Education 621

Dr. Michael Slavkin

Evaluation Simile Project

Sally Kleinknecht

Evaluation can be like constructing an object with Lego’s: either without direction or vision, with direction but no vision, or, better yet, with direction and vision. Each of these have a direct affect on the builder (or student) – for good or for bad.

Constructing an object with Lego’s without any direction or vision (a picture) is very frustrating at the least. One might be able to guess what the object is – in this case a dinosaur - but have little idea how to get there. I think this frustration illustrates what a student might feel like when evaluated with no guidelines. The student has no idea what is expected of him. This picture might be of the teacher who gives little thought to what he wants the student to learn, understand or assimilate.

Give a student direction and he breathes a sigh of relief. At least he knows what path to follow (like Dorothy and her friends in the Wizard of Oz). But the problem is that he may only have a guess where he is going. The student is following his teacher blindly. The student may not even like the place he ends up once he finally gets there. To not know where one is going is not very motivating and sometimes may cause a student to give up. An example might be a teacher who uses the tests at the back of the book. The textbook gives the direction, but the teacher has no vision to lead his students. The students may very well accomplish the goal (actually learning something), but many will give up in frustration or boredom.

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” I would add that where there is a vision, people (students) thrive. When evaluation is the culmination of the vision, then I think a student will be motivated to learn and be satisfied of a job well done. A teacher can accomplish this by setting specific “do-able” objectives for each unit and sharing these objectives with the student. The student then knows the direction he is going and the goals that he is expected to meet. When the group was given the Lego’s, the directions, and the picture, they knew what the goal was and they could reach the goal anyway they chose. I think that illustrates the importance of allowing the student to have freedom to choose how to meet the objectives set out for him. This freedom compensates for a student’s learning style and gives the student more control of his learning. Direction and vision gives a student confidence when he is evaluated since he knows what is expected of him. He will not feel like he was handed 36 pieces of Lego’s and asked to construct an object that only the teacher knows what it looks like.

So whether one is building an Ankylosaurus, an Ogle Command Striker, or a Mono Jet for Mars, clear direction and a vision leads to successful evaluation (a well-constructed toy) for both the teacher and the student.