Assesses Student Learning
Assessing student progress is a valuable tool for an educator to gauge how students are performing, what instruction strategies/techniques are or are not working, how worthwhile the class has been in general, and which individual students need additional support.
I've used a variety of assessment strategies to help effectively assess student reading, writing, speaking, and listening in a way that leads to maximum benefit for student growth. These strategies include:
I've used a variety of assessment strategies to help effectively assess student reading, writing, speaking, and listening in a way that leads to maximum benefit for student growth. These strategies include:
- Using timetable to clearly set measurable, incremental goals throughout a unit.
- Using rubrics and individualized feedback to assess students individually, but hold them to consistent standards.
- Modifying course direction based on the result of assessments of student performance.
Grammatically Inclined Activity & Quiz (8th Grade)
I designed an implemented an activity that would accomplish multiple goals simultaneously:
The first activity required students to work in teams to identify which grammatical concept was shown in each underlined portion of the sample sentences. After all the groups were done, we reviewed the results as a class and students were given an opportunity to highlight the concepts from the word bank that they got wrong on the activity or that they didn't know themselves, but someone in their group knew. They were told that two days later we'd have a quiz that covered these concepts and that this would also be covered on the semester exam. This activity was graded based on completion because its primary goal was to make students and myself aware of what concepts needed more emphasis/review.
When they took that quiz, the results were less than encouraging, but that was okay because now students and I knew where to go from here. The quiz itself was low stakes because it was only worth 15 points. It has since informed my teaching in terms of grammar and the plan is that students will use this information to inform their preparation for future grammar quizzes and the semester exam itself.
- It assessed their progress in knowledge of the grammatical concepts we've been working with all year.
- It showed them what concepts they need to review.
- It told me what I needed to reteach.
- It was engaging though competition and capitalizing on student interest in zombies, basketball, etc.
- It used formative assessment leading into a summative assessment.
The first activity required students to work in teams to identify which grammatical concept was shown in each underlined portion of the sample sentences. After all the groups were done, we reviewed the results as a class and students were given an opportunity to highlight the concepts from the word bank that they got wrong on the activity or that they didn't know themselves, but someone in their group knew. They were told that two days later we'd have a quiz that covered these concepts and that this would also be covered on the semester exam. This activity was graded based on completion because its primary goal was to make students and myself aware of what concepts needed more emphasis/review.
When they took that quiz, the results were less than encouraging, but that was okay because now students and I knew where to go from here. The quiz itself was low stakes because it was only worth 15 points. It has since informed my teaching in terms of grammar and the plan is that students will use this information to inform their preparation for future grammar quizzes and the semester exam itself.
Assessing Speaking & Listening: Socratic Seminars (8th Grade)
The Common Core places a much greater emphasis on speaking and listening skills. To emphasize those skills more thoroughly in my teaching, I used Socratic Seminars with my 8th graders. A Socratic Seminar is, essentially, a large group, student-led discussion that digs deeply into the literature being discussed. Students are encouraged not to raise their hands or wait for a teacher to prompt them, but to reflect on the content of the text being discussed in a scholarly, insightful way and to respond to one another as they discuss their ideas. There aren't right or wrong answers.
My students were very much used to more structured discussions that required them to answer specific questions generated by the teacher, so this wasn't a discussion method they were used to. Indeed, few 8th graders are used to this level of sophistication in their discussions.
I introduced the method with a powerpoint that explained the method and had them take cloze notes on the content of the presentation, so that students would be aware of how this discussion would work. Also, I gave them "quick checks" to have in front of them during the discussion to remind them of what was expected of them and to have a list of sentence starters, that would help them enter the conversation respectfully and in a sophisticated manner.
Students were given an opportunity prior to discussion to generate insightful questions and statements based on the focus for each week. I used handouts, which I've labeled "Discussion Prep" and that can be found in the photo gallery below, as well as a powerpoint that helped students understand what I meant by "insightful".
