Values Formation

While I was preparing my lecture notes on values formation I came across with this page of an e-book that talks about the significance of values in an organization. The following texts were literally lifted from the page of that e-book. I recognized the authorship of Juan Carlos Jimenez, a Venezuelan advertiser, entrepreneur and visiting professor for this wonderful book. Please take time to read.

We start forming values in our childhood. First we learn to appreciate things that fulfill our basic needs, but we value especially those people that provide them to us. Their behavior towards us becomes the main reference of what is valuable. 

Thus, our character and personality are molded through the attitudes and behavior of the people who raise us, whether they’re our parents or other relatives. Their behaviors determine in large part what will subsequently become our most important beliefs and principles.

We learn to value the substance and the form of everything they say and do, and what they don’t say and don’t do. Each gesture or comment affects how we learn to make choices We also learn to differentiate between the theory and practice of values. The latter is what marks us the most.

So the consistency and coherence of our parents’ behavior is what strengthens our formation.  If they practice what they preach, our personality will be stronger than if they don’t.

Later, when we are students, we start feeling social pressures and the pressure of values that are different from ours, as we relate to other people. The strength of the values formed through our parents is put to the test.

Values are often confused with habits, and many parents hope that school will form the values that were not instilled at home. This is not possible, because school does not fulfill the basic needs of life… that is the responsibility of those who raise us.

Teachers, leaders, and value models at school can reinforce what was formed at home, but they cannot replace them.  If the convictions formed at home are not solid, they will soon be exposed to an intense social competition against other beliefs.

Why is it so difficult to form values? Because, unlike norms, values are convictions; they are behaviors we gladly decide to follow and produce satisfaction.  We can follow norms against our will, but values have the support of our will. We have learned their importance due to the benefits they produce, individually and collectively.

Those who play a leadership role in our lives are most powerful at conveying to us their values. They are our parents, elder siblings, grandparents, some relatives, teachers, peers we admire, professors, and bosses.

However, to convey something, we must first possess it. Values are only conveyed through the example of our daily attitudes and behaviors. They can seldom be formed by explaining them or through a list of what is considered correct or incorrect. Memorizing their theoretical meaning does not guarantee their implementation.

Was She Sure It Was A Spider? an Internet Treasure Hunt on Spiders

created by Brenda Maxwell
Lexington IntermediateI School and Saxe Gotha Elementary School

adapted by LGL

Introduction

Little Miss Muffet,
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider,
And sat down beside her...

Wait a minute...
How did she know it was a spider?
Did she get a really good look at it before she was frightened away?
Did she count its legs?
Did she count its body sections?
What other characteristics did it have?
Do you know how to recognize a spider from other insects?
Check out your spider knowledge by going to the following sites and answering the questions below...

Questions

1. How many legs does a spider have?

    How many eyes?

    How many body sections? 

2. Can any spiders dive underwater? 

3. Why isn't a Daddy long-legs a spider?

4. Do spiders have antennaes?

5. For what two things is the Black Widow spider known? 

The Internet Resources

• Spider Facts
• Spider Facts
• Spider Facts
• Spider Facts
• Spider Facts
• Spider Facts

The Big Question

What makes a spider a spider?
What characteristics must an animal have to be a spider and not another kind of insect?
In other words, what classifies a spider as a spider?
A fun question to bring this treasure hunt to a close--why don't spiders get caught in their own webs?

Bibliography Versus Reference List

 Introduction

For the purpose of information, I compiled some of the Blogs regarding referenced list. I did not change or alter any of their Blogs. Just take time to read and if you have any questions you may post at the comment box below.

In APA Style, include a reference list rather than a bibliography with your paper.

What’s the difference? A reference list consists of all sources cited in the text of a paper, listed alphabetically by author’s surname. A bibliography, however, may include resources that were consulted but not cited in the text as well as an annotated description of each one. Bibliographies may be organized chronologically, or by subject, rather than alphabetically.

If you have been given an assignment that asks for a bibliography, consult your instructor for more specifics about the required format.

What’s a Reference List For?

Sometimes APA Style is less about the minutiae of citation and more about the big picture. For example, recently we heard from some students who wanted to know why everything in the reference list had to be cited in the text. They argued that they had read many more books than they could cite and felt that they were not getting full credit for their work.

