Assessment Commentary

Secondary History/Social Studies
Task 3: Assessment Commentary
TASK 3: ASSESSMENT COMMENTARY

Respond to the prompts below (no more than 10 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within
the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Commentary pages exceeding the maximum will not be
scored. Attach the assessment you used to evaluate student performance (no more than 5 additional pages) to the end of this
file. If you submit a student work sample or feedback as a video or audio clip and you or your focus students cannot be clearly
heard, attach a transcription of the inaudible comments (no more than 2 additional pages) to the end of this file. These pages
do not count toward your page total.
1. Analyzing Student Learning

a. Identify the specific learning objectives measured by the assessment you chose for
analysis.
[ The assessment for analysis is the formal post-assessment. This assessment takes the form
of a keynote slideshow students create on their ipads. There are seven slides students are
asked to create, most of which requires work associated with a number of specific learning
objectives largely in line with the learning targets of the lesson plans. Slide 2 of the project
requires students to research their country’s vital population statistics. One of the objectives
here is to apply the vocabulary instruction (lesson 1) and various concepts associated with
demographic research into their country profile. Successfully completing this demonstrates
contextual knowledge of population terminology. Slide 2 also tasks students with calculating
their country’s doubling time (number of years it will take if current trends continue for their
country to double their total population). Students received instruction and guided practice on
this learning objective in lesson 2 of the learning sequence. Slide 3 of this assessment requires
students to create (in keynote) their own age structure chart. The objective is to take researched
data from their country’s age profile and make a visual representation. Specifically, the chart is
to depict age group categories as percentages for graphically illustrating growth rate. Analyzing
population growth rates is another aspect of the learning target from lesson 2. The objective of
slide 4 is to demonstrate knowledge of the concept of push and pull factors of migration and
apply them to the analysis of an individual country based on actual research. This is an aspect
of the lesson 3 learning target of analyzing the causes and effects of migration. An aspect of the
lesson 2 learning target is to analyze factors contributing to Earth’s population distribution. Slide
5 requirements measure this objective in several ways. Students are tasked to find a population
distribution map, list the three most populated cities, and provide a summary paragraph of their
country’s population distribution (a description of where people live). These tasks measure
understanding of population density and urbanization and most importantly, analyze physical
geographic factors that explain their country’s population distribution. The most important part of
this formal post-assessment is the summary requirement of slide 6. The main learning objective
is to tie the learning objectives together into the broader central focus of the learning sequence.
Successful summary would demonstrate a holistic understanding of their country’s demographic
profile and trajectory. The summary requires that students make a prediction for where their
country’s population will be in 50-100 years. A prediction that demonstrates mastery would
incorporate a rationale based on the factors they researched and analyzed in their country
examination. ]
b. Provide a graphic (table or chart) or narrative that summarizes student learning for your
whole class. Be sure to summarize student learning for all evaluation criteria submitted
in Assessment Task 3, Part D.
[ The pre-assessment and formal post-assessment of this learning sequence are quite different,
and therefore does not easily convert to a “before and after” table or chart. The pre-assessment
consists of 19 questions including multiple choice, true/false and short answer. The most useful
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way to compare to the post-assessment and measure student learning is to categorize the pre-
assessment questions in alignment with the learning objectives of the post-assessment. To
make this coherent, I will outline the 5 broad learning objectives I identified (described in prompt
1a) from the formal post-assessment and lesson plans below.
Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 3 Objective 4 Objective 5

List and define Analyze causes Analyze causes Identify Apply objectives to the
domain-specific and and patterns and central focus. (Holistic
vocabulary, effects/rates of effects/rates of analyze causes examination/evidence-
know population migration of population based prediction)
population facts growth distribution
Some of the pre-assessment questions will fall under multiple categories. For example, the pre-
assessment question (pre-assessment Q6) asking about the definition of the average number of
people living in a square mile would be associated with both learning objective 1 and learning
objective 4. Given the overlap, the total number of pre-assessment questions aligned with the 5
learning objectives (and the corresponding pre-assessment question numbers) is outlined
below. There is no justification to include objective 5 as part of the pre-assessment analysis at
all, because such a quiz cannot possibly capture a “holistic” and predictive analysis.

