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Presented by: Usha James, Executive Director, The Critical Thinking Consortium (TC2)
About the Webinar:
*Please Note: This webinar is based on a workshop given at the 2019 Educators’ Institute.
This webinar is the first in a series presented by Usha James.
Grade Level: All
How do we assess student thinking when traditional assessment and evaluation tasks present barriers for students? What do we do when students are not motivated to complete a culminating activity or don’t persevere through a test or assignment? How might we rethink our assessment practice so that it provides accurate, meaningful and just-in-time information to support our instruction and student learning? And, how do we assess in ways that are manageable without increasing our workload?
In this webinar, we will grapple with these and other questions that remain at the heart of teaching and learning. We will examine various ways to assess thinking that allow students to demonstrate their learning without the barriers of inflexible assessment tasks. Participants will consider some sample assessment tools and think about how teacher teams, schools or districts might collaboratively refine their approach to assessing thinking.
About the Presenter:
Usha James spent 12 years as a secondary teacher and five years at OISE at the University of Toronto, as an instructor and then Director of the Secondary Program. She has co-authored textbooks, teachers’ resources, course profiles and ministry documents with the aim of providing practical strategies for teachers seeking to refine their practice.
Usha has contributed to The Critical Thinking Consortium (TC2) as a resource writer and facilitator and is currently the Executive Director. Usha has worked with principals, superintendents, and teachers of kindergarten to post-secondary students, supporting their efforts to improve the quality of thinking of all learners.
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