Chapters International

Overview:

In most classrooms I visit, teachers and students have in their hands the most powerful assessment tools for improving student learning that I have seen in more than 40 years as an educator: tablets and Smartphones. Used wisely and appropriately, these digital devices enable teachers and students to collect dynamic evidence of developing skills and competencies, as well as evidence of student's growing conceptual understanding. In this three-part series, Damian will invite you to engage in an inquiry involving some of his recent work with teachers as they embrace these innovative, powerful approaches, while triangulating their use of assessment strategies to match curriculum targets.

These sessions will help you:

Create a balanced portfolio of conversations, performances, and products
Use formative assessment to deepen learning
Implement strategies for involving students in self-assessment and peer assessment
Harness handheld technology to support student assessment and communication with parents

Session 1: The “Why” and “How” of Balanced Assessment

In this session, we shall examine:

Why creating a balanced, triangulated approach to assessment is essential in order to gather evidence of skills, competencies, and understanding.
How to use “Backward Design” principles to plan for balanced assessment

Session 2: Implementing Balanced Assessment Strategies in the Classroom with the Aid of Digital Technology

In this session, we shall examine:

How to establish a culture of learning in your classroom that will facilitate assessment through conversation and performance
How to harness the power of handheld digital technology to gather evidence of learning “in the moment”

Session 3: Using Balanced Formative Assessment to Improve Learning AND Communicating about Learning with Students and Parents in the Digital World

In this session, we shall examine:

How the five key components of “assessment for learning”, coupled with the use of handheld devices, enable improved learning for all students
Why and how our beliefs and practices about communicating learning to students and parents require dramatic changes

Damian Cooper

Damian Cooper is an independent education consultant who specializes in helping schools and school districts improve their instructional and assessment skills. In his varied career,Damian has been a secondary English, Special Education, and Drama teacher, a department head, a librarian, a school consultant, and a curriculum developer. He has specialized in student assessment since 1986. Damian served as assessment consultant to the School Division of Nelson Education where he worked on the development of assessment principles and strategies for a wide variety of K-12 resources. Prior to that appointment he was Coordinator of Assessment and Evaluation for the Halton District School Board in Burlington, Ontario.

Damian's expertise in assessment is valued across Canada and internationally. He is in constant demand, both as a consultant and as a dynamic, entertaining speaker. His current work focuses on helping teachers and administrators connect curriculum, instruction and assessment in ways that improve learning for all students. He is a frequent speaker at major conferences and Solution Tree Events. In 1997, Damian was a member of the Canadian delegation invited by Nelson Mandela's government to establish a national curriculum and assessment framework for South Africa. Damian has worked in all Canadian provinces, many US states, as well as in India, Greece, the UK, Thailand, Australia, Malaysia, Egypt, Brazil and Dubai helping educators improve their planning, instructional and assessment practices.

In Ontario, Damian has worked under contract to the Ministry of Education and the Assessment Training Consortium on a variety of projects. After studying with Rick Stiggins and Grant Wiggins, Damian was instrumental in introducing qualitative and performance-based assessment to Ontario educators.

Damian served on the executive of the Association of Educational Researchers of Ontario (AERO) from 1997 to 2002. In 2013 Damian and his colleagues Lorna Earl and Ken O'Connor launched the Canadian Assessment for Learning Network (CAfLN).

Damian's resources Talk About Assessment: Strategies and Tools to Improve Learning (2007), Talk About Assessment: High School Strategies and Tools (2010), and Redefining Fair: How to Plan, Assess and Grade for Excellence in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, are all best sellers. Together with Jeff Catania and David Steele, Damian developed the online course for teachers, VOCAL: Validating Observation and Conversation when Assessing Learning. Damian's latest book, also written in collaboration with Jeff Catania, is Rebooting Assessment: A Practical Guide for balancing Conversations, Performances, and Products. It is published by Solution Tree.

DATES & TIMES:

16th, 23rd, 30th November 2023

Each Session is for 2 Hours

New York 7:00 am | London 12:00 pm | Zurich 1:00 pm | Dubai 4:00 pm | India 5:30 pm | Hong Kong 8:00 pm
Melbourne 11:00 pm

Please click here to check your time for the workshop