Assessing and Evaluating Students' Learning

There are a few things that stood out to me in this book chapter. The first item that stood out to me was the idea that how you look at your content and how you view what you are teaching directly impacts how you choose to assess it. This means that if you think understanding literature is all about facts and dates and details then that is what your assessments will be about. If you think that literature is all about personal connections, interpretations, and inferences, then that is what your assessments will focus on. While this seems like a very common sense train of thought I think it is actually quite important to recognize. If a teacher doesn't realize that assessment and teaching values/goals are supposed to line up then that teacher could easily assess in a way that is opposite to their teaching methods. What if that teacher's instruction focused on personal connection and interpretation but their assessment was primarily facts and textual details? That teacher wouldn't be assessing what the students were taught in class.
The next idea that stuck with me was the idea that objective tests inhibit students' individuality. Because of this I think it is important for teachers to use multiple types of assessments. Students should be able to express themselves, their opinions, and interpretations but students also need to know certain objective facts and details.
The third idea that stood out to me was the idea that when we use reader-based feedback on students' writing we are teaching students how to teach themselves. Students who receive reader-based feedback aren't given explicit instructions but instead have to choose how to react to the feedback and how to change their writing because of the feedback. This, I believe, is a step towards helping students learn how to facilitate their own learning. This, in turn, is the key to continuing education and successful, life-long learners.