Hope for the Future: The Role of Self-Assessment

For those of you who do not know it - I am an educator who believes in the power of intentionally using hope to enhance quality of life. As such, I am interested in how hope guides us to move toward a future that we can participate with enthusiasm and interest.

Even though the title 'Learning to Hope' transcends the boundaries of classrooms I do spend a lot of time thinking about what I did an what we do inside classrooms to both inspire hope and to use hope to inspire a desirable future. School, in North America, at least, has been back in for the last six weeks or so. That means our Hope-Focused Service-Learning program is back up and running in elementary and junior high schools. It also means that I am back to thinking about the role of assessment in the program and in our lives in general. And since I believe self-assessment is an important component of our hoping selves, I would like to share with you what Steven Wolk writes about self-assessment in the Sept, 2008 article titled 'Joy in School' of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's Educational Leadership journal.

"The idea of assessment in school is not inherently bad; children assess themselves all the time. When they're busy doing something they love outside school, such as tae kwon do, baking, or playing the saxophone - when they're playing the saxophone - whey they're experiencing flow - they don't mind assessment at all. In fact they see it as an important part of the process. But for most students, assessment in school is the enemy . . . Imagine if we graded toddlers on their walking skills." (p.14).

I believe, like Steven Wolk does, that self-assessment helps us to work toward a desired and positive future. I believe that self-assessment builds internal locus of control and, in turn, a sense of responsibility for our individual and collective actions.

That is why I am determined to continue to find ways to make room for reflection through story telling and conversations with students, teachers and community mentors and members about their hope-focused service-learning experiences.