3.3 Assessment

On this page

  1. Importance of assessment
    1.1 Starting with a new form of assessment
  2. Dealing with differences
  3. Mutual assessment
  4. Educational goals
  5. Assessing basic material and free assignments
    5.1 Assessing basic material with app
    5.2 Assessing free assignments
    5.3 Pitfall of too much basic material
  6. Check marks – Grades based on amount of completed assignments
    6.1 Ticking assignments
  7. Composite grade
  8. Teacher assesses student
    8.1 Treat your students as equals
    8.2 Search for talent
  9. Student assesses teacher
    9.1 App you use to ask students for feedback on your lesson
    9.2 Students assess your teaching style
    9.3 Students assess the lesson material
    9.4 Pitfall of not asking for feedback
    9.5 Questionnaire for teachers
  10. Teacher self-assessment
  11. Student self-assessment
  12. Teacher and pupil jointly assess pupil performance
    12.1 Student shows you a new level
    12.2 Pupil shows you the elaboration of a self-chosen assignment
  13. Overview of pupil progress
    13.1 Three groups
    13.2 Working on time with the basic material
    13.3 The lagging group
    13.4 Bonus points for pupils who give tutorials
    13.5 Test
    13.6 What should I do when I have finished?
  14. Motivate by appreciating and rewarding
  15. Summary

Teachers and students mutually assess each other. This affects the whole educational process. Teachers who want their students to work independently can use an alternative method of grading. By doing so, they motivate their students to work at their own pace on prescribed tasks and self-selected topics. This module focuses on the educational objective Qualification.

I assess my students in a way that makes them independent, increases their intrinsic motivation and improves their results. I ask my students to assess my teaching style and my teaching materials. This gives me valuable information to improve my teaching.

Present approach:

How do I assess now?

Future approach:

How do I assess in the future?

Introduction video

For more information check out our other introductory videos here.

Examples

  1. Questionnaire FFT
  2. Check marks determine grade. Assessment with check marks gives every student the chance to get a high grade while working at their own level. For each assessment, you administer two aspects: Check mark and level.
  3. SurveyMonkey – survey programme. This programme allows students to assess you
  4. Quest to learn
  5. Khan Academy

Examples primary education

  1. Compliments and rewards (age 10)
    The teacher draws five flowers on the board. Each flower belongs to one of the five tables at which students sit in five groups. Each time the students at a table quickly clean up their table during a change of activity, the teacher colours a petal of the flower belonging to their table. Encouraged by this, the students always try to finish quickly so that the teacher colours another petal. This approach causes the different groups to see it as a game to have the teacher colour all the petals. For these students, just colouring the petal is the complete reward.
  2. You can refine the approach of first example:
    When a group’s entire flower is coloured, that group gets a reward. For example, they may then choose an “energizer” (a game that gets students excited). In doing so, it is advisable to let them choose from three options that you determine in advance. As soon as the flower of a table is completely coloured and a reward has been handed out, you delete that particular flower and draw a new one. This group then starts again from scratch. In this way, you give the other groups a chance at a reward as well. What is extra nice about this method is that the table group receives the direct rewards and that the entire group benefits from it: they all do the energizer.
  3. You reward fast students with free time (golden time). The better they work, the more time they get to choose for themselves what to do. In this earned time, they get to do something for themselves a little earlier than the others.

Examples secondary education

  1. All students at our school use an app that allows students to test their skills in music. Everyone sees all results. First I created an account and tested the app. Later, all my students saw how many points I had scored overall. Some students kept a sharp eye on my score. They want to be on top. Every so often, I also practice with the app and my score goes up. That in turn is a challenge for ambitious students to get to work as well!
  2. Stephanie who teaches Dutch language saves time:
    Instead of a test, she has all students take a test with an app. She stands on a table at the back of the classroom and oversees whether everyone is working with the app and stays on task with it. She agrees with the group that if she sees one student doing anything other than working with the app during the test, she will unfortunately still have to schedule a test with them….
  3. A student takes music lessons at school and could play drums solid even before he took music lessons with me. As a music teacher, I taught myself to drum, but he could clearly do better. This student felt that music class had nothing to offer him. He expected to get a 9 by briefly lifting his little finger. The new approach with check marks required him to do something anyway but at his own level. He could not imagine that he could still learn something in music class. I asked him, “can you play a pattern of four bars where you play the same thing for three bars and then in the fourth bar you play a break?” which it turned out he couldn’t do. That became his first assignment and became his first checkmark. The next question I asked him was, “Can you play in a 3/4 time-signature? Yes he could. “And in a 5/4 time-signature?” It turned out he couldn’t do that. That became his second task. etc.

