‘Writing “I” Makes Me Ill’: Assessment and Self Assessment

Marnie Hughes-WarringtonAko Aotearoa

1 December 2010

Assessment Policy

• Shift towards criterion based assessment• Emphasis on ‘authentic’ assessment• Recognition of early, formative assessment

• ‘There is no point’– Students don’t collect their work– Students ignore my feedback– Students only care about the grade

You want the truth? I was stunned when I first read the question. You want to know my view? Writing ‘I’ makes me ill. I keep thinking that Mrs [name omitted], my year 12 teacher, who is a self confessed axe murderer of essays will come and get me.Matt, Essay 1 Self Assessment, HIST115

• World history is not just a sequence of events, but a web of interactions that continue and yet change and grow in complexity as new levels of interaction are added. Our role as historians is to interact with this past, so that we can take an active role in the future.Jennifer, Essay 1, HIST115

Why?

• Learning from the past, understanding reasons for why situations arose and events occurred. Educating society on how to avoid repeating, or ways to improve when it arises again (year 3)

• Become an active member of society as opposed to a passive viewer. It develops ideas of social justice (year 1)

• Restructure of class systems, hierarchy and values. World revolution (year 1)

we haven’t studied this yet

Self assessment• Students are given the same rubric, to self assess, and open ended

questions:• In your comments, it would be helpful for you to note

– How, if at all, your understanding of the topic has changed as a result of doing this essay

– the things you have done well– the skills and ideas you wish to develop further– Strategies you might use to develop those skills or ideas

• How your work demonstrates a response to marker commenta• Can be modified for more numerically-based subjects

Historicising learning and teaching

• To be honest with you, when I sat down to write this paper on the big bang theory, I had to do a lot to stop myself from crying. Science at school was humiliating for me, I felt so stupid. History was my subject, not science. But I’ve done it, and although I wouldn’t say it was brilliant, I think I can hold my own in a conversation in this topic. Beth, essay 1 self assessment

• Teachers have always told me that I am crap at essay writing. I don’t believe that any more, because I can see that I am getting better little by little. Monica, synoptic paper self assessment

I’m an American student abroad and it has been challenging to understand what a lecture, a tutorial and an essay are here. Do you think my writing is sloppy?John, Essay 1 Self Assessment, HIST115

I have only just came into the country three years ago and am still overwhelmed by the idea of writing an argument.Nyah, Essay 2 Self Assessment, HIST115

‘Too Many Captain Cooks’ isn’t history. Captain Cook didn’t fight the devil 1 million years ago. Getting dates and chronology right is essential for history. It’s just a quirky story, the kind anthropologists love.

James, Weekly Report, HIST359

This is hard and draining: where is God in here? This is not my language.Mwango, Essay 1 Self Assessment, HIST115

Why did I choose to write about gravity in world history? My family feels the weight of the past.Rubel, Synoptic Paper Self Assessment, HIST115

Arguments that ‘belong’ to students

• I wanted to open this entry by complaining that you keep pulling the rug from under me. I now realise that I’m the one that is doing the pulling, because I can see that world histories can be written differentlyDavid, HIST359 reflective journal

• Reliance to existing knowledge actually made my brain more stupid and dull, however subtle it was. Therefore, I decided to stop asking for answers from someone other than myself, because all the knowledge in the world is fundamentally not mine. I don’t want to think that the origins of gender inequality has nothing to do with myself. I am part of the problem because I didn’t know there was a problem. Ji Yeon, HIST115 essay 2

• Identifying the origins of human history is like looking for the humanity in Shakespeare’s Caliban: you have to look beyond external appearances. I did and I was quite moved by what I saw, especially Neanderthal burials Beth, HIST115 essay 2 self assessment

• When I first tried to teach world history last year, it was a complete flop. I was really disappointed, because I worked really hard on preparing the lessons. When you showed us those different world maps at the start of semester… I saw my experience in a new way. I realised that I hadn’t stopped to think about how my students see the world, to start from where they are instead of where I am or think they should be. I rewrote the lessons, and it was brilliant. The classes buzzed. The Head Teacher has asked me to include two special needs students in the class next time, and I can’t wait.Lisa, Report on Implementation of Assessment Task 2, MHPG912 World Histories

First Rankings

reading articles and journals

essay writing

working with primary materials

film and television

talking to academics outside class

getting feedback on work

working online

watching movies and television

visiting museums

participating in group study

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100ALTC, N=1455 Presence of the Past, N=900