I have found quite a few examples of authentic assessment. The biggest struggle is finding assessments that fit into the English classroom. It seems like math and science are the easiest or most susceptible for authentic assessment. The English assignments I have found don't lend themselves to my current curriculum. I need to start modifying my searches to hopefully find more useful assignments to my classroom. Also I want to start looking at schools that have already implemented the Common Core curriculum, since that is what I will be teaching next year.
So far I have learned that teachers who have implemented authentic assessment into their classrooms have had a lot of success with them. Students tend to take more ownership in their work and they learning still occurs, and usually is learned in a way that will stick with the students.
The main question that I have formulated is while using authentic assessments, how do I differentiate but yet make sure all of my students have learned the material?
Stephanie-
ReplyDeleteI hear your pain. I have not seen my school’s ELA teachers use authentic assessments at all, which is not to say they do not, just that my poor ears have not heard about it. I do not know how they would do so easily either. My school is has just started common core standards this year and it is a challenge and a half for them. There are no books available yet and they have been told it will probably be five years or so before there are any at all let alone decent ones. They also have been complaining heavily about the arrogance of the many trainers brought in to help on their specialty. I am so glad they have all forgot the little old computer teacher!
When it comes to differentiating of material, remember there are many ways to do it from reducing the number of problems/paragraphs a student might have to do to allowing choices of topics or odds/evens of problems. Differentiating of assignments might also mean that some students’ might be given resources to utilize in his/her writing versus other students’ having to find the resources themselves (unless that is the object of the assignment of course). Throughout their book, Alvermann, Phelps, and Gillis write of the above methods of differentiating and more. Anytime the content remains the same, but the learning method is changed up, it is a good thing for all learners.
Dave McReynolds
Alvermann, D.E., Phelps, S.F., & Gillis, V.R., (2007). Content area reading and literacy: succeeding in today’s diverse classrooms. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI too empathize with the difficulty of providing authentic assessments, differentiated instruction, and addressing the mandated standards from on high. It does seem a process with conflicting messages and goals. I think that your own observations of seeing authentic assessments creating student ownership answers which direction you should lean. I believe in the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) which gives students options for their own methods and materials (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). However, I see your point, for how do you then make sure they all learned the core material. For my projects that I assign, after having covered some core content such as theme, tone, symbolism, I then give students the choice in how they wish to express their understandings of the core content. They might write an essay, create a poster, write a storyboard, or make a PowerPoint presentation. In this way students are given ownership of their topic and the method they are most enthusiastic about using to express their understanding of the content. Differentiation then occurs when I circulate, as they work on their projects, to find out who needs support in what area. Quite often graphic organizers, spell check software, or specific assistance with using a website are sufficient differentiations to help my students develop their projects. But again, I would argue that differentiation is embedded within the concept of UDL for it allows students to learn as they feel most confident.
Chris Gleason
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning