Page 276 - DEDU504_EDUCATIONAL_MEASUREMENT_AND_EVALUATION_ENGLISH

Educational Measurement and Evaluation

Notes • I like this piece of work because ....

Effort questions/prompts
• How much time did you spend on this product/performance ?
• The work would have been better if I had spent more time on ....
• I am pleased that I put significant effort into ....
Overall portfolio questions/prompts

• What would you like your (e.g., parents) to know about or see in your portfolio ?
• What does the portfolio as a whole reveal about you as a learner (writer, thinker, etc.) ?
• A feature of this portfolio I particularly like is ...
• In this portfolio I see evidence of....
As mentioned above, students (or others) can respond to such questions or prompts when a piece
of work is completed, while a work is in progress or at periodic intervals after the work has been
collected. Furthermore, these questions or prompts can be answered by the student, the teacher,
parents, peers or anyone else in any combination that best serves the purposes of the portfolio.

Other reflection methods
In addition to reflection sheets, teachers have devised a myriad of means of inducing reflection
from students and others about the collection of work included in the portfolio. For example,
those engaging in reflection can
• write a letter to a specific audience about the story the portfolio communicates
• write a “biography” of a piece of work tracing its development and the learning that
resulted
• write periodic journal entries about the progress of the portfolio
• compose an imaginary new “chapter” that picks up where the story of the portfolio leaves
off
• orally share reflections on any of the above questions/prompts
Reflection as a process skill
Good skill development requires four steps :
• Instruction and modeling of the skill;
• Practice of the skill;
• Feedback on one’s practice;
• Reflection on the practice and feedback.
Reflection itself is a skill that enhances the process of skill development and virtually all learning
in innumerable settings. Those of us who are educators, for example, need to continually reflect
upon what is working or not working in our teaching, how we can improve what we are doing,
how we can help our students make connections to what they are learning, and much, much
more. Thus it is critical for students to learn to effectively reflect upon their learning and growth.
As many of you have probably encountered, when students are first asked to respond to prompts
such as “I selected this piece because...” they may respond with “I think it is nice.” Okay, that’s a
start. But we would like them to elaborate on that response. The fact that they did not initially
elaborate is probably not just a result of resistance or reluctance. Students need to learn how to
respond to such prompts. They need to learn how to effectively identify strengths and weaknesses,
to set realistic goals for themselves and their work, and to develop meaningful strategies to

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