Assessments

I feel that assessments are one of the most important parts involved in teaching. For the teacher, assessments are a way of evaluating whether or not students are learning the required material. Assessments also are useful for the teacher in evaluating if their teaching method is working with the students. If the students are doing poorly on the assessments, it could signal to the teacher that the material might be too hard, that the material is being presented too quickly, or that the teaching methods are ineffective. From the student's standpoint, assessments are sometimes looked upon negatively, especially if the student is having trouble with the material. In order for assessments to be the most effective, I feel that they should be in both traditional and non-traditional forms. Traditional forms would be tests, quizzes, etc. Some non-traditional forms of assessment might be participation in class discussions or group work. Assessments should not be limited to these or any other concrete ways determining understanding though. An assessment works best when it is in constant use, and when the student being assessed may not know that they are being assessed. This will allow that teacher to track the student's progress more accurately, and if the student is unaware that they are being assessed, they might be less likely to do poorly due to stress of the assessment.
Those are my thoughts on assessments and that is how I would make it happen...