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Shifting from Testing
to Authentic Assessment
[This paragraph will
change when I have an actual article to connect to. This is temporary:
The coalition statement on testing outlines the changes
that can make NCLB legislation more effective. But how do you bridge between
those goals and the work you do in your own classroom? These resources can help
you shift to a more comprehensive picture of students' performance that
emphasizes authentic reading and writing rather than standardized testing.]
The November 2004 Language Arts article "Creating
Space for Teaching Writing and for Test Preparation" (E) explores
how one teacher worked to implement a
writing workshop approach within a school context
focused on high test scores. For more ideas on creating authentic writing
spaces in your own classroom, check out the NCTE book The Writing
Workshop: Working through the Hard Parts (And They're All Hard
Parts) (E-M).
Jeff Wilhelm
outlines principles for classroom writing assessment in
his "Assessment:
The Alpha and Omega of Achievement" (M) from Voices
from the Middle. The September 2004 English Journal article "Standards
without Sacrifice: The Case for Authentic Writing" (S) confronts
the challenge of asking students to write for real audiences and purposes
while still meeting state and national standards.
Although the NCLB legislation does not affect our work at the college
level, we still must work for authentic ways to assess students' work.
Read the May 2004 article "Midterm
Assessment Techniques: Unearthing the Vital Learning and Growing That Occur
beneath the Surface" (C) from Teaching
English in the Two-Year College for suggestions on assessment techniques
that help students tap into their process as emerging writers.
For
additional ideas on assessment, read the NCTE book Evaluating
Writing: The Role of Teachers' Knowledge about Text, Learning, and
Culture (S-C).
Pumpkins, Mysteries, Monsters, and Ghosts!
With Halloween and Dias de los Muertos (Days
of the Dead) in the next week, these resources provide seasonal activities
that focus on relevant literacy activities.
[This last phrase will also change] The ReadWriteThink lesson Collaborating
on a Class Book: Exploring Before-During-After Sequences (E) explores
collaborative writing with examples that focus on carving pumpkins. Gather
some seasonal books and use the ReadWriteThink lesson
Genre
Study: A Collaborative Approach (E), whether you're looking at Halloween
resources like mysteries and ghost stories or biographical tributes as
part of a Dias de los Muertos observation.
The Voices from the Middle article "I
Am the Immigrant in My Classroom" (M)
outlines a Dias de los Muertos observance that culminates
in students sharing biographical sketches of deceased family members or
friends.
The ReadWriteThink lesson Teaching
the Epic through Ghost Stories (S) connects our oral tradition of telling
ghost stories with the
oral tradition of the ancient epic narrators by inviting students to share
their own oral tales of ghosts and goblins and monsters.
"The
Right, the Wrong, and the Ugly: Teaching Shelley’s Several Frankensteins" (C)
from College English explores how the choice of the text editions chosen
for a class can affect the possibilities in the classroom.
To read more about teaching with ghosts,
monsters, and the unknown, try the NCTE book Reading
Stephen King: Issues of Censorship, Student Choice, and Popular Literature (M-S).
NOTE: Free access to journal articles mentioned in this Inbox is provided
for 21 days. After this free access period expires, articles are available
to journal subscribers only. This Inbox Idea was published
10-12-2004.
Initials in annotations indicate academic level of the resource (E=Elementary,
M=Middle, S=Secondary, C=College, G=General).
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