Total=7 Total=6 Total=5 Total=5 N/A
Question number Question number Question number Question number
1,2,6,8,14,15,16 2,3,4,5,17,18 8,9,10,15,19 6,7,13,14,16
The class results of the pre-assessment realigned to the objectives are summarized below
(note: short answer questions 17,18 and 19 were considered “correct” if the student provided at
least some valid examples even if imperfectly understood) 14 students participated in the pre-
assessment (one student was absent). The formula I used to determine the percentage of
objectives met is as follows: The sum of correct pre-assessment questions within a given
learning objective was divided by the result of multiplying the total participants (14) by the total
number of pre-assessment questions within a given learning objective.

55% 35.7% 58.5% 54.2% N/A
Obviously, this is a crude and imperfect means of measuring how well students met the learning
objectives prior to the learning sequence, especially considering the questions are not weighted
by relevance to the learning target or depth of understanding. That said, in order to “compare”
these results to the results of the formal post-assessment, I must create a metric for determining
mastery of the learning objectives for this as well. Fortunately, the five content-based slides (2-
6) of the student’s post-assessment project correspond to the 5 learning objectives. Slide 2, the
vital statistics slide, and slide 6, the summary have overlap with all the learning objectives
however and this needs to be factored in the analysis. Another important thing to note is that
meeting the five learning objectives does not perfectly correspond to the final grade students
received on their projects. The rubric expectations include organizational details and other
things that factor into the grading, and for simplicity, the grading is on a “slide by slide” basis
rather than a “learning objective met” basis. As mentioned, the slides do loosely correlate to the
learning objectives however (title and works cited slides notwithstanding). Therefore, to have a
more accurate comparison to the pre-assessment, I must evaluate each student’s post-
assessment in terms of whether they met the given learning objective or not, wherever the
relevant evidence may appear in their project. The simple metric of an objective either being
met, partially met or, not met in the formal post-assessment is on a 1-5 scale. Total participants
(15) multiplied by the highest possible level of proficiency (5) equals 75. 75 was then divided by
the total number of student points accumulated in a given learning objective category. The class
results of the formal post-assessment as compared to the pre-assessment are outlined below.
.
Pre- 55% 35.7% 58.5% 54.2% N/A
assessment
Post- 77.3% 78.6% 89.3% 65.3% 68%
assessment
On the left side below is a list of the individual results of the pre-assessment (as measured by
number of correct responses on the quiz). The right side is the individual results of the post-
assessment (as measured by their 1-5 scores on the 5 learning objectives). The percentages
are highlighted in red to display an easy comparison.
Preassessment Post-assessment
Student Correct % Objective Objective Objective Objective Objective %
/19 1 2 3 4 5
1 N/A N/A 2/5 4/5 3/5 2/5 2/5 52
2 3 16 2/5 1/5 5/5 2/5 2/5 36
3 8 42 5/5 5/5 5/5 3/5 4/5 88
4 10 53 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 100
5 11 58 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 4/5 96
6 6 32 3/5 5/5 4/5 2/5 2/5 64
7 9 37 4/5 3/5 5/5 3/5 4/5 76
8 8 42 5/5 3/5 4/5 3/5 3/5 72
9 10 53 4/5 5/5 5/5 3/5 5/5 88
10 12 63 3/5 5/5 5/5 3/5 5/5 84
11 8 42 3/5 1/5 4/5 4/5 1/5 52
12 11 58 4/5 5/5 5/5 4/5 4/5 88
13 7 37 4/5 4/5 4/5 3/5 4/5 76
14 12 63 4/5 5/5 4/5 4/5 3/5 80
15 10 53 5/5 3/5 4/5 3/5 3/5 72
Although there is another formal assessment submitted to Assessment Task 3, Part D, there is
no data available for this because the homework packet is part of a larger unit including culture
and economics and not due until after instruction on that content on the day of their unit test. I
submitted this homework packet evidence solely for the purpose of thoroughness. ]
c. Use evidence found in the 3 student work samples and the whole class summary to
analyze the patterns of learning for the whole class and differences for groups or
individual learners relative to
 facts and concepts
 inquiry, interpretation, or analysis skills
 building and supporting arguments or conclusions
Consider what students understand and do well, and where they continue to struggle
(e.g., common errors, confusions, need for greater challenge).
[ In prompt 1b above, I categorized pre-assessment questions and post-assessment
expectations into 5 general learning objectives. The first objective was for students to be familiar
with vocabulary, concepts and facts. Quantitative student results on the pre-assessment
questions related to facts and concepts, showed about 55% of the questions were answered
correctly. Results for how well I deemed students met the first learning objective (facts and
concepts) on the post-assessment project yielded 77.3% proficiency. As previously stated,
quantifying these results poses quite a challenge given the very different nature of the
assessments being compared. Therefore, it is also useful to look at qualitative differences in
learning over the course of the sequence as well.
With respect to facts and concepts, the student work samples provide a more in-depth look.
Student 1 is representative of a high achieving student, student 2 represents a mid-level student
and student 3 is a struggling learner with an IEP. All 3 student samples show clear familiarity
with vocabulary and concepts, though the range varies. Student 1, for example accurately
researches and documents all the vital population statistics demonstrating knowledge of