The APA Publication Manual (6th ed.) says, "Each reference cited in text must appear in the reference list, and each entry in the reference list must be cited in text" (p. 174). To understand this rule, we have to consider the big picture: What’s a reference list for, anyway?

For many students, the purpose of the reference list is to prove that they completed the assignment. They were assigned a research topic; they researched the heck out of it; and the reference list is there to demonstrate their hard work.

In the scholarly disciplines that use the APA Style of author–date citation, however, the purpose of the reference list is twofold: (a) It allows the author to credit the work of others that directly influenced the present work and document any facts that are not common knowledge; and (b) it gives interested readers the information necessary to identify and retrieve those sources. Thus, there is no reason to include uncited sources in the reference list.

Other documentation systems, such as those based on the Chicago Manual of Style, use a bibliography rather than a reference list. A bibliography can be more expansive, covering works that were consulted by the author or recommended for the reader but not cited in the text itself.

If you're writing in APA Style, however, that kind of bibliography is not an option. Keep those extra sources in mind for your next paper, and remember: Cite what you use, use what you cite.

What Belongs in the Reference List?

By Jeff Hume-Pratuch

Dear APA Style Experts,

I’m doing a paper for a psychology class that requires our opinion on “the most powerful influences on your view of the world.” I want to cite a conversation I had with my grandmother, but I don't know how to put this information on the reference page. Please advise.

Signed,
All in the Family

We devote a lot of time on the APA Style blog to different ways of formatting references, both in text and in the reference list, but have you ever thought about what qualifies as a reference?

The purpose of the reference list is to “acknowledge the work of previous scholars and provide a reliable way to locate it” (APA Publication Manual, 6th ed., p. 37). Let’s break this statement down and apply it to the question at hand.

Acknowledge the Work of Others
If someone else’s ideas, theories, or research have directly influenced your work, you need to credit the source in text and in the reference list. This applies whether you are directly quoting or paraphrasing the work in question. If you are building on work that you yourself have previously published, you need to cite that as well. This enables your readers to follow the idea back to its source.

Placing a source in your reference list also implies that you have personally read it. If you read Smith & Hawkshaw’s (2008) opinion of The Hound of the Baskervilles, but not Conan Doyle’s work itself, don’t put the latter in the list. What you have there is a secondary source (p. 178). 

In addition, you should consider the context in which you are writing. In most cases, your source should have some scholarly relevance. For a personal reflection paper, it is appropriate to quote one’s grandmother; for a dissertation on child development, not so much (unless one’s grandmother happens to be Anna Freud).

Provide a Reliable Path to the Source
Part of the purpose of a reference is to lead your reader back to the sources you used. For a book or journal article, this path is pretty straightforward, but for some sources we need to dig deeper. Ask yourself, “How would someone else get here?”

In some cases—like a private conversation—the answer is, “They can’t.” No one else is privy to that conversation with your grandmother. The wisdom she passed on to you is not recoverable by other researchers, so it does not go in the reference list.

This kind of source (private letters and e-mail, personal conversations, phone calls, etc.) is called a personal communication (p. 179). Cite it in text only, give initials as well as the surname of the person involved, and give as precise a date as possible:

My grandmother’s advice was, “Never pass up a chance to eat, sit down, or use a clean restroom” (S. Dean, personal communication, May 14, 1980).

The same approach would apply to notes you took during a lecture, or class handouts that are not posted elsewhere (e.g., the instructor’s website), or a spontaneous piece of street theater.

What About Research Interviews?
One exception to this guideline applies to participants that you interview in your own research. These interviews are qualitative data; they’re part of the research on which you are reporting and do not constitute the work of others. They should never be individually cited or treated as personal communications in APA Style, because this could compromise confidentiality. Researchers are prohibited by the APA Ethics Code from disclosing personally identifying information about research participants (pp. 17—18). Depending on the circumstances, such information could include the date of the interview as well as surname and initials.

How then should you handle the need to quote from participant interviews? Some authors quote participants without distinguishing them at all, like this: “Indeed, a comment by one of our participants illustrates some of these complex issues: [quote follows without other attribution].”

Others identify participants by demographic or other data: “At my age I think we know who we are and what we are. (Female participant, 69 years of age).” You can also identify participants with letters (Participant A, Participant B), nicknames (Sonny, Tracey), or by role (Doctor, Patient).

Final Thoughts
As you write your paper, remember to cite previously published work that influenced you, that you have actually read, and that other researchers can recover. That will make your reference list both useful and complete.

