Sheridan Blair

Teaching and Learning 409

May 2, 2016

Final Project
Part I.

Grade level 5th grade

Subject History
Unit Title + Subtopics - Biography
- Creativity
- Design
- Historical figure

Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this lesson students will be able to:
- demonstrate their understanding of a historical figure's life
- create their own version of a creative biography using their
choice of a collage, scrapbook, or painting.
- show why they admire their chosen historical figure through their
own use of collage, scrapbook, or painting.

Part II: Summative Authentic Assessment:

My authentic assessment for my 5th grade students would be done using projects/exhibitions as
well as demonstrations. Through projects and exhibitions students are able to complete a project
in the content area, which is history, and they can be scored with a rubric or rating scale
(OMalley & Pierce, 1996). Within my authentic assessment specifically, students will create a
biography of a significant historical figurebut it wont be your typical essay-type biography.
Instead of having students write an essay, they will be expected to create a biography using their
choice of a collage, scrapbook, or painting. This way students are able to go about completing
their project the way they want to, and they can be more creative with it. For example, students
can cut and glue pictures from a magazine or newspaper together, they can cut out quotes about
the person, cut out pictures, they can create a timeline of that persons life, etc.

Obviously my students wouldnt be expected to do this all on their own without learning about it
in class first, so for a two week period we will walk through the history unity (pertaining to
historical figures) together. I will begin by having a class discussion about famous people, and I
will ask the class about who some of their favorite famous people are. Students will raise their
hands and I will write famous peoples names on the board. After the discussion I will go more
in depth each day talking about important civil rights activists, famous musicians, actors,
political leaders, etc. Students will be allowed to pick their own historical figure to create a
biography about, so long as they are able to explain why that person is so important to them.
Part III: Checklist with Evaluative Criteria and a Rating Scale:

Assignment directions (for students): Students, for this assessment you will be creating your own
biography, how exciting! You get to pick who your favorite person in history iswhether that be
a president, a leader, a womens rights activist, a civil rights activist, a musician, an actor, etc
and you get to create a biography about them! Your job is to create a biography in a different
way than you have before: through a collage, scrapbook, or painting. You get to be creative with
this assessment, but the important part is that you find a way to show why this person in history
is so important to you. If you are unable to show or symbolize their importance to you through
your collage, scrapbook, or painting then you are allowed to write a 5-7 sentence excerpt
explaining why this person inspires you but you are still required to create a collage, scrapbook,
or painting.

Your collage, scrapbook, or painting must include the following:

- Name and place of birth

- Early childhood
- How they have impacted history
- Why they are important to you/ how they inspire you
- Picture (not necessary but recommended)

Grading Rubric:

4 Exemplary
- Students biography shows creativity and it is obvious why this student chose their
historical figure to learn more about. All of the components are included and the
assignment is complete.

3 Good Quality
- Students creativity is evident in their collage/scrapbook and most of the components are
included, but you can still see why the student admires this person so much.
2 Satisfactory
- Student applied themselves and created a satisfactory biography including most of the
components but cant quite tell why they chose this personstill a good job though.
1 Not There Yet
- Student put very little effort into their collage and has room to improve on.
0 Incomplete
- Student did not turn in their biography.
Part IV: Justification:

Within this assessment I have chosen history of significant people as the topic because

its important for students to be aware of the important people in history. Since there are so many

people to choose from, I think its important to allow students to do their project on a significant

historical person of their choice. More specifically, allowing them to make a biography on

someone who inspires them allows them to think and reflect about why that person is so

important to them. For example, maybe the student wants to be like that person. Exposing

students to historical figures at a young age allows them to be optimistic about their future;

learning about people who started from nothing and worked for everything they had. The

purpose is for students to find someone they admire and learn more about that person. Hopefully

the students will be able to learn something from this assignment that will be able to motivate

them to be whoever they want to be when they grow up. My standards for ELLs include: being

able to express an opinion about a familiar topic (historical figure), and be able to give reason

supporting their opinion; that opinion being why they chose their historical figure.

The learning objectives will be assessed through the students choice of collage, painting,

or scrapbook. Students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of a historical figure's life

by creating their own version of a creative biography using their choice of a collage, scrapbook,

or painting. They will then show why they admire their chosen historical figure through their

own use of collage, scrapbook, or painting. My assessment is authentic because they arent

creating a biography through the normal use of a standard essay; they have more freedom with

this project because they get to decide how they want to go about their biography and they get to

choose who they want it to be about. Since students are allowed to choose their own historical

figure, it is more personalized so it is far to both ELLs and native English speaker students. The

knowledge gained is definitely transferable to the real world because theyre learning about real
life people. The assessment is extremely reliable because its not being graded like a normal

testits being graded more on the students performance. Grading the assessment based on the

students performance is more beneficial and reliable than grading subjectively (OMalley &

Pierce, 1996). Content validity is also prevalent within this authentic assessment because

students are thinking critically about who they want to select as their favorite historical figure

that inspires them. The assessment is also valid based on the curriculum because it relates back

to history and the objectives relate to the curriculum. When the objectives dont really relate

back to the assessment, curriculum validity is low and its difficult for students to achieve

maximum learning results (OMalley & Pierce, 1996). This is why I wanted to make sure my

assessment would have curriculum validity as well as content validity.

I wanted my assignment to be graded more on the students application of themselves.

Giving standardized tests isnt beneficial towards all of the students because they dont allow

students to show what theyve learned. Having students create a biography allows them to show

what they have learned and apply themselves. My grading rubric is reliable because it allows for

any student to receive a high grade so long as they follow the directions. This authentic

assessment is intended for students to actually gain something from the assignment, rather than

stress about it.

Part V: Self-Evaluation

Criteria Yes/No?
Completeness 1. Defines
a. Grade level Yes
b. Content Yes
c. Unit title Yes
d. At least 4 subtopics Yes
e. Objectives Yes
2. A summative authentic assessment Yes
3. A clear grading tool Yes
4. A justification in an essay format with Yes
support from the literature and a reference
list
5. A complete self-evaluation form Yes
6. All assignment components completed and Yes
submitted on time in the correct place

Content 1. Unit is appropriate to grade level and Yes

based on standards Yes
2. The subtopics clearly relate to the unit Yes
3. Objectives are specific and measurable Yes
4. Assessment is authentic, realistic, asks
students to perform the learned
knowledge and skills, and is tied to real-
world contents
5. A reliable grading tool with clear Yes
evaluative criteria and a rating scale
6. Justification is thorough, reflective, and Yes
refers to/cite the readings at least 3 times
7. A complete self-evaluation form Yes

Quality 1. Content is clear, easy to read and Yes

understand, and error free
2. Follows APA style correctly; in-text Yes
citation and reference list
Reference List

OMalley, J. M., & Pierce, L. V. (1996). Authentic assessment for English language learners:

Practical approaches for teachers. New York, NY: Addison-Wesley.