Integrating UbD/DI Chapter 5

Chapter 5 of UbD/DI talks about effectively assessing a students work and how does a teacher test for true understanding. It begins by giving three basic principles which are; consider photo albums versus snapshots, match the measure with the goals, and form follows function. Viewing a students progress over time is analogous to viewing a photo album rather then a single snapshot of a person, you get a better idea of who they are with the album. There are three types of educational goals that are distinguished when it talks about matching the measure with the goals and they are; declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and dispositions. The book discusses the challenge we have as teachers to assess for understanding, since understanding can be used in many diverse ways. One way this chapter suggests to frame assessments is through the GRASPSs model which stands for goal, role, audience, situation, products, and standards. The three types of assessment strategies which should be used to assess students include diagnostic or pre-assessments, formative assessments, and summative assessments. Providing feedback for students early and often was key to promoting their understanding of the material as well as providing them opportunities to self-assess and reflect.

I think the class, as a whole, liked this chapter because it gave so many different examples of ways to assess students instead of through standardized testing. One of the things many people commented on was the GRASPSs model because they liked how it let students apply it to a real world situation. Everyone also agreed with having the photo album view of a person's work rather then a snapshot because we felt that you couldn't get an accurate measure of someone from one example of their work.