Students give their views on Assessment
Teachers in the Primary school “Kliment Ohridski” v. Draslajca, recently gave their 7th and 8th grade students a chance to give their views on the new methods of assessment being introduced in the school, following training by PEP
The school announced a student essay-writing competition on the theme, Peer assessment during a lesson, In addition to judging the student’s ability in essay writing, the school assessment team was seeking feedback on the student’s experiences of and opinions on peer assessment in their classes. The team was interested in students’ skills in peer assessment and in the impact of peer assessment on their motivation and achievements.
Before the competition, criteria for judging the quality of the essays were agreed and provided to the students. The winners were acknowledged in a ceremony and prizes were given to the winners. A literature afternoon was organized where the best essays were read and a leaflet on peer assessment based on the essays was developed for students and parents.
Below a
re some translated quotes from the winning students’ essays:
“When teachers used to announce that they will assess us in the next lesson it was very stressful for us and a lot of students were absent. They pretended that were ill because they were afraid of the grading. … I don’t like those lessons. … I like lessons when students actively participate. … Our Macedonian language teacher introduced a new way for assessing. He explained to us that we will assess first our work and after that the work of our peer. We named it peer assessment. The lesson was very interesting, all students actively participated. Since then in our school we use this method of assessment.”
(Emilija Niceska, 3rd prize winner)
“That was a very interesting experience. Every student was reading his/her essay and others were expressing opinions on it. … We are grateful to our teacher for that chance. Everybody was happy and some students wish to become teachers.”
(Marinela Perevska, 2nd prize winner)
“When somebody assesses our work, we think that is easy. But when we are in a position to assess somebody else’s work, we realize that it wasn’t so easy. … Assessment should be according to predefined criteria… When I was assessing my work I realized that it wasn’t easy. I thought a lot.” 
(Aleksandra Markovska, 1st prize winner)
The school’s assessment team and the students explained the benefits of this innovative approach for assessment culture in the school and for the quality of students writing:
Teachers said, “This approach for us was an opportunity to get information, in a stress-free manner, how peer assessment was understood and practiced in our school … Peer assessment influences the climate during the lessons positively … The culture of peer assessment needs to be carefully developed and we in the our school aim to incorporate it in everyday assessment practice”
A student said, “Peer assessment should to be practiced always, because such lessons are fun, friendly and all of us are involved in activities” .
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