Kent, M.

(2015) 204 Reading Alternative Assessment

Final Alternative Assessment for 204 Reading

This assessment was adapted from an existing list of final project assessments from the
course guide for the upper-intermediate reading class (204 Reading) at INTO CSU, the
Academic English Program for students preparing to matriculate into an English-speaking higher
education environment. The 204 Reading class goals are to prepare students for reading, writing
and thinking at the higher level. Course objectives include: reading and comprehending multiple
non-fiction texts related to the subjects or themes of The Giver; the reading skills of skimming
and scanning to increase reading fluency; distinguishing between main ideas and details in
course readings; answering comprehension questions about course readings; summarizing
sections of course readings; making personal connections and responding to sections of course
readings; deducing vocabulary meanings from the context of course readings; using morphology,
especially affixes, to build depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge; making and utilizing
individual vocabulary study tools to acquire shared vocabulary from the course readings and
individual, learner-chosen vocabulary from the K-1, K-2 or Academic Word lists; and discussing
and applying external ideas to the main ideas in the course readings in a group setting (INTO
CSU, 2015).
When this assessment was introduced, students had just completed their 204 Reading
mid-terms, which assessed their skills for summary writing, making connections between nonfiction writings and The Giver, understanding and using new vocabulary from the class word
wall, guessing vocabulary from context, pronoun referencing, and recognizing affixes. For the
final project, students are asked to draw from the skills of summary writing, making connections
in writing, critical thinking and grammatical and writing constructs as they relate to the reading
that has been done throughout the course. Students were asked to take on the role of reporter in
The Community from the novel and create a newspaper. This final project is designed to assess

Kent, M. (2015) 204 Reading Alternative Assessment

students abilities to use content from the novel to write creative summaries and write about
connections to their personal experience. As highlighted by Brown and Hudson (1998),
alternative assessments such as this should require students to perform, create, produce...: use
real-world contexts or simulations; are nonintrusive in that they extend the day-to-day classroom
activities; allow students to be assessed on what they normally do in class every day; use tasks
that represent meaningful instructional activities; focus on processes as well as products; tap into
higher level thinking and problem-solving skills; provide information about both the strengths
and weaknesses of students; are multi-culturally sensitive when properly administered; ensure
that peopledo the score, using human judgment (p. 654). Considering these characteristics of
a good alternative assessment, the newspaper final project allows the teacher and students to
fulfill all of these qualities in creative and unique ways, while building on the skills taught
through the course.
To prepare for this assignment, students were shown a model newspaper and a model
PowerPoint (created by the teacher), which included the title of an article, the author, the main
idea of the article and the reason why the author chose to write about that topic. In addition,
students completed an in-class activity using a real newspaper published by CSU called CSU
Life. In this activity, students had to complete a newspaper scavenger hunt. Then the teacher
and the students discussed features they noticed about the newspaper and how they could apply
those features to their final project newspapers. The audience for their newspaper is both their
teacher and their peers. Using Krashens i+1 method, the teacher created five groups of two to
three students based on their strengths and weaknesses. Each group included a strong student and
a weaker student in the constructs of reading and writing and a student who showed strong
interest in art. Also, groups were made up of various L1 backgrounds to help facilitate the use of

Kent, M. (2015) 204 Reading Alternative Assessment

English through teamwork. Students were permitted to work in class, but article writing was
done as homework. Drafts were submitted of each article from students so that assignment
comprehension could be checked. After the drafts were graded and returned, groups worked
together to finish their newspapers and PowerPoint presentations in and outside of class.
On the due date, each group presented their newspaper and their PowerPoint. For each
group, each member talked about their articles and why they chose to write them by making
personal connections to plot points in the novel and explaining why those were relevant or
important to them. This final project was graded using the rubric below so that students various
abilities could be highlighted as they brought a new level of thinking and application to the
novel. In addition, peer and self-evaluations were used in addition to the rubric to allow for selfreflection and peer evaluation on group work and support.

Kent, M. (2015) 204 Reading Alternative Assessment

References
Brown, J.D. & Hudson, T. (1993). The Alternatives in Language Assessment. TESOL Quarterly
32 (4) 653-675.

