Rationale for My Thinking
I began my unit with the topic Macbeth as it was a unit I will be teaching this semester. From there I decided on two or three goals that I wanted the studnts to achieve. This was later refined to just two as I felt three was too ambitious and two really good ones would be just as effective. I develop my unit plan around the big ideas of : theme and dramatic representation. When conceiving the unit plan I explored different GLO and SLO I thought could be achieved in this unit according to the Senior 3 ELA curriculu document. After carefully drafting a list of outcomes I began to contemplate how I might assess these benchmarks. In reading Anne Davies Making Classroom Assessment Work as well as viewing video from the teaching channel "New Teacher Survival Guide: Planning" I decided to root my unit plan on three pillars of assessment. I would develop a summative assessment for end of the unit that would incorporate most of the learning and comprehension of the play. Within the unit, I would develop two additional formative assessment as a means to check for understanding and learning.
Based on Davies model (p.53) "Triangulation of Evidence" I was hoping to create situations where there would be observation, conversation and product or artifacts of learning. Before any of this could transpire it was essential to evaluate where my students existed in their knowledge. The Jeopardy game at the beginning would be a light way to test and refresh students memory on Shakespeare and his time. It would also help me formulate an idea of students who may be more quiet or quiet vibrant. This would be important later in the unit when grouping students. The second activating exercise is called the 32-second Macbeth. This exercise will get students up out of the desks and interact with the text. It is a light way to start with dramatically representing the text(as this is one of my goals for the unit). It also serves to disarm students with the language as the quotes are short and there are only fifteen lines. Once more this is an opportunity to test whether students understand Shakespeare and how much they may know about Macbeth already. It also presents an opportunity for students to make predictions about the play.
As developed more of my unit I came to realize I was using a lot of different media to give students varying looks at the material I wanted to teach. This led me to decide to incorporate a website(Weebly.com) to host my unit plan. This website better housed the different components I hoped to achieve in this plan.
My summative assessment would take the form of an electronic portfolio in the shape of a student website connected to the class website. They would populate their website with artifacts created throughout the unit. They would have to chose only certain pieces abd would be permitted to revise one of their marked pieces for resubmission in the portfolio. I wanted this to allow students to think about their work beyond the initial hand-in. I wanted them to take their work back and start to think how it could be even better. This is part of my own personal learning outcome where I was hoping to have the learning stretch beyond the lesson in the classroom or when the test gets handed back. The portfolio was a way for students to take a second look at their work with a critical eye and revise.
Another important aspect of the portfolio was to make clear of the expectations of the project. Again a website would help make this achievable. By posting on an open access website, students would have access to this information whenever they wanted after we discussed the details of the rubric. Discussing the rubric up front would be key to their understanding and learning. It would be at this point where I could amend the rubric if necessary according to the academic needs of my whole class. I could determine if certain learners in my class may need to do modified versions of the portfolio. I could also determine if certain gifted students would want to extend their portfolio past the basic outline. Doing this at the beginning allows me some fudge room to accommodate various learning needs.
Now that I established a portfolio as my summative assessment I required my formative assessment to complement it. I had thought two would be enough but realized that it would require more to make sure students were indeed understanding the complex themes and dramatic representations of Macbeth. I conceived of five elements trying to vary their focus and nature. The first features a film adaption critique. This is a lead-in to other assessment when students will have to do their own adaption. It is a soft assessment to start with and leaves room to scaffold their learning as the play continues. Working in pairs helps students collaborate in their viewing to better articukate difefrences in the two films of Macbeth. It is as pairs they can also form new ideas and explore new perspectives. This is where Davies talks about using observation in the classroom to establish student's understanding or not.
The journals are another formative tool I used to help produce artifacts or products. By having them post one of their journal entries on their own website this extends their audience beyond teacher-student. This is influenced by what I read in the ITL document with having students reach beyond the classroom with their work. This would be evident again when posting their videos or displaying their collages and eventually creating their websites.
