The assignment objective was to use a student profile and write report card and assignment feedback and then create an assignment and assessment tools to support one of these case studies.
Formative Assessment for Wally (Grade 5)
Wally (Grade 5) – Below Standard
- Wally is struggling in several subject areas.
- Wally is a shy student and doesn’t offer a lot of answers in class.
- Wally does not participate without being coaxed.
- Wally loves anything that involves games.
- On this assignment, Wally is progressing towards the expectations in most areas.
- On this assignment, Wally had some interesting ideas.
- On this assignment, Wally struggles with making connections.
Formative Assignment:
There is an unspoken belief in many groups that our society is unprejudiced. However, this assignment is designed to begin challenging that assumption. The student will be encouraged to find three different examples of privilege in their community or city. These examples can be showing ableism, racism, sexism, ageism or another realm in which you find there is inequality. They can look at advertisements, grocery stores, public buildings, laws, languages, etc., as example types.
Formative Assessment:
They will take their three pictures and add them to our “myth-busting portfolios” (a portfolio of reflections and proof toward the myths and questions we have answered over the school year) and write down one to three paragraphs explaining their thinking as to why they think the photo is an example of prejudice, which they will hand in to me. This will be a checking point on our ongoing unit about community and identity to see how well they grasp the concepts. This will be beneficial for students in the majority, start a dialogue and, hopefully, it will help minority students express and talk about their experiences. I will be watching for assumptions in their writing, trying to challenge and stretch their thinking in a short, written response. This is just to check student’s thinking and is not for marks.
Alternative Formative Assignment/Assessment:
As an alternative, if a student cannot find any examples, or they (or their parents) believe that prejudice does not exist, they may choose to write a minimum of one page defending their position, with three photographic examples and proof. This will also be a checking point for our ongoing unit on community and identity.
Connected Outcome:
Analyze the connections between personal identity and personal well-being, and establish strategies to develop and support a positive self-image
Key Indicators for USC 5.4:
| (d) | Define stereotyping (i.e., a set of characteristics or a fixed idea considered to represent a particular kind of person), prejudice (i.e., preconceived negative or hostile views toward a person or group of persons based on ignorance and stereotyping), and discrimination (i.e., unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice). |
| (e) | Ask questions and seek answers for deeper understanding:How does prejudice develop?Why do some people have realistic self-images while other people have distorted self-images?Why are some stereotypes more common than others?How is “diversity in thought” necessary for community well-being? |
| (f) | Express insights of the effects of stereotyping and discrimination on self and others. |
Comments:
Wally, I think that you have a good start in your prejudice photos and reflection! I would love to see you go even deeper in your thinking. One strategy I have used before is to reflect about something that I don’t normally think about, and then I ask, “who does this benefit”? Often, if a person follows this line of thinking enough, they can start to figure out if there is prejudice tied to it or not. I appreciated the creativity you showed in your reflection and photos.
Summative Assessment for Baxtor
Baxtor – Grade Two – January Report Card
Reading
- Reading at a Level D
- Reading with expression
- Makes errors with certain letters – d, t, f
- Loves reading when someone reads with him
- Does not like to be corrected
Math
- Units on Shape, Space and Numbers
- Struggling with estimating and measuring
- Has difficulty identifying 3-D objects in written form
- Knows whole numbers to 100 concretely, pictorially, physically and orally
- Does not retain personal strategies for adding and subtracting without manipulatives
Social
- Has a fun-loving spirit
- Wants to please
- Hesitates to answer without knowing he is right
- Has a couple friends who he follows and who can influence his ability to do the right thing
- Loves games and has a lot of video games at home
In reading, Baxtor has been demonstrating a proficiency for expressive reading – a skill that always makes reading together enjoyable for me! At the beginning of the year, we did a reading assessment that showed that Baxtor has progressed to level “D” in reading. I would like to see him continue to progress to a level “I” or higher by the end of the year. One of the ways I have been supporting Baxtor’s reading is by helping him differentiate the letters d, t and f. I have been encouraging him to slow down while he is reading to help him practice. Fortunately, he is social and enjoys reading with others, so practicing is not a problem.
