Assesses Student Learning
The types of assessment I have used this year range from projects, tests, papers, and daily assignments. Most summative projects I have tried to allow for creativity and student individuality in order to differentiate for different learning styles and identities. The more formal assessments I used this year were typically of smaller point value, but more common than projects.
The 25 Line Crucible
A presentation assessment, The 25 Line Crucible, students were put into groups and asked to reduce an assigned act of The Crucible down the 25 lines and perform their shortened piece for the class. Students were assessed on their scripts, the lines that they chose to use, their performance, props and enthusiasm. This assessment was between an informal summative assessment and a formal formative assessment, to be done towards the end of the unit.
The Crucible Multi-Genre Project
The Multi-Genre Project asked students to pick from a variety of options of artifacts to display in a variety of formats, physical or technological, their understanding of The Crucible in a creative way. This assessment allowed students to chose genres that were both challenging but accessible to their own learning and present them in a informal gallery walk format.
Epic Hero Comparative Essay
As the year progressed, the sophomore classes wrote one literary analysis per epic poem that we read in class. The example here is the culmination of all three of the pieces we worked with in class, where the student was asked to write a Comparative Analysis of Beowulf, Homer's The Odyssey and Dante's Inferno. This example displays the grade and thoughtful feedback the student received on her piece.
Study Guide Questions
Study Guide Questions are a formative assessment of learning, often checked daily or the day a reading assignment is due. This assessment not only serves as proof of reading, but it often gives students a resource for guidance during reading and during discussion.
Vocabulary Tests
Vocabulary tests are a common form of assessment that required students not only to recall vocabulary words, but to use them and connect them with events in the text that we were using during the unit. It calls upon students not only to remember their vocabulary words, but to devise answers in both fill in the blank and written format. It assesses students' ability not only to infer information from the text, but also to synthesize vocabulary and the textual information in written format.
Freshmen First Semester Final Exam
Finally, the final exam is a typical Multiple Choice Exam with a few short answer and one essay question at the end. This exam assesses not only content knowledge, but also students' ability to critically think about themes, characters and other subjects that we had discussed in class up to this point.