Khalid Barkaoui
I think that learning rhymes with evaluation which can take many forms and facets. Among these facets, we can mention continuous assessment, the presentation of a written or oral communication, the completion of a homework assignment, a class project, a collective project and of course the standardized exam. It is true that our teachers carefully prepare their lessons, plan educational scenarios, implement learning strategies, educational approaches, make good use of didactic means… to help the learner learn in a safe and stimulating environment. . After the installation of the resources, it is time for the evaluation, which is a much-awaited moment for the student, the teacher, the administration and the parents of students.
Assessment is a crucial phase in this learning process so that everyone learns the essential lessons and puts in the appropriate regulation, support and remediation to fine-tune the quality of school work. Admittedly, the standardized exam is a source of stress and anxiety for the student, but also for the entire educational community. The problem in my view is not in the apprehension and the pressure posed by the standardized examination. It is at the level of the teachers’ ability to help the learner to manage this crucial emotional moment in an optimal way.
To do this, the teacher is called upon to psychologically prepare the learner to de-dramatize this ogre and to coax his suffering and his anguish inevitably linked to the written tests of the standardized exam.
The teacher must imperatively help the learner to better prepare for the exam in a methodical way and to push him to adopt a positive attitude towards this test.
The teacher is required to help the learner to externalize their emotions and to express their concerns clearly. Moreover, sound advice and intelligible recommendations must be provided to learners.
It is also necessary to help the pupils to understand that what matters most in their school curriculum is learning and in particular learning how to learn. Evaluation also occupies less importance because it just aims to better understand the degree of mastery of students’ skills and gives a clear idea to the teacher to adjust and refine his content, his teaching approach, strategies, materials put forward and the system to be put in place to promote the pleasure of learning in good conditions.
It’s time to identify stress and manage it better to be able to face the specter of the exam with great self-confidence and surpassing oneself.
Khalid Barkaoui
Member of the AMEF CP de Boulemane