Kent, M. (2015) 204 Reading Alternative Assessment

Final Project: Writing a Newspaper

You will be working in groups (2-3 people) to present a final project to the class. Your project
must relate directly to the book. No part of your project may be copied from a website,
newspaper, book or any other source (i.e. your work must be original). You will write a
newspaper and present your newspaper using PowerPoint to tell your peers about why you
chose an article to write about.
YOUR GROUP WILL PRESENT YOUR PROJECT TO THE WHOLE CLASS ON
Friday, February 27th 2015.
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Write a newspaper using the novel as the reference.

You and your group are reporters in Jonass community.

Your job is to gather facts and report the news as it happens.

Write news articles using "headlines" or titles. For example, "Pilot Flies Over
Community".

You can be creative and come up with many different ideas.

You must have 6 articles (2 articles per person) that are 5-8 sentences long each.

In each article, you must include a conclusion sentence that explains why your story is
important or newsworthy.

Please see my example:

Pilot Flies Over the Community
By: Moriah Kent
Recently, citizens saw an airplane fly over The Community. Many children
watched the airplane. One citizen, named Jonas, said he was very interested in the
airplane but also very afraid.
Citizens were ordered to find shelter as soon as possible and stay indoors.
The Committee of Elders has identified the airplane as a jet plane. According to
information from another Community, the pilot was in training and made a
mistake. The pilot of the jet was a pilot-in-training and will be released for his
mistake.
This is important so that The Community can keep sameness because they
dont allow anything, only bikes.

Kent, M. (2015) 204 Reading Alternative Assessment

For your PowerPoint:

-

There should be one PowerPoint per group.

Each group member should have 1 slide per article they wrote.

Each slide should include the title of your article, the author (your name), the main idea
of your article and why you chose to write about what you chose to write about.

Your group will give a short 5-10 minute presentation on your newspaper project to the
class.

Kent, M. (2015) 204 Reading Alternative Assessment

Final Project Evaluation (30 points)

/30
Your final project is worth a total of 30 points. I will grade your final project using the
following 5 categories:
Accuracy to the book:
In this category, I will be looking to see how closely you connected the content of your
project to the content of the novel. Did you use information that was mentioned in the novel, or
did you just make something up? If all of your final project content relates to what you read, you
will get a better score.
This category is worth 5 points _________/5
Quality:
Quality means how good or bad something is. It is related to having high standards. If
your newspaper is full of grammatical and spelling errors or it is wrinkled and coffee is spilled
on it, then it is of bad quality. Of course, if your project is well-made, well-written and has bright
colors, it is of good quality.
This category is worth 5 points _________/5
Creativity:
Creativity means that you were creative with your project you used your imagination to
produce something new. In this category, I will check to see that you did not copy someone
elses work. If you want pictures, you should draw your own (not copy them from the internet).
Creativity is about making something new from your own ideas and not just buying things and
putting them together.
This category is worth 5 points _________/5
Presentation:
The way you present your project to the class is very important. During the presentation
you will need to explain your project and tell us about your newspaper and how it is connected to
the novel and why you chose to write about each main idea in your articles. Your group must
also be prepared with a PowerPoint on the due date.
This category is worth 5 points_________/5
Individual Grade/Participation:
You will evaluate yourself and your group members. Your participation grade will be
based on the quality of your evaluation.
This category is worth 10 points _________/10
Teacher Comments:

Kent, M. (2015) 204 Reading Alternative Assessment

Name: _________________________________________
IN 204 Reading/Final Project Self & Group Evaluations
Part I: Evaluate yourself
Write a short description of your role in your group's project. What did you do to help your
group make your project? What was your job in your group? Did you participate actively and
help the other members of your group to prepare your project? From 0 (did not participate at all)
to 5 (participated a lot), give yourself a score for the work you did for this project.
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Part II: Evaluate your group members

From 0 (did not participate at all) to 5 (participated a lot), please rate everyone in your group.
Please add comments to explain your grade for each group member. (These scores will be
included in the individual grade / participation section of your final project grade.)
Name ____________________________________

Comments:____________________________________________________________________
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Name ____________________________________

Comments:____________________________________________________________________
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Name ____________________________________

Comments:____________________________________________________________________
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(Adapted from INTO CSU, 2015)