Step 5
9We have the proficiency target and the “I can” goals. Now we will skip to the end of the unit and create the assessment, aka Backward design. It is so important to know where they need to go before creating lesson plans. I’ve found that it also helps me to eliminate “busy work” and the students trust that I’m preparing them for their assessment. They are more motivated to participate because it is useful, not because of a grade.
Greg Duncan and Thomas Sauer introduced me to performance assessments. Greg’s website explains it really well and has everything you will need. Give it a glance before more details.
Let’s think through an assessment for our “survival unit” about class.
What proficiency level are you targeting?
What are the learning targets and goals?
What skill and mode are you assessing?
I like to have a few options, but some unit lean more toward specific ones. I think this unit is screaming for a interpersonal speaking assessment. I got the following one from unit 4 from our district.
What is the scenario? What real life situation could apply?
I try to avoid the “you are living with a host family…” because it does not connect to them right now. So maybe the situation could be about being in the office and hearing a family struggling to understand what is needed for class. Or a new student in their English class with Ms. Rice that is having trouble with classroom procedures. Or they work at Office Depot on Outer Loop (or just looking around) and a customer needs help. These situations are possible and make them feel like they are helping too. When writing the scenario, keep it short. Add specific details to your community and a picture to give a personal touch.
What exactly are you looking for?
I am dealing with high schoolers and “clipboard learners” (tell me exactly what to do) so I like to rephrase it all to help them out. Sometimes I include graphic organizers and space to organizer their thoughts.
The next step will be creating lesson plans so we will go back to our original “idea” format. I hope the Proficiency Path is a little clearer for you now. We would love to have some feedback, thoughts, opinions, and questions if you have any to share!
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Megan
rachel573
Kara
yea! found it!
Hola! I have a question- I am trying to adapt your rubrics to my level 1A and 1B – so reading through each descriptor I came to the conclusion that many of my 1B’s can achieve intermediate mid-high but then do students who only achieve novice high or intermediate low get poor scores? How do you utilize that rubric you have on the sky drive for your level ones? do you stop at novice mid-high and grade accordingly?
Are you sure you think 1Bs can be intermediate mid-high? I am an Intermediate High/Advanced Low speaker after 15 years of Spanish. Check the intermediate description on ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. That is much more detailed than the rubric and has examples. http://actflproficiencyguidelines2012.org/
Hey Megan and Kara! Question for you guys–how do you find the time to grade each student? What are your other students doing while you are pulling students out and assessing them? Or, do you have students go in the front of the classroom and speak? Thanks!
If it is a presentational speaking, they record each other on a camera so I can grade them at my pace. If it is interpretive reading, interpretive listening, or presentational writing, they all do it at the same time. The tough one is interPERSONAL speaking. This one takes about 4 days to get through. I give them a project or we go to the computer lab and I give them a Real World homework. Then I call them up one or two at a time to have a conversation with me.
Thanks so much for your help! I will be giving them their first presentational writing and speaking assessments this week in Spanish I! It will be my first time using the ACTFL rubrics to evaluate them. I also noticed your comment from above; based on the rubrics that you are using it says that Spanish level III students should be able to achieve “intermediate high” by the end of 3B. Yet, you say that after 15 years of Spanish you believe you are at this level? Now I feel like I may be assessing too easily when I do the assessing. I know that in college my professors used ACTFL to assess us and we could not pass out of the teaching program unless we were at “Advanced Low.” I guess my confusion is, how can level 3 students get to that level if you believe you are at that level after 15 years?
The Level 3 goal is intermediate mid for us. Something to understand about the levels is that it is like an ice cream cone. The bottom fills quickly, it doesn’t take much to achieve it. As you go higher, it takes longer to fill it. Also it depends on the topic. If you asked me to talk about a rugby game, I’d go down on the rubric because I don’t have the correct vocabulary. Ask me about volleyball and I’ll talk your ear off! So once learners hit the higher intermediate levels, they now have to learn how maintain this on a variety of topics (tons of specific vocab needed).
I’d love to hear how your assessments go!! The MOPI training I took really helped me to understand proficiency.
Thanks for the advice! Which MOPI training did you attend? I googled it and found that there are a few different sessions. I’m not even sure if I would be able to get someone to provide a training for me, though, because I am the only language teacher in my district. How many people were at the training that you went to? I am going to look into trying to organize a training with other language teachers in my vicinity that would be interested in learning more about the proficiency levels in depth. The ice cream cone metaphor really helps me to better understand what it takes to achieve a certain proficiency level. However, if your assessment for a level 3 student is part of a medical unit, for example, if the student knows all the necessary vocabulary to interact on an interpersonal assessment, and does that confidently, wouldn’t that student be at an intermediate mid-high level? How do you really measure if the student knows “enough” vocabulary to be at that level? Is it wrong to assume, then, that most students are at novice level for quite a while?
Tough questions! I don’t think I can easily answer them without some examples and a lengthy explanation. Have you read the ACTFL proficiency guideline descriptions? They would answer that. Yes, They are at a novice level for at least the first 2 years. I’m still learning how to alter my teaching to push them appropriately. About the MOPI, many state conferences are offering that training as an extra workshop option. I suggest that you find a world language supervisor (district or state level) and ask about your options. I went to one that had about 15 people from all over my state.