Brief Assessment Plan for a Unit of Study

Topic: Creating an Aboriginal Legend (Humanities/Grade 8) Student Teacher: Jim Parker

Big Ideas: Language and text can be a source of creativity and joy.

Core Competency:

Personal Awareness and Responsibility: self-regulation: I can persevere with challenging tasks
Creative Thinking: developing ideas: I make my ideas work or I change what I am doing. I build the
skills I need to make my ideas work, even if it takes a few tries.

Curricular Competency:
Recognize how literary elements, techniques, and devices enhance and shape meaning
Use and experiment with oral storytelling processes
Recognize and appreciate the role of story, narrative, and oral tradition in expressing First Peoples
perspectives, values, beliefs, and points of view

Content:
Story/text: forms, functions, and genres of text
Strategies and processes: oral language strategies
Language features, structures, and conventions: features of oral language
Elements of style

Learning Activities/Assignments:
For learning activities, it centered on creative writing tasks that would match the different sections of
the criteria drawn up by the class after watching examples of Aboriginal Legends. These would be
formative assessments helping to build up students proficiency in each aspect of the final summative
task. Running parallel to this, and depending on the group, there would be a series of Tickets out the
door assessing which areas were less understood than others. This results of this examination would
inform what the focus, and/or area of revision would needed for the following day. For the summative
assignment, the students would according to the criteria they helped to construct, write and perform
their own Aboriginal Legend.

***Please see assessment tools provided with this plan.

Brief Assessment Plan for a Unit of Study

Diagnostic Assessment Details

In what ways will I find out what students prior skills, understandings and misconceptions are about
the topic?

Beginning of unit:
Do students know what a legend is? This will be structured around an Individual-pair share-class
discussion. Individuals will start off by responding to the general question, What is a legend? by
writing their responses on either a piece of paper and/or a post on their Google Classroom. This
achieves two things. On a micro-qualitative level, individual written responses will be collected and
analysed in order to ascertain which students will need to be more closely monitored and their
conceptual understanding tested. On a macro-level, it gives a general indication of both how the class
as a whole feels about the subject, and how to re-organise the seating plan based upon how many
students show
Beginning of lessons:
Mind Map (or alternatives)
Drawing upon previous experiences of creating a Mind-Map that was a part of their assessment. what
they know about an element of the criteria we explored in a previous lesson. Based on my
experiences, any opportunity to test the students knowledge gained from the previous days learning
reaps dividends. This initialising of prior information would not strictly be restricted to Mind-Maps,
but would be differentiated depending on the needs of the class. For example, this would be assessed
on an informal basis. If the students started to show signs of frustration with the Mind-Maps, then the
format will be changed.

Formative Assessment Details

In what ways will I use formative assessment to support learning throughout the instructional
sequence? How can I use the Performance Standards and the 6 Big AFL strategies to help me to do
this?

Exit slips/ticket out the door

This is a confidential piece of writing comprised of a question and an action plan. One of the key
factors that was an issue in my last practicum was that students did not know how to self-manage their
progress. Giving them an actionable plan that has the potential to focus the speed of their learning,
and/or assignment completion will reap dividends. Along with the opportunity to ask a question (e.g
An I wonder), this could also bring the teachers attention to some problems/concepts which some
students may be struggling with.

Mix and match

Students are given a mixed up story in which they have to put into the correct order according to the
conventions of Aboriginal Legend narratives. This is based on a reasonable anticipation the students
will have some problems with form. As stated in the Performance Standards for Literary Writing,
form is a key part of assessment. Both practicing and reinforcing this supports the students learning
up until their final summative assessment.

Summative Assessment Details

How will I evaluate whether or not students have achieved the learning intentions/outcomes?-
consider a balance of representations of learning- write/say/do

Oral presentation of their own legend

Within the context of the Aboriginal World View the students have been exploring, they are required
to present their story orally. This can be done in two separate ways. Firstly, the students may simply
present their story using performative aspects and/or pictures to give depth. Secondly, the students
could create a presentation using a digital medium such as Biteable or Moovly. However, the student
must speak during the performance regardless if it is live or not.

Written hard/copy of their own legend

In synchronisation with the oral presentation of their legend, students must also produce a hard copy.
The rationale behind this being that those students who are still developing their oral presentation
skills will be given a different way in which to hone/exhibit their presentation skills in another way.
 Furthermore, is also provides another resource from which summative assessment can be more
effectively balanced.

Reporting to parents
The summative assessment will be marked according to a rubric. The completed rubric will be
recorded on Google Classroom and the information will be forwarded to their parents.

Rubric

Humanities 8 Rubric 2016

Extending Applying Developing Beginning

Snapshot The story is The story is direct and The story is an

expressive, featuring The story is clear and complete, with some attempt at the
some engaging ideas logical; develops a detail, although ideas required type but is
or language. Form theme, central idea, or are not fully seriously flawed by
and style help to problem with some developed, and parts problems in logic,
develop and enhance detail. Uses the are flawed by errors. style, and mechanics.
meaning; some required form. Attempts required May be very short.
emotional impact form.
Meaning - Creates a story with - Creates a - Relatively simple, - Creates a story
ideas and some complexity, straightforward story; concrete story; often around a very simple
information originality, and may feature some predictable, with parts and direct idea; may
creative development complexity or modelled on other be very short,
use of
- Uses detail and originality works illogical, or based on
detail
description to develop - Uses detail and - Some detail and another work
development setting, characters, description to develop description to develop -Little relevant detail
events, images, setting, characters, setting, characters, and description to
themes events, and images events, and images; develop characters,
- Sense of audience; - Some sense of development is events, and images
creates an emotional audience uneven - Little sense of
impact or makes a -Limited sense of audience; may include
-Ideas and language
point audience; focuses on inappropriate material
have some impact
form rather than
impact

Style -Flows smoothly; -Words are not -Basic words -Uses words
clarity -Uses a variety of overused -Words are too incorrectly
variety sentence types and -Thoughtful word repetitive -Short, lumpy
lengths effectively choice -Little sentence sentences
impact of
language -Language is varied -Uses a variety of variety -Rambling sentences
and often precise sentence types & -Little individuality -No individuality
-May play with lengths
language -Noticeable
individuality
Form -Engaging beginning - Beginning introduces -Beginning describes - Beginning does not
title reveals the story problem, characters; the problem or establish the problem
problem and tries to engage situation and or situation
beginning
introduces the - Generally predictable introduces the main - Series of weakly
middle character(s) character(s)
events are believable connected events
end -Develops conflict within story context -Story develops without a clear
organization through events that through a series of problem or resolution
- Ending is logical
transitions are believable within related events; the - Ending is often
- Characters are partly
paragraphing story context connections among abrupt and may be
revealed through their
-Ending is plausible; some events may be illogical
words and behaviour;
may be surprising, unclear
they may be somewhat -Characters are
humorous stereotypical - Ending often seems identified; description
-Characters have forced or unlikely tends to focus on
-Dialogue may add to
some individuality, plot, characterization - Characters are physical traits
revealed by what they described; stereotypic -Needed dialogue is
do and say -Often overuses or often omitted or
-Dialogue may add underuses dialogue confusing
interest and develop
plot and character