Featured Guest
-
Katie White
Consultant, Author, LeaderKatie White is Coordinator of Learning for the North East School Division in Saskatchewan, Canada, and an author and Assessment Associate for Solution Tree, in addition to being an independent educational consultant. With more than 30 years of experience in education, in a variety of roles, Katie’s most recent book is Student Self-Assessment: Data Notebooks, Portfolios,…
Too often, self-assessment is treated as a capstone, rather than a catalyst, and portfolios as a scrapbook, rather than a learning tool. On this episode, we go beyond the mistakes we’ve made with self-assessment and portfolios to discover how they can help students tell the story of their learning. Katie White is a Canadian author, consultant, and leader, and she joins Natalie to discuss practical ways that students can document learning, analyze evidence, and set goals while honoring their dignity as humans.
Show Notes:
- Katie’s story as a curious disrupter. (4:30)
- Tackling common misconceptions around self-assessment. (8:30)
- Unpacking the quote, “Self-assessment is far greater than demonstrating compliance and perfection” from Katie’s most recent book on the topic. (13:00)
- Portfolios; the potential and the pitfalls. (18:40)
- Letting go and letting kids experience the consequences of their decisions. (26:45)
- A process for documenting learning that disrupts perfectionism and honors student dignity. (28:30)
- Delaying judgement in analysis by slowing down to notice and name. (37:30)
- Engaging in goal setting by viewing mentor texts and imagining possibilities. (43:00)
- The purpose of education. (51:15)
Significant Quotes:
“Let’s look at yesterday. How far have you come? What did you do that got you this far? What do we want to continue, what do we want to abandon?”
Katie White“Goal-setting can be a moment when we linger in “What if?” What if we did something different? What if we applied a different strategy? What if we chose a different topic? What if we had a different audience?”
Katie White“Education is where we interrogate our present and invite a future that reflects change and growth.”
Katie White