vocabulary and facts, demonstrates understanding of the concept of push and pull factors by
presenting relevant examples of each, and shows understanding of the concept of population
density by posting a proper thematic map and listing the most populated areas. This student
vaguely demonstrates knowledge of population distribution as evidenced by him giving a
superficial description of where people live in Canada, but neglects to explain why. This
superficial description (or in a number of cases no description at all) was a common
shortcoming observed in the whole class. Student 1 also shows solid understanding of the
concept of population growth and double time by accurately calculating his country’s growth and
by accurately producing an age structure chart.
Student 2, also does well researching and documenting population statistics, though he does
have a couple of minor inaccuracies. This was typical of the vast majority of students. Student 2
does well demonstrating understanding of the concept of push and pull factors of migration,
however the examples he uses are not necessarily the best possible or most relevant to his
particular country (Egypt). This does not match the general class pattern, as a majority of
students provided both coherent and relevant examples. Student 2 does well displaying the
population density of his country, but makes a minor error in listing off the largest cities. Virtually
all students were able to successfully demonstrate this understanding, however in a couple of
cases, students either displayed maps that were of a different geographic theme or they
conflated density with land area when listing the largest cities. Student 2’s understanding of
population distribution is not demonstrated at all, as he neglects to provide a summary of where
Egyptians live and why they live there. This is particularly puzzling because Egypt was the
specific example I used in class instruction on the subject. I assume that it is more of an
oversight of the expectations rather than a lack of knowledge of the concept. Student 2
accurately calculates his country’s doubling time as well as provides a statistically accurate age
structure chart which demonstrates knowledge of the concept of growth rates. His chart
however, uses the incorrect metric for comparison of the age categories (raw numbers instead
of percent) but the conceptual knowledge is still established.
The work sample of student 3 (IEP), as might be expected, has more misconceptions than the
average. His research and documentation of population is solid, but flawed. There are a few
missing categories, but the numbers are accurate. There were two students who did poorly in
this regard and those who did poorly had not only missing categories, but improperly labeled
categories and inaccurate or conflated statistics. Student 3 shows he understands the concept
of push and pull, but his pull examples are not very relevant to England. The entire class
understood the general concept, the only errors were in applying strong examples for their
country. Student 3 gives a relevant, but not great map of population density and he makes a
minor error in listing the largest cities demonstrating a decent understanding of the concept.
Student 3 is another example of a project that lacks a population distribution summary, and
based on the content of his whole project summary, I suspect his understanding of this concept
is very weak. Student 3 accurately calculates his country’s doubling time but it is difficult to say
the level he understands the concept because I personally led him through the process during
student independent work time. His age structure chart is accurate, but does not designate to
the viewer how the categories are measured (percent). I also personally stepped this student
through the process of creating this chart, so I suspect his understanding is somewhat lower
than the work would suggest. A little less than half of the students struggled with the age
structure chart.
Learning objectives 2, 3, and 4 are all related to inquiry and analysis of various population
phenomena. Specifically, causes, effects and rates of population growth, causes, effects, and
rates of migration, as well as causes and patterns of population distribution. As a whole, the
class as measured by the results of the pre-assessment questions repurposed to correspond
with the learning objectives, scored significantly higher upon post-assessment. The student
analysis skills for population growth rates rose from around 36% all the way up to around 79%.
This was the most significant class-wide improvement. Analysis skills regarding migration rose
from 59% to 89%. Finally, the skills of analysis regarding population density and distribution
showed a modest gain from 54% to 65%.
The causes of, and positive and negative effects of these various population phenomena are
captured in the post-assessment in a number of ways. The primary way is demonstrated in the
project summary, but in fact, the entire project is inquiry and research based. Each slide tasks
students with different ways to apply and analyze their conceptual knowledge. When compiling
an age structure chart for example, a student is not only demonstrating he understands the
concept, he or she is also analyzing the various age categories to understand the specific
growth trajectory of his country. Again, it is useful to look at specific examples from student work
samples.
In the summary, students are asked to analyze and describe all the data they compiled in their
research. Specifically, to analyze the reasons for their country’s growth or decline, to analyze
the challenges their country faces with a changing population, and to analyze the main reasons
people are emigrating or immigrating to or from that country. It was in the summary where the
widest ranges of analytical skills were manifest. Student 1 provides an example of high level
