Lindsay Erica Dennison
English Language Teacher
Assessments, Rubrics and Student Work
READ DISCUSS THINK PLAN PRODUCE CREATE PRESENT LISTEN LEARN
Assessments from an American International School in Seoul
Formative Assessments- Grade 7 Literature Arts
Articles of the week were formative assessments that my seventh grade students completed each week. We started each assignment together in class and they were completed for homework. This provided both a model for how to complete the assignments while also giving my students the chance to develop academic self-control. In these assignments, students read authentic informational texts and responded to them in writing. That writing was nearly always a blend of explanatory and argumentative modes and culminated with a discussion of the issues in the text. The articles allowed my students to read and write purposefully and often, to grow their character, and to learn about issues in the news today.
Summative Assessments- Grade 7 and 9 Literature Arts
After reading novels in my literature arts classes, students completed an alternative summative assessment instead of a test or quiz. These alternative forms of assessments allowed my students to show what they understood from the novel. Students were able to evaluate and synthesize this information and then apply it to their own lives or the outside word.
The assessments were also created with an element of choice, which provided students with differentiation in the way the novels were assessed. Offering a choice of assessment gave my learners the chance to create true representations of their understanding of the novel. For example in the assessment for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, students could create a newspaper about the events that occurred in the novel, create a public service announcement that illustrated one of the themes in the novel, or create a poster to show the difficulties of belonging to two cultures.
All of the assignments also asked the students to connect the text to him or herself, other texts, or the world. For my students and me, these assessments provided the most valuable kind of feedback in a meaningful and motivating way.
Summative Assessments- Grade 7 Literature Arts
Summative Assessments- Grade 9 Literature Arts
Assessments from a Private Elementary School in Seoul
These formative assessments supplement Unit 1 in the textbook Common Core Progress 4: English Language Arts. The unit's theme is difficult journeys undertaken by the main characters. Fifth grade students read two stories and learn how authors describe a character, setting or event in a story using specific details (e.g. a character's thoughts, words, or actions). Students also learn how authors use clear sequences of events, dialogues, details, and conclusions when writing.
