Full disclosure: I have permission to blog about this conversation.
Or so I thought
A Connected Coaching eCourse participant
Self assessing her learning and sharing with me the grade she felt she had earned and why
It was the first day of school for her and she had just returned from a first session of music with second graders. She shared with great delight how long it had taken for them to finish one simple task. We giggled and laughed together over the story--
It was such a good day-- the joy enveloped our Skype call.
The conversation turned toward her learning- "Had she found the content of value?" I asked. "How are you feeling about your learning?"
Without hesitation, she described what had been of greatest value to her and how it would be instrumental in the work she would be doing during the course of the year. She added a concern she had had, unwarranted, about "taking over conversations". She asked about a learning opportunity the group let pass them by (creating a collaborative rubric).
There was a silence--
So I asked, what did she feel should be the grade I reported to the institution.
There was silence--
Then she asked me what I thought it should be.
And we both laughed.
And I asked, why is self assessing so difficult?
And we laughed again.
And she said her second graders were very good at it as were her daughters--
And I asked her again.
And again there was silence.
She never could bring herself to say it.
I finally asked, both of us laughing some more, "Does the letter have points or curves?"
"Points" she said.
To which I replied, from what you have told me, of course, it is an A.
Why is self assessing for very smart learners so hard? We didn't use video in the Skype call; did that make a difference when we couldn't read each other's body language? Had we not developed enough trust between us?
Lots to think ---
Image: 'it can't be true! you're so posh,+more+than+me!'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47207654@N00/47651477
Found on flickrcc.net
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