Reflection for Sept 11

As we're preparing for the year, we talk in class about expectations, organization and preparing for tests etc. As part of one of my discussions I asked my students "If the teacher didn't tell you what was going to be on a test, how many of you think you would be able to figure it out?" Very few kids put up there hands (approx 20 %) I was surprised by this. We think that kids have an understanding of what is expected of them but I think it is still a big mystery.

While going over the learning outcomes for the year I asked the students if they knew what a learning outcome was? Very few knew what the were (only a couple of kids). Again I found this to be surprising considering how much time we have spent on assessment for learning this year.