Bell 1 Alexandra Bell EPSY 485 Lisa DeLaRue November 27, 2012 Assessment During Instruction: How Will

You Know If They Know? 1. Context The school in which I teach is located in a small, rural town. My class is made up of 22 students. The students within the school district are 80% White, 10% Black, 5% Asian, and 5% Hispanic. Approximately half of the students qualify for free or reduced lunches. Four students have Individualized Education Programs: one student has hearing loss, and three students have ADHD. My students are in 8th grade, and this year in English Language Arts they will cover short stories, expository and persuasive non-fiction writing, poetry, drama and oral tradition, and creative writing. The curriculum guide I follow can be found at: http://www.champaignschools.org/EnglishLA/MiddleHigh/Integrated%20ELA%208th.pdf. 2. Unit of Study The unit I am currently teaching is Drama and Oral Tradition. The students will be spending four weeks on the American Folk Tradition before moving on to Elements of Drama, and this week they will be reading the Zuni story Coyote Steals the Sun and the Moon. The essential questions of the unit include an understanding of what a creation myth is and how the characters within the stories are central to that theme. What characters in creation myths are common among different cultures stories? What are the different elements of folk tales, including figurative language, morals or idioms, and other storytelling techniques?

Bell 2 There are two Common Core learning objectives that I would like this lesson to fulfill (from http://www.isbe.state.il.us/common_core/pdf/ela_common_core_standards.pdf): 1) Students should be able to analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision (CC.8.R.L.3 Key Ideas and Details). This objective addresses three levels of Blooms taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, and analysis. 2) Students should be able to demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings (CC.8.L.5 Vocabulary Acquisition and Use). This is directly related to another learning objective, CC.8.R.L.4 Craft and Structure, which calls for students to determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings, [and] analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts. This objective addresses four levels of Blooms taxonomy: comprehension, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. 3. Assessment During Instruction Activity with Answer Key DIRECTIONS: Answer each item using your knowledge from our reading of Coyote Steals the Sun and the Moon and from our class discussion yesterday and today. Item 1. Place these short passages from the story in chronological order, from 1 (nearest the beginning of the story) to 4 (nearest the end). A. __3__ Coyote ran along trying to keep up [with Eagle], panting, his tongue hanging out. Soon he yelled up to Eagle, Ho, friend, let me carry the box a little way. B. __4__ I wonder what the light looks like, inside there, [Coyote] thought to himself, why shouldnt I take a peek? Probably theres something extra in the box, something good that Eagle wants to keep to himself. C. __2__ Coyote, who had been looking all around, pointed out two boxes, one large and one small, that the people opened whenever they wanted light.

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D. __1__ Friend, Coyote said to Eagle, we should hunt together. Two can catch more than one. Why not? Eagle said, and so they began to hunt in partnership. Eagle caught many rabbits, but all Coyote caught was some little bugs. Item 2. Which of the above passages best reveals Coyote to be a trickster, full of greed, curiosity, and mischief? A B C D What made you choose this passage? Pull out specific words from the passage to back up your claim, explaining why they are important. ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ (Sample answer: B is correct because wonder is a word that signifies curiosity. Furthermore, Coyote thinks there is something extra in the box, showing his greed. He is not supposed to open the box, and his wish to illustrates how mischievous he can be. These aspects of his character reveal him to be a trickster.) Item 3. Opening the box is an act that ties directly into the storys main theme as a creation myth. It represents: A. Change B. Success C. Continuity D. Cold Analysis of Items Item 1: This item involves the first learning objective in that the students must understand how certain incidents and specific dialogue propel the story forward. They should be able to tie the passages to each other chronologically by analyzing what aspect of the story each signifies whether they were important in the beginning, middle, or end of the story. There are a few cues within the passages to help them figure out the chronology if they are unable to remember directly from the reading, so this is an assessment of both their ability to recall information and their ability to problem-solve. Item 2: This item also reflects the first learning objective because students are analyzing how a certain character (Coyote) is developed. They are asked to look for particular lines or words that

Bell 4 help shape that character and reveal its unique traits. While students may be able to automatically comprehend that Coyote is a trickster and thus mischievous, greedy, and curious, this question asks them to compare and contrast different passages from the story to find which one is most important in the characters development. Item 3: This final item asks students to think about figurative language, a tenet of the second learning objective. They must comprehend the metaphorical weight behind the act of opening the box within the story, synthesize this with the overarching theme, and evaluate the answer choices to see which one corresponds correctly with the phrases deeper meaning. This assessment, although slightly difficult, is fair because we will have discussed the basic elements of the story (setting, background, plot, characters) in class for two days. A few short passages are provided for them to use in their analysis of the questions, and the wording of the questions is clear. For one of the items, students are also asked to show their reasoning behind their answer, so I will be able to see how well they truly understand the material. This assessment will be high in reliability because many other assessments over other material in class will have similar question types, and I will be checking their understanding of this specific material again informally at the beginning of the next days class period. The items on the assessment are valid because they focus on specific learning objectives for their grade, and ask students to think analytically about the story. Furthermore, the questions are valid because they revolve around the most important facets of the story, and ask students to use skills to solve the problems that they have been developing all year long. I will use the assessment to evaluate how much understanding the students gained from the lesson, and let it help me make informed decisions about how to shape my next few lessons. 4. Explanation

Bell 5 Conducting the assessment and grading: This assessment will be giving as an exit slip at the end of class. They will be used to having these exit slips occasionally, but it will be unannounced. We will have discussed the story for two days prior to the assessment, with time built in for students to ask questions and receive clarifications. They will also have filled out mini worksheets that discussed character traits, figurative language, and the storys overall theme. During the assessment, students will have ten minutes to work. Students will be taking the assessment individually, and the students with ADHD will have the opportunity to take the quiz in the English office, the back of the room, or another quiet, empty space if they need to. This assessment will be worth one point, because their larger grade will be based on their synthesis of this material within the larger unit. The point is an incentive for them to try their hardest on the assessment, but I do not want it to be a large contributor to their overall grade because I mainly want to accurately see what students understand and what they still need to know. I will ask students to recall their answers the next day at the beginning of class, as a way to strengthen that knowledge and have a short discussion about the topics covered in the assessment. Performance criteria for students: Besides using the number of questions students got correct to calculate how well they understand the material, I will focus heavily on their written answers for item two as evidence. If they have proficient understanding of the material and the skills, they will have picked out specific words from the correct passage to support their answer. If they got the questions correct but did not satisfactorily support their answer, I will take that as evidence that they have adequate understanding or poor understanding because they guessed. I will ask them on the way out of class to anonymously answer yes or no in a box whether they guessed on any of the answers, and use this information as well to see whether they are ready to

Bell 6 move forward to new material. If most students were only at adequate or poor understanding because they got most or all of the questions wrong, or did not support their answer for item two well, we will spend more of the next class discussing the questions and overall material. We will discuss not only why the correct answers are right but also why the other answers are incorrect, and discuss different interpretations and ways of thinking about the questions. If only a few students were at adequate or poor understanding, our discussion will be shorter but I will spend more time with them individually to focus on those skills and concepts.