I am confident we have all had the experience of watching one video online and then watching another out of curiosity, and suddenly, an hour has passed. It can be an excellent opportunity to learn about various topics, but bad for productivity. This happened to me last week on YouTube. I told myself that was the last video, and then I saw this young man, so I said one more, and I am so glad I did. Spend four minutes with Cole, and I promise you he will have you smiling.

(Blakeway, 2017)

As I think about Cole’s outlook and inclusive spirit, it made me think about informal assessment and feedback that we give and receive as educational practitioners and how important it is to building trust and relationships.

Kampen (2013) describes informal assessment as a non-standardized approach, often through observation. An informal assessment could include non-graded projects and everyday classroom interactions and is not a comparison of students.

Likely Cole has grown in environments where he received informal feedback and praise around social and emotional learning and inclusion. His video reminded me that as we witness inclusive behavior, kindness, and understanding, it could be considered an example of informal assessment through observation, providing us an opportunity to build up kids through praise, as I observe what others have done for Cole.

References

Blakeway, C. (2017, October 30). We are all different - and that's awesome [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQuM5e0QGLg 

Kampen, C. (2013, December 12). Formal versus informal assessments. Assessments Information/Resources. https://ed251chrisvankampen.weebly.com/formal-vs-informal-assessments.htmlwatch?v=sQuM5e0QGLg