Assignment #2: Assessment Tasks and Tools Lauren Van Hook University Of New England Special Education Assessment

in Inclusion Settings Spring 2011 February- 2011

To make history seem relevant to my students I wanted them to have a chance to see history come alive. With this in mind I decided to design a webquest based on the current crisis that is taking place in Egypt. The course I designed this assignment for is my junior level Global Studies Inclusion Class. I teach two sections of the course with an in-class support paraprofessional to help the students and myself. Each section has 20 students, with at least 50% of the students having an Individualized Education Program (IEP). In general most of the students who have an IEP require clear directions, modeling and explanations of expectations, and the use of graphic organizers when completing written assignments. Two of the students also require the use of a computer to complete all assignments and to take notes; both of these students have their own computer that they bring to class everyday. In addition to this, at least two of the students in each class are seniors who did not pass the course last year. While trying to develop a lesson and assessment tools for this assignment I immediately knew that I wanted to develop a computer based activity that would have the students researching information on the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. This revolution is occurring due to protests by the citizens in Egypt who are demanding a change of power. When the protests began on January 25th the goal was to force President Mubarak to step down from office. President Mubarak has been in office for 30 years and the current economical and political situation in Egypt is a source of frustration for many of the citizens there. Over the past two weeks the number of protesters who are marching in and around Cario has grown to over a million. At the beginning of the protests President Mubarak made numerous empty promises to attempt to appease the crowds. As of now President Mubarak has officially stepped down and given his power to the Egyptian Military.

Lauren Van Hook

Assignment #2

Prior to this activity, many of the students in my class have been following this historical moment on their own and have been asking questions about the event during class. Based on this observation, I promised the students I would take them to the library to research the Egyptian Revolution to help them understand the event. To design the assessment I wanted to make sure the students would be able to participate in an activity that had multiple assessment strategies while using various forms of content based information. My major objective in this assignment is to have the students increase their knowledge on the topic as well as be exposed to videos, picture clips and historical articles. From here the assessment pieces would help develop the students ability to navigate through technology, improve their decoding skills and their capability to make cause and effect predictions. To complete this assignment I spent a great deal of time researching different websites that contained information about the Egyptian Revolution. With the nature of this revolution being in the moment I needed to make sure that I had enough background knowledge on the topic prior to explaining it to my students. Based on the different learning styles of the students I wanted to make sure the webquest included multiple forms of information, as well as content based questions and objective/open-ended questions. The Do-Now portion of the webquest asks students to think about their rights as a citizen and how they would react if they were to loose these rights. In class I frequently use open ended questions similar to these to help students draw on real life experiences in hopes that they will make a connection to the topics being taught. In addition to this, I have found using open-ended questions helps improves students self-esteem because there is no wrong answer. The second portion of the assignment is based on watching a video and classroom discussion on the Do Now and video clip. From here the students were taken to the library to research the Egyptian Revolution

further. I provided the students with two websites and a list of questions. The first website is an article that explains the causes of the revolution; the second is a series of propaganda pictures that are being used by protestors. The goal behind these two websites is for students to see the revolution first hand and develop an understanding of why the event is happening. In addition to this I designed the questions to assess the students ability to draw upon the topics we studied in the previous unit on China. After discussing the answers with the students I was able to see that the students were able to connect the student lead protests of Tiananmen Square with the current protests in Egypt. The final portion of the webquest asks the students to conduct their own research and complete a graphic organizer to take notes from the article, news clip or photomontage that they reviewed. This section is aimed at meeting the different learning styles, as well improving the students ability to organize important information. The final assessment portion of this assignment is another Do Now to be completed in the students journals during the following class. I would like to provide the students with a chance to discuss what they learned by completing the webquest as well as predict how this event could impact their lives. As of now I have completed the webquest with both of my classes. The students required two days in the library in order to complete the webquest. On Tuesday the students will complete the Do Now in their journals. What has been most exciting is the students ability to complete the different forms of assessment, how much interest the students are showing in the topic and their reaction to the changes they are seeing in Egypts government. In the future I would like to continue to provide students with an opportunity to make a real life connection with the topic while providing different ways to demonstrate their understanding of what they are studying.

Lauren Van Hook

Assignment #2 References

Salvia, John, Ysseldyke, James E., & Bolt, Sara. (2010) Assessment in Special and Inclusive Education, 11th Edition. California: Wasworth Cengage Learning.

*I designed this to help outline the procedures for the lesson and to share it with my colleagues* Lesson Plan for Egypt in Crisis Webquest Procedures--Day I: 1. Class will begin in the classroom, as the students enter they are to pick up a packet and complete the Do Now portion (questions #1-3). 2. After they complete the Do Now I will show the students two video clips from: http://www.choices.edu/resources/twtn_egypt.php
(What is happening in Egypt? and Why should high school students learn about what is happening in Egypt?)

3. After the video clip and a discussion on the situation in Egypt (questions #1-4 on the Intermission section of the webquest) students will be directed to use the rest of the block to complete the Egypt in Crisis Webquest and Newspaper Summary. Procedures--Day II: 1. As students walk into class they are to grab their journals and complete the following questions in their journals: Predict you believe will happen in Egypt. Do you have any friends or family members who live in or are visiting Egypt now? What are your wishes for the peopleand the leadershipof Egypt? Why should non-Egyptians care what happens in Egypt? In general, when do you follow news about international events? Why? Please be ready to discuss your answers **If time permits I will guide the students through a few more picture prompts to see what their thoughts are. I have found this is a great way to invoke classroom discussion.** Helpful Websites Great Website for resources!! http://historytech.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/crisis-in-egypt-teaching-resources/ Egyptians Demand Change: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3755645 Power Pointvideo clipgraphic organizer http://www.choices.edu/resources/twtn_egypt.php Life Website(pictures) o Cairos Fiery Protest Signs: http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/55081/cairos-fiery-protestsigns#index/0 o There are many, many more. I am going to let the students pick a few