Fourth Reflection of PETA

Geby Devtiana Maryono

2011120001

            In the last meeting of PETA, there was a guest lecturer from Madaniah Senior High School. Her name is Ibu Warih. She taught about Effective Assessment. In the class there were some groups, and I learnt in group one with Sinta, Ponco and Mustika. Before entering the class, I have read the handout, but I still did not really understand about the materi.

            In class, Ibu Warih explained to us what effective assessment is. After the explanation, I understand that assessment is different with judgment. In assessment there is the process when assessing the students, but in judgment there is only judging based on the prior knowledge and appearance. According to Woolfolk, assessment is a process of gathering information about students’ learning. Assessment is one of the important aspects in learning process. Assessment is needed to provide feedback on learning process and designed to inform practice.

            I think it is not easy to assess the students, because the teacher must give the effective assessment. According to Wiggins and Mc Tighe, effective assessment is like a scrapbook than a single shot. It means that the teacher has to assess the students based on the whole process in learning (along the way) using a variety of formats and methods. Matching the type of the assessment and the needed of achieving the desired results is also important. Effective assessment will allow students to share and demonstrate their understanding by using a variety of learning styles. Besides, effective assessment also allows teachers to plan to response, inform every stage of learning and develop teachers’ performance.

            There are two kinds of assessment. They are summative assessment and formative assessment. There are some differences between both assessments. For summative assessment, it is for at the end of the learning process (semester or a year) and the assessment given in scores or report. In formative assessment, the assessment is along the way (in learning process) and it is not merely the scores.

            Those are the things that I understand clearly from the last meeting. Besides, there are also some things that I don’t understand. I still don’t understand about the strategies in assessment, because Bu Warih did not explain clearly because of the limited time. I have tried to read the handout about this, but I still do not understand, and need the clear explanation for this, especially for open-ended task.

             I think the last meeting was quite interesting, because we learnt in group. Working in group made me not feel sleepy. After the group work, we had the gallery walk. Unfortunately, because the time was not enough, we could only see the flipchart without a person stayed to explain the flipchart. I think the last meeting’s material is really useful for me if I become the teacher someday. I know that assessment is not an easy thing for the teacher, because assessing is not only about giving the score, but also how we assess the students effectively by using the strategies methods.

            The last meeting fulfilled my expectation, because the explanation from Ibu Warih was clear enough, and Bu Warih always approaches us to ask and explain the things that we still do not understand. I hope, next meeting Ibu Ine can give a brief explanation about the assessment strategies. Thus, I can understand more about how to conduct the effective assessment.