In mathematics, we have been doing units on shapes and space, as well as numbers. Baxtor has displayed a solid grasp on our work with whole numbers up to 100. He can demonstrate them concretely, pictorially, physically and orally. One area that I would like to see Baxtor improve in is to see him practicing his ability to draw on previous knowledge in order to estimate. In class he has been practicing guessing the numbers of things and counting them out – like how many goldfish crackers are in his hand or how many pencils are in the pencil holder. Baxtor has proven to be a bit of a visual learner in the addition and subtraction units, so I think these strategies will be effective!
Baxtor is a fun student to have in my class. I appreciate his playful spirit and his desire to do well in class and to please others. I encourage him to be careful who he tries to please because not everyone has his best interest at heart. Taking the time to evaluate whether what everyone is doing is the right thing to be doing is a hard skill to master that even adults struggle with, but I know he can do it! I know that when he is passionate he can do anything. I enjoy hearing about his latest quest in Fortnite and the energy he has invested into it.
Assignment:
To finish off our mini-unit on visual text strategies that authors use, each student will create a comic book from one of the five prompts provided:
- A mysterious package arrives
- Strange noises are coming from the forest at night
- You are taking cupcakes to school but you find you are one short
- An ordinary room in the house turns out to be a door to another world
- Villains kidnap your teacher
(All the prompts were taken from http://sunnyvillestories.com/2011/02/101-ideas-for-a-comic/)
There will be a suggested (but not enforced) page range of 3-10 pages. Each student must create a rough copy that will be looked over by another student for suggestions and proof-reading (Assessment Tool #1 – which will be completed and handed in to the teacher). The student will then receive the suggestions and fix the mistakes before creating a final copy that will be handed in to the teacher and marked off of the rubric (Assessment Tool #2). The comic books will be laminated and put in the class library for other students to read and enjoy!
Outcome:
CR2.2
View and explain (with support from the text) the key literal and inferential ideas (messages), important details, and how elements (such as colour, layout, medium, and special fonts) enhance meaning in grade-appropriate visual and multimedia texts.
Indicator(s):
| (c) | Understand and apply the appropriate cues and conventions (pragmatic, textual, syntactical, semantic/lexical/morphological, graphophonic, and other) to construct and confirm meaning when viewing. |
| (j) | Explain how elements such as colour, sound, music, physical movement, and arrangement enhance visual and multimedia texts and products including First Nations and Métis texts, visual art works, and performances such as music, dance, and drama. |
A Checklist for the Student Assessment/Assessment Tool #1:
At least one use of an all-capital word.
At least one use of an underlined word.
At least one use of a thought bubble.
At least one use of a speech bubble.
At least one use of an exclamation bubble.
Capitalizes all words that should be capitalized –
check names, places, names of months, the first word of a sentence.
The words have the right use of the punctuation mark at the end of each sentence – either an exclamation point, question mark or period.
The story has a beginning, middle and end.
The story follows the prompt.
The story makes sense to you.
The story has a who, what, when and where.
The pictures are all coloured in.
The comic book boxes are neat and make sense.
Answer These Questions:
- What are two stars (things that you liked) for this story?
- What is one wish (one thing you would like to see) for this story?
