1. Reflect on your own early school experiences. What were the dominant forms of assessment used? What feedback do you recall receiving from teachers in relation to your learning? How did you know how you were doing?

2. Families may hold different understandings of assessment than teachers as these views are influenced by one’s experiences, values, beliefs, and goals for children. How would you explain the purpose and kinds of formative assessments to a family that values teacher-directed summative assessments (testing, etc.)?

3. Read the scenarios that follow. For each one, reflect on the extent to which the teacher collaborates with the children in assessing their learning. Are there additional measures each teacher could take to further involve the children?

Scenario A: A number of conflicts have arisen during the kindergarten class’ morning meeting due to different understandings of personal space. Some of the children are fidgeting or stretching out their legs into other children’s space. After fielding a series of complaints and having to help the children resolve conflicts, the teacher decides to create a means of assessing one’s own behaviour. As a class, they discuss what behaviours are disruptive to the morning meeting and the children share ideas such as “interrupting others,” “moving around,” “hitting or bumping others,” and “not listening”. Then, they discuss positive behaviours such as “sitting with their legs crossed to avoid accidentally kicking others”, “keeping your hands to yourself,” “looking at the person who is speaking”, “putting your hand up,” and “waiting your turn”. The teacher suggests they post these ideas as a reminder and one of the children suggests they add pictures to show what these behaviours look like. The class poses for the “disruptive” morning meeting photo, for the “good” morning meeting photo, and for one that is in-between and these are posted next to the criteria. In subsequent meetings, the children are invited to assess their own behaviour and use the photos to guide them toward improvement.

Scenario B: The teacher wants to involve the children in self-assessment. During their centre time, she has iPads available to the children. She has taught them how to use a simple application where they can take photos of their creations on an ongoing basis or once they are finished. They can also audio record themselves talking about their work. These photos and recordings are saved under the child’s name and the teacher reviews them at the end of the day and adds comments, making connections to the curriculum and to other aspects of the child’s learning. Families are able to view this documentation once the teacher has finished her review.

Scenario C: The class is beginning a project on motion. During morning meetings, the children are involved in planning the direction the project will take. They define their objectives collaboratively. The teacher asks them what they hope to find out and what kinds of experiences would help them do so. Early in the project, the teacher also facilitates a discussion about assessing their learning and helps them define criteria for evaluation. Throughout the project, the teacher uses questioning to understand what they see as being the strengths are of their work, what they would like to improve on, and what they plan to do next. She brings them back to the criteria in whole class discussions and some of the points are further refined. At the end of the project, the teacher reviews the criteria again and involves the children in assessing their own work against these criteria. 

4. Research applications, technologies, and approaches that might be used in the classroom to facilitate the gathering of documentation for assessment purposes. As well, explore ways to present such documentation in a form that children and families can participate in assessment (portfolios, etc.). Brainstorm some possible ways that children might collaborate with teachers in the assessment of such documentation. 

5. Read the following example of a learning story. Reflect on the value of this form of assessment for teachers, children, and families.

Learning Story: Composing Meaning 
A variety of new instruments have recently been introduced into the classroom and the children have been experimenting with them quite a bit during “explore time”. The xylophone is especially popular and each key is labelled with the letter representing the specific musical note to assist the children.
On this day, I see you, Ethan, in the music area with your friend Mustafa and you are deeply engaged with the xylophone. Each of you holds a mallet in one of your hands and you gently tap on the various keys experimentally. You then dash off to the writing centre and return with a piece of paper and a pencil. Mustafa continues to play as you go back and forth between playing the xylophone and writing on your page. Once you had written a series of letters on your page, you invited me to come and hear you play your song. You carefully read the notes you have written on your paper as you play them on the xylophone. 
As I reflect on the significance of this event, I think about the various prepared checklists I have been using to document each child’s developmental accomplishments throughout the year. The narrow rigidity of these assessments excludes the diverse and varied ways in which each of you demonstrate your knowledges, skills, and abilities. Ethan, you showed me that you do understand symbolic representation and can use symbols to construct and represent meaning. I am reminded that, in this cultural context, we prioritize certain symbolic systems at the expense of others, yet literacy skills and knowledges can be demonstrated through multimodal means.
In the future, I need to provide additional opportunities to engage with symbolic forms of representation instead of only focusing on the alphabet. Art, music, drama, and dance are modes of representation that offer multiple expressive possibilities and affordances for understanding the world. Sheet music might also further enhance learning in the music centre. I hope to further encourage your compositions, Ethan, by incorporating music into our daily experiences and facilitating ways of showcasing our accomplishments and creations. 
As Ethan’s parents, I invite you to comment on Ethan’s composition and share your thoughts on this story.

Format adapted from: Drummond, T. (n.d.). Examples of Learning Stories. Available online: https://tomdrummond.com/looking-closely-at-children/examples/ (accessed 20 January 2018).