Module 5: Planning Part 1

The End
In anticipation for the completion of the course, we looked at assessment and evaluation for this module. After reading some articles about types of evaluation, we were asked to answer the following:

What is your belief about traditional and alternative assessment?

I absolutely believe in both traditional and alternative assessments. As a student, I remember thinking how useless it seemed to write tests that focused on regurgitation of the material. To this day, if I attempt to memorize something for a certain period of time, I can only retain it as long as I need it before it completely leaves my brain.

It's important for educators to be able to gauge their students' understanding of the material being taught. Sometimes the best way to do this is through a test or a quiz. In math, for example, to ensure the students know the formula being taught, they must answer questions using that formula and show their work. This type of knowledge is expressed more clearly in a traditional test, rather than through alternative assessments such as journals or presentations. A benefit of traditional assessment for educators is that they require less time to mark.

Alternative assessments are great for many curriculum areas. For example, if a language arts educator would like to gauge students' understanding of grammar, it might be more creative to assign a journal entry rather than a test. The teacher could assess the entry in terms of grammatical correctness. This type of assignment allows the teacher to gauge student understanding in a practical manner, and also gives students the chance to be more creative. Alternative assessments in general allow for more creativity and more connections to every day life. A downfall of alternative assessments is that they are also more time consuming to plan, for students to create, and to assess.

How can teachers use assessment for learning?

Assessment and evaluation of my own work is very valuable in improving my professional practise. Following a lesson, it is important to reflect on what worked well, what did not, what should be altered next time, and what needs to be touched upon again. Constant assessment provides situations for learning about your beliefs and practises, and thus the improvement of your skills.

For students, allowing them to assess the work of their peers provides them with information they may not have known, as well as the opportunity to teach information to others. They learn the value of constructive criticism and explore their communication skills. Assessing their own work teaches them how best to improve next time.

As well, we completed a culminating task activity where we planned a possible final project for a given unit.

Subject: Integrated Language Arts
Grade: 6
Unit of Study: Holocaust Narratives
Timeline: 4 weeks (1 hour per day, five days per week)
Texts: Maus (Graphic Novels), Paperclips (Documentary), Chaim Guri poem Inheritance, Song "Legacy" by unknown artist.
Culminating Task: Mini Graphic Novel
Handouts: Graphic Techniques Handout
Instructions: A shorter version of a graphic novel, this project is between a minimum of 5 pages to a maximum of 10 pages, with 2-6 panels per page. Your focus must be on a story or episode that can be clearly communicated in 5-10 pages. You can depict a segment of the story from Maus, from Paperclips, from Chaim Guri’s poem, from the song Legacy, from another story or book, from your own imagination, or based on a personal account. You can create the graphic series by hand (with pencil, paper, etc.), though you could also use computers to design your pages. You must utilize the graphic techniques discussed in class, as well as on the Graphic Techniques Handout. Here are some websites that may be a good starting point for the computer-assisted creation of graphics:

http://mainada.net/comicssketch/edit_strip/new

http://comiqs.com/index.html

http://pixton.com/ca/

http://bitstrips.ca/


What assessment tool am I going to use?
The assessment tool I’ll be using is a rubric.

Who will create it?
The teacher will create the rubric.

What am I going to do if a student does not hand it in?
If a student does not submit his or her project, he or she will receive a “Not Prepared”. After three “Not Prepared”, the student has to serve a detention and a letter goes home to the parents.

What am I going to do if a student has demonstrated throughout the unit that they understand the information, yet do poorly on the summative task?
Due to the creative nature of the assignment, it will be very difficult for a student to do poorly on the task. If they feel uncomfortable with their artistic skills, they have the option of using the computer to create their mini graphic novel. There will also be modification and accommodations available for those students with special needs or exceptionalities.
There will be journal entries and small homework assignments throughout the unit, which might also help ensure the student understands the material.

Is the summative task really the end of the unit, or am I planning a follow-up reflection time with my students?
There will be a class where students can explore each other’s mini graphic novels and provide peer reviews for each student. Mini graphic novels will be displayed on the school website for parents to see.

Diagnostics
Following the reading of the document on diagnostic assessments compiled by Ann McClure, we were asked to respond to the following:

Strategies for engaging in diagnostic assessment:
I'm a pretty big fan of diagnostic assessments, especially at the start of term. Diagnostic assessments should occur at the beginning of the year or unit in order to be most effective. By constantly altering the tool being used for diagnostic purposes, students will experience varying opportunities to display their knowledge and the assessment will not become routine and thus defeat the purpose of the assessment.


Tools for recording diagnostic assessment
• Graphic organizers
• Journal entries
• Word wall
• Literature circles
• Group conferences
• Myth busters
• At the end of each unit/term/year students can create quizzes about the material covered during a specific period, to be completed by themselves at the start of the next unit/term/year.


How to use the results of diagnostic assessment
Compiling the results of the diagnostic assessments of all students in a class can give the teacher a good idea of what information needs to be touched upon again. These assessments are not entirely reliable because they often occur at the start of the year when students may have forgotten much of the material they acquired the previous year. The assessments may show very little retention, but the students may just need a refresher.