Hensel

Dustin Jon Hensel EDU 5490 University of Utah Assessment Plan

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Section1: Beliefs& Approach I believe somewhere in the last 15 to 20 years the assessment train jumped the track and has been barreling towards an absolute pit of desperation and confusion all while allegedly putting the students needs first. As a student who had to deal with STAR testing in California from the third grade up until a Exit Exam as a senior, and now an educator starring down the task of student-teaching and my eventual career, I look at this crazy (read: as profit) driven, year-round testing system that is standardized testing and go, This is supposed to be in the best interest of the children? As a history teacher I am warming to the fact that there is not a standardized test (yet) for history. I firmly believe that any sort of history curriculum and/or assessment should not be about dates and meaningless facts. It should be about people, events, and societies that have had a serious impact on our world, and the significances surrounding those events. I feel the best way to know if a student has some general understanding of a topic that was just covered is by writing about it, and then writing about it some more. With the current assessment climate being very writing heavy I do not see how this can hurt my students. Writing is about practice, revision, then more writing. If I give my students more opportunities to practices writing, I feel like I am also aiding them in an very valuable life skill. I also believe in small warm-up quizzes or starters at the beginning of class to get students focused as to what we had covered the class before, or to check for

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background knowledge on a new topic. This type of assessment could be a very short free-write, listing three-5 things they recall from last time, or as simple as tell me what you know about insert new lesson topic. These may seem like a terrible inconvenience to the students, but I feel it can be a very effective way for me to gauge student understanding and help guide my practice and lesson to be better fit for my learners. For history I feel a very important informal assessment is participation in class or small group discussions. I would look for a student to be able to internalize new information, formulate a coherent and thoughtful answer or remark to show a thorough understanding of a given topic. I feel this can be very beneficial to the entire class because of the exposure to a multitude of different topics and ideas and the varying thoughts and viewpoints their peers may have. I feel this types of assessments can be easily adjustable to help a accommodate any typer of learner that may enter my class room. If I assign an essay, maybe I lessen the word count for an ELL student but do not relax the content. I am still looking for how well they are grasp a certain concept, just in less words. Same goes for participation in class and group discussions, I will not be looking for an ELL or student with special needs to be pontificating about current immigration legislation, but I want to see they participating, interacting, and of course showing improvement! These assessments will hopefully show me that students are not just slacking off in the back, just messing around on their phone. These are not multiple choice or truefalse questions that they can guess on. If a student has no clue what is going on it

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should be pretty easy to spot when grading a sample of their writing or hearing their class and group discussion responses, and address that when needed. At the moment I believe I am going to base a lot of my grading on participation and writing assignments. I feel these are the two areas are very important to the learning process in any class, not just my history class. I am not a fan of just handing awards just for showing up to class, I want students to be engaged and aware of what is going on in the class room and the world around them and that take more than just existing" in my class room. Also, I do not want to just put a check on top of a paper with no comments regarding the content. I feel by taking some time and actually reading a students thoughts and response to my questions they will see that I actually read their writing and it is not just to waste their time and that I care about them. I hope for students grades to reflect their growth and understanding as a reader, writer, speaker, and over all learner. Section2: DiverseLearners By openly communicating with all your students that you expect them to excel in the course I feel can be very beneficial. How many students would want to come to class and learn if I just said the first day, I am tough and I have never given an A., not many. If I am lucky enough to have some differentiated learners in my class, first I want them to to feel welcomed and apart of the class, but at the same time let them know that they will be expected to participate and take part in the class just like everyone else, they will just have slightly different requirements.

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For example, if I have a level 2 ELL student and a Level 4 ELL student the demands on a written assignment are going to be very different. I am may ask level 2 student to produce 5 complete sentences about what was the Birmingham Bus Boycott and who was involved. As for the the level 4 learner I would be looking for 3-4 paragraphs about the significance of the Birmingham Bus Boycott and the role Rosa Park in the boycott. I am looking for the same understanding of a similar topic, just differentiated to fit the skill levels of varied learners. I hope to implement a layered curriculum, but I do not know to what effectiveness I will be able to obtain during my student-teaching. I feel like if I try and do too much I will not only hurt my students learning, and set myself back as an educator. I understand I am asking my students to take risks and maybe I should join them and hopefully become a better educator myself. Section3: StudentLearningGoals - SWBAT breakdown news media sources to decipher if it is a credible source of information - SWBAT write down their own thoughts regarding current immigration legislation - SWBAT respond and to questions regarding their basic civic duties and explain why those duties are important Section4: Unit Assessments -Starters of both the quiz format and free-write format. (quiz: 3 things involved in the current legislation or free-write: If, eligible will you vote in the next election? Why or why not?)

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-Essay assignment where in students will have to use at least 3 news media sources to aid in the creation of their argument either for or against immigration reform legislation. (Student should be able to show they are able to formulate an opinion and use sources to back it, not just say that something is good or bad and that is it) -Active participation in class-wide discussion or small group discussions that show a student can take in information and other opinions, formulate their own thoughts, articulate and defend them coherently as well.