Guten Tag (good day)!

This part of my journey to develop sound curriculums has been exciting and rewarding. I

inch nearer to my aim of creating an Edutainment curriculum worthy of sharing throughout the

land. Today, I will discuss a learner performance-based assessment called GRASPS, an

acronym for goals, role, audience, situation, product and performance, and standard

and success criteria (Wiggins & Tighe, 2005). Below you can explore my objective to teach and

assess beginner-level German to American fourth-grade students entitled "I CAN SPEAK

GERMAN!" The students will apply what they have learned and correspond with German

fourth graders in written and spoken form. I have created a rubric below to explain how I will

assess the students' knowledge and understanding of the material. But first, I invite you to try to

grasp GRASPS.

PART 1

GRASPS

Goal: The student’s goal is to write an initial postcard for a fourth-grade German student. The

learner will also proficiently converse introductory expressions with a German fourth grader via

audio or video.

Role: The role of the student is a Pen Pal to a German fourth-grade student. The student’s role is

also a conversation partner to a German fourth-grade student.

Audience: The audience is a German fourth-grade Pen Pal student and a fourth-grade

conversation partner in Germany.

Situation: The student is assigned to write a postcard to introduce themselves to a Pen Pal and

ask questions about the Pen Pal. The student is tasked to converse beginner-level German with a

German student of like age.

Product, Performance: The student will write a postcard that includes points of interest about

themselves and ask questions about the Pen Pal. The student must draw a picture of themself on

the backside of the postcard or prepare a photo of themselves