Introduction

Assessment is one of the four modules of the ‘Planning lessons’ perspective of Friendly and Fair Teaching (FFT).

figure 32: planning lessons (overview)

When you ask students to assess your lessons, no matter how you teach, there is always something to learn from their remarks. In this module you will find questionnaires that you can submit to your students.

First you explain subjects (teacher-centred education). During independent work (Student-centred education) your students work with a certain degree of freedom at the covered subjects. If you give your students a lot of time to work independently, it is advisable to find a way of assessing that guides and motivates them. In this module we discuss an alternative way of calculating grades using check marks. By doing so, on the one hand you offer your students structure and on the other you give them room make their own decisions.

1 Importance of assessment

How do you judge whether someone is qualified for something? Usually, one person judges the other. In this module, FFT advocates a way of assessing that:

  1. is mutual and serves the development of all involved (teacher and students).
  2. feels like personal guidance or coaching.
  3. ensures that we (teacher and students) are and remain actively engaged with learning objectives.

1.1 Starting with a new form of assessment

What form of assessment ensures that students and teacher are and remain actively engaged with the learning objectives? What form of assessment ensures that differences between students do not create barriers?

Assessment with check marks encourages students to work independently and allows them to decide the order in which they work. Read more about this method of assessment, which allows students to work at their own pace. A learning environment that makes this possible involves customized assessment. Here you distinguish between assessing basic material and assessing assignments chosen by students themselves.

2 Dealing with differences

As a teacher, you get to deal with students who are rock solid in your subject as well as with beginners. How do you give these two groups tailored assignments? (examples secondary education 3)

To keep it fair, I will give you all the same assignment: Climb this tree.

figure 35: assessment

In this illustration the teacher asks several animals to climb a tree. It is immediately clear that some of the animals do not have the ability to do so. This raises the following questions:

  1. How do you deal with differences in aptitude and capacity among students?
  2. How do you assess in a way that does justice to pupils’ abilities? How do you assess these differences?
  3. Does your way of assessing contributes to students meeting at least the minimum requirements?
  4. How does your method of assessment contribute to ensuring that students make maximum effort and have the opportunity to ‘become themselves’?

But that cornered quality of students should not be polished off, rather it should be ‘honed’ a bit more. You should not ‘give up completely’ being yourself in your ‘more substantial coincidence, in which you are yourself.” Visser (2019), Andries

If you succeed in motivating your students and in getting them to work constructively of their own accord, you will have energy left over to further refine the positive learning environment. Your students now have control over (part of) their own learning. The students are intrinsically motivated and constantly surprise you with new ways of learning. An additional advantage is that you yourself are becoming increasingly knowledgeable about your own subject.

Peergroup

The way fast students work is contagious. Students who do not immediately start working on their own initiative learn from the fast learners. The students who immediately take advantage of the freedom you offer inspire the other students. They serve as role models. At every next report period, more  students start working right from the start.

3 Mutual assessment

That you assess students is inherent to your profession as a teacher. That your students assess you is less obvious. You may shy away from this because you expect criticism from your students. The following illustration shows five forms of assessment. Each arrow represents a form of assessment:

First Arrow: Teacher assesses student performance
Second Arrow: Student assesses teacher performance
Third Arrow: Teacher assesses teacher performance
Fourth arrow: Student assesses student performance
Fifth arrwo: Teacher and student jointly assess student performance

figure 50: Different kinds of assessment

Five types of assessments (and not six)

At the arrows with number five, the teacher and student jointly assess the student’s presentation.

This image lacks a sixth arrow in which the student and teacher jointly assess the teacher’s performance. An explanation for this is that a student initially comes to school to learn and not to coach the teacher. This does not alter the fact that a student can give the teacher feedback (Arrow 2)

If you make ample time for independent work, these five forms of assessment fit with that. Your students then follow their own plan and, as a result, don’t all do the same thing. They pay attention to activities you prescribe at their own time.

Before you start a new form of assessment, find answers to these questions:

  1. How do I assess my students when they are working on different topics?
  2. How do I keep freedom from degenerating into non-commitment?
  3. How do I guide my students to pass their final exams?
  4. How do I ensure that my way of assessing motivates and qualifies students?

School-wide equivalent assessment?

