Assessment
Assessment is extremely crucial to a students learning. It helps the student regulate where they are, but also helps the teacher with what they should teach and how well the students are understanding the material. In my unit, I hope that the students are able to self-assess their progress. Since the unit is on reading the book “Holes,” I want them first to be able to understand what is happening in the book. Understanding the plot is fundamental, however it's not the only thing that is important. The students should then use their understanding of the plot and characters to use higher order thinking to connect the book to their lives and discover themes. In my assessment for the unit, I hope to key into the main concepts and allow the students to think on their own about what's happening in the book.
To begin the unit I would like to get an idea of how many students have read or watched the movie “Holes” before. Since it's a popular movie, I want to have a perspective on what students know. In order to do this, I'd like to give the students a chart that has a bunch of bullet point in it. I would like them to write about what they think “Holes” is about. For the students that have read the book, it can serve as a good reminder about how well they remember what they read. For the students that haven't read the book, it will get them thinking about the title and how it could play into the plot of the story. This will give me a good idea as to where students are in terms of how well they know the book/movie. In the book there are some differences to the movie, so it will be interesting to see what facts the students who have watched the movie pull out and how they compare to their reactions to the book when they read it. This pre assessment will allow for the students to start thinking about what they are going to be reading for the next couple of weeks.
While we are reading the book, the students will be assigned a certain amount of chapters that they must read at home. In order to assure that they are reading those chapters, I hope to get them involved in their learning. It is important to my teacher that they keeping a running list of vocabulary from the reading. To do this I am planning on having a student-centered vocabulary list. I want the students to write down words they don't know from the reading and then come back together as a class and we can share these words as a class. This allows the students to take charge of their own learning, and to feel apart of the work they have to do. What I've seen them do with other vocabulary words in their Social Studies class is write the definition, but also draw a picture with it. It gives them a visual and also something to look back on. This assessment will take place everyday. The students will turn in their packet at the end of the unit, so I can evaluate their participation through this avenue of the unit.
Since I won't be leading the class through the whole book, my teacher will continue on with the blogs. The students will then use the rubric at the end to assess themselves with how well they did with keeping up with their journals. However, I will be looking at the rubric with each student during the unit to keep them all on track with what needs to be read, and to further help with understanding of main events in the book.
Another form of assessment that will happen in my unit is a journal. This journal will be everyday, and most likely responding to an essential question that gets the students into higher order thinking. The journal will take place on a blog page I have set up for the students. It will help the students think about and remember section by section instead of taking a quiz after a larger portion without anything to study from. The students after reading the book will take a test that will be administrated by their teacher. This test will hone in on vocabulary and pointing out events that happened in the book. However, having the journals will allow them to keep them thinking throughout the readings to key into main events of the book. The journaling/blog will keep the students organized and on track with the reading that's due.
Overall, these types of assessment will benefit the students in their comprehension and ability to go from memorizing facts to applying higher order thinking. The students should be more confident in know what they read and the major themes and how it applies to their lives.
To begin the unit I would like to get an idea of how many students have read or watched the movie “Holes” before. Since it's a popular movie, I want to have a perspective on what students know. In order to do this, I'd like to give the students a chart that has a bunch of bullet point in it. I would like them to write about what they think “Holes” is about. For the students that have read the book, it can serve as a good reminder about how well they remember what they read. For the students that haven't read the book, it will get them thinking about the title and how it could play into the plot of the story. This will give me a good idea as to where students are in terms of how well they know the book/movie. In the book there are some differences to the movie, so it will be interesting to see what facts the students who have watched the movie pull out and how they compare to their reactions to the book when they read it. This pre assessment will allow for the students to start thinking about what they are going to be reading for the next couple of weeks.
While we are reading the book, the students will be assigned a certain amount of chapters that they must read at home. In order to assure that they are reading those chapters, I hope to get them involved in their learning. It is important to my teacher that they keeping a running list of vocabulary from the reading. To do this I am planning on having a student-centered vocabulary list. I want the students to write down words they don't know from the reading and then come back together as a class and we can share these words as a class. This allows the students to take charge of their own learning, and to feel apart of the work they have to do. What I've seen them do with other vocabulary words in their Social Studies class is write the definition, but also draw a picture with it. It gives them a visual and also something to look back on. This assessment will take place everyday. The students will turn in their packet at the end of the unit, so I can evaluate their participation through this avenue of the unit.
Since I won't be leading the class through the whole book, my teacher will continue on with the blogs. The students will then use the rubric at the end to assess themselves with how well they did with keeping up with their journals. However, I will be looking at the rubric with each student during the unit to keep them all on track with what needs to be read, and to further help with understanding of main events in the book.
Another form of assessment that will happen in my unit is a journal. This journal will be everyday, and most likely responding to an essential question that gets the students into higher order thinking. The journal will take place on a blog page I have set up for the students. It will help the students think about and remember section by section instead of taking a quiz after a larger portion without anything to study from. The students after reading the book will take a test that will be administrated by their teacher. This test will hone in on vocabulary and pointing out events that happened in the book. However, having the journals will allow them to keep them thinking throughout the readings to key into main events of the book. The journaling/blog will keep the students organized and on track with the reading that's due.
Overall, these types of assessment will benefit the students in their comprehension and ability to go from memorizing facts to applying higher order thinking. The students should be more confident in know what they read and the major themes and how it applies to their lives.