My favorite part of this chapter was the assignment for Julius Ceasar where the students pick from four characters: Antony, Caesar, Brutus, or Cassius and write a persuasive essay explaining their choice. This kind of assignment will show exactly what the students know. If the student didn't read the play carefully enough they won't be able to write a fully developed essay.
I also like her test questions for Julius Ceasar. Multiple choice questions don't show what students know. Jago's short essay questions will show what students know. I also think it is a good idea to go over the answers in class the next day. This way students can understand why they got something wrong.
I think creative projects, papers, and essay questions are important to be able to assess student understanding. Students will learn more this way too.
I completely agree about creative projects/papers/assessments being so important! I was actually sort of blown away with this notion of assessments. Somehow, assessments are always the part of creating a unit or lesson plan that I have the least creativity in, and I think it's because I'm sort of scared that I won't really be able to see what my kids know if I don't give them a multiple-choice test. It's what I got in high school, so I'm used to it. But, Jago totally switched that up! She essentially said that, as teachers in our own classrooms, we're allowed to focus or not focus on whatever we want! I love that, with this question assessment idea, she isn't grading of writing ability. She's solely checking for content knowledge. It give me a freedom about assessments that I've never felt before.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that multiple choice questions don't show what students know. In my experience with multiple choice questions most students including myself just guess or memorize definitions for the test. Though I do think that if done correctly without a lot of definitions multiple choice questions could be helpful. I know that in my linguistics class out midterm and final are multiple choice, but it is not just spitting back information we have to use it in practice. Though I do agree that creative projects should be a staple in all classrooms.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with what everyone has said. If students just take multiple choice tests, they can't explain WHY something is the way it is. I know in HS, sometimes I would write explanations to multiple choice questions because I wanted the teacher to see why I chose something.
ReplyDeleteInteresting comments about assessments. I also like her ideas for Julius Caesar.
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