Learning is a life-long process that is highlighted by experiences, successes, goal achievement and inquiry. Students learn how to learn best when they are able to collect evidence of their learning process through performance standards and triangulated data: products, conversations and observations. Only when all evidence of learning is collected over time and ‘triangulated’ can a valid and reliable evaluation be made. Most vital is that this strategy for collecting assessment evidence involves students in the process.
When we give a learner the gift of self-assessment, the ability to identify for his or herself how s/he is doing and where s/he needs to focus attention to improve, we empower learning. Students do not learn by being told they are an ‘A’ or ‘B’ student, nor by being told that their behavior is ‘poor’. Students learn from having the ability to self-monitor progress by engaging with basic questions: ‘Where am I presently?’, ‘Where am I heading?’, ‘What do I need to get there? ‘
In this approach to tracking one’s own learning, education evolves into something that you figure out for yourself rather than something that is handed down to you. As we teach children how to think en lieu of what to think, they develop confidence to make their own decisions and garner strong values that buoy them as they cope with performance demands, personal expectations, and even peer pressure in school.
Learners who understand how to target learning goals and track their progress grow more self-assured and better able to question and to make inquiry. Simple tasks of reflecting and expressing how they are progressing and questions that they have as they move through their work can become powerful tools for improving understanding. When we know we have done something well, we feel good about ourselves. We accept new challenges more readily, and learning becomes easier.