The collage was a formative tool to help appeal to various learners, especially those that may be more artistic. This exercise allows varying efforts that will meet the rubric I created for it. I added an oral component as so that students could reflect and assess their own work to their peers. It is from such feedback from peers that students can focus on what they may or may not change in their work. It also helps students construct 21st Century skills present in the real world. Presenting ideas, especially your own, is a part of our capitalist society. Even at the basic level, we are selling ourselves when we walk into a workplace for employment. This skilled communication is also a part of the ITL document.
My fourth formative assessment required small group work. I wanted my students to extend their thinking past the regular text but in a more authentic way in which they derived it and not just from me. A webquest seemed like an effective way to accomplish this task. Using a template I found at Questgarden.com I was able to construct a simple exercise for students to connect themes of Macbeth to modern world. The oral presentation would be part of collaboration and communication.
The last formative assessemnt was the dramatic re-interpretation. This woud be a more complex activity and is why it is last. By this time they would have seen examples in class and in their research from previous assignments. They would have participated in Act It Out exercises in class to help them get a feel of what was need in a dramatic reenactment. This last assessment wold use more ICT with the use of digital camera and YouTube as a medium for their work. It would be a piece that would require planning and the reason why I included the written compnent as to monitor progress of each group. This exercise would require in-class assessment using tools such as the fist to five technique in how they progressing. It is a great assessment as it uses all three of elements of triangulation of evidence: observation, conversation and product. A part that I would add to this assessment would be to have them fill out an exit slip on the project and assess how they felt they did. Have them assess their peers in the group and what may have they done differently. Even perhaps have them give themselves a mark on how they did as an individual and as a group.
The rest of my website contains ideas and lessons to help students acquire the necessary knowledge for their learning. As outlined in my unit overview, i would give students varying looks at the material and try to present varying perspectives such as the Japanese version of Macbeth or Act It Out.
The final assessment would be in havng students reflect on their portfolis and what they learnt through the experience. This can be done both as a written piece or as a class discussion in my mind. A class discussion would certainly make the students want to continue creating...one of my personal learning goals!
I have spent more detail in developing some of the assessments such as the collage but for others I left undeveloped due time constraint. In the end I found this porject to be exciting and exhilirating. It was mentally exhausting trying to incorporate all aspects of learning and assessment while maintaining the set goals of the unit and my own persoanl goals. I loved the website as a medium and I am glad I used it. A paper document just seemed...well...two dimensional. If there is anything I learnt about this assignment, learning is far from being two dimensonal.
Based on Davies model (p.53) "Triangulation of Evidence" I was hoping to create situations where there would be observation, conversation and product or artifacts of learning. Before any of this could transpire it was essential to evaluate where my students existed in their knowledge. The Jeopardy game at the beginning would be a light way to test and refresh students memory on Shakespeare and his time. It would also help me formulate an idea of students who may be more quiet or quiet vibrant. This would be important later in the unit when grouping students. The second activating exercise is called the 32-second Macbeth. This exercise will get students up out of the desks and interact with the text. It is a light way to start with dramatically representing the text(as this is one of my goals for the unit). It also serves to disarm students with the language as the quotes are short and there are only fifteen lines. Once more this is an opportunity to test whether students understand Shakespeare and how much they may know about Macbeth already. It also presents an opportunity for students to make predictions about the play.
As developed more of my unit I came to realize I was using a lot of different media to give students varying looks at the material I wanted to teach. This led me to decide to incorporate a website(Weebly.com) to host my unit plan. This website better housed the different components I hoped to achieve in this plan.
My summative assessment would take the form of an electronic portfolio in the shape of a student website connected to the class website. They would populate their website with artifacts created throughout the unit. They would have to chose only certain pieces abd would be permitted to revise one of their marked pieces for resubmission in the portfolio. I wanted this to allow students to think about their work beyond the initial hand-in. I wanted them to take their work back and start to think how it could be even better. This is part of my own personal learning outcome where I was hoping to have the learning stretch beyond the lesson in the classroom or when the test gets handed back. The portfolio was a way for students to take a second look at their work with a critical eye and revise.