4 Educational goals

Biesta formulates three domains/educational goals: Qualification, Socialization and Subjectivation. In addition to Qualification, do you assess the educational goals of Socialization and Subjectivation? Do you give marks for Socialization and Subjectivation just as you do for Qualification, or does your teaching method ensures that Socialization and Subjectivation are adequately addressed?

5 Assessing basic material and free assignments

FFT recommends offering students a balanced mix of basic material and assignments of their choice while working independently. In both cases, you give students some freedom to organize their work.

  1. For the basic material, you clearly indicate which requirements the student must meet.
  2. With the free assignments you indicate roughly what the assignment must meet.

If you want students to gain knowledge and skills in basic material and you want to be able to assess their work, make sure the assessment meets the characteristics of SMART: Specific, Measurable, Accurate, Realistic, Time-bound. Discuss this with your students as well so they understand why you choose this method of assessment. When SMART specifications are addressed below, they are listed in parentheses.
At the beginning of a report period, you specify the basic material students should master by the end of the report period (SMART/time-bound). Each student in that period decides when he or she will work with the basic material. While working with the basic material, you provide apps that your students use to self-assess whether they have mastered the level of basic material you have specified. If a student achieves a new level on the app, he shows this to you on his own initiative during independent work. At the end of a period you give all students together a test on the basic material (SMART/measurable).

5.1 Assessing basics with app

Allowing students to assess themselves with an app creates equality in terms of assessment: you can assess a student, but they can also assess themselves (Arrow 1 and arrow 4). With an app you encourage self-direction of your students. The app assesses impartial. This way of assessing  saves your time.  Look for apps (or make them yourself, or have them made) that allow students to assess their basic skills and where you can quickly see if a student has mastered a certain level.

With an app, the level of difficulty is adjustable: For example, you can set how long a student is allowed to think about a question. With the app, you can set the bar high.

You note what level the student achieves with the app. This assessment costs you little time. Students only come to you when they have mastered a skill. When a student shows you a new level with the app during independent work, it feels like quality time. You can choose to count this assessment as a test or as a bonus point. An app that allows students to test basic material together in game form is especially appealing to students.

Artificial intelligence

Assessment with artificial intelligence makes it possible that results of a test (similar to an app) lead to a recommendation by the program they use of a next exercise. Algorithms of the program determine, in response to a student’s results, what knowledge is currently lacking. The student is then advised through the algorithms to do a particular exercise to supplement the missing knowledge. An example of this is the Khan Academy. Their website shows that when working from home, this form of assessment is students very helpful. Another example of a website that works with AI (artificial intelligence) is Leerlevels.nl

5.2 Assessing free assignments

When assessing presentations of self-selected assignments, you also strive for equivalence. You assess the presentations of self-chosen topics together with the student (Arrows 5).
With a free assignment, a student begins his or her own trajectory. Your assessment is more like coaching than like a final assessment.

How do you coach a student’s own development? How do you ensure that development does not stop after an assessment, but that the assessment stimulates further development?

In free assignments, you have students work either independently or in voluntarily chosen pairs. In both cases, they complete their work with a presentation. What do you then pay attention to? What aspects play a role for the student?

  1. Gathering knowledge
  2. Summarizing knowledge
  3. Learning to organize
  4. Learning to use presentation tools
  5. Gaining self-confidence
  6. Learning to present

If you notice that a student has worked hard and still gets a meagre result you ask the student to pay extra attention to one essential point. By doing so, you prevent loss of motivation and commitment.

5.3 Pitfall of focusing too much on the basic material

If you only offer basic material, there will be little choice for students. If you do not offer open assignments in addition to the basic material, it will seem to your students that your subject stops at the topics covered in the basic material. Students then have no access to all aspects of your subject. Personalizing your subject is not possible for them. See also:

6 Check marks – Grades based on amount of completed assignments

With the following method of assessment, you put the onus on students to get to work and to show results to you. Only at the end of a reporting period do you encourage lagging students.

You discuss this method of grading with your students in advance. You specify how many assignments they must complete for your subject in one reporting period to get the highest mark. In this example, four assignments are chosen. Completing four assignments in a reporting period is feasible if you teach students one hour per week. If you teach two hours per week, you can agree with your students that eight assignments equals the highest mark. Within a set assignments you determine in advance how many assignments are related to the basic material and how many to free assignments that students may choose.
If you compile grades this way, students do not compare results among themselves and jealousy does not arise. Students remain motivated. With this approach, level differences are not a stumbling block but rather a challenge for the teacher to allow everyone to perform at their own level and with their own talent. The true potential of students comes into its own here.
When students are working independently, a student can decide to come to you to show a result. When the result is satisfactory, you give a check mark that you note in your grade book.