analysis. The student specifically describes the main reason for Canada’s population growth as
immigration. He then goes further to compare current growth to Canada’s historical growth
factors of native Women having more babies than they do now. Student 1 then analyzes
Canada’s population challenges and comes up with relevant and accurate examples. He cites,
ethnic tensions associated with increased diversity, the high cost of housing, and discrimination.
Finally, student 1 analyzes reasons why people are immigrating to Canada and again provides
accurate and important examples relevant to his country (free healthcare, safety, freedom etc).
This summary analysis was certainly on the high end of the class average.
When student 2 analyzes Egypt’s population growth, there are some gaps and inaccuracies. He
incorrectly describes Egypt’s growth as “slow” when in reality it is one of the faster growing
countries on Earth. He also does not flesh out the factors for growth. His analysis is speculative
rather than informed. Student 2’s analysis of population challenges is similarly speculative, but it
is a logical speculation. He applies logical reasoning to predict what would happen if the
population grew or if it receded. The only problem is this logic applies to any country and is not
specific to his own. Student 2’s analysis on migration is similarly logical, but speculative. The
summary from student 3 has very little analysis skill demonstrated at all. Beyond identifying that
England is growing slowly and a few other disconnected facts, there is not anything to go on.
Building and supporting conclusions are represented in the prediction portion of the student’s
summary page. This generally corresponds to learning objective 5 (evidence based prediction)
in which I estimated about 68% proficiency from the whole class on the post-assessment.
Student 1 makes a prediction for Canada in 50-100 years, but does not support it with any
factors. This is the only real weakness with this student’s project. Student 2 does support his
predictions, but they are generalized and again, not specific to Egypt. Student 3 made no
prediction at all. ]
d. If a video or audio work sample occurs in a group context (e.g., discussion), provide the
name of the clip and clearly describe how the scorer can identify the focus student(s)
(e.g., position, physical description) whose work is portrayed.
[ N/A ]
2. Feedback to Guide Further Learning
Refer to specific evidence of submitted feedback to support your explanations.
a. Identify the format in which you submitted your evidence of feedback for the 3 focus
students. (Delete choices that do not apply.)
 Written directly on work samples or in separate documents that were provided to the
focus students
[ Written with a stylus directly on student work samples. ]
b. Explain how feedback provided to the 3 focus students addresses their individual
strengths and needs relative to the learning objectives measured.
[ Student 1 is a high achiever. As such, the feedback needed to be at the level that will clear up
the few misconceptions while providing reinforcement of what he did well. The first learning
objective associated with the post-assessment is facts and concepts based. There was no
evidence that this student had any trouble with the domain-specific vocabulary, the important
facts or the general concepts. Therefore, my feedback focused on the learning objectives at the
analysis and supporting conclusions level. For example, on student 1’s push and pull factors
chart, I praise the student for his accurate and relevant examples. I do not merely tell him he did
well, I state what was good about them (relevance to Canada). On the same chart, I make a few
minor critiques. The student cites people speaking French in Quebec as a push factor. I infer
that the student means to say that non-French speakers would be motivated to leave Quebec
and suggest he clarify his statement in that way. On the population density and distribution
slide, student 1 neglects to supply factors for why people live where they do in Canada. My
feedback acknowledges the useful part of his summary while providing him with prompts for the
missing elements. In student 1’s summary, I acknowledge and underline the places where he
makes a good and relevant analysis. I also provide a minor critique on his word choice of “not
good” to describe the level of migration in Canada. I suggest the morally neutral term of “low”
and remind him that there can be both positive and negative factors associated with migration.
The final feedback I gave was on student 1’s summary prediction. I acknowledge that he has
made a prediction, but then prompt him to explain his reasoning and describe the factors that
would support his prediction.
Student 2 is a mid-level achiever. This student had a good understanding of facts and concepts
with a few minor exceptions. The feedback I provided for factual errors was to simply cross out
the error and provide the accurate number. His mistakes were ones more of oversight than lack
of conceptual knowledge. When the student makes a procedural error, as in the case with the
age structure chart where he uses the improper metric, my feedback acknowledges that his
metric choice is not “incorrect”, but it does not match the expectations laid out in the project
instructions. On student 2’s push and pull factors page, my feedback asks the student to clarify
vague examples. For example, the student lists “bad government” as a push factor. While this is
a valid push factor associated with Egypt, my feedback asks for specificity. In this student’s
summary, I provide a fair amount of feedback. The student incorrectly claims that Egypt’s
population is growing slowly. I not only correct his error, I provide him evidence from his own
research referencing Egypt’s doubling time. This student makes a number of unsupported