Order in the Reference List! Or the Case of the Maddening Initials

   

by Anne Breitenbach

It’s true confessions time: I copyedited APA journals for years and even taught APA Style to APA copy editors, and yet I’ve tripped over some really basic issues more times than I like to admit. One issue that has tied me in knots several times is how to order a reference list when there are authors with the same surname and almostthe same initials. 

Let me show you an example of what I mean. Suppose you had the following citations arranged in this order in a reference list (they really don’t have DOIs and they were read from hard copy, so they don’t need to have the journal homepage URLs, though see these previous posts on when to use a DOI and when to use a URL):

1.  Foorman, B. (2007). Primary prevention in classroom reading instruction. Teaching Exceptional Children, 39(5), 24–30.
2. Foorman, B. R. (1995). Research on the great debate: Code-oriented versus whole language approaches to reading. School Psychology Review, 24, 376–393.

 Is it in the right order? Maybe yes, maybe no. The correct order depends on whether B. Foorman and B. R. Foorman are actually the same person. Here’s what you need to consider:

• Rule 6.25 of the Publication Manual directs us to “arrange entries in alphabetical order by the surname of the first author followed by initials of the author’s given name.”

 However

• We are also instructed to order several works by the same first author by year of publication, the earliest first. 
• And works by different first authors with the same surname are ordered alphabetically by the first initial—in addition, citations in text should include initials with the surname of the first author to differentiate between the sources.

So our order depends on the identity of the mysterious Foorman(s). Are there two authors or one? If you don’t know, then you’ll have to research the issue (and keeping notes during the research process that include full names is an excellent idea, as that makes your job now much simpler). The logical first step is to go look at the research and see whether the reference is correct as given. However, if the initials have all been provided correctly, what other evidence is there that allows you to make an educated assessment of whether this is the same person? Are there complete first names provided in the byline or the author note? Is there an institutional affiliation or a history of publishing with the same people and on the same topic? Is there an email address that would allow you to ask directly? Can you find an article about the person or curriculum vitae that lists publications? 
 
If on the basis of your research you are comfortably sure that these are thesame person, reverse the order. The earlier reference should come first even though the initials aren’t exactly the same.
 
If your research directs you to the conclusion that you have two differentauthors, the order is correct as is, but you’ll need to remember to add the initials for each author when the reference is cited in text. 
 
Should you have a publishing career yourself, please try to publish your manuscripts with the same format of your name throughout your career. Researchers and copy editors the world over will bless you.

Punctuating the Reference List Entry

 by Chelsea Lee

The basic APA Style reference list entry follows a familiar pattern: It can be divided up into four parts (author, date, title, and source), and each of these parts is separated from the others by punctuation. The following post shows in more detail how this process works and answers two common reference punctuation-related questions.

Basic Punctuation in a Reference List Entry

To begin, let’s look at a basic, run-of-the-mill reference list entry for a journal article:

Jacobson, N. S., & Truax, P. (1991). Clinical significance: A statistical approach to defining change in psychotherapy research. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 12–19. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.59.1.12

• The highlighted periods show how punctuation comes after the author names, date (which goes inside parentheses), title, and source.
• Note that you should not add punctuation marks after DOIs or URLs in reference list entries. These can function as live links to lead readers directly to article information; thus the precise alphanumeric string (without added punctuation) is needed.

The many reference list entries in Chapter 7 of the Publication Manual also show this punctuation pattern, and we encourage you to look there for more examples.

Next we’ll answer two common punctuation questions:

What Do I Do When the Title Ends in a Question Mark or Exclamation Point?

Authors and readers often ask how to deal with references that already contain punctuation—for example, a title that ends in a question mark or exclamation point. The short answer is, keep the original punctuation and do not add any extra. In the example below, the question mark at the end of the title takes the place of the period we would have otherwise inserted. There is no need to have two punctuation marks in a row.

Bushman, B. J., Baumeister, R. F., & Stack, A. D. (1999). Catharsis, aggression, and persuasive influence: Self-fulfilling or self-defeating prophecies? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 367–376. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.76.3.367

Should There Always Be a Period After the Author’s Name?

