1. Republic of the Philippines
Davao Oriental State of Science and Technology
Guang-Guang, Dahican, Mati City, Davao Oriental
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A Research paper
Entitled: Assessment Strategies to increase motivation
In Partial Fulfillment of the course Requirements
EDUC 124: Facilitating learning
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Presented by;
Arnel C. Bentayao
BSEDMATH III
March 6, 2015
2. Introduction
Assessment strategies to increase motivation
“Potential performance is a product of ability and motivation”
An indispensable part of teaching learning process is assessment. It is commonly at
the end of our lesson plan being termed as “Evaluation”. Lesson plan is incomplete
without assessment. Instructional cycle indeed is not holistic without assessment.
Assessment is at service of learning, thus the phrase assessment for learning.
Assessment is meant to insure that learning takes place. This is really possible only
when assessment process motivates students to learn. Unfortunately, many instances
of assessment as a process does not motivate instead threatens. The question “How
can we make assessment a motivating and facilitating experience?”, will be the main
concern of this research paper. Assessment strategies will make us to make our learner
motivated to learn and feel unthreatened comfortable during our lesson. This
assessment strategies will be a menu for us future teacher to eliminate the negative
connotation of assessment. Principles of assessment will be useful such that students
will not be frown upon. It will challenge to compete for learning rather than to compete
for good scores.
3. Discussions
Research has shown that good teaching practice can do more to counterpart
student’s apathy than special efforts to attack motivation directly. Five great
progressivity educators who express their views on assessment strategies that will
drives our learner to be highly motivated. Their views contribute a lot of innovation on
our present curriculum today where in various assessment strategies was planned and
formulated.
Richard Curwin in his ten quick strategies book states that assessment will be
done if follow –up through our lesson objectives. Letting them hear the lesson objectives
is the next step. Starting on time, greeting class rule ,encourage student’s humor ,small
changes-big result will be the consecutive steps to follow to achieve the great intensity
of class participation and involvement in any activities.
James H. Macmillan also viewed that assessment will not be threatening if we let
them think positively. We must let them realize that in doing such thing we must be an
optimistic one. Letting them make their own realistic goals will help them a lot to set
their own target coincide with the general target of the class. Taking control of the
climate will increase their eagerness to explore such thing beneficial to them. Lastly,
giving rewards and reinforcement to their scholastic performance will let them realize
that if they strive to learn, they will ripe the fruit of their labor.
Janel Cox, an elementary education expert enumerated the ways on how to
boost our student motivation. These must include book bingo strategies, read and
review strategy, thematic book bags, lunch bunch, character questions and additional
4. ideas. Cox further expound that a teacher will always be the key to implement the
strategies successfully.
Freemen, Anderman and Jenssen (2007) elaborated that assessment will be
motivational by making it real, providing choices , balancing the challenge, seeking role
models, establishing sense of belonging , adapting supportive style, strategize with
struggling students. The three great educators emphasized that we must addressed our
assessment to the struggling learners because those intelligent learners are already
motivated. Those learner who has struggling in class must be motivated more to arise
his/her belonging to the class.
Meltzer (2002) and Hamann (2004) views that student motivation will be
maximize if there is a connection of evaluation to the students life. Creating safe and
responsive classroom, students interact with each other about the text, focusing on
authentic literacy task, encouraging critical literacy, using technology, constructive
learning, generating questioning skills , connecting engagement to improve proficiency
and developing metacognitive skills.
5. My Analysis
In my own view, assessment must be authentic tool for learning. Learning is
proven as accessing as analogous to eating as pudding. Accessing their learning is not
an easy task. You need to consider their needs and interest to boost their eagerness
and motivating themselves to learn something. But how to increase their motivation?
This is through assessment strategies that can increases motivation. Assessment
strategies are means to maximize the intensity of our learners to challenge their selves
to learn more through the driving force that causes them to do something beneficial for
them. A motivation can be maximized by the students if we keep on employing the
various theories affecting motivation. It must allow and follow the clarity of our learning
objectives of every lesson that clarify to them the target that they must have to work on
and the criteria to be consider in evaluating their learning. After the clear presentation of
the learning objectives, it is vital to them to make their own target by reminding
everyone to coincide their personal target with general target. If they are given a
freedom they will feel unthreatened and comfortable. Lastly, let us engage them in a self
–assessment wherein they are the one who access their performance because they ae
already oriented on the task to work on and it will also empower them to take more
action role for their own learning process.
The different strategies suggested above will somehow guide me to make some
change in dealing with my diversified learners with the aid of my sense of humor,
student feel comfortable. Everybody is excited for assessment because the two kinds of
motivation are present in the class. It becomes beneficial to both students and teachers.
Since students aim for learning was achieved through good methodologies of the
6. teacher. Teacher can now assess his or her ways if there is a need to reject, revise and
retain the ways of delivery in instruction. Teacher also must see to it that their ways of
teaching suits to the student’s ways of learning. Hence, to improve our students
performance let us keep on educating ourselves with newly develop assessment
strategies for better and quality delivery of lesson in our daily discussion. Time will come
that assessment will never be a scare crow for students because our ways of handling
their diversity is not a dictatorial form but it is in a fair participation. In addition
assessment does not take place only at the end of the lesson. The pretest for instance
is a form of assessment that is done at the beginning of a lesson, helps us determine
how much we knew and did not know about the lesson. Pretest can be useful in
increasing motivation of our learners in which their learning becomes more focused
rather getting a high score since the learned to the point of mastery that their score will
improve on the post test. Aside from the three suggested principles for increasing
motivation, we must practice criterion referenced test rather than norm referenced test
by letting compare their performance against criteria rather than comparing student’s
performance to their classmates. Another thing is we need to put more inspiration to our
learners to have their mastery focus rather than performance focus because if they fail
to perform well, nothing to worry about because there is always a room for mastery. We
must see to it that our strategies must be sensitive and constructive because it may lead
to emotional impact. We must not judge them in harsh way because it will affect to their
self- confidence and will kill their spirit that may soon leads to negative views of
themselves and the subject.
7. Reference
K6 educator. About.com/ book resource/ boost –your- students_motivation.html
www. Ascd.org/publication books/107304/chapters/student_motivation_and_achivement
.aspx
www. Open polytechnic.ac.nz/study-with-us/student_goals_and_motivation/strategies
www. Ascd.org/publication books/109110/chapters/ten_quick_strategies..aspx
serc.carleton.edu/NAGT workshops/affective/in increasing motivation. Html
