Moving Forward
In their article, “Expanding Student Assessment,” Gardner and Zessoules write, “…if one is going to ask students to grasp scientific principles, compose a melody, or write compelling dialogues, then one needs a curriculum that gives students frequent opportunities to investigate, test, and observe nature; to compose and experiment with many melodies; and to craft, rehearse, and revise many scenes, many times” (Gardner & Zessoules, p. 6, 1991). By presenting the option of writing a freedom song as a challenge, it became an assignment that students could choose if interested. In my future classroom environment, my objective is to allow students to explore their preferred intelligences in a variety of contexts. “Equally important [to assessing intelligences] is the determination of which intelligence is favored when an individual has a choice” (Gardner, p. 31, 1983). During the first week of school, I want to take an inventory of students’ interests through a survey. I also want to create open invitation opportunities for students to engage in multiple intelligences throughout the first few weeks so that I can see which students gravitate towards which intelligences. By exposing students to several intelligences at the beginning of the academic year, I would be able to incorporate these intelligences into curriculum, and to design authentic assessments that would allow students to explore these interests.
During my interview with students, I asked them if there was anything in particular that I could assign them that they would have enjoyed working on. One student said that she would have liked to write a play. Other students said they would have liked to work on group projects where they would research and make informational posters, and would present them to an audience. They also said that they like to work in groups. As these students spoke, their classmates gave the ‘I agree’ symbol. These students were unanimously expressing a desire to perform for an audience other than the teacher, and to work together on projects. The authentic assessments that they described in response to my question prompted me to think about what kinds of questions I would ask on my survey. In addition to listing options for assessments, such as group projects, plays, and writing stories, I want to give students the agency to decide what kind of assessment they would prefer to work on. Either working in groups or alone, I would give students the responsibility to come up with project proposals centered around the topic we are studying.
In addition, I would incorporate formative assessments, such as informal interviews and journal entries, which would let me know how the students felt about their work. This feedback would also help to gauge their levels of interest. When student interest and prior knowledge are incorporated into curriculum, it seems that degrees of understanding deepen. In addition to student engagement at the core, when students have the agency to explore their interests through flexible guidelines, they challenge themselves both academically and emotionally, take risks, and build authentic connections to what they are learning.
During my interview with students, I asked them if there was anything in particular that I could assign them that they would have enjoyed working on. One student said that she would have liked to write a play. Other students said they would have liked to work on group projects where they would research and make informational posters, and would present them to an audience. They also said that they like to work in groups. As these students spoke, their classmates gave the ‘I agree’ symbol. These students were unanimously expressing a desire to perform for an audience other than the teacher, and to work together on projects. The authentic assessments that they described in response to my question prompted me to think about what kinds of questions I would ask on my survey. In addition to listing options for assessments, such as group projects, plays, and writing stories, I want to give students the agency to decide what kind of assessment they would prefer to work on. Either working in groups or alone, I would give students the responsibility to come up with project proposals centered around the topic we are studying.
In addition, I would incorporate formative assessments, such as informal interviews and journal entries, which would let me know how the students felt about their work. This feedback would also help to gauge their levels of interest. When student interest and prior knowledge are incorporated into curriculum, it seems that degrees of understanding deepen. In addition to student engagement at the core, when students have the agency to explore their interests through flexible guidelines, they challenge themselves both academically and emotionally, take risks, and build authentic connections to what they are learning.