Another important aspect of the portfolio was to make clear of the expectations of the project. Again a website would help make this achievable. By posting on an open access website, students would have access to this information whenever they wanted after we discussed the details of the rubric. Discussing the rubric up front would be key to their understanding and learning. It would be at this point where I could amend the rubric if necessary according to the academic needs of my whole class. I could determine if certain learners in my class may need to do modified versions of the portfolio. I could also determine if certain gifted students would want to extend their portfolio past the basic outline. Doing this at the beginning allows me some fudge room to accommodate various learning needs.
Now that I established a portfolio as my summative assessment I required my formative assessment to complement it. I had thought two would be enough but realized that it would require more to make sure students were indeed understanding the complex themes and dramatic representations of Macbeth. I conceived of five elements trying to vary their focus and nature. The first features a film adaption critique. This is a lead-in to other assessment when students will have to do their own adaption. It is a soft assessment to start with and leaves room to scaffold their learning as the play continues. Working in pairs helps students collaborate in their viewing to better articukate difefrences in the two films of Macbeth. It is as pairs they can also form new ideas and explore new perspectives. This is where Davies talks about using observation in the classroom to establish student's understanding or not.
The journals are another formative tool I used to help produce artifacts or products. By having them post one of their journal entries on their own website this extends their audience beyond teacher-student. This is influenced by what I read in the ITL document with having students reach beyond the classroom with their work. This would be evident again when posting their videos or displaying their collages and eventually creating their websites.
The collage was a formative tool to help appeal to various learners, especially those that may be more artistic. This exercise allows varying efforts that will meet the rubric I created for it. I added an oral component as so that students could reflect and assess their own work to their peers. It is from such feedback from peers that students can focus on what they may or may not change in their work. It also helps students construct 21st Century skills present in the real world. Presenting ideas, especially your own, is a part of our capitalist society. Even at the basic level, we are selling ourselves when we walk into a workplace for employment. This skilled communication is also a part of the ITL document.
My fourth formative assessment required small group work. I wanted my students to extend their thinking past the regular text but in a more authentic way in which they derived it and not just from me. A webquest seemed like an effective way to accomplish this task. Using a template I found at Questgarden.com I was able to construct a simple exercise for students to connect themes of Macbeth to modern world. The oral presentation would be part of collaboration and communication.
The last formative assessemnt was the dramatic re-interpretation. This woud be a more complex activity and is why it is last. By this time they would have seen examples in class and in their research from previous assignments. They would have participated in Act It Out exercises in class to help them get a feel of what was need in a dramatic reenactment. This last assessment wold use more ICT with the use of digital camera and YouTube as a medium for their work. It would be a piece that would require planning and the reason why I included the written compnent as to monitor progress of each group. This exercise would require in-class assessment using tools such as the fist to five technique in how they progressing. It is a great assessment as it uses all three of elements of triangulation of evidence: observation, conversation and product. A part that I would add to this assessment would be to have them fill out an exit slip on the project and assess how they felt they did. Have them assess their peers in the group and what may have they done differently. Even perhaps have them give themselves a mark on how they did as an individual and as a group.
The rest of my website contains ideas and lessons to help students acquire the necessary knowledge for their learning. As outlined in my unit overview, i would give students varying looks at the material and try to present varying perspectives such as the Japanese version of Macbeth or Act It Out.
The final assessment would be in havng students reflect on their portfolis and what they learnt through the experience. This can be done both as a written piece or as a class discussion in my mind. A class discussion would certainly make the students want to continue creating...one of my personal learning goals!
I have spent more detail in developing some of the assessments such as the collage but for others I left undeveloped due time constraint. In the end I found this porject to be exciting and exhilirating. It was mentally exhausting trying to incorporate all aspects of learning and assessment while maintaining the set goals of the unit and my own persoanl goals. I loved the website as a medium and I am glad I used it. A paper document just seemed...well...two dimensional. If there is anything I learnt about this assignment, learning is far from being two dimensonal.