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Assessment of Student Learning Artifact 1
Name of Artifact: General Observation
Date: Fall 2003
Course: FL 694
Rationale:
The following artifact is the observation of a class that I substitute taught.
It was a large Current Issues class, and the day I was there a student presented to the class a story that they had all read.
I thought that this was a great way to assess each student who was to give a presentation as well as the rest of the class
because they are responsible for contributing to the discussion. The student who gives the presentation has to understand
the story very well. In addition, they must have a good understanding of the vocabulary in the story so that they can
explain it to the rest of the class. The others must also have read the story thoroughly enough so that
they can talk about it.
I'm fond of this type of assessment because it requires students
to communicate in an authentic manner. In this task they are delivering information to the class. Also, it is important
information for them because at the end of the presentation, the entire class takes a quiz on the story. So the presentation
gives the class an opportunity to have answered any questions that they encountered in reading the story.
During this type of assessment, students also have an opportunity to practice
their communication skills. The teacher can see how their language is progressing by the way that questions are asked
and answered. Additionally, the pace of the discussion falls in the laps of not just the presenter, but of all.
In this class period, the students sat in a circle so that they could all face each other, thus making converstion more realistic
and personal.
Assessment of Student Learning Artifact 2
Name of Artifact: Journal entry for Practicum
Date: Fall 2003
Course: FL 694
Rationale:
This is perhaps an unusual artifact for this standard but I chose it because
it addresses differences in the moral beliefs between cultures and how we as teachers assess students who are culturally diverse.
This artifact is my reaction to a reading that I did for the Practicum. The question regarded the moral position of
teachers versus that of students. It touches on the fact that teachers do not take moral stances in the classroom, but
that students are often asked to.
When we assess our learners, we are also teaching them how to assess.
I feel that it is important to teach them to assess in an open-minded and non-judgemental manner. If we teach many cultures
in the classroom, and relate the morals and beliefs held in the these cultures through folk stories and art, then we are helping
our students to adapt a well-rounded perspective.
Several questions arose when I answered the question in this artifact.
Most importantly, "How do we ensure that we are not assessing our learners from our own moral/cultural standards?" Perhaps
one solution to this problem is to make our classrooms learner-centered. Can we assess our students by their own standards?
This artifact opened my eyes to assessment in a new light. I will strive
to keep these questions in mind with each new group of students I have in the future. Perhaps a way to start each year
would be get learners thinking about how they asses day-to-day encounters now, and to compare their answers with their classmates
to get everyone thinking globally from the beginning.
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