Pro-Tip:
Remember you can come and see Ms. C for suggestion and proof-reading help as well! If there’s something that you think would make the story better but you don’t know how to say it, come
and talk to her for help.
| Marks/10/15 | Not Yet 5 or under, 7.5 or under | Getting There 5.5-6, 8-9.5 | Got It 6.5-7.5, 10-11.5 | Awesome 8-10, 12-15 |
| Pictures/Visuals /15 | None of the pictures are coloured in. There is no attention to detail. The visuals are not relevant, logical and do not aid the story.The visual text requirements do not aid the story or are not used effectively. There are no comic book boxes or they are sloppily done. They do not aid the story. | Some of the pictures are coloured in. There is some attention to detail. The visuals are somewhat relevant, logical and aid the story. The visual text requirements are half met or used somewhat effectively. The comic book boxes are sort of neatly drawn.They kind of aid the story | The pictures are coloured in. There is attention to detail and the colors help to aid the story. The visuals are thought through and are relevant, logical, and aid the story. The visual text requirements are met and they are relevant, logical and aid the story. The comic book boxes are neatly outlined and drawn. They aid the story. | The pictures are coloured in. There is excessive attention to detail. The colors aid the story.The visuals are consistently relevant, logical, aid and accentuate the story.The visual text requirements are met and they are relevant, logical and accentuate the storyThe comic book boxes are neatly outlined and drawn. They emphasize the story. |
| Spelling/Punctuation/Word Choice /10 | There are more than 5 spelling and punctuation errors. The punctuation is confusing and unclear. It does not help the reader understand and feel the story. There are many confusing parts.The word choice could be better. It does not help the reader to picture the story, character or feelings. | There are 1-5 spelling and punctuation errors. The punctation is somewhat useful to help the reader understand and feel the story but there are a few confusing parts.The word choice is almost there but there are some parts where stronger words could have been used. | There are no spelling or punctuation errors.The punctuation is useful for the reader to understand and feel the storytelling.The word choices are good and help the reader understand the story, character and their feelings. | There are no spelling and punctuation errors.The punctuation helps the reader understand the story and is incredibly useful to help the reader understand and feel the storytelling.The word choices are extremely strong and invite the reader to picture the story, character and their feelings. |
| Story /10 | The story does not have a clear beginning, middle or endThe story does not answer two or more of these elements: who, what where and when.The story is not on theme with the prompt. | The story has a clear beginning, middle or end, but one element is unclear or missing.The story answers some of the who, what, where and when, but is missing one or more elements.The story is somewhat on theme with the prompt decided. | The story has a clear beginning, middle and end.The story answers who, what where, and when.The story is on theme with the prompt decided. | The story has a clear and interesting beginning, middle and end.The story creatively answers the who, what where and when of the storyThe story stays on the theme with the prompt provided and the author makes it their own and is creative with it. |
How I Would Engage Students in Learning
I want to create relevant assignments for the students in my classroom. I enjoy taking their interests into account when I lesson plan, even if it is just in little ways – like creating an array out of Sonic because the student I talked to was excited about Sonic games. I also believe in finding a balance between inquiry-based assignments and teacher-given assignments. The inquiry provides the students with a self-motivated channel to do their learning which makes me really excited to teach!
One of the other assessment ideas that I like and want to get better at is the top-down method. For example, deciding the big assignment is something exciting and hands-on, like planning a pizza party and then breaking it down into littler outcome driven pieces. To plan a pizza party, you’d need to use math for budgeting, graphing preferences and portioning the pizza. You’d need health to understand the allergies and what kind of pizza is a healthy choice. You’d need art to create invitations and set a beautiful table. You’d need English to plan the invites. It takes a lot of outcomes and it creates a meaningful and relevant learning experience.
I also have an affinity for the dramatics. I like music and sparkle and acting and I want to incorporate that into my teaching and assessments as well. An example would be having students put on a puppet skit as a formative assessment or do dramatic readings (and voices) in a small group. It works especially well for young students who love to play and sing and dance.
Finally, I want to find the part of the assessment that makes me passionate and excited so that it rubs off on the kids. That is something Prof. Nathalie Reid is really big on and I can see the difference in her teaching. She loves and believes what she is teaching is important. She only chooses assessments that are applicable and thought-provoking and she encourages us to change it up so that we are passionate about it too.
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