Celebrate the shifts that your students make.
Some make bigger shifts than others. Still celebrate the shifts. Some may not shift, however they haven't regressed either. Celebrate the fact that they have managed to maintain where they're at.
I'm not saying to be complacent and not strive for students to be better and do better.
What I AM saying is more often than not, shifts are being made that a standardised test won't recognise.
As a student, I remember feeling I was only valued by my test scores. It didn't matter how much my confidence had grown...how I improved with how much I was participating in group discussions or that I worked really hard to do my best. That test at the end of the term was all that mattered. If I didn't pass the test with flying colours then I couldn't have done my best...*sigh*
It can leave one wondering if the sum of all their efforts is just reduced to only a number.
A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a person is problematic. Is it any wonder why later on in life we tend to define ourselves by how we look, the occupation we hold, how much we make... etc.?
We have to look a certain way or others will think....
If we don't look the part then we must be...
We must have this type of job or else people will think...
If we don't hold a certain job then we must be....
Because we make (or don't make) ____________ per year then we must be .....
Success looks different to everyone.
There are a lot of people who have degrees who are currently working for the owner of the company who dropped out of school. Let that sink in.
Celebrate the students who raise their hand to answer questions in class who didn't before.
Celebrate the students who come to school everyday this month who were absent for most of last month.
Celebrate the students who now work as active members in a group during those DMIC lessons. Celebrate the students who you noticed showing Manaakitanga to someone when it would've been so easy to turn a blind eye.
I am still learning how I choose to measure the constructive shifts is my life is ever changing.