  • one assignment completed = 4 on the report card
  • two assignments completed = 6 on the report card
  • three assignments completed = 8 on the report card
  • four assignments completed = 9 on the report card

For each check mark you give, you can also make an additional note about the student’s level. This note does not count towards the report mark, but may be important when deciding whether or not to transfer a student to a next level or when choosing the next type of school. You discuss these extra notes with your students. If a student prefers a type of school that deviates from your advice, this student can change your opinion by showing increased commitment and achieving good results.

With this method of grading report cards:

  1. see that your students are and remain focused and independent with your subject.
  2. your assessment feels like coaching to the students. With your assessment you give the students insight into their own abilities and make sure that the knowledge is really related to your subject.
  3. some of the students continue with the assignment after the assessment.
  4. you avoid that one student feels inferior to the other.
  5. every student regardless of level can still get a High grade. High grades are an incentive for students to put maximum effort into your subject.

6.1 Checking off assignments

How does checking off assignments work in practice? From the students’ perspective:

“With each checkmark, I increase my grade. This type of reward is similar to a game. I want as many check marks as quickly as possible! This motivates me to work purposefully. When I am ready I can have my assignment checked off immediately.”

7 Composite grade for a test

In this example, an Economics teacher describes an option he offers his students to get 20 percent of the grade for the test in advance. He wonders, “How do you help students in pre-university school get going who have trouble establishing discipline for ‘lower study skills like reproduction?”

Students could score points with me by taking tests along the way prior to the test on the entire material that allowed them to get 20% (2 points) of the grade. These were then a number of reproduction questions (the things you have to remember 100% to be able to apply). For these tests you could not make any mistakes. So 1 mistake no points. 0 mistakes a 9!

Easy review for the teacher. It is right or wrong. As a student, you could decide for yourself if you wanted to take advantage of this option. There was only one student who did not. He usually got a high score on the final test. Then he got e.g. a 8. Because he did not participate in the interim tests. There were also students who got a 8 with more errors because they took 2 points from the voluntary tests. This student always showed some ambivalence about this. He took pleasure in showing me that he could show me that his approach was working (he was smart). On the other hand, the feeling that his 8 would be “worth more” than someone else’s also bothered him.

I kept telling him that he could get a 9 by following the ‘royal route’ to which I did not oblige him. He chose not to do this himself. While I also told him that the students who followed the royal route built up more knowledge in the long run. I was never able to prove that of course, but if you look at Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve this has been demonstrated for larger groups.”

8 Teacher assesses student

If you assess students and then treat them as equals, they will feel taken seriously. If you immediately look for talent in a group, talented students will feel taken seriously. They will then be happy to provide tutoring to students who are lagging behind.

8.1 Treat your students as equals

Do not underestimate students and consider them as equals. Do not judge too quickly (labelling). Multiple causes play a role in poor results:

  1. Missing prior knowledge
  2. Motivation or concentration problems
  3. A personal disability

Investigate the possibility of offering a lagging student help from a fast student or an outside tutor.
Should you label a student as weak at an early stage, it is difficult for you to accept afterwards if a student suddenly develops rapidly. You are then forced to admit that your assessment was wrong. You avoid labelling by making less absolute demands on the growth of your students. This does not mean that you do not strive for the maximum achievable. Be aware of the fact that on the one hand you manage the growth of your students globally and on the other hand you let the students determine their own personal growth. To make that possible, it is important that you trust your students. You offer structure and let them act within that structure. You register their progress and jump in when you notice that a student is lagging behind.
Despite all this, you are aware that not everything can be measured and that your students learn all kinds of things outside the established curriculum.

8.2 Spotting talent

As soon as you start teaching a class, look out for talent in cognitive, social or personal areas of students. Think of yourself as a scout looking for talent. Being able to do something well, and having it recognized by you, gives a student confidence and provides intrinsic motivation (See also).

9 Student assesses teacher

You can improve your teaching style and teaching materials by asking students to review them. Your students than can suggest to you topics not covered yet. If you do this, there is an equivalent assessment (arrows 1 and 2). You show that you too are undergoing development. This creates an attractive learning environment for everyone.

If you don’t ask your students to evaluate you, you are less likely to discover flaws in your teaching materials and teaching style. Students in subsequent years will then have to deal with the same imperfections again and again.
A reason for not asking for feedback may be that you expect students to evaluate your teaching material negatively.

