As I plan my lessons each week and think about what I want my students to get out of the reading and the activities we do each day, I am constantly laboring over how to assess what they are learning. I know that there should be occasional quizzes to check for reading comprehension and to make sure they are playing attention in class. I also want to make sure that my students are writing so that I can see if they are able to express their thoughts and communicate their ideas through writing. And finally, I want there to be a variety of activities with group and independent work so that there is room for students to be creative while still displaying their understanding of material.
When I try to design these assessments, I worry about if my questions are too easy or too hard, if I am assessing something that has been taught or discussed in class, and if my assignments are clear and have detail instructions. For a quiz, I often find myself agonizing over how to balance comprehension questions with analysis questions, and whether these questions are too easy or too difficult. As I read Hamlet with the 12th grade class, I want to include some comprehension based questions to make sure that they understand Shakespeare’s language and the progression of events in the play, but I know that they are at the level where they should be making thematic connections and more closely analyzing the structure and word choices.
For this class I also want my students to write often. I want to be able to see that they can convey their thoughts and questions in writing. Again, I worry about whether a writing prompt is to simple or if I want to assess something we have not discussed in class very much.
Designing an assessment can be a difficult process, but I also wonder how to assign point values to these tests, quizzes, projects, and essays. What determines how much an assignment is worth? This is something I have struggled with because I feel that I do not have a full understanding what different components make up a student’s grade and how much each component should be worth. If I try to give a point value to a quiz, it feels like I am assigning an arbitrary number.
I am in the process of designing a quiz based on Act I and II of Hamlet that I will give my students next week, and I am considering all of these different factors as I create the questions. I know that there are certain themes that we discuss frequently, so I would include a question based on that, but then perhaps have the students also make a connection to another aspect of the play. There are also many different characters, that some of the students confuse as we read, so I would include a more straightforward comprehension questions asking about characters relationships. I want them all to do well on the quiz, but I do not want to unintentionally make the questions easier just so they all get good grades.
Assessment is partly based on knowing your students and what they need to learn, what they need more practice with, and what will serve them best in the future.
When I try to design these assessments, I worry about if my questions are too easy or too hard, if I am assessing something that has been taught or discussed in class, and if my assignments are clear and have detail instructions. For a quiz, I often find myself agonizing over how to balance comprehension questions with analysis questions, and whether these questions are too easy or too difficult. As I read Hamlet with the 12th grade class, I want to include some comprehension based questions to make sure that they understand Shakespeare’s language and the progression of events in the play, but I know that they are at the level where they should be making thematic connections and more closely analyzing the structure and word choices.
For this class I also want my students to write often. I want to be able to see that they can convey their thoughts and questions in writing. Again, I worry about whether a writing prompt is to simple or if I want to assess something we have not discussed in class very much.
Designing an assessment can be a difficult process, but I also wonder how to assign point values to these tests, quizzes, projects, and essays. What determines how much an assignment is worth? This is something I have struggled with because I feel that I do not have a full understanding what different components make up a student’s grade and how much each component should be worth. If I try to give a point value to a quiz, it feels like I am assigning an arbitrary number.
I am in the process of designing a quiz based on Act I and II of Hamlet that I will give my students next week, and I am considering all of these different factors as I create the questions. I know that there are certain themes that we discuss frequently, so I would include a question based on that, but then perhaps have the students also make a connection to another aspect of the play. There are also many different characters, that some of the students confuse as we read, so I would include a more straightforward comprehension questions asking about characters relationships. I want them all to do well on the quiz, but I do not want to unintentionally make the questions easier just so they all get good grades.
Assessment is partly based on knowing your students and what they need to learn, what they need more practice with, and what will serve them best in the future.