Assessment is Everywhere: Both Awesome and Scary.

It's been a long week. One that feels like it was actually three weeks. I'm thankful to have a group of peers in this course that presented some wonderful questions and observations about the readings that brought me back to "normal" life after the tragedy that struck our region on Wednesday. 

Aside from the rough patch of days that we all faced as educators this past week, the content of the readings couldn't have come at a more perfect time in my semester of teaching. I just started teaching the college writing course this year, so I'm still making things my own and getting things organized, so to speak. So when I started reading the articles detailing the importance of the electronic portfolio, I immediately felt inspired to enhance the end-of-semester portfolio project I require for my seniors. Right now, they evaluate their writing style and the class structure and, in a sense, self-assess and teacher-assess (scary but useful!). This is all typed and printed and put into a three-ring binder, but, as I mentioned in the discussion, this has been done this way since I was in the same school. Hmm...what to do? Seems like an easy solution. So I hoped to get some guidance on this. But what I found to be so interesting was that the Hicks, et al, piece included so much information about the teaching portfolio. I had approached this week of readings thinking that this would be more focused on students, but here was a reading almost solely dedicated to how to approach the teaching aspect of the portfolio. And I learned that this wasn't entirely a bad thing. We do need to model and let students assess our work in order for them to be able to structure their own products. That's common sense. But I digress...

Now, if you'd ask any teacher in PA these days about their portfolios, they'd probably say, "What, from when I got hired?" Or...some in certain schools might grumble and sound frustrated as they explained that an end-of-year portfolio must be assessed, evaluated, and signed off on by a building principal, as per Pennsylvania Department of Education requirements. As if we have time for more paperwork, some might say. As if we need to re-interview for our jobs at the end of the school year, others might say.  It can be scary to be "graded," so to speak, but it can be humbling, as well, to put ourselves in the shoes of our students. But in reading these texts and reviewing the video, I feel like some frustration might be quelled. This isn't just busywork (although it might take some time); it's a celebration (excuse the cheese of that word choice) of our lives and what we spend x-amount of hours doing each week. If I can work to get behind the importance of creating a personal yet professional online teaching identity using the concepts of reflection (as explained in the video), then I feel that I can convey these feelings to students to help them understand the importance of this as related to their 21st century student lives. 

Of course, among these feelings of revelation, I also feel the same uneasiness that we discussed throughout the week: I just have to wonder how much I am willing to divulge about me and me being a teacher out there for the world to view. In the world of social media, we post things online that we hope others will "like" or even just read. But the problem really lies with those out there who want to look for the negative. Unfortunately, as educators, we are under constant scrutiny. So I'm just hesitant to be too wide open on anything. I hate to say this...but is it really worth it? I guess we have no choice in the matter--if something is going to be said about us, it's going to happen. But again, why should I put it out there for public knowledge if I don't have to? Certain circumstances might be useful, like if I was looking for a job in a different field or if I was a celebrity whose job description is being in the public eye. The idea of audience is so prevalent in this topic; we (the teacher) are NOT the only ones assessing these online designs (as Aram states, "I had to be" in relation to being aware of the idea of a wide cyber audience. Page 456). 

In terms of hesitation, I don't see my students having the same problem. In fact, I think they're almost leaning too far the other way. Their tweets are going to live forever, screenshotted on someone's phone, somewhere, and they don't seem to care. I'm generalizing, because not all teenagers are buying into this, and some are really starting to learn the consequences of their cyber decisions, but for the most part, they're just kids and consequence isn't part of them biologically yet. So I feel like for them, working on an electronic portfolio with them could be the answer...helping them cultivate and create an appropriate online identity that will aid them in furthering their future goals and plans could be a great send-off lesson as they enter the real world. I like that this is so tied in with reality, and the world is truly their oyster as they explore different modes and methods of digitization. They're worlds ahead of me, and I don't feel like I'm that far behind, technologically speaking (but I am...I so am). They could come up with some really great stuff, and like we talked about last week, it's important to differentiate the "stuff that looks cool" versus the important content information, and that's where we come in! Goodson relays the notable movement toward more online portfolios in teacher education and "periodic evaluation" (484), so the more we learn about this, the more this movement can trickle down to our lesson plans to help students do this, as well. 

As my favorite Criminal Minds FBI agent, Prentiss, suggests, "The internet never forgets." This is both awesome and scary at the same time. Because it's not just us (the teacher)...assessment, in many forms, is truly everywhere.