In the above examples, the authors were individuals whose names were listed in the format of surname, first initials. Because the initials already included punctuation, it was not necessary to add any additional punctuation in order for the author part of the entry to end in punctuation. However, when the author is a group, organization, institution, or something similar, there still needs to be a period at the end of the author piece of the reference. Here is an example of a reference with a group author (note the period after "Association"):

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

Likewise, even when there is no author and the title moves to the author position, the rhythm of the punctuation stays constant. Here is an example of an unauthored entry in an online dictionary:

Reliability. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary (11th ed.). Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reliability

• Here, periods come after each element, but again there is no period after the URL, to aid in retrievability. 
• Note that when the title includes parenthetical or bracketed information, there is no period between the title and the opening parenthesis/bracket, but there is one after the closing parenthesis/bracket to show the end of the title part of the reference. 

Sources:

1. http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/07/punctuating-the-reference-list-entry.html

2. http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/10/order-in-the-reference-list-or-the-case-of-the-maddening-initials.html

3. http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/10/what-belongs-in-the-reference-list.html

4. http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/02/whats-a-reference-list-for.html

How can Portfolios be evaluated?

According to Paulson, Paulson and Meyer, (1991, p. 63): "Portfolios offer a way of assessing student learning that is different than traditional methods. Portfolio assessment provides the teacher and students an opportunity to observe students in a broader context: taking risks, developing creative solutions, and learning to make judgments about their own performances."

In order for thoughtful evaluation to take place, teachers must have multiple scoring strategies to evaluate students' progress. Criteria for a finished portfolio might include several of the following:

• Thoughtfulness (including evidence of students' monitoring of their own comprehension, metacognitive reflection, and productive habits of mind).
• Growth and development in relationship to key curriculum expectancies and indicators.
• Understanding and application of key processes.
• Completeness, correctness, and appropriateness of products and processes presented in the portfolio.
• Diversity of entries (e.g., use of multiple formats to demonstrate achievement of designated performance standards).

It is especially important for teachers and students to work together to prioritize those criteria that will be used as a basis for assessing and evaluating student progress, both formatively (i.e., throughout an instructional time period) and summartively (i.e., as part of a culminating project, activity, or related assessment to determine the extent to which identified curricular expectancies, indicators, and standards have been achieved).

As the school year progresses, students and teacher can work together to identify especially significant or important artifacts and processes to be captured in the portfolio. Additionally, they can work collaboratively to determine grades or scores to be assigned. Rubrics, rules, and scoring keys can be designed for a variety of portfolio components. In addition, letter grades might also be assigned, where appropriate. Finally, some for of oral discussion or investigation should be included as part of the summative evaluation process. This component should involve the student, teacher, and if possible, a panel of reviewers in a thoughtful exploration of the portfolio components, students' decision-making and evaluation processes related to artifact selection, and other relevant issues.

Source: Mindful School: Portfolio connection, Burke, Fogerty, IRI/Skylight Publishing (1994) 

Sample Rating Scale for Cover Letter

Grade	Description
1-3	·         Shows limited awareness of portfolio goals ·         Has difficulty understanding the process of revision ·         Demonstrate little evidence of progress overtime ·         Limited explanationof choices made ·         Has difficulty relating to self/peer assessment
4-7	·         Reflects awareness of some portfolio goals ·         Understands the process of revision to a certain extent ·         Demonstrates some evidence of progress over time ·         Explains choices made in a relevant way ·         Relates to sel/peer assessment
8-10	·         Reflects awareness of portfolio goals ·         Understands the process of revision ·         Demonstrate evidence of progress over time ·         Fully explains choices made ·         Reaches high level of reliability in self/peer assessment ·         Draws conclusions about his/her learning

Essential Elements of the Portfolio

Every portfolio must contain the following essential elements:

1. Cover letter
• about the author
• what my portfolio shows about my progress as a learner (written at the end, but put at the beginning)
• the cover letter summarizes the evidence of a student's learning and progress
2. Table of Contents with numbered pages
3. Entries
• both core (items students have to include) and optional (items of student's choice)
• core elements will be required for each students and will provide a common base from which to make decisions on assessment
• optional items will allow the folder to represent the uniqueness of each student (students can choose best pieces of work, but also a piece of work which gave trouble or one that was less successful, and give reasons why?
4. Dates on all entries to facilitate proof of growth over time
5. Drafts of aural/oral and written products and revised version
• e.g. first drafts and corrected and revised versions
6. Reflections
• can appear at different stages in the learning process (for formative and summative purposes)
• a brief rationale for choosing the item should be included
• this can relate to students' performance, to their feelings regarding their progress and/or themselves as learners
• students can choose to reflect upon some or all of the following:
• what did I learn from it?
• what did I do well?
• why (based on the agreed teacher-student assessment criteria) did I choose this item?
• what do I want to improve in the item?
• how do I feel about my performance?
• What were the problem areas?

