When is a choice not really a choice? Or when might choice make really bad assessment? In my last post I discussed the role of assessment in developing curriculum for creativity. I included the recommendation that assessments—even major assessments–sometimes include choice. We know choice is supportive of a climate of intrinsic motivation and creativity. But … Continue reading
Good curriculum and good assessment go hand-in-hand. So it is not surprising that the fourth key principle in developing curriculum supportive of creativity relates to assessment. In curriculum for creativity: Assessment includes multiple formative and summative assessments, including some that offer choices and use content in new ways. In all good curriculum, we start with … Continue reading
This is the fifth in a series of posts on assessment FOR creativity, that is, classroom assessment that is not aimed at assessing creativity itself, but at thinking about the ways classroom assessments may support—or stifle—creativity. Assessment for creativity allows students to demonstrate knowledge by using it in varied ways, and is structured to support … Continue reading
This is the fourth in a series of posts on assessment FOR creativity, that is, classroom assessment that is not aimed at assessing creativity itself, but at assessing content in ways that support students’ creativity. Assessment for creativity entails at least three factors: Assessment FOR creativity builds intrinsic motivation through a sense of … Continue reading
Imagine trying to learn how to drive a car from a book or from lectures given by expert drivers. You study diagrams showing the position of the accelerator, brake, and clutch pedals. You read about the process of releasing the clutch as the accelerator is depressed. You memorize the appropriate braking distances… When you have … Continue reading
I have a friend whose son is in second grade. It is now March. As far as his mother can determine, the teacher has yet to make a positive comment regarding a child’s work. Accurate work is met with more work. Mistakes are met with red marks and, “Do over.” The intent is high standards, … Continue reading
Assessment is front and center in just about every educational venue today. Whatever we want to develop in schools, we need to think about how it relates to assessment. To me, one of the most important concepts in assessment is Stiggins’ differentiation of assessment OF learning and assessment FOR learning. Assessment OF learning, of course, … Continue reading
One of the basic principles of creativity is that it often entails looking at something in a new way. Flexible thinking can help us look at something from another person’s point of view, from another angle, with another purpose, or in another form. One way we can help students think flexibly is by asking them … Continue reading
One of the most interesting and puzzling dilemmas in thinking about creativity and schools is the relationship between creativity and intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation, of course, is defined as the motivation to do something for its own sake, for the sheer pleasure or satisfaction of the task. A runner may run marathons for the joy … Continue reading
It is interesting when things that don’t seem as if they’d go together at all come together to make something wonderful—cayenne pepper in hot chocolate, or fig-flavored gelato (you might have to come to Michigan for that!). I think assessment and creativity are like that. I teach courses in both, and the more I think … Continue reading
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