Concepts in Teaching

I feel that the most beneficial teaching concepts that we examined are universal design and alternative assessment. Universal design creates lessons that can be used by all students despite differences in ability. It assesses students in a large variety of ways and encourages discussion, understanding and peer teaching. The lessons are designed around student interests and allows for students to be active participants in the learning process. Alternative assessment is used as an alternative to standardized testing and traditional assessment. It is based on the same standards as traditional assessment but uses other assessment types, such as presentations, projects, and skits.



Although many teachers believe that this type of classroom design and assessment are better for student learning, Educational reform and the No Child Left Behind Act have pushed the use of Norm referenced testing, Criterion referenced, and traditional assessment. These forms are only able to assess student learning by asking questions, students may know more than what is asked but have no way of demonstrating the use of additional knowledge.



At the current time students are assessed in a standardized way that groups all students and assesses everyone based on the same criteria. This is not an accurate or beneficial way to assess learning. The concept of multiple intelligence demonstrates the need to have multiple teaching styles and forms of assessment in order to reach each student and assess learning. The traditional way of teaching and assessing does not take student diversity into account.