Reflection on Artifacts: In terms of measuring academic learning I have created various ways to track student progression. Usually I organize my lessons in units which take usually four weeks or more to complete. At the end of each unit I have an assessment that I give, usually an essay or a group project that involves many facets of learning. This past semester my students learned the art of rhetoric as developed by Aristotle. During the semester I broke the objective of persuasive techniques into five units. The first two articles I included above are the instructions for completing final assignment for two units and then a peer review that I normally have students do before submitting their final essay.
While traditionally, teachers normally give a final assessment to test for comprehension, I also have daily assignments and discussions that help gage the level of comprehension on a more day-to-day basis. However, at the end of each unit I do have big point projects that will utilize the various tools that students have been acquiring during the course of that specific unit. For example, during the second semester of eleventh grade English I like to have them write three persuasive essays and one group project where they create a slide presentation, a poster and present their topic in a way that tries to convince the audience to vote for their proposal. I have found that instead of having multiple choice tests, in an English classroom there are more creative ways that measure success.
In essay writing I have found that if I make time in class for a peer review session and provide the guidelines for review the kids enjoy and are motivated by working with their peers thru revision. It is especially good for students to see each other’s work before submission because they get to see how their peers took the writing prompt and directions, this helps them ask questions, make corrections and achieve better work. I use various peer revision checklist worksheets depending on the assignment, the one provided above was for the first persuasive essay of the semester.
I also like to break the cycle by including a group project that requires them to present information in other ways not just essay writing. I wish you could hear the cheer when I tell them that for that unit no essay will be required. After seeing rhetorical devices (throughout the unit) used in social media, film, speeches, advertising, etc. I have the students work in groups to create a presentation where they must present a law that they want to change and appeal to the audience using the three rhetorical appeals. Students enjoy that they get to incorporate art and creativity and I love to see them present in front of the class mastering different skills. Assessment is crucial, but it can also be quite fun!
Writing Prompt & Group Presentation are Part of the ERWC curriculum.