Consider this:
A child enjoys and is highly motivated in their sport or
activity
That activity has a learning or progressive development
architecture that can be assessed or measured (tested), at a point in time, to
show level of achievement or progress
The child highly dislikes or is intimidated by the
assessment
Children seek and desire feedback so why does testing or formal
assessment make them feel this way? The
answer, sensibly enough, is the negative impression or connotation they have toward
the results. Feedback may be formative
or summative. Formative feedback is
qualitative and individualised: concerned with what’s occurring throughout the
learning process, while summative feedback is quantitative and compares the
individual to an external standard. School
exams is an example of summative testing.
Coaching feedback is formative.
There is probably not a whole lot that can be done to change
the way we generally feel about external standards. They’re inherently threatening though they do
contain useful stage-of-development information. If there is one thing to consider, it’s how
we ‘sell’ it. Testing should belong to
the individual. It can be a way to learn,
to assess the strength of what’s understood and in place, and not merely a way
to identify what’s missing. We don’t
have to talk about how test results compare externally. We can also point out that every effort is a
test of sorts. If we take time to
individualise the dialogue: past, present, and future, then there is a chance
we might lessen the fear just enough for the individual to discover testing hasn’t
diminished them.
Feel free to add your own thoughts and experiences of testing on our Facebook page:
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