Best Assessment

When thinking about my best assessment, I realized it was one given to me. I couldn’t decide between two different assignments, so I thought I would write about both. These were both given at Ferris State University, one in LITR 380 – World Folk Literature, and the other in FREN 331 – French Culture. These were two classes that were not part of my primary interests, but I thought they would be fun, and I was not disappointed.

LITR 380 – World Folk Literature

I was asked to deliver a creative presentation on a folk tale. There were guardrails, but not many, and the main thing I remember is that it couldn’t be delivered as a traditional assignment. I don’t consider myself a creative person, so it was a challenge to come up with something creative. That said, I got into this assignment. I created a script, set up the scene, hired a camerawoman (my wife), and created a video narrative of “Anansi and the Turtle.” I purchased different colored blankets for the scene and puppets for the characters. Looking at it now makes me laugh at how goofy and ridiculous it is, but I had so much fun during the whole process.

FREN 331 – French Culture

This was also a video, but this time I had to cook French cuisine. Looking at all the delicious choices, I settled on ratatouille. I got all the ingredients, hired the same camerawoman, and started cooking. I really wasn’t sure what my grade was going to be because I messed up cutting the vegetables, so I decided to just dice everything. It was not the beautiful ratatouille we are all picturing, but it still tasted delicious. Despite my worries, the professor commented that he had not had anyone go through so much to cook a dish that complicated.

Now, I had to think, why did these two assessments come to mind? Why did I enjoy them and put so much effort into them? The only answer I can think of is that I wasn’t confined to a box or tight parameters. I was forced to demonstrate my learning through many different means and use a variety of media. This also connects with Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) discussion of situated learning. They explain that learning is best supported when content exists in a context that learners can see as meaningful, assign value to, and connect to their lives (p. 1034). Neither of these felt like I was completing an assignment just to complete it.

While I love thoughtful assignments, these were not just another paper or test. What I was being asked to demonstrate was broad, and how I demonstrated it was broad too. Thinking back, I know there were standards attached to them, but I was given a way to qualitatively prove my understanding. While typing that, I noticed that I, as a numbers guy, love data and quantitative results. Being able to express my understanding in a qualitative way was very uncomfortable but also refreshing.

That contradiction made Schneider and Hutt’s discussion of grading stand out to me. They trace how grading increasingly became focused on objectivity and uniformity, while educators also questioned whether those measures could accurately represent student achievement (Schneider & Hutt, 2014, pp. 213–214). Giving these broad assignments and guardrails makes differential of learning partially the students responsibility.

References

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017–1054. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9620.2006.00684.x

Schneider, J., & Hutt, E. (2014). Making the grade: A history of the A–F marking scheme. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 46(2), 201–224. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2013.790480

***Used the website AI to create the image at the top.

Best Assessment