Types of Portfolio and Stages in Implementing Portfolio Assessment

Types of Portfolio

There are many different types of portfolios, each of which can serve one or more specific purposes as part of an overall school or classroom assessment program. The following is a list of the types most often cited in the literature:

• Documentation Portfolio: This type is also known as the "working" portfolio. Specifically, this approach involves a collection of work over time showing growth and improvement reflecting students' learning of identified outcomes. The documentation portfolio can include everything from brainstorming activities to drafts to finished products. The collection becomes meaningful when specific items are selected out to focus on particular educational experiences or goals. It can include the bet and weakest of student work.
• Process Portfolio: This approach documents all facets or phases of the learning process. They are particularly useful in documenting students' overall learning process. It can show how students integrate specific knowledge or skills and progress towards both basic and advanced mastery. Additionally, the process portfolio inevitably emphasizes students' reflection upon their learning process, including the use of reflective journals, think logs, and related forms of metacognitive processing.
• Showcase Portfolio: This type of portfolio is best used for summative evaluation of students' mastery of key curriculum outcomes. It should include students' very best work, determined through a combination of student and teacher selection. Only completed work should be included. In addition, this type of portfolio is especially compatible with audio-visual artifact development, including photographs, videotapes, and electronic records of students' completed work. The showcase portfolio should also include written analysis and reflections by the student upon the decision-making process(es) used to determine which works are included.

Stages in Implementing Portfolio Assessment

1. Identifying teaching goals to assess through portfolio
• the first step is to establish the teaching goals
• it must be clear what the teacher hopes to achieve in teaching
• ask the following questions:
• what do i want the students to learn?
2. Introducing the Idea of Portfolio Assessment to your class
• introduce the concept of portfolio to the class
• provide some examples
3. Specification of Portfolio Content
• specify what and how much entries have to be included in the portfolio
• entries can take many forms such as written, audio, and video-recorded items, artifacts (e.g. annotated drawing, a model), dialogue and or journals...
• specify for each entry how it will be assessed
• acquaint the students with the scoring guide/rating scales before performing the task
4. Giving clear and detailed guidelines for portfolio presentation
• set clear and detailed guidelines on how portfolios will be presented
• explain the need for clear and attractive presentation, dated drafts, attached reflections or comment cards
5. Informing key school officials, parent and other stakeholders
• do not attempt to use portfolio assessment method without notifying your school head, this will serve as a precaution in case students will later complain about your new assessment procedure
6. Development of Portfolio
• some portion of the class time can be devoted to student-teacher dialogues and conferences with other teachers in relation to the task of preparing the portfolio
• stress the importance of reflection and self-assessment while preparing the portfolio
• essential questions that the teachers can use to guide students in reflections and self-assessment:
• what did I learn from the activity?
• which is my best piece?
• how can I improve this? (this can be done by class brain storming or in pairs, "portfolio partners", who help each other select samples of their work, and who can comments on their work...)
• to ensure that portfolio represents students' work and accomplishments, require some items to be done completely in class
• ask also the students to explain in their reflections who helped them improve their work (it can be their peer, parents, friend, thru internet...) and what they learned from revising their work

Portfolio Assessment: Overview

1 Definition of Terms

Portfolio - is a purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the student’s efforts, progress and achievements in one or more areas

What does this collection include?

-Student participation in selecting contents

- the criteria for selection

- the criteria for judging merit

- evidence of student self-reflection

The portfolio contains samples of the learner's work and shows growth over time. An important keyword is REFLECTION: By reflecting on their own work, learners begin to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their own work (self-assessment). The weaknesses then become improvement goals.

Reflections

Preparations before you start with portfolio assessment

In portfolio assessment, the learners reflect on their own work. The reflections should say something about why the learners have made the choices they have made in the portfolio, and describe the method used to arrive at the final result. If two learners submit the same work for assessment, the individual reflections may make the difference. Even if a learner has failed with the content presented in the assessment portfolio to a certain degree, he or she might be rewarded for mature reflections on the work.

