MSU Teaching Standard 3:
Assesses Student Learning
Description of Standard: "The knowledge of subject matter and students should come together in the assessment of what students know and can do. English teachers align assessments with content goals and plan backwards from summative assessments, while using formative assessments to guide instruction. All of the language arts should be integrated into assessments across the semester or year."
Assessment is a crucial, unequivocal, fundamental aspect of teaching. Assessing students' understanding of a subject allows teachers not only to gauge comprehension, but also to consider ways of revising and restructuring future lessons. Assessment, in other words, is a way to evaluate where students are and where they can go next. Over the course of my internship year, I continuously worked to scaffold my students' learning in ways that progressively developed their understandings of key curricular concepts, gradually leading them to succeed and illustrate the depth of their knowledge through a comprehensive summative assessment, while also consistently formatively assessing them and providing constructive, beneficial feedback in leading them on the way to the "final destination." The artifacts below exemplify this "journey," and more specifically illuminate examples of both formative and summative assessments.
Student Work Analysis Project
As part of my graduate teaching coursework, this "student work analysis" project, as it was formally referred to, allowed me to thoroughly reflect upon my students' learning, my feedback and assessment of three students' writing samples, and in turn, my instruction. Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, this assignment propelled me to thoughtfully consider constructive ways in which to revise and reconsider my future writing instruction. This creative writing opportunity gave students the chance to write an imaginative, suspensful prequel to Edgar Allan Poe's famous short story "The Cask of Amontillado," and allowed me to evaluate their understandings of our overarching unit goals. More specifically, through this assignment, I hoped to be able to see clear demonstrations of my students' knowledge about 1.) the ways in which suspense is developed in a story 2.) the ways in which symbolism functions within a text. By comprehensively examining these student samples, I was able to appropriately assess the depth of my students' understandings of these key concepts and adjust my pedagogical practices accordingly.
Vocabulary Acquisition:
A Vocab Song Performance
The video above showcases an example of a "vocabulary song performance" in which students are asked to incorporate vocabulary words--in this case from Hermann Hesse's novel Siddhartha--into a contemporary song of their choice. Moreover, this excerpt also illustrates the ways in which I assess my students' understanding of the meaning of the vocabulary word within the new lyrical context. Together, more specifically, my students collaboratively work along with me to discuss the ways in which vocabulary words are used within the song. In this way, they seek to make meaning and therefore truly learn, rather than memorize vocabulary. This strategy for vocabulary acquisition is not only immersive for my students, it is also extremely effective, as is evidenced in their quiz scores in addition to their utilization of these words in everyday life! For instance, many students approached me for weeks following this activity and reported finding themselves humming their vocab songs and suddenly integrating vocabulary words into their jargon, almost unconsciously!
Argumentative Research Essay
George Orwell's eerily relevant dystopian novel, 1984 largely serves as a warning against the dangers of government control. Thus, over the course of my unit centered around this incredibly important text, I strived to expand my students' knowledge about the extent of government control in our current society through lessons delving into examinations of various forms of propaganda and government surveillance, for example. Furthermore, I compelled them to take a stand on these issues by participating in thought-provoking debates, Socratic Seminars, and jigsaw presentations focusing on these topics. These activities ultimately functioned as scaffolds to their final, summative unit assessment: a 3-5 page comprehensive argumentative research paper challenging them to identify and elaborate upon their stance in considering whether government surveillance is essential or harmful to our nation. Through this paper, students exceptionally articulated their arguments by providing explicit and detailed examples, ultimately arguing their points effectively. That is to say, in other words, that by writing this essay, they were ultimately able to demonstrate their learning in powerful, extensive, and impressive ways.
The Great Gatsby "Fakebook" Activity
The "Fakebook" activity student samples illustrated above demonstrate the ways in which I strive to assess my students' knowledge of various aspects of a text--in this case, characters from The Great Gatsby--in "non-traditional," and in my humble opinion, more immersive, interesting ways that capture their attention and keep it! This formative assessment was not only a way for me to gauge the depth of my students' understandings of characters such as Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson, and Jordan Baker, for example, but was actually a way for me to take a step back and re-teach previously discussed material with my students that I ultimately realized they were not thoroughly grasping. More specifically, I was inspired to lead this activity with my students as a result of my concern of their lack of details or accurate recall of a few of the minor characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald's timeless novel, The Great Gatsby. Thus, in my efforts to make sure that my students could identify and analyze these essential characters, I created and implemented this lesson, finding that my students not only enjoyed delving into and discussing these individuals, but also ultimately gained a deeper understanding of their importance to the novel as a whole.