Becoming a teacher is no easy feat. New potential teachers are assessed before being allowed to teach on their own. It is more of a challenge than I realized as you will be observed and forced to write more papers on things like classroom management. Even after college, you continue to be tested. Not only will you be tested, but you must be able to evaluate your students. I like to think of it like a work evaluation. You give a summary of how the students are doing. You even get to talk with parents and I remember this when I was in my youth. Parent teacher conferences is what we used to call it, and I was always worried about how the teachers perceived me! Not only that but teachers can show students how to self assess themselves so they progress.
Democratic schools and classrooms is an interesting name. It works like a democracy where both students and teachers make decisions from how the education operates and to how the school rules should work. Many critics abound saying students will make silly rules. I am for democratic schools because I think student input is an education experience for them, and of course teachers will be in charge overall. In democratic schools there are also activities that both teachers and students can choose. It gives students a chance to choose how they want to learn in my opinion will help them succeed in the future. I believe the more responsibility a student has, the better chance that student will have a successful future. Often times schools will also have a school wide mission to express their democratic values.
There are many tools for preassessments. They can be in the form of online surveys, The preassessments are a great way to see students progress before they begin a course. I have had preassessments when I attended Keiser University. They were in the form of tests. You would take a test before the semester and one after to see how much you learned. Online surveys can be used like polls to see how much the students thinks they know. This is another great tool, but I feel it is not used as widely yet. I rarely ever get a chance to use an online poll before starting a semester.
References
Maloy, R. W. (2014). Transforming learning with new technologies (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson.
I definitely agree that the concept of democracy in the classroom can be used for positive results - even giving students 'choice' for smaller decisions can make a difference for engagement. But ultimately it comes down to the way it empowers students to be good citizens/learners and to make good decisions...as the consequences in a democratic classroom must also be part of the concept. Great ZooBurst creation, too!
ReplyDeleteOnline preassessments and other survey have great value for the teacher as they continue to evaluate their students' skills. This way the data can be protected, but still accessible for reflection and manipulation ... and it is paperless!