I used to get stuck in a trap of only assessing student writing through larger pieces. While we still do write bigger pieces, I don't put all my eggs in one basket anymore. For one, a missing larger piece ended up being a catastrophe for the student.
Here's what I do now.
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Here's what I do now.
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Big picture: I collect as many data points as I can to help me paint a picture of each student's understanding.
While I used to only focus on the end product, now I assess different levels.
I lean on tech and some auto-grading to minimize the burden.
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While I used to only focus on the end product, now I assess different levels.
I lean on tech and some auto-grading to minimize the burden.
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To start off, target the skill you're focusing on. We're currently focused on body paragraphs, specifically thinking about structure in our writing.
To start, I usually have an EdPuzzle video with a combo of multiple choice and short response questions. This helps me...
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To start, I usually have an EdPuzzle video with a combo of multiple choice and short response questions. This helps me...
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Get a sense of the remember/understand levels of thinking.
On that same level, I use Quizizz to gather an additional data-point on this level. For this, I'm simply looking at whether or not they actually understand what good structure could include.
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On that same level, I use Quizizz to gather an additional data-point on this level. For this, I'm simply looking at whether or not they actually understand what good structure could include.
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Again, these first two are mostly auto-graded, so the only work I have to do at this point is record and analyze the data to see what we need.
The second step I usually use is some sort of evaluative process. I give students multiple examples, and they...
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The second step I usually use is some sort of evaluative process. I give students multiple examples, and they...
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Work together in groups to discuss which is the best example. My goal is that there's a lot of gray area in this to allow room for true disagreement and collaboration of ideas.
Then, each student individually selects which one they think is the best and tells me why.
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Then, each student individually selects which one they think is the best and tells me why.
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This gives me another data point, but now we're taking the background knowledge and applying it to examples to evaluate them.
Now I do have to manually grade, but the short responses are quick to grade and still give me evidence.
Here's an example: docs.google.com/document/d/1Ie…
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Now I do have to manually grade, but the short responses are quick to grade and still give me evidence.
Here's an example: docs.google.com/document/d/1Ie…
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The next step I take is often to provide targeted practice. Instead of having them focus on writing a full piece, I give them something that has an outline or other paragraphs done, and they just try to add the piece we're working on.
Example: docs.google.com/document/d/1FZ…
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Example: docs.google.com/document/d/1FZ…
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This (A) lessens the grading burden by not having to focus on a whole piece, but (B) it also helps to isolate the skill to ensure that's the actual data I'm getting. When you ask students to engage in comprehensive writing, it's possible another factor might be...
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impacting other areas. For example, if a student is struggling to gather research, their ability to incorporate evidence in their writing will be impacted. My aim is to provide a controlled environment to isolate the skill as much as I can.
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This often runs side-by-side with students working on their own larger pieces. However, the goal is to (A) provide earlier and more frequent opportunities for the student to receive feedback and reflect, and (B) to not solely rely on the larger piece.
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The last change I've made to how I assess writing is that when it comes to larger pieces, I have students submit screencasts where they explain what they were trying to do in their writing. It makes the grading process much more enjoyable, but it also gives me a more...
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Complete picture of the student's thinking, which often I found was a missing piece in the process of assessing writing.
When I was previously relying solely on one larger piece of evidence to determine student's levels of understanding, now I typically have 4-5...
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When I was previously relying solely on one larger piece of evidence to determine student's levels of understanding, now I typically have 4-5...
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Different pieces of data that paint a picture of the student's current level of understanding of a specific skill even before they've submitted a rough draft of the larger piece.
When we rely on a single point of data, we can set kids up to fail.
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When we rely on a single point of data, we can set kids up to fail.
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A collection of data from which we can triangulate student levels of understanding will almost always provide a more accurate, equitable, and holistic picture of student learning than relying on one single, cumbersome piece of evidence.
This is the phrase that helped me...
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This is the phrase that helped me...
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shift my thinking:
The writing is the application of learning, not the learning itself.
This highlights for me the issue with how we assess writing, especially at the secondary level: Are we helping student learn to write or just holding them accountable for doing it?
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The writing is the application of learning, not the learning itself.
This highlights for me the issue with how we assess writing, especially at the secondary level: Are we helping student learn to write or just holding them accountable for doing it?
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