Appropriate times for student assessment:

  1. At the conclusion of a report period, when students look back on what they did.
  2. At the conclusion of a school year when you and the group look back on the entire year.

9.1 App that allows you to ask students for feedback on your lesson

At ‘Examples‘ at the top is a link to an app Survey Monkey, that allows you to gather the information you need about your teaching materials.

9.2 Students rate your teaching style

You give your students a questionnaire where they indicate the extent to which they agree with the four statements below. They score each question from 1 to 5
1 = disagree, 5 = agree

  1. The teacher teaches in a friendly manner.
  2. The teacher teaches in a fair manner.
  3. The teacher clearly indicates what we should do.
  4. I do what the teacher asks of me.

9.3 Students’ assessment of lesson material

A questionnaire to assess lesson material:

  1. How do you rate the lesson material?
  2. What information was most valuable to you?
  3. Do you have any additions or improvements for the lesson material?
  4. Did you miss any information on this assignment?
  5. Are there any new topics you would like to choose?
  6. What do you need from me to work even better?

9.4 Pitfall of not asking students for feedback

Why is it that the only people who never matriculate from their own courses are teachers?” Schafer (1975), R. Murray

In other words: Why is it that the teachers do not mature from teaching themselves?

9.5 Questionnaire for teachers

figure 53 Questionnaire for teachers

10 Teacher self-assessment

You rate some aspects of your teaching style.
1 = disagree, 5 = agree

  1. I speak softly and intelligibly when I teach.
  2. I consider myself a friendly teacher.
  3. I clearly indicate what I expect from my students.
  4. My students are coöperative.

Similar questions you also ask your students. You compare the answers from both questionnaires. Experience shows that students think more positively about you than you think about yourself!

11 Student self-assessment

The student assesses aspects of their own work:

  1. Do I have sufficient knowledge of the basic material (app)?
  2. I assess my self-selected (free) assignments together my teacher.
  3. Have I achieved my goal for this period?

If students can assess themselves, they can also make progress without your coaching.

At the beginning of a period, you ask a student to set a goal. At the start of the next period, you ask a student to assess the extent to which the goal set the previous period was achieved. With that question, you indicate that if there was little achievement, you recommend a modest, achievable goal be chosen for the next period. If successful, the student can set a more ambitious goal in the next report period. By always assessing the feasibility of the goal set after completion, over time a student is able to set realistic goals (SMART/realistic).

12 Teacher and student jointly assess a student’s performance

During independent work, students come to you with two types of assignments:

  1. to show their progress with the basic material.
  2. to present a self-chosen assignment.

12.1 Student shows you a new level with the basic material

During independent work a student uses an app to show you which level has been achieved. This takes about a minute on average. If a student successfully demonstrates the level with the app, you note a check mark. You also note the level achieved (blog Quality time).

12.2 Student shows you an elaboration of a self-selected assignment

Before a student presents a self-chosen topic to you, the student gives himself/herself a grade. After the presentation ends, discuss the grade the student gave themselves and imply it with the grade you have in mind. Both numbers lead to one grade that you determine. The advantage of this is that you see how students assess themselves. This may result in underestimation or overestimation. In both cases it is advisable to consider this with the student.

  1. If a student gives himself a 2 and you would give a 6, you indicate that the student need not be so modest. In doing so, you are helping a student gain self-confidence.
  2. If a student gives himself a 9 and you think it is a 3, ask the student to study the topic again and better, indicate that you expect the student to give the presentation again at a later time. For the presentation just given, you do not give a grade. This student then notices that with too little effort there is no check mark (grade) to be gained.

If you are grading two students who worked together on a self-selected topic, ask both students to grade themselves independently. During the discussion, you ask who had what part in the assignment.

Writing down results

Prior to a presentation, students assessed themselves using a form (see yellow and green form).

  1. Green (presentation for you only)
  2. Yellow (presentation for the whole class)

In this approach, a presentation is not complete until you see that enough attention has been paid to it. In this form of assessment you are more a coach than a teacher.

13 Teacher’s review of student progress

Now these questions come up: How do you ensure that students get to work on time? How do you prevent students from falling behind? How do you get enough information about each student’s level?

13.1 Three groups

When working with this form of assessment and guidance, not every student immediately exhibits the same commitment. Immediately, the group of learners falls into three parts:

  1. A group of fast students who want to get as many assignments as possible and thus get high grades as quickly as possible
  2. A middle group that meets the minimum requirements on its own merits
  3. A group that lags behind

Experience shows that if you assess with “check marks,” with each new report period you see a larger group of students who immediately start working with motivation.

