Use multiple and authentic forms of assessment to analyze teaching and student learning and to plan curriculum and instruction to meet the needs of individual students.
The two main assessments can be grouped into formal and informal. Formal assessments are considered to be things such as quizzes, unit tests, final papers, etc. Informal assessments are when teachers grade things such as participation, class discussion, and their attitudes in class. It is important to have a mix between the two and not rely heavily on one or the other.
Unfortunately, students do not always enjoy reading and writing. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind not to grade everything they do. In his essay, "Getting Along with Grades and Without Them", Peter Elbow states "...every time teachers get students to do genuinely non-graded writing, they are inviting students to notice the link between writing and grading can be broken-- that it is possible to write and not worry about how the teachers will evaluate it-- that it is possible to write in the pursuit of one's own goals and standards and not just someone else's" (3). As one may see, it is important to allow students the room to be creative, take risks, and find their voices with out being penalized for doing so. He suggests doing things such as free-writing in class for ten minutes, portfolios, or just staying away from holistic scores in general. I believe that you need to find a balance between formal and informal grading in the classroom because you do want students to find the joy and liberation in writing.
As I said previously, rubrics are a good way to grade students work because each score is explicitly stated. This way, you eliminate any unfairness or mistakes in grading because the student gets the grade for which ever criteria they meet. Below are a few sample rubrics I have used during my student teaching.
to_be_assignment_rubric.doc | |
File Size: | 24 kb |
File Type: | doc |
rubric_for_shakespeare_research_project.doc | |
File Size: | 23 kb |
File Type: | doc |
7thGradePoetryRubric | |
File Size: | 103 kb |
File Type: | rtf |
One quiz I gave the seniors for Hamlet was definitely not traditional. Instead of the typical multiple choice quiz, I gave the students song lyrics of the song, "It's Time" by the Imagine Dragons as a quiz and had them apply and relate those lyrics to Hamlet. This was a really nice way of testing the students so I could see where their understanding with the text was because it allowed them to get creative and show me multiple ways of looking at the play.
hamlet_quiz_1.docx | |
File Size: | 71 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Also with the seniors, I had a blog for them. Every Sunday I checked that they met their requirement (2 posts per week) and also checked these posts to further see their understanding of the text. Most students had really intelligent things to say about Hamlet and it was a great way to see who was getting it and who was not. In addition, this allowed students to collaborate and help each other understand Hamlet in ways that maybe I could not.
As I've said before, for the 7th grade poetry unit I had students write their own poems about one of their family photographs. This was definitely an authentic form of assessment because it gave students a choice in subject matter and it allowed them to write about something that they wanted to.
Assessments need to be authentic for students. At Valley Stream South, every Friday in the morning plays a student run morning news show called "The Falcon Report". My class has been seen on this about 3-4 times. Why do I do this? Because the students love "The Falcon Report" and when they know that the WHOLE school will see them, they work so much harder! It also shows them that what we do in class matters and is important. I am going to miss "The Falcon Report"!
As I've said before, for the 7th grade poetry unit I had students write their own poems about one of their family photographs. This was definitely an authentic form of assessment because it gave students a choice in subject matter and it allowed them to write about something that they wanted to.
Assessments need to be authentic for students. At Valley Stream South, every Friday in the morning plays a student run morning news show called "The Falcon Report". My class has been seen on this about 3-4 times. Why do I do this? Because the students love "The Falcon Report" and when they know that the WHOLE school will see them, they work so much harder! It also shows them that what we do in class matters and is important. I am going to miss "The Falcon Report"!