Portfolio assessment requires thorough preparation. Before you start with portfolio assessment in a course, you should specify the extent of the content and specify what and how much content is to be included in the portfolio. You should also specify how it should be assessed. In other words, portfolio assessment requires planning in advance.

Assessment - is a process by which information is obtained relative to some known objective or goal

Portfolio Assessment - is an assessment form that learners do together with their teachers, and is an alternative to the classic classroom test. It is an evaluation tool used to document student learning through a series of student-developed artifacts. In portfolio assessment, it is the quality that counts, not the quantity. Another keyword is learning objectives. Each portfolio entry needs to be assessed with reference to its specific learning objectives or goals.

Authentic Assessment - is a form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills

2 Comparative: Traditional Assessment vs. Authentic Assessment

Traditional and Authentic Assessment differs on the following:

Traditional Assessment	Authentic Assessment
Selecting a response Contrived Recall / Recognition Teacher-Structured Indirect Evidence	Performing a Task Real-Life Construction / Application Student-Structured Direct Evidence

Selecting a Response to Performing a Task: 

On traditional assessments, students are typically given several choices (e.g., a,b,c or d; true or false; which of these match with those) and asked to select the right answer. In contrast, authentic assessments ask students to demonstrate understanding by performing a more complex task usually representative of more meaningful application.

Contrived to Real-life: 

In contrived means of assessment, one is asked to select from four alternatives to indicate proficiency at something (for example: tests). Meanwhile, in authentic assessment, one is asked to demonstrate proficiency by doing something.

Recall/Recognition of Knowledge to Construction/Application of Knowledge:

Well-designed traditional assessments (i.e., tests and quizzes) can effectively determine whether or not students have acquired a body of knowledge. Thus, as mentioned above, tests can serve as a nice complement to authentic assessments in a teacher's assessment portfolio.

Furthermore, authentic assessments often ask students to analyze, synthesize, and apply what they have learned in a substantial manner, and students create new meaning in the process as well.

Teacher-structured to Student-structured: 

When completing a traditional assessment, what a student can and will demonstrate has been carefully structured by the teacher who developed the test. In contrast, authentic assessments allow more student choice and construction in determining what is presented as evidence of proficiency. Even when students cannot choose their own topics or formats, there are usually multiple acceptable routes toward constructing a product or performance.

Indirect Evidence to Direct Evidence: 

When a student selects the right answer in a multiple-choice test, the teacher doesn’t know the thinking of the student that led to picking the right answer. At best, the teacher can make some inferences about what that student might know and might be able to do with that knowledge. This evidence is very indirect. 

Authentic assessments, on the other hand, offer more direct evidence of the application and construction of knowledge. For instance, a PE student is placed on the basketball court to play provides much more direct evidence of proficiency in playing basketball than giving the student a written test.

Assessment Tools in the Affective Domain

The assessment tools in the affective domain are those that are used to assess attitudes, interests, motivations, and self-efficacy. We consider a few of the standard assessment tools in the affective domain.

1. Self-Report. This is the most common measurement tool in the affective domain. It essentially requires an individual to provide an account of his attitude or feelings toward a concept or idea or people. Self-reports are also sometimes called "written reflections". In using this measurement tool, the teacher requires the student to write his/her thoughts on a subject matter, like, "Why I like or dislike Mathematics". The teacher ensures that the students write something which would demonstrate the various levels of the taxonomy (from receiving up to characterization)
2. Rating Scale. This is a set of categories designed to elicit information about a quantitative attribute in social science. Common examples are the Likert scale and 1-10 rating scales for which a person selects the number which is considered to reflect the perceived quality of a product. The basic feature of any rating scale is that it consists of a number of categories. These are usually assigned integers. According to Nitko (2001), rating scales can be used for teaching purposes and assessment.
1. rating scales help students understand the learning target/outcomes and to focus students' attention on performance.
2. completed rating scale gives specified feedback to students as far as their strengths and weaknesses with respect to the targets to which they are measured
3. students not only learn the standards but also may internalize the set of standards
4. ratings help to show each students' growth and progress

Example: RAting Scale (Attitude towards Mathematics)

Directions: Put the score on the column for each of the statement as it applies to you. Use 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest possible score.

Indicators	Score
1. I am happy during Math class
2. I get tired doing board work and drills
3. I enjoy solving word problems

Types of Rating Scales

The most common type of rating scales is numerical rating scales and a descriptive graphic rating scale. The numerical rating scale translate the judgment of quality or degree into numbers. To increase the objectivity and consistency of results from numerical rating scales, a short verbal description of the quality level of each number may be provided.