13.2 Working on time with the basic material

Your offer consists of prescribed assignments that belong to the basic material and assignments that students may choose themselves. Indicate in advance what you expect at least from your students in terms of basic material. To prevent students from falling behind, divide a report period into three parts:

Week 1-3
Week 4-5
Week 6-8

There is always a group of fast students who want to show results to you right away. You give that group your full attention during the first five weeks. Beginning in the sixth week, your attention is focused on the lagging students.

If a student completes a basic material assignment in the first three weeks, you can give a bonus point for getting to work on time. Those bonus points are an extra incentive for students to start working on the basic material early.
After an assessment, note whether the student belonged to the fast part, the middle part or the lagging part.

These notes say something about:

  1. the level of a student
  2. the speed of work of a student
  3. the work attitude of the student
  4. the interest of the student
  5. choices of a student
  6. a student’s achievement orientation

13.3 The lagging group

At the start of a period you ask your students to use the freedom offered to work on the material well. If in the first weeks of a report period a student does not go to work but also does not disturb other students, you do not intervene, you just observe what the student is doing.

In the last part of a period, (weeks 6-8) you list the names of students who are lagging. You indicate that these students do not yet have a single check mark. You indicate that this lesson you will give priority to these students. The others will have to wait a while until you have time again. You indicate that you will have a conversation with these lagging students and if possible, you will have a quick student tutor them. During the conversation with the lagging student, you also coach the student yourself.
You then investigate why the student is not performing optimally. The reasons may vary: missing prior knowledge, difficulty with language, lack of concentration, a disability, not knowing how to start, not daring to ask anything, no aptitude for the subject or no interest in the subject. It is also possible that the problems are in another area. Then consider asking help for this student.

Chances are that a lagging student will soon get a check mark because of all the attention. Then you indicate: if you continue like this, you can get a second check mark.
Then there is a chance that a student you have taken by the hand, in the next period knows how to get started. From then on, there is no need to encourage this student.
This way you make sure that every student gets the attention he or she needs, that everyone masters the basic material and that everyone learns to plan and practice in time for the test at the end of the report period (SMART/timely/realistic).

13.4 Bonus points for tutoring students

A fast student tutors a lagging student. If the lagging student manages to achieve a check mark, then you give the tutor a extra check mark that counts for the next report period. Only do this if you asked the fast student to be tutor. Otherwise, students will come asking for extra check marks while you are not sure whether they have tutored another student.

13.5 Test

At the end of a report period you finish the basic material with a test. You can see from your notes that most students will score well. Even before you have reviewed the test paper, you are sure that almost all students have mastered the basic material well (SMART/Timed).

13.6 What should I do when I finish?

What does the student do who completes four assignments and therefore receives a 9 for one period? Give this student the opportunity to complete an additional assignment that will count for the next reporting period.

If a student has all check marks, give this student the role of assistant for the rest of the report period. This student can then choose from the following options:

  1. You can help another student.
  2. You can continue working on this subject.
  3. You can work on another subject.

With this approach, no student will be bored.

14 Motivate by appreciating and rewarding

We respond better to positive stimuli than to negative ones. Telling a colleague, friend or family member that he or she has made a mistake or is not good enough has a negative impact. If you attack people, they react defensively and rebelliously. But when you look for something to praise or admire, you encourage the behaviour you appreciate and hope to encourage.” Ghandi (2017)

Victor Lamme outlines how reward should work:
Translate a reward in the future into a reward in the now. That is the recipe for a better world…Reward works when it is individual, direct, fair and with control over one’s own destiny.” Lame (2016), Victor

15 Summary

Assessment is a powerful tool for influencing students motivation. During independent work, students make their own choices, set goals and work at their own pace. The more assignments students complete, the higher their grade. With check mark grading, you give every student the chance to get a 9. This motivates every student regardless of their level. As a result, students immediately start working in a focused way. This way of students are working, contributes to the educational goal of Subjectivation.

Two aspects contribute to the educational goal of Socialization:

  1. During independent work, students themselves determine with whom they cooperate.
  2. Mutual assessment (teacher assesses student and student assesses teacher) ensures equality and creates trust, making it possible to work together. As a teacher, you make it clear that everyone, including you, comes to school to develop,

You implement suggestions from students in your teaching material and in your style of teaching. Your students put you on a new track, such as adding a new topical subject that you yourself had not thought of.
With this method of assessment, teaching remains an adventure and a challenge for everyone.