Running Header: Thought Paper Holt 1

Thought PaperSam HoltCalifornia State University, NorthridgeRTM 403September 8, 2014When devising and coming up with ideas for our thought paper, I am the first to admit that I struggled. You dont really think about it, but evaluation is constantly going on around you every single day. Its not something that is necessarily stated when being done; its just human nature to evaluate everything around you at all times. Being in college obviously I am being summatively evaluated by every professor during every test/exam I take. Secondly, as an athlete, I am constantly being evaluated on my performance in the gym. Whether it is my times for conditioning, how much weight I am able to lift, or how high I am jumping. For instance, today in weights we had vertical jump testing where everyone on the team takes their approach and jumps as high as they can. The results are then written down and sent into the coach where he evaluates everyones performance and makes decisions based off the results. These decisions may include who gets cut from the team, who will be starting etc A lot of the evaluation from a player who has been here for years standpoint is the skill progression of each player. Coming into this program and team, I was one of the players with tremendous potential and I believe he saw that and formatively evaluated me based off that. Over the years my skill has continued to improve and my coach knew that it would all along. Therefore, I saw my coach as a great evaluator in terms of his summative goal. I think that it is tough for a lot of players to constantly be formatively evaluated in the way that we are, and thats why a lot of people dont make it. However, evaluation shouldnt be thought of in a negative way and thats why I dont let it get to my head like some others might, at least in terms of my sport. I know that the coaches are only trying to make us better and that puts my mind at ease because that is everyones goal; to get better. The coaches are also being evaluated by us because if they want us to respect them, they must respect us the same way. This makes it easier for the team to mesh and play well together. Every day of my life I am evaluating the food that I eat and the products that I use. For the most part I just use the pro-con strategy and am straight forward in my decision making. Music has always been a big part of my life and my taste has often changed I also think artists developmentally evaluate what type of music their fans like. (The artist will evaluate what their target audience has liked from them and this will help them better develop a sound that will be most likely sell.) Some artists that I may have loved to listen to 6 or 7 years ago, I would cringe if they were played today. I think this shows that the way you evaluate things can change over time and processes may become different to decide what exactly you like and I think this is the same way with food. I used to like plain spaghetti with melted cheese but today that would be completely too bland and tasteless to me. From all the evaluation that is happening daily, I think most of what I see and am a part of is performance based. Each and every day I am evaluated on every small little step and movement I take. It is 80 procedurally, in that they are trying to edit what I am doing and tell me what differences I need to make. The team is working to get better and it is all for one specific outcome (To win a national championship) Although evaluation should always be used for the good of the company, team etc., it can be used in a negative way sometimes and there are certain problems that can arise. From a player standpoint, there are certain standards that a coach has to fulfill. His job is to formatively evaluate his players in order to make the team better and ultimately win more, but if the evaluator/coach, doesnt do a good job in evaluating his team and making good decisions for the team, it could result in a negative way. For example, a coach that has good chemistry with his team is more likely to have his team want to win for him. Youre always playing for something/somebody, and if you dont want to win for that person, will you still go 100% while youre out on the court. The coach will always have an impact on his players. However, it could be a negative impact that the coach has. If a coach has a negative impact on his players, should he expect it to have a positive outcome for the team? In years past there had been tension between certain players on the team and our coach. The outcome of this was that we didnt make playoffs for the first time in 8 years or so. This is a prime example of how evaluation can be used poorly and how impact is not always a positive thing. The potential for evaluation activities and evaluation itself is endless. Standards for certain things are only getting higher and the bar will always be raised on how things are evaluated. There was a time where the Nintendo 64 was evaluated as the most revolutionary game system to ever be made and that raised the bar completely; but 15 or so years later the bar was on another level as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 come out and are played in high definition. This is especially true with technology because development will never stop and people will never truly be satisfied with what is at hand. It is human nature to want to be better at everything and work to better yourself, and thats what I believe evaluation is all about. There is obviously a tremendous amount of potential for something that is used in everyday life almost everywhere you go, you just need to make sure the impact of the evaluation is good in order for the outcome to reflect in the same way.