Example: 

Directions: Indicate the degree to which the student contributes to team activity by encircling the appropriate number. The numbers represent the following values: 4 - constantly appropriate and effective; 3 - generally appropriate and effective; 2 - needs improvement, may do other unrelated tasks; and 1 - unsatisfactory, disruptive and do other tasks not related to the activity.

• To what extent does the student participate in team meetings and discussions?  1  2  3  4

Descriptive Graphic Rating Scales. A better format for the rating is this descriptive graphic rating scale that replaces the ambiguous single word with short behavioral descriptions of the various points along the scale. Describing the points of the scale by behavior descriptions leads to increased consistency of ratings across raters and students.

Example:

Directions: Make your ratings on each of the following by placing X anywhere along the horizontal line under each item. In the space for comments(s), include anything that helps clarify your rating.

1. To what extent does the student participate in team meetings and discussions?

Common Rating Scale Errors

The table below contains the common rating scale errors that teachers and students must be familiar with in order to avoid committing such kind of errors during the assessment.

3. Semantic Differential Scales - tries to assess an individual's reaction to specific words, ideas or concepts in terms of ratings on bipolar scales defined with contrasting adjectives at each end. An example is shown below:

4. Likert Scale - is a simple and widely used self-report method in assessing affect. It requires that individuals tick on a box to report whether they "strongly agree", "agree", "undecided", "disagree", or "strongly disagree", in response to a large number of items concerning attitude object or stimulus. An example is shown below:

Constructing the Likert Scale Instrument

1. Write a series of statements expressing positive and negative opinions toward attitude objects.
2. Select the best statements (at least 10), with a balance of positive and negative opinions and edit as necessary.
3. List the statements combining the positive and negative and put the letters of the five-point scale to the left of each statement for easy marking
4. Add the directions, indicating how to mark the answer and include a key at the top of the page if letters are used for each statement.
5. Some prefer to drop the undecided category so that respondents will be forced to indicate agreement or disagreement

5. Checklists - are the most common and perhaps the easiest instrument to construct in the affective domain. A checklist consists of simple items that the student or teacher marks as "absent" or "present". Here are steps in constructing a checklist:

• Enumerate all the attributes and characteristics you wish to observe relative to the concept being measured. For instance, if the concept is "interpersonal relation", then you might want to identify those indicators or attributes which constitute evidence of good interpersonal relation
• Arrange these attributes as a shopping list of characteristics
• Ask the students to mark those attributes or characteristics which are present and to leave blank those which are not.
• Example of a checklist is shown below:

Checklists for Teachers

By: Sandra F. Rief (1997)

Getting students' attention

c   Ask an interesting, speculative question, show a picture, tell a little story, or read a related poem to generate discussion and interest in the upcoming lesson

c   Try "'playfulness," silliness, a bit of theatrics (props and storytelling) to get attention and peak interest.

c   Use storytelling. Students of all ages love to hear stories, especially personal stories. It is very effective in getting attention.

c   Add a bit of mystery. Bring in an object relevant to the upcoming lesson in a box, bag, or pillowcase. This is a wonderful way to generate predictions and can lead to excellent discussions or writing activities.

c   Signal students auditorily: ring a bell, use a beeper or timer, play a bar of music on the piano or guitar, etc.

c   Vary your tone of voice: loud, soft, whispering. Try making a louder command "Listen! Freeze! Ready!" followed by a few seconds of silence before proceeding in a normal voice to give directions.

c   Use visual signals: flash the lights or raise your hand which signals the students to raise their hands and close their mouths until everyone is silent.

c   Frame the visual material you want students to be focused on with your hands or with a colored box around it.

c   If using an overhead, place an object (e.g., little toy car or plastic figure) to be projected on the screen to get attention.

c   Clearly signal: "Everybody…Ready…"

c   Color is very effective in getting attention. Make use of colored dry-erase pens on white boards, colored overhead pens for transparencies and overhead projectors, and colored paper to highlight keywords, phrases, steps to computation problems, spelling patterns, etc.

c   Model excitement and enthusiasm about the upcoming lesson.

c   Use eye contact. Students should be facing you when you are speaking, especially while instructions are being given. If students are seated in clusters, have those students not directly facing you turn their chairs and bodies around to face you when signaled to do so.