predictions and disconnected speculations in his summary. When the student is neglecting to
back up his predictions, my feedback prompts him for a rationale. I do provide positive feedback
when the student makes disconnected speculations because I want to praise his generalized
logic that demonstrates understanding of the potential cause and effects of his speculations,
even if not connected to research on his specific country.
Student 3 (IEP), is a struggling learner. As such, he has weaknesses in regard to meeting all of
the learning objectives. His research and demonstration of population facts were accurate for
the most part however. Where there were errors, I made simple correctional feedback and
where there were omissions, I pointed out the missing elements. I give the student praise for his
accurate age structure chart, while reminding him that the metric percentage should be made
clear to the viewer. His push and pull factors are conceptually accurate, but his specific
examples for the pull factors are vague and inaccurate for his country. He did very well listing
the push factors and my feedback praises him for that input while pointing out the shortcomings
of his pull examples. Many of the required elements of this project were missing from student
3’s work. For example, the population distribution summary was not provided. My feedback
alerts him to this omission and offers the appropriate prompts for how he could have
successfully summarized England’s population distribution. Student 3 is also missing the
majority of the elements needed for a complete summary analysis including an evidence based
prediction. Again, I provide the prompts that reference what would have been needed to finish
the summary. The student makes reference to British royalty and my feedback explains that this
disconnected fact is not related to population analysis. Reference to England’s slowly growing
population is the only discernible element taken from his research that he included in his
summary. Here my feedback prompts him to explain the factors that account for this and
provide him with possible answers (migration, birthrates). ]
c. Describe how you will support each focus student to understand and use this feedback
to further their learning related to learning objectives, either within the learning segment
or at a later time.
[ My feedback support for student 1 will be used to encourage him to deepen his skills of
analysis. The feedback given is generalizable to subsequent content instruction. For example,
my feedback acknowledges the strong factual support he gives to his overall summary analysis.
The feedback also points out an area for growth in supporting his conclusions. I have no doubt
that this particular student is capable of consistently reaching this standard of work. He is a hard
worker who has shown positive responses to verbal feedback in the past. My best approach
would be to verbally emphasize the importance of supporting arguments and predictions with
facts and reason.
Much of my feedback for student 2 is reminding him to pay attention to detail and pay close
attention to instructions. This student made a few errors that I feel he could have avoided if he
took the time to review his work before submitting it. Student 2 is amenable to verbal feedback
and advice and my best approach would be to remind this student (and the class generally) to
review their work closely before submitting it. This is feedback I have heretofore neglected to
do. I feel that this student is doing well in class grasping content and making logical inferences,
however he seems to struggle applying it in context to his country analysis. I suspect this may
be due to doing very little or superficial research, leaving him without much to specifically
analyze about Egypt. Therefore, my support moving forward should be directed towards raising
expectations.
Student 3 requires a lot of support. In class discussions, his contributions often miss the point or
are imperfectly expressed. This student receives significant assistance time during independent
practice but despite this, his assignments (including this one) often are turned in late. A problem
I have encountered is in getting this student to ask for help when he needs it. When I do assist
him, he often says he understands something only for me to later discover his work does not
reflect understanding. My primary support should be building trust and encouragement. This
student’s IEP allows extra time to complete assignments, and his tests are considerably
augmented from the tests the rest of the class receives. Despite these considerations, I do feel
this student has the capability to provide a summary that includes an evidence-based analysis.
My job is to ensure the student understands all the expectations. Instead of accepting his word
for it when he says he understands something, I will need to have him explicitly describe them
back to me and periodically check to see the understanding is maintained. ]
3. Evidence of Language Understanding and Use
When responding to the prompt below, use concrete examples from the video clips and/or
student work samples as evidence. Evidence from the clips may focus on one or more
students.
You may provide evidence of students’ language use from ONE, TWO, OR ALL
THREE of the following sources:
1. Use video clips from Instruction Task 2 and provide time-stamp references for
evidence of language use.
2. Submit an additional video file named “Language Use” of no more than 5
minutes in length and cite language use (this can be footage of one or more
students’ language use). Submit the clip in Assessment Task 3, Part B.
3. Use the student work samples analyzed in Assessment Task 3 and cite
language use.
a. Explain and provide concrete examples for the extent to which your students were able
to use or struggled to use the
 selected language function,

