Essay
The thermometer of education: take the reading while it can still change
A young teacher at Kenyatta University Primary School in 2012 learned the difference between a reading you can act on and a result that arrives after the year has closed. The 2024 essay called formative assessment a thermometer. The metaphor still holds. The exam-as-only-success model does not.
First-person essay, first published 31 January 2024. The author describes teaching at Kenyatta University Primary School as a community-service teacher in 2012.
The record
About the author’s classroom experience
- When
- Community-service teaching, 2012
- Where
- Kenyatta University Primary School
- What
- Mathematics and science, Classes 6, 7 and 8
- Name
- First-person classroom account
The old reading
Success measured as a ticket to a national school leaves out the child who moved from emerging to meeting on a strand in June. A thermometer that only records fever and ice is not a clinical instrument. It is a ritual.
Teachers as instruments
A thermometer that is never calibrated is a toy. Teachers need practice reading evidence — which is training, which is a device that does not eat Sunday, which is a staff meeting that starts at the grey areas. CBC made that argument official. The weekday still has to do it.
Related teaching resources
The essay reflects on the teacher’s daily view of learning. Pair it with the formative assessment guide for questions, observations and short checks you can use during a lesson.
Topics Essays · Impact stories
Tags CBC Kenya · Formative assessment · Kenya teachers
Take the reading
A mark in June is worth more than a surprise in November.
Formative assessment in Workspace. The longer argument is the twelve-minute piece.
