Assessment is a necessary part of being a teacher, parent, leader, etc. There’s a trick to discovering whether or not your approach is working. Formal and informal assessments work in a classroom, but don’t go over as well in other areas of life. However, if we learn enough about human behavior, we can dangle hunches about how we feel people will react to situations based on the learning environments we’ve nurtured and cultivated. When situations arise, instead of reacting – we can pause to see what happens – pause to see how others will react. It follows more of a martial arts philosophy, to see if our pupils know without knowing.
Three things to know about this approach: 1) Brace for disappointment (as expectation is the root of disappointment). 2) Accept you will be the villain in someone else’s story as the saying goes. The right path is not paved; it’s more akin to a high speed, foggy descent down a mountain on a winding road that’s endless, pothole-filled, there are no railings and your brakes don’t work. 3) Learn to love the ride, because fearing it will only make it worse. Focus on keeping your spirit strong as that the antiseptic for all the scrapes and bruises you’ll endure along the way.