 vocabulary/symbols, AND
 discourse or syntax
to develop content understandings.
[ The language function for this lesson sequence is “examine”. As originally stated in planning
task1, to “examine” global population phenomena is to perform a detailed inspection to
recognize the patterns of growth, distribution, and movement of peoples around the world and to
determine the underlying causes. Student 1, for example exemplifies the language function as
evidenced by his thoroughness in bringing all the elements of research together in his project
summary. Student 1 performs a detailed inspection by accurately compiling all the vital
statistical data, he identifies the population growth, distribution and migratory patterns within
Canada, and most importantly, he analyzes this data to determine relevant and plausible
causes. This same examination process is required for all students’ projects. Student 2 was
able to perform an inspection, albeit less detailed, and recognized most of the patterns, but his
analysis struggled to find underlying causes. I believe this is because he did not do sufficient
research. Student 3 performed an inspection and was able to identify a few patterns such as
England’s population growth and some solid push factors of migration, but his analysis failed to
produce any underlying causes.
Domain-specific vocabulary is inserted throughout this project. Aside from the explicit usage all
students had with categorizing vital statistical data, students also demonstrate usage in context
in the summary descriptions. Student 1 demonstrates understanding of vocabulary in context in
his summary not by explicitly using the words, rather he indirectly uses synonyms such as
“migratory increase” in place of “immigration” and “natural increase and women having more
kids” in place of “birthrates”. He, as well as all students also completed a vocabulary word map
and interacted with, and verbalized the vocabulary throughout the learning sequence. Student 2
similarly uses synonyms for vocabulary terms in his summary, but also explicitly uses
“immigrate” and “emigrate” appropriately in his final paragraph. Student 3 does not provide
written vocabulary usage in his summary, but the entirety of these projects necessitates
interaction with key vocabulary and would be impossible to complete without understanding it.
The discourse of the content was communicated by means of presentation and discussion, with
supplementary video, thematic maps, and population graphs to deepen understanding.
Students were tasked to demonstrate a discourse structure similar to an age structure chart I
modeled during instruction (instructional materials 2.1 slide 7). Specifically they were to create
their own unique age structure chart based on data researched for their country. All three
student samples demonstrate an accurate representation of their respective country’s age-
group breakdown. Student 2 uses total population as the metric instead of population, but his
numbers are accurate. ]
4. Using Assessment to Inform Instruction
a. Based on your analysis of student learning presented in prompts 1b–c, describe next
steps for instruction to impact student learning:
 For the whole class
 For the 3 focus students and other individuals/groups with specific needs
Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners,
struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic
knowledge, and/or gifted students needing greater support or challenge).
[ The class did generally well in terms of understanding vocabulary, facts and concepts. I think
starting the lesson sequence by explicitly defining our terms by means of guided practice on the
word map was useful. The next step I would make to shore up factual and conceptual
understanding would be to be more thorough and consistent with informal assessments during
the learning sequence. The primary focus for the class moving forward however, should be
developing skills of analysis. Students did well identifying relevant factors of migration and
population growth, though they did struggle somewhat with density and distribution. Students
even did well describing positive and negative consequences associated with growth and
migration in a general sense. The skill that needs to be developed is in bringing the general into
focus on the specific. For example, student 2’s summary accurately describes possible positive
and negative outcomes associated with migration and growth, but he makes only vague
connections to Egypt. Only after making solid connections to specifics can this student make an
informed prediction based on facts and trends. I think a way I can improve this during instruction
is to probe deeper in my questions and give students the opportunity for self-reflection. I will
also incorporate group work and construct instruction that has students ask their own questions
to one another. Developing analytical skills will be particularly important as students move on in
the following units to specific regional analyses. The next unit starts in Western Europe and
applying the general knowledge they have gained regarding declining birthrates and migration
and refugees will need to be specifically focused when analyzing the challenges for that region.
Another step I need to take is in making expectations clearer for assigned work. There were
more instances in which I needed to personally clarify expectations on the project than I
expected. Even among higher achieving students. I described some of the supports I would
apply to student 3 (and the other focus students) in prompt 2c above. My next step for student
3, as well as the other struggling learners in my class will be one on one informal assessment
and guided instruction to develop skills of analysis at appropriate times, such as during
individual student work time or after class if needed. ]
b. Explain how these next steps follow from your analysis of the student learning. Support
your explanation with principles from research and/or theory.
[ The next step of inserting thorough and consistent informal assessments is a means of
providing students with instant feedback in a low-pressure format. Students can use my prompts
as an opportunity for self-reflection. Informal assessments have the additional advantage of
allowing me to target and focus my next steps of instruction in the moment. Informal
assessments and deepening my probing questions during instruction should help students
develop their skills of analysis as well (Marzano). My group worked planned for the next unit in
Western Europe will bring the general into the specific by focusing once again on individual
countries where students can apply population skills as well as all the other skills learned in the
first three units this year into a team-based analysis. I will carefully divide the teams to have a
cross section of high achievers and slower learners working together. This gives struggling
learners the opportunity to work with and learn from the higher achieving students while building
communication and teamwork skills (Marzano). Making expectations explicitly clear for assigned
work next step would not only help students be more successful in terms of their grades, it
would also ensure they are practicing the specific skills I am targeting. The only reason I can
think as to why several students neglected to describe their country’s distribution pattern and
relate it to geographic factors for example, is that that expectation was not made clear enough
by me and I neglected to assess student understanding of this expectation. The final step I
mentioned was being consistently available and regularly monitoring the learning of struggling
learners. This follows from Vgotsy’s zone of proximal development model as I build off what
these students can already do well and challenge them to do more. Starting with guided
instruction and ultimately leading to confidently completing assignments with less assistance. ]
Formal Post-Assessment-Population research project

