Name: ___________Kennedey_____________

Unit Plan: Assessment

My unit topic covers the study of history as a concept. What is history and how
can we be historians? What is history is a main idea, but the idea that will umbrella most
of the concepts for this unit is how can we be historians, and what do we learn from
being historians? As a pre-assessment I want to know if students first know what the
study of history entails and also what are some different ways in which we can study
history. A way I plan to assess this is through first a short show what you know
response. It is in the form of a multiple choice to make it simple but still informative.
The first question: History is a study of a) objects b) the past c)buildings d) people? The
second is which of the following would be an artifact from the past? a) a song that was
sung a long time ago b) a person who is 80 c) an old teddy bear from long ago d) a book
about the past?
Finally this assessment will features old photos and present day photos and I will
have students cut out the pictures and organize them into two different columns labeled
past and present. This will assess physical skills like cutting in addition to seeing if
they recognize aspects of the past and the present.
The students did really well with the second part of the pre assessment. They
categorized the photos in past and present really well. There was a photo of students from the
past and one of our 302/303 class and this was the only one they confused. Im wondering if
it was because they couldnt really see the people that well or if they actually were confusing
our modern day dress for ancient style. Because they were able to do this activity pretty well,
I was able to go ahead with the assessment photo activity later on in the unit without
explaining too much about how we distinguish photos from the past and present but more
just focused on noting changes and differences from the past to the present.

Throughout the lessons I will use several different forms of assessment as well. A
concept/practice that I really want to stress is the comparison between the past and the
present. The students will be comparing old photographs of places throughout their
community with current photographs. This will be used as a form of assessment to see if
students understand how to and can distinguish between past and present using photographs.
They will share their ideas about these photographs with the class. As we discuss which photo
is from the past and which is from the present and how we know this, students will be able to
self correct their ideas about the photographs and learn from their peers as well as notice
different things about the photo as a class that they didnt notice before. I will also be able to
see how well students grasp the basic distinction between the past and present using photos.
Students will also work through several sequencing activities to solidify an
understanding of changes from past to present and also the importance of ordering events.
Students will work in groups to determine the order of events in a story dealing with
change over time from a country landscape to city landscape. They will then use the book to
correct their pictures and make sure they are in the right order. Finally they will submit it to
me and I will final check it, letting them know if theyve got it all right. This will be a good
way for students to self assess their own knowledge and recollection of the events of a
story, but also make sense of the process of change in the book as well. I will prompt
them in this activity by asking questions such as, Would it make sense if the city was there
before the road or before the country side. Why or why not? How did things change for the
little house when the apartments were built? When the subway was built?
Assessments as learning in each lesson will be discussions among students. By
overhearing their discussions I will be able to get an idea of what they are thinking about and
tracking with for the lesson and what they recall or are applying from the previous lessons. In
my first lesson, students will have a discussion about what they did last weekend and what
they ate for lunch. If they start telling me something they are doing tomorrow, I will know that

they do not grasp the basic concept of past, present or future or basic time concepts. If
they just cant remember what they ate for lunch, but go to the lunch calendar and look at the
day before, this will show me that they understand the time concept, they just couldnt
remember what they ate. If they go to look at last week, then I would know that they
understand the past, but just not the time frame exactly how I would expect.
In lesson three students will have a free write prompt at the beginning of the lesson for
me to assess their recollection of the previous ways we have used to study history. They will
also have a sequencing activity in lesson three. They will correct their work using a different
colored pencil or crayon using the correct answers on the board. Then as a class we will reread
the reading piece to find the correct order of the events. This way they can correct their work
with an understanding of how they mixed up an event. An activity that I could do to assess
students ability to distinguish between past and present could be the use of a Venn diagram,
sorting images of old clothes and new clothes, old houses and new houses, old buildings and
new buildings, old cities and new cities into different groups. I also want students to
understand how to be a historian and how we can study history in authentic and accurate
ways.
There are several ways to assess students capability to gain information from the past
using artifacts, texts, photos, and personal biographies. I could do this through a written or
verbal response or exit slip after a prompt. For example, I could show students a photo and
have them respond to the photo. I will show students an artifact and have them write or
draw a response to how they think the artifact was used. When I do the lesson on how
communities have changed, or how things have changed from the past to the present, I
can find photos of buildings in the neighborhood and have students sequence photos
from past to present. If this is not obvious enough, we could focus in on a specific aspect
of modern day technology that has changed drastically over time. For example, have
students sequence photos depicting methods of communication from long ago to now.

Finally, I want students to complete a timeline at the middle or end of the unit to
demonstrate their knowledge of change, past and present, and how to be a historian. I
think the most relevant topic for the timeline would will be the students own lives. The
students can demonstrate their understanding of past them and present them. This will
also demonstrate their ability to put the events in their life in order and show their
understanding of chronological events. I will use a checklist as a form of rubric for students to
assess and track their progress and achievement of this project. The checklist will be given to
each student individually so they can track their own progress. They will put a check by each
of the steps they have completed. They will also need to acquire my initials by a certain
checkpoint to continue, this way they check in with me before completely finishing the project
and making sure they are on the right track. They can also do research in investigating from
a parent or sibling about their birth or childhood. They may be able to also use computers or
text to add one two pieces of information about the world during the year or day they were
born. For example: maybe they include on the timeline a famous person that they share a
birthday with or they include an important event that happened in the year they were born.
They can also choose to bring in a photo or artifact to help other students learn more about
their past.
The rubric for the timeline will be as follows:
Checklist:
______ I have (atleast) 4 events from my own life written down on paper in
pencil.
______ My events are in order from first to last. ________ (Teacher initials)
______ I have my timeline papers with 4 boxes and timeline pieces.
______ My events are written neatly on the lines in the boxes.
______ I have a picture for each event.
______ Cut out all the pieces:
______ 4 boxes
______ two arrows
______ _________s history label
_______ Receive a long piece of paper to build your timeline on from Ms. DR
_______ Put events in order on paper.
STOP *** Teacher Initials to continue ___________
_______ Glue pieces down
_______ Add any decoration! We are going to display our timelines.

_______ Share your timeline with a partner who is also finished. _______
partners initials.
_______ Share your timeline with your teacher.
I think this checklist will help students in this process and allow them to move at their
own pace. I will also display my personal timeline on the elmo during this time so that
students can have an example to work from. This assessment will show the students
ability to sequence events in their own life, writing skills, ability to follow a list of
instructions. While following this list of instructions they will also be able to self check
their progress.
I feel like there are a lot of concepts that I may ambe attempting to target with the
timeline and maybe its too many., or maybe it isnt enough. In addition to the timeline,
asAs another summative assessment I will have students take a more advanced and
extensive form of the pre-assessments. In this way I will be able to see how their
knowledge of historical evidence, the concept of history, and the change that takes place
from past to present and how we note these changes has grown. This summative
assessment will be in the form of a test. The summative assessment will test the learning
objectives from the lessons and be in the form of a test with different kinds of questions. I
have them numbering the same events from The Little House but only three of them. I have
them writing down three ways that we have learned about history and been historians.
Then finally I have them looking at a picture on the board and answering a few
questions about it. I think this uses a sample of all the activities that we have done and
tests their recollection as well as application of the material. They will receive these tests
back after I have corrected them so they can see their understanding of the material. We will
also go over the answers as a group.