Principle 14 deals directly with assessment (otherwise most of the readings did not seam to address assessment). One of the principles main premise is to set "appropriately high and challenging standards and assessing". I think this is important and that by setting challenging standards you increase motiviation. If it is too easy the learner will get bored. On the other hand, if the standards are too high and the learner doesn't feel that it is reachable then they may give up and not care. The principle says to include "diagnostic, process and outcome assessments" which I'm not exactly sure what each are (I'll have to look into that more). Utilizing knowledge from Bransford, I would assume they may mean ongoing and summative?

Alexander and Murphy pointed out how originally the APA did not even include assessment but then later added it. They seem to think it's important to address assessment, as do I. They made a distinction between assessement and evaluation. Originally, I thought assessment and evaluation were not important and doubted weather I'd use either in my teaching. However, I now believe assessment is necessary for the learner to know how they are progressing in their learning and if they need to alter their thinking/behavior. In addition, assessment is vital for the instructor so that they "know" if they need to alter their approach, what to focus on, whats working and whats not, ect. A classroom environment can be full of assessment activities and still be opposed to actual grades. I like Alexander and Murphys statements that "When teachers gather information on student interests," (which I think then also helps with the prior knowledge question and with motivation) "analyze responses to oral or written questions, gauge strategic processing, or monitor student reactions to particular learning conditions or tasks they are engaged in assessment." According to that statement, assessment helps meet the 5 general statements that they deem neccessary in composing a learner-centered environment. Assessment then also helps one reach the goals of the APA's 14 principles.

It almost seems to me that to have a learner-centered classroom environment then you must be extremely flexible with your lesson plan. You can have your goal and objectives but won't your activities change alot as you progress through the lesson? As you learn about your students interests, prior knowledge, utilize assessments, ect. then your activities should change accordingly.

I thought the activity done in class was extremely beneficial especially going around to each group so that you could get a feel for how the others were conceptualizing and processing the frameworks - seeing if they had the same ideas as I did or if I was way off. It also made me realize that I like Bransfords framework better - or at least I kept trying to go back to it rather than focusing on the APA's or their refised one by Alexander and Murphy.

I'm glad you pointed out that if one wants to use Alexander and Murphy's or whomevers framework that they need to include all the principles/ideas in order for it to be beneficial - or have a strong arguement as to why they are not including something. I mean that makes sense, but I find myself wanting to pull out and utilize ideas that I like (or perhaps are easier to include?) and ignoring some of the others.