Monday 10 April 2017

Articulating Outcomes: Thinking Like an Assessor


By Zalino Bona




Standard: The student will ask and answer questions before, during, and after reading in order to gain new information and give purpose and focus.

Source: Reading Literacy, Grade 4 (Quality Schools International)



Formative Assessment:

Formative assessment is ongoing, informal assessment that happens in class after the lesson is taught.



The big idea in this unit: Good readers ask questions.

When readers ask questions, they engage with the text in a deeper way, and it helps them to better understand what they are reading.

To ensure that students learn to ask questions before, during and after reading a text, I will begin by explaining how good readers ask questions to get new information, and modelling it as I read an informational text aloud. I will think aloud as I read, asking questions and writing them down on sticky notes. After a couple of pages, I will ask students to join in with their questions. Then students will practice it independently as they read a text and write their questions on sticky-notes. The questions will then be transferred to a graphic organizer. Formative assessment takes place as I read their written work and give feed-back.

“One of the strongest positive influence on achievement occurs when students get formative feedback that they immediately can apply.” (Linda Darling-Hammond))



1
The student will demonstrate their ability to ask purposeful questions by using right vocabulary:
What I will Look for…
How I will know the student is meeting the standard
Right vocabulary using question words


The student uses who, what, when, where, why, how and I wonder to ask questions about the text during class discussions and his/her written work.
For example, the student uses ‘Who?’ What? Where? When? etc. to ask questions about characters, events, setting and time.

 2
The student will demonstrate their ability to effectively use a graphic organizer to collect information: ten to fifteen questions before, during and after reading a text, and answers to some questions.
What I will look for…
How I will know the student is meeting the standard
·         Questions generated before, during and after reading the text
·         The graphic organizer filled out with questions and answers.

·         Evidence of ten to fifteen questions in the graphic organizer
·         Evidence of answers to some of the questions.

Some strategies I would use for formative Assessment:

-          Observation: walking around and observing to check for learning

-          Think-Write-Pair-Share (Students will discuss and refine their questions by working collaboratively with their peers)

As I work on giving feedback, I’ll need to ensure that I understand my students’ thought processes, and not just check their answers. What have they understood and what are they having trouble with?


Summative Assessment:
Summative assessment is assessment that takes place at the end of an instructional unit. Student learning is evaluated by comparing it against specific standards or benchmarks.

At the end of the unit, the student will demonstrate their understanding of the unit by:

1.      Explaining verbally, or by writing a paragraph, how asking questions help them to better understand what they read.

2.      Producing evidence of effective use of graphic organizers by writing ten to fifteen questions they asked before, during and after reading of at least three informational texts. (They can pick one as their best work for the final assessment).

3.     Categorizing their questions, identifying important questions and explaining how and why these questions help them to better understand the text.



At the end of the unit, students will categorize the questions on their graphic organizer, identify important questions and explain (verbally or in a written paragraph), by giving an example, how those questions help them to better understand the text.
What I will look for…
How I will know the student is meeting the standard
·         Graphic Organizer filled out with questions and answers
·         Questions categorized into important and interesting.
·         Oral or written explanation of how important questions help them to better understand the text.
·         An example of how a question helped them to better understand the text.
·         The student has a graphic organizer filled out with questions and answers
·         The student categorized the questions and identified important questions.
·         The student explained how important questions help them to better understand what they read.
·         The student gave an example of how a question helped him/her to better understand the text.


How Will students reflect upon and self-assess their learning?

The student will self-assess his/her performance by using the following rubric:

Objective
                “B”
                 “A”
The student will explain how asking questions help him/her to better understand what they read.

I can explain how asking questions help me to better understand what I read.
I can explain, in a written  paragraph, how asking questions help me to better understand what I read.
The student will use a graphic organizer to write ten to fifteen questions.
I have at least ten questions on my graphic organizer.
I have fifteen questions on my graphic organizer.
The student will categorize questions into important and interesting questions.
I can categorize my questions into interesting and important questions.
I can categorize my questions and explain how the important questions help me to engage with the text.
The student will identify important questions and explain how these questions help them to better understand the text.

I can identify important questions and explain how they help me to better understand the text.
I can identify important questions and explain how these questions help me to better understand a text by citing an example from the text.

The real test of learning comes when students are able to transfer their learning. As Dana Huff notes, “What is hard is making sure our students actually create true understandings and transfer their understandings.” The next step for students who finish early will be to create an ‘Asking Questions’ game or to generate purposeful questions which they will use to interview  a person and create a profile of that person using a digital tool.



References:

Darling-Hammond, Linda. (March 25, 2015). How Should We Measure Student Learning? 5 Keys to Comprehensive Assessment. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/comprehensive-assessment-introduction
Hilliard, Patricia. (December 7, 2015). Performance-Based Assessment: Reviewing the Basics. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/performance-based-assessment-reviewing-basics-patricia-hilliard
Huff, Dana. (June 18, 2007). Understanding by Design: Thinking like an assessor. Retrieved from http://www.huffenglish.com/understanding-by-design-thinking-like-an-assessor/
What Is performance based assessment? Retrieved from
What is the difference between formative and summative assessment? Retrieved from https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/formative-summative.html






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