Every Outcome a Process
A true process orientation also means being aware that every outcome is preceded by a process.
-Dr. Ellen Langer, Mindfulness
Right now I am waist deep in writing my new book on digital student portfolios. It will be out at some point in 2017 with ASCD. In this forthcoming text, the audience is teachers and how they can facilitate this authentic assessment process in their classrooms with success.
I'll be honest - I have reached a bit of a wall. My experience as an administrator for the past nine years has left me with many experiences in setting up performance-based portfolios, developing curriculum that leads to essential understandings, and guiding a school to embed this type of technology initiative over time. What my experience has not provided is a strong understanding of using digital tools to assess student learning progress over time.
That means going back to the books. I don't have the knowledge yet to write with confidence about the day-to-day growth students make and how a teacher might document this learning. Currently I am reading Digital Reading by Franki Sibberson and William L. Bass II. On my to-read list is Digital Writing Workshop by Troy Hicks, In the Middle by Nancie Atwell, Conversations by Regie Routman, and Inside the Writing Portfolio by Carol Brennan Jenkins. Two of these texts are steeped in technology. All are grounded in pedagogy. As I explore these resources, I plan on writing the prior and following chapters that bookends this topic. I'll complete this part of the text when ready.
I've realized as an author that we don't have to be the expert on everything we write about as educators. Yes, we should "know our stuff". But when putting together a resource that might benefit a wide audience, I have found it unavoidable to encounter an area where my knowledge and skill are lacking. Am I not an expert now? Not yet...
With my last book, I received feedback that the fourth section ("Myth #4: Technology Improves Student Learning") was the heart of the text. It was effective in describing how pedagogy drove the need for technology, which led to the technology enhancing and even redefining the pedagogy. What's interesting is that this was the section I struggled with the most. The topic of blended learning was still somewhat foreign to me. I had to spend extra time in our school's classroom that employed this instructional approach in order to write about it.
One wonders with any book we read how much the author was challenged to put into prose what they observed, knew, and wanted to convey for others. Writing forces us to stop when we aren't familiar with something and reconsider what we yet need to know. Writing is a canary in the coal mine, alerting us to gaps in our knowledge and skills as we travail toward an acceptable outcome. Writing is a process independent of a worthy audience, and publishing seems secondary to the act itself. Our lives are better for the experience either way.