For Jane Hansen, evaluation is the process of finding value in ourselves, others, and our work—often with surprising results. Students' insights beget adjustments in our teaching, and eventually we find ourselves in a teaching situation that cannot exist without students' frequent input. Evaluation and instruction become one continuous act.
Drawing on her decade-long research in rural and urban settings, Hansen shows implementations of self-evaluation in a range of classrooms. Her book represents teachers at all levels—elementary, secondary, and Hansen herself as a teacher educator—all of whom include their students in evaluation. The chapters offer special insight into:
- the importance of students' outside lives in the evaluation process
- what teachers do to help their students become better evaluators
- how learners' values guide their evaluations and goals
- the need to discover what students value in order to help them create assignments
- how evaluation guides students and teachers through productive learning processes.
This is a book about teachers who value their students' voices and lives. It offers a powerful example of curriculums in which students have a strong voice in evaluating, planning, and documenting their work.
