Do you believe that authentic assessment is possible in every subject area? Can students at every grade level demonstrate mastery through authentic assessment? Why or why not?

I believe that authentic assessment is possible in every subject area. Making sure that standards are clear and that the assessment relates to goals is necessary.  I think the key is finding what drives students to achieve to their fullest.  Authentic assessment allows teachers to see if students are understanding ideas.  I feel that students at every grade level can demonstrate mastery through authentic assessment.  What’s important is guiding the students to show them the technology that is out there so they can see the endless possibilities of what they can do with knowledge.  I am learning several new web tools. The tools out there seem overwhelming to me, yet I know students will benefit from them.  I just finished watching a video on Assessment Tools for Online Learning by Michele Eaton.  As a teacher it is exciting to learn new things. I can envision students getting excited about these tools as well.  Seeing the possibilities that they can create by using tools such as Animoto, voicethread, Slideshare, Prezi, sliderocket, wikispaces, ToonDoo, weebly, etc.  I really am excited for the future of our kids.  

Watch the video by Daniel Pink (here) on motivation. Although he is speaking about business productivity, consider how his points could apply to education. How might you incorporate autonomy, mastery, and purpose into your professional situation? Choose a particular area and identify a specific way you could increase motivation using Pink's ideas.

In the video of Daniel Pink's topic on motivation, he talks about how reward narrows your focus and that it can actually result in negative performance.  He feels we should approach doing things because they matter and because they are interesting by using autonomy, mastery, and purpose. So I thought about this and how I do this in my classroom.  

When working with my first grade students and teaching them how to read I don't reward them for their reading performance.  I don't give them candy or incentives.  I feel that the reward is being able to perform and problem solve to sound through words, looking for parts in words, re-read to make sure that it makes sense, and be able to understand the story.  The ultimate reward is to read and feel good about yourself.

The first step I take with my students is I have them set goals on what they want to be able to do in reading.  What they want to work on to become better (Autonomy).  I make sure they understand why they are doing what they are doing to help them become better in reading.  Why they should listen to see if what they say makes sense.  Why they should go back and re-read when it doesn’t make sense. Why they should look for parts in words.  (Purpose)

To ensure that the students are getting lots of practice of reading, students re-read familiar books daily to develop mastery.  Each student takes home a reading bag and is responsible for  keeping track of their reading and having their parents sign the log sheet at home.  The books are for extra practice to work on fluency. (Mastery).