First introduced at the end of lesson 2. Students had instructor guided, in-class workdays to
complete this project during the remainder of the lesson sequence. Project was due on the
last day of the lesson sequence and students were allowed to give short presentations.
My country’s population profile project
Step 1: Select a country for your report. You will have 20 countries from which to choose
(listed below). No two students should choose the same country. We will decide the order
that students get to pick based on a random drawing in class.
USA Germany France Argentina

Canada Australia Italy Egypt
Japan England (UK) South Africa Iraq
Nigeria Russia China Afghanistan
India Mexico Brazil Syria
Step 2: Using the CIA World Factbook (this will be your best resource), an atlas, and other
online resources for research, create a presentation (similar to your 5 themes of geography
project) that showcases your country’s population profile.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
Step 3: Create a slide show based on the information you have gathered in your research.
The slide show should have a total of SEVEN slides.
Slide 1- Title page: Your title page should include your country name, an image of its
flag, a map, as well as the number of its global rank in total population.
Slide 2- Vital Statistics: Your vital statistics page should include a list showing your
country’s total population and global rank, the birthrate, death rate, average life
expectancy, population growth rate, median age, the percentage of the country that is
urbanized, and the net migration rate of the country. You should also calculate your
country’s doubling time and show the results on this slide.
To calculate your country’s doubling time, you will need to reference your country’s
population growth rate (which you should already have included in your slide 2 list of
vital statistics). The simplest way to calculate the doubling time is to use the following
formula: 70/population growth rate=Doubling time. For example: a country with a
population growth rate of 1.5% would double their population in about 47.67 years
because 70 divided by 1.5 equals 46.67
Slide 3-Age Structure Chart: In this slide you will be creating a simple chart that shows
the percentage of people in your country by their different age groups. The age groups
and their percentages can be found in the CIA Factbook under the Age structure
heading.
To create a chart in keynote, tap the + on the upper right and then tap the chart icon
from that dropdown menu. Your chart should look something like this.
Age Structure
0-14
15-24
25-54
55-64
65+
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Slide 4-Push/Pull Factors: For this slide you will create two lists in a side by side
comparison (similar to the table below). The first list will show push factors (reasons why
people are leaving your country) and the second list will show pull factors (things that
attract people to move to your country). You must include at least THREE of each.
Push Factors Pull factors
1. 1.
2. 2.
Slide 5-Population Density map: For this slide, find a colorful population density map
online and insert it here. Also make a list of the THREE largest cities in your country and
a brief description of where the people in your country live (found in CIA Factbook under
population distribution).
Slide 6-Summary: In this slide you will write 1-3 paragraphs summarizing your country’s
population profile. The information you should include in your summary are the reasons
for your country’s population growth or decline, the challenges they face with the
changing population, and the reasons people are leaving and immigrating to your
country including any refugees they may have. You must also make a prediction for the
future demographic prospects of your country. What will this country’s population look
like in 50-100 years?
Slide 7-Sources: In this final slide you will list all of the online resources you used to
complete your research.
Step 4: Be prepared to present your findings to the class.
This project will be due Wednesday, October 18th before the start of class. You will
have time in class to work on your projects, so use your time wisely!
My Country Project Rubric

