Pre-Assessment

One major goal of my student teaching was to improve my assessment and review

capabilities. Before discussing any content in regards to the chapter, I wanted to pre-assess my

student’s understanding of the content with a Plicker Quiz. This Plicker had absolutely no impact

on the student’s grades as this was purely for the purpose of understanding what the students

currently knew. This pre-assessment was used to determine whether students had prerequisite

knowledge in order to achieve the overarching learning goals, which I ultimately decided they

did not, based on a collective misunderstanding of the Late Colonial Period. The results of those

initial surveys can be found attached to the bottom of this page.

Formative Assessments

The Formative Assessments utilized throughout my lessons were presented through

multiple mediums. These assessments span the six categories of Bloom’s taxonomy. An example

of a relatively Low Bloom’s understanding assessment is the second part of the first lesson,

wherein students are tasked with taking notes based on information presented at stations. This

specifically addresses Goals 1 & 3 as each station analyzed the political content of the period

while also highlighting the effects these events had on the daily lives of the colonists. The main

purpose was to ensure that students could understand and comprehend the information in order to

inform future lessons.

In regards to the second lesson, I can assess students based on a Civil Conversation

method. A Civil Conversation includes structured elements of a Socratic circle while also the

ability to freely debate specific points. In the first round, I circulated a talking object, in this case,
a plush representation of the Statue of Liberty’s torch, around our circle of discussion. Each

student would be tasked with stating their opinion on the subject in question and defending that

point. After each student had spoken during the first round, students could then freely debate

specific points in order to win fellow classmates to their point of view. This assessment uses a

higher category of Bloom’s as it has students critically examining and making judgments on a

topic. I could then gauge the quality of each argument in order to determine student

understanding. This assessment ties directly in with Learning Goal 3 as it specifically examines

the politics and compromises made at the First Continental Congress.

Lesson three, though once again a written task, has students analyzing and interpreting

the specific passages of the Declaration of Independence. This directly ties in with Learning

Goal 2. This lesson also utilizes a middle tier of Bloom’s as students are analyzing and

interpreting the passages in a way that makes sense to them. Throughout this lesson, I informal

discussed with students what they interpreted specific passages to mean as well as utilized notes

to assist in developing their understanding.

The first part of Lesson four follows similarly to the third lesson, with students analyzing

and interpreting the Articles of Confederation in order to achieve Learning Goal 2, while also

examining the politics and compromises that resulted in the Articles of Confederation, which

relates to Learning Goal 3. The second part of Lesson 4 however also uses collaborative

problem-solving with each student writing their interpretation of the passages and identifying the

specific problems of each passage. Furthermore, by illustrating Shays’ Rebellion through oral

history, Goal 1 is specifically highlighting why Americans would revolt against their new

government and what characterized life at the time.

 Lesson five demonstrates one of my weekly review sessions, wherein the entire week’s

content is discussed and review. Given that these review days address the entire week’s content,

students are reviewing everything discussed in all Learning Goals. These reviews include

quantitative measurements through Plicker surveys while also including qualitative discussion

for questioning any points of confusion.

All of the above assessments are ungraded and serve purely to assist in student

understanding of the content. The point of work done in class is to ensure that students are

actively learning and engaging with the content. Furthermore, Mountain Valley High School

does not utilize a habits of work grading system, thus making in work done in class purely for

the purpose of education.

Self-Assessment
The original intent of the Self Assessment section was to have a dedicated day where

students could read each other’s Final Diary Projects. Each student would read over their own

project and assess their final work based on the project rubric. Students would then combine their

projects in the middle of the room and the students would randomly select from the projects.

Students would have sticky notes wherein they could leave positive comments or suggestions on

the paper. The students in discussions leading up the day wanted their final works to be

anonymous, which I would have obliged. This portion was, unfortunately, unable to be carried

out due to the Covid-19 Pandemic that closed the schools beforehand.
Summative Assessments

An established practice in my Mentor teacher’s classroom is weekly graded “syllabus

questions” that serve as homework grades for the students. Upon teaching his classes, I designed

my own syllabus questions for students to answer rather than simply pulling from the textbook.

These questions are broad and open-ended with the express purpose of students explaining a

concept or arguing a point. The quality and correctness of the student’s answer would determine

their overall grade.

In regards to the final summative assessment, students would create a diary describing

what life was like for the people living during the time periods discussed, commenting on the

politics, structures, and compromises, and referencing important documents in US government.

Students had the choice of writing from the perspective of an ordinary individual or a historical

individual based on their preference. The way students would complete this final project would

be in tandem with the weekly syllabus questions. As illustrated below, each week of syllabus

question includes specific vocab words that students must use in their Diary entry. These words

are to be used in context of the overall narrative. Each week, students would complete a section

of the project. I would then evaluate and comment on anything the student had done well and/or

suggest any improvements. At the end of the unit, students combined their diaries into one

complete diary with any edits made for final submission. Overall, students enjoyed the level of

creative freedom granted to them within these stories.