression. The English teachers argued that it helped to ensure objectivity in grading, but I don't feel that it actually taught writing.
It wasn't until my senior year of high school that I felt I developed a constant and confident voice in my writing. The teacher I had that year was older and disagreed with many of the teaching methods of other teachers in the English dept. Rather than creating rubrics for objective and mechanical grading, he utilized a grading system wherein he read each paper at least 3 times, recording his reaction to the paper on a separate sheet of paper. Once he graded for content, another time for style, and a third time for the overall appeal of the paper. While this might seem somewhat subjective or arbitrary, it made me much less worried on following a rubric and much more focused on honing my writing skills.
The obvious downside to this method is that it is time consuming, but I like to think that as a teacher, I will be willing to put in time to grade my students' writing in a way that affirms the self.
I think that the "self" should be a bigger part of testing than it is. I feel like with standardized testing we are performing to please someone else. This doesn't really make much sense to me because everyone has something different to bring into their testing. By trying to please someone else instead of ourselves, it's almost like we're conforming and suppressing our creativity. Sometimes I feel this way when my English classes have really strict guidelines on a paper. I know that there needs to be some structure to the grading system, but it can be frustrating when your creativity does more harm than good in your grade.
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