Shariffah's Written Reflection 2

I read Melissa Comer’s Young Adult Literature and Alternative Assessment Measures (2011) and I found it highly practical. I see myself using her ideas in my classroom in future.

Comer talks about an assessment for learning rather than of learning. She argues that formative assessments promote learning better and are more effective at gauging what students know and do not know in relation to a text. They change what a student considers important knowledge and takeaways in lessons – the learning process and not the outcome of a test – and it is precisely this that I find most attractive about her essay.

The two ideas I rally behind are the surveys about choice of text to use in class and the knowledge-rating charts. With the surveys, I used to have concerns that students’ choice of text may not coincide with demands of the syllabus and may be too simple or inappropriate. But her suggestion that teachers limit the possibilities and ask students to choose from there is practical. As a student I find questions for the survey exciting and I agree that it sends a good vibe that student voices are heard.

The knowledge-rating charts are really explicit about the vocabulary and knowledge that students have to know; very good for a Normal Academic class. Students can monitor their learning process, and check if their peers are also unsure about the meaning of a word. Although it may be challenging to consolidate learning points since students may have varying levels of proficiency with the text, I think it conditions students in close-reading well because they have to read the text carefully to glean the meaning of the words.

Also, traditional assessments in Literature have always informed students that only a formal, structured way of presenting answers is acceptable. Students have to write in proper paragraphs and sophisticated language so that students with average proficiency in English are handicapped. Yet, her suggestions about assessing knowledge of the text through the cyber-hunt and Twitter summary offer new ways of presenting ideas, character viewpoints and themes. Technology is a language every student speaks. I think this is a brilliant alternative to traditional assessment in class. In fact, in a mixed-ability class, students have the chance to learn from their peers who are better at phrasing and expressing ideas when reading their Twitter summaries. Comer’s ideas opens the doors to a fresher, livelier, communal Literature classroom.

A personal setback might be that I am quite technologically-challenged. I barely learnt how to use Twitter recently and if I were to use this idea in future I have to learn from my students about how to be more tech-savvy. Still, I think the idea is perfect for them and I’m keen.