A 7/10 REFLECTION PAPER FOR GIVING NEGATIVE COMMENTS

I really laugh my heart out when I remember getting a 7 over 10 with this reflection. This is my reflection on our activity on our Assessment of Student Learning 2 class. I learned a lesson here and that is to never rant on a reflection paper for the teacher will give you a low grade. Anyway, so here it is.

Designing an Authentic Assessment: Reflection

                Authentic Assessment is a type of a performance – based assessment that involves a task that envelops certain real life skills. It involves both process and product. It has five dimensions, namely: the task, physical context, social context, assessment result or form, and assessment criteria. This assessment may take several meetings to be accomplished by students.

                Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that I will plan such assessment. It seems very elusive and ambitious for a college student like me with no experience whatsoever in planning such assessment. Luckily, we were equipped with the needed inputs that helped us achieve the best plan we could make. Let me share some of my experiences and insights during our planning for such assessment how during our defense of our plan.

                In the planning stage, we have come up with the topic and task in an instant, which is to let our prospective students design a wiring plan for a two floor house. We were jubilant at first since we thought that it will be a smooth ride for us. We wrote our tentative plan. But as we processed this proposed plan, we realized that it was very unrealistic since our prospective students are not equipped with the skills needed to come up with a plan (since it needs Kirchhoff’s rule). So we simplified it into an office room. Here, we realized that it needs very critical and in depth analysis of the task to be given to our future students in an authentic assessment. Next obstacles are the physical and social task. These two are quite the easiest to come up. We just need a realistic setting, group and time frame and voila!-we’re done with it. Next is the assessment result or form. You can determine this only if you have visualized your task. If you have determined your main product, the other forms will come up. In our task, a schematic diagram is the main product. By visualizing this, we thought of transforming it into a layout design, then letting them defend it by using visual aids and submitting also a proposal on paper of their diagram. Each product involves certain processes. The last and most grueling to come up is the assessment criteria. In this dimension, you have to come up with your own assessment tools (rubric, rating scale, checklist, etc.). Coming up with a rubric is the most demanding part. It needs very long period of time to process and needs a pool of ideas from each member of the group. It also has to be that no standards overlap and that is the hardest part. To come up with each standard is very hard.

                Another thing, this activity is so tedious. It consumes a lot of time and energy. Also, in the preparation for the defense, we spent time on planning and perfecting it to meet the expectations specified on the rubric given to us. I felt also a bit disappointed during the defense since I feel it was unfair that we are the only group scrutinized by 2 experts. Also, I think the expectations were too high for the defense and that gave us the jitters rather than confidence. But above all, that was a learning experience for all of us future teachers.

Tatsulok: Social Stratification Put into Melody

“Habang may tatsulok at sila ang nasa tuktok
Di matatapos itong gulo”

Tatsulok. If you hear this word in passing, you will think it’s just a Tagalog translation of a shape with 3 sides. But if someone will put the word BAMBOO to it, side by side, then you will think that it’s one of the most influential and immortalized hits in the Philippine music industry. This song is originally written and performed by a Folk-rock group Buklod in 1989, now revived by the now disbanded rock band, Bamboo.

The lyrics of this song are highly symbolic. Totoy, for instance, represent the common people or the masses. Red and Yellow (Pula’t Dilaw in the song) represents the Leftist New People’s Army, who carries red banners with them and the ever famous administration of the late Cory Aquino who regards yellow as a trademark of hers. When this song was written, it was also the height of the Total War Policy of the then Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos against the New People’s Army, but the clash between the military and the NPA have taken lives of ordinary citizens. However, this is not really the main message of the song.

Tatsulok presents the even more apparent reality in the Philippines’ social status: the disparity between the rich and the poor. This has been the thorn that hinders the economic progress of the country. The social stratification here is seen even in the streets we pass by. This may seem not to be rigid in nature but those who are rich becomes richer while the poorest of the poor becomes poorer. The rich has easy access to JUSTICE. They can easily sue someone who in their viewpoint has committed crime and also can manipulate the outcome of a case while the poor has to seek for city/municipal lawyers and sometimes are subjected to delaying tactics that will discourage them to pursue the case because of lack of funds. As the song goes, “at ang hustisya ay para lang sa mayaman.”

Finally, the song encourages us to overturn this so called “tatsulok”. It encourages us to do all the best we can in diminishing the great disparity among our social classes. We must strive hard in order to reach balance in our current situation. And also, we must help the government in whatever means they have pushed to diminish poverty and help in ways that are within the scope of our resources and abilities. And also, the role of educators plays a major role in realizing this advocacy that until now is not evident in our country.

(I just happen to stumble down on this essay of mine for our SoSci 1 class while finding one file on our computer. Then I remembered that I intend to put this here but just forgot about it due to my busy schedule. So now, I have put it here and I hope this would be an eye-opener to all of us.)