35 possible points
5-Above expectations 4-Meeting standard 0-3-Approaching

standard
Slide 1 Has a country Slide 1 is missing an Slide one is missing more

map, flag, and population element and but is than one element and/or
rank and attractive layout otherwise good has a sloppy layout
Slide 2 Has all 10 Slide 2 is missing 1 or Slide 2 is missing 2 or

elements of the vital fewer elements or the more elements and/or the
statistics in a logical layout doubling time is incorrectly doubling time is incorrectly
and doubling time is calculated calculated
calculated accurately
Slide 3 Age structure chart Slide 3 Age structure chart Slide 3 Age structure chart
uses an appropriate chart, is missing one or fewer is missing 2 or more age
includes all relevant age age categories or reflects categories and/or reflects
groups, and the incorrect but relevant an incorrect or
percentages are reflected metric (ie total population inappropriate metric
accurately instead of percentage)
Slide 4 Push pull table has Slide 4 Push pull table is Slide 4 Push pull table is
3 or more valid examples missing one or fewer valid missing 2 or more valid
of push and pull factors for examples of push or pull examples and/or has a
their country in a logical factors sloppy layout
layout
Slide 5 Population density Slide 5 Population density Slide 5 population density

map is colorful and easy map is somewhat difficult map is inaccurate or
to read, 3 or more of the to read or lacks color, 1 or unreadable, 2 or more of
largest cities are fewer of the 3 largest the largest cities are
accurately listed, and an cities are missing or missing or inaccurate,
accurate description of the inaccurately listed, or the and/or the population
country’s population country’s population distribution summary is
distribution is summarized distribution summary missing or has 2 or more
includes one or fewer (non significant inaccuracies
significant) inaccuracies
Slide 6 Summary has one Slide 6 summary has one Slide 6 summary has less
or more paragraphs or more paragraphs with than one paragraph and/or

referencing the country’s one or fewer of the has more than two of the
growth or decline, elements not referenced elements not referenced
population challenges they
face, reasons people are
leaving or entering the
country, refugee status
and a prediction for the
future.
Slide 7 Sources slide lists Slide 7 Sources slide lists Slide 7 Sources slide
all the online resources most of the online doesn’t list any resources
used to research and resources used to or lists inaccurate sources
complete the project research and complete the
project

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Secondary History/Social Studies

Task 3: Assessment Commentary

TASK 3: ASSESSMENT COMMENTARY

1. Analyzing Student Learning

Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 3 Objective 4 Objective 5

Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 3 Objective 4 Objective 5

Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 3 Objective 4 Objective 5

 selected language function,

Formal Post-Assessment-Population research project

USA Germany France Argentina

Push Factors Pull factors

Step 4: Be prepared to present your findings to the class.

My Country Project Rubric

5-Above expectations 4-Meeting standard 0-3-Approaching

Slide 1 Has a country Slide 1 is missing an Slide one is missing more

Slide 2 Has all 10 Slide 2 is missing 1 or Slide 2 is missing 2 or

Slide 5 Population density Slide 5 Population density Slide 5 population density

or more paragraphs or more paragraphs with than one paragraph and/or

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