In order to assess this, I took careful notes of who contributed to the discussion and how they contributed (did they extend a conversation, add an especially insightful comment, use a sentence starter, etc). I also took off points from their score if they were disrespectful, engaging in side conversations, or off-task. This method of assessment was successful because the students had been given clear direction in terms of what was expected of them and how they could be successful during the discussion. Another valuable aspect of this unit was that after each discussion, we debriefed as a whole class and students reflected and discussed with one another about what went well during the discussion and what could've been better and would've resulted in a more successful Socratic Seminar.
Below are some graded discussion sheets that show the feedback I gave students based on the assessment of their speaking and listening skills, as well as the quick check documents each student had in front of them as a reminder of expectations during the discussion.
My students were very much used to more structured discussions that required them to answer specific questions generated by the teacher, so this wasn't a discussion method they were used to. Indeed, few 8th graders are used to this level of sophistication in their discussions.
I introduced the method with a powerpoint that explained the method and had them take cloze notes on the content of the presentation, so that students would be aware of how this discussion would work. Also, I gave them "quick checks" to have in front of them during the discussion to remind them of what was expected of them and to have a list of sentence starters, that would help them enter the conversation respectfully and in a sophisticated manner.
Students were given an opportunity prior to discussion to generate insightful questions and statements based on the focus for each week. I used handouts, which I've labeled "Discussion Prep" and that can be found in the photo gallery below, as well as a powerpoint that helped students understand what I meant by "insightful".
In order to assess this, I took careful notes of who contributed to the discussion and how they contributed (did they extend a conversation, add an especially insightful comment, use a sentence starter, etc). I also took off points from their score if they were disrespectful, engaging in side conversations, or off-task. This method of assessment was successful because the students had been given clear direction in terms of what was expected of them and how they could be successful during the discussion. Another valuable aspect of this unit was that after each discussion, we debriefed as a whole class and students reflected and discussed with one another about what went well during the discussion and what could've been better and would've resulted in a more successful Socratic Seminar.
Below are some graded discussion sheets that show the feedback I gave students based on the assessment of their speaking and listening skills, as well as the quick check documents each student had in front of them as a reminder of expectations during the discussion.
Assessing Student Writing: Argumentative Essays (8th Grade)
I've seen a big push toward common assessments throughout the 8th grade English Department during my time as a student teacher. When we taught argumentative writing, the whole department worked together to develop a rubric that we'd use to assess the student's skills, according to standards laid out in the Common Core. This is an important part of teaching because, moving forward, we can compare the entire 8th grade population in terms of the same standards, so we as teachers can more accurately reflect on what teaching practices are working. Also, the students now have a more realistic picture of their own abilities and know which skills to focus on as they move forward to ninth grade.
On a related note, I pride myself on delivering specific, constructive. In using the rubric to evaluate their argumentative writing skills, I made sure to tell them what was effective about what they did well and what was lacking in the areas where they needed improvement. When I'm giving feedback, I use the sandwich method: I make sure to find strengths and weaknesses so that every student, whether they're advanced or struggling, can feel good about what they did well and focus on aspects of their writing that could be stronger. Below are some examples of this kind of feedback I gave to my students about their argumentative writing. Check out my "Knows and Teaches English as a Subject Matter" tab to see the scaffolding that went into this assignment, which prepared students to be successful on each aspect of the rubric that was used to evaluate their writing.
On a related note, I pride myself on delivering specific, constructive. In using the rubric to evaluate their argumentative writing skills, I made sure to tell them what was effective about what they did well and what was lacking in the areas where they needed improvement. When I'm giving feedback, I use the sandwich method: I make sure to find strengths and weaknesses so that every student, whether they're advanced or struggling, can feel good about what they did well and focus on aspects of their writing that could be stronger. Below are some examples of this kind of feedback I gave to my students about their argumentative writing. Check out my "Knows and Teaches English as a Subject Matter" tab to see the scaffolding that went into this assignment, which prepared students to be successful on each aspect of the rubric that was used to evaluate their writing.