My Favorite Alternative Assessment
I've experienced many assessments as a student. But one assessment came to mind when I thought about my favorite assessment. I did a project during my undergrad work at SUNY Fredonia. The class was called, Composition for Elementary Teachers. As a student learning to be a teacher, we learned how to teach different topics through children's literature. For example, children can learn about the Holocaust by reading "Number the Stars". My professor talked about different ways of assessing children. One way to measure learning was with a performance assessment. To teach us, she had us complete the assessment.
This is going to be hard to explain, so stick with me!
After reading several children's literature books based on different topics such as the Holocaust, immigration and several different wars, we were given the opportunity to pick from a list of performance assessments to complete. For example we could write journal entries from the perspective of a child during the Holocaust or write newspaper articles from one of the time periods we covered. I chose to write a diary as an Irish girl immigrating to America from the potato famine in Ireland.
I definitely thought the assessment was worthwhile. My professor gave us a rubric to follow. Therefore, we had the opportunity to be creative but we were also aware of the criteria to be covered. We had to mention or refer to many historical events. As a student, I knew what to expect and was responsible for my own grade. The rubric helped my professor assess our projects.
I really enjoyed doing this project for many reasons. First, we had the option to pick an assessment we liked and that we found interesting. That allowed us to have some ownership in our learning. Second, I was able to show what I learned through my project. Third, since I used what I learned, the information and the learning experience was more meaningful and memorable. I know I learned more about immigrating to America and the potato famine through this project than I would have through reading a chapter in a social studies book.
This type of project is a bit too complicated for my first graders. I do teach many topics through children's literature. I don't use rubrics. However, I could picture using them to assess writing in the future.
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Crystal, this blog entry is my favorite by far this semester of any I have read from anyone. You did a GREAT job at explaining your alternative assessment. And, I can absolutely understand WHY it was your favorite.
ReplyDeleteFirst, what a cool thing, to learn about an important historical event with such an affective approach! There's no question that kids would learn from doing this, and obviously, no question that you and your classmates did!
Second, the fact that students could choose from among a variety of different types of assignments suggests that there would be no one who couldn't find something they could do. So, the fact that this was a creative exercise didn't mean that anyone would feel nervous or incapable -- everyone could find something they felt confident in doing!
And third, what a great opportunity for kids to teach each other! I think the assessment on this exercise would be tought to do, actually, because who wouldn't want to give everyone an "A"? So, to me, that would be the challenge of such an assessment.
I remember reading _Number the Stars_ independently in second grade as a student in an experimental gifted and talented education program through which I and my peers were kept together for 2-4th grade and were fortunate to have the very best teachers as our guides.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, the vast majority of our schoolwork was completed independently during our participation in the program and our teachers would conference with us several times a week to discuss the progress we'd made as individuals. Then, they would tailor our assignments to out unique interests.
The project I did after _Number the Stars_ was similar to the newspaper option you described. However, I decided to create an underground circular in honor of the main character's older sister Lise, who was a member of the Resistance. I can say first-hand what a meaningful project the assessment was! I became ravenous for information on the Holocaust and read several more works of fiction and non on the topic. Eventually, I even did a lengthy research report on the Holocaust before visiting the museum on our eighth-grade field trip to Washington, D.C.
I think the performance assessment options you describe are all excellent examples of projects that will help students meet learning targets within the affective domain especially, which I feel is very important as a teacher of literature.
Great post!
Crystal,
ReplyDeleteI definitely can relate to this type of assessment. In my Science Fiction Issues course I took during my grad work at SUNY Brockport, we obviously read several pieces of literature revolving around issues dealing with Science Fiction... For my final assessment I had to choose one area of science fiction that interested me the most. Our assignment could be classified as "paper and pencil" assessment, however, I really enjoyed the assignment because I was able to choose literature from outside of the class. I chose to focus on plastic surgery and the scientific advancements we have made in that area in our society. In choosing this topic, I was able to relate a book that I had read for pleasure, Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld, and apply it to my classroom learning. This may not sound too exciting, but I did thought that the assessment was great because I didn't have to follow a STRICT guideline for the type of literature I had chosen. This not only made my paper more worthwhile, but also helped me to remain interested in the topic I was covering. I find that sometimes, in ELA, students feel over burdened with the course reading, but with this assignment, I was basically able to choose what I wanted to do and use what I wanted to use, and still be able to apply it to my learning. It was definitely worthwhile.
I loved how your professor gave you a list of assessment thats you could do. I would have chosen the same thing you chose. Thats what I like about English, there is so many different assessments that you can give as a teacher. Math is boring and there really isn't much you can do that wouldn't take a long time to complete.
ReplyDeleteAs Whitney said, my favorite part about that assessment was that you had a choice!! I used to love it when teachers gave us options like that. I think it allows students to take ownership of their learning and demonstrate to the best of their ability what they have learned. It reminds me of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences. By allowing students choice, they will be more engaged and they will be better able to portray their understanding in a way that is meaningful to them.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post Crystal.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about the effectiveness of these activities as "assessments" rather than as "learning experiences"? Do you think the teacher really got useful data if everyone got to choose the task they would perform?
We'll talk some more about reliability tonight.