Case Study Part B

Ed 3504
Sabrina Kyle
October 12th, 2017
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The performance assessment task for Case Study Part B is geared towards a Grade 4

English Class. The specific tasks asks students to complete a Wanted poster for an unfavourable

character within the novel they are reading, including information such as such as their name,

physical description, where they were last seen, why they are wanted, and the reason the

character acted in a certain way. The five students from the virtual classroom that I worked with

are Julie, Henry, Steven, Ricky, and Kayley. Each of these students have individual strengths,

abilities, and attributes. In her textbook, Davies addresses how diverse each and every classroom

can be, as students learn in different ways and at different rates (Davies 33). Furthermore, she

goes on to state, “If teachers provide only a few options for students to demonstrate their

learning, they can limit students’ ability or opportunity to show what they know” (Davies 33).

Keeping these differences in mind is an integral aspect to creating a fair, valid, and reliable

lesson plan. In order to meet the individual needs of each of the students, I have made alterations

to this lesson plan to create the most optimal learning opportunity for each of the students.

This particular assessment task has a heavy focus on reading and the arts, particularly,

drawing and designing. With this is mind, I believe that Ricky, Julie, and Stephen will not need

any form of differentiation for the task. Ricky mentioned in his interview that he is a fan of

comic books and enjoys making his own. Both the drawing and reading aspect of creating comic

books intrigues him, so I believe he would be particularly interested in this assignment. Steven

also expressed interest in drawing and reading comic books, and Julie was particularly interested
in drawing as well. In their learner profile videos, all three students expressed that they were

competent in both reading and drawing. Since this activity directly relates to their strengths, I

believe that this method of assessment is an accurate way to assess their knowledge.

However, I believe that some variation of differentiation may be needed to help

accommodate some of Henry and Kayley’s learning needs. One of the concerns about

assessment that Henry addressed in his video was that he was very frustrated by vague or unclear

assignments. As a result, it is extremely important for this assessment task that I have very

detailed instructions and grading criteria. It is also important that the assignment is well laid out

and organized, to ensure maximum clarity for students. Another addition, apart from the rubric,

that could be included in the assignment is a checklist of all the tasks that need to be completed.

Kayley, on the other hand, would also need some differentiation in this assignment since

she expressed in her video that she was not fond of reading. Although she does not enjoy

reading, Kayley expressed that she does like art and drawing, so in this case, Kayley would only

need differentiation in regards to the reading aspect of the assignment. Since Kayley struggles

with reading, she may have had some difficulty comprehending the book that the assignment is

based on. This may consequently have impacted her ability to resonate with and fully understand

some of the characters in the novel. To counter this, I have included a Jigsaw activity in which

students are to break into groups of two and become experts on one of the characters I have

assigned from a character list. After becoming experts on their characters, the students will

regroup and share their findings with the other students, using the information to fill in the

remainder of their list. In this scenario, Kayley will be able to work with a partner and talk

through the descriptions, qualities, and attributes of the characters, as opposed to having to re-

read through the novel or a lengthy character list. She will be able to put her ideas into her own
words and record them, and through the Jigsaw activity, will have the remaining characters

explained to her orally, rather than reading them.

In order to ensure fairness, validity, and reliability of the performance task, it is integral

for a formative assessment to be completed beforehand to examine the students’ progress and

knowledge. In chapter one, Davies discusses the idea of “Assessment for Learning” and

“Assessment of Learning” (Davies 2, 3). In this instance, “Assessment for Learning” represents

the formative assessment, which he states aids in, “collecting information that will inform the

teachers next steps and the student’s next learning steps” (Davies 2). This highlights how

important it is to include formative assessment, as it benefits both students and teachers, ensuring

that the students are fully grasping the concepts in the lessons. As mentioned above in reference

to Kayley’s lesson differentiation, I will actually be using the Jigsaw activity as a precursor

formative assessment in preparation for the performance task. I will first have the students get

into small groups of 3 or 4, and provide them with examples of Wanted poster for other novels.

They will then discuss aspects of the poster that they enjoyed and thought were effective, and

aspects of the poster they thought could be improved. This activity will help give context, as well

as allow the students to plan out what ideas they would like to include in their own posters. After

this activity is completed, I will move onto the formative assessment activity. For the formative

assessment, the students will be given an empty character list, and be placed in groups of two. In

these groups, they will be asked to become experts on one of the characters in the novel by

collaborating with their partner and recording their ideas. They will then come together in a

larger group and share the qualities and attributes of their character, completing their character

lists. Once this formative assessment list is completed, I will have the students complete a Fist to

Five assessment to ensure that they are confident and understand the task they are about to
complete. The students will then move onto the performance task at hand, completing their own

Wanted posters as a summative assessment.

The performance task at hand in this instance is a Wanted poster for an unfavourable

character within the novel. However, alternate modalities could be also be accepted or provided,

given the students are still achieving the overarching outcomes. Another way to redesign this

task would be to design a marking rubric that ensures all students meet the same final outcomes

but have the freedom to do so through different modalities. Different assignments could be

completed by the students as methods of demonstrating their understanding of the outcomes. For

example, rather than drawing a Wanted poster for a specific character, students could submit an

essay or journal entry from the characters point of view explaining why they think they should be

on a Wanted poster. Another option for the students could be creating an audio radio

announcement for the character on the Wanted poster, describing the same set of characteristics

required in the original assignment. The end goal of this assessment is for students to be able to

gain a thorough understanding of the characters in the novel, and the roles they play. Although

this particular performance task is a Wanted poster, there are many different avenues and

products students could create using different modalities to demonstrate their understanding of

the specific outcomes that they need to achieve.

 References

Davies, A. (2011). Making Classroom Assessment Work (3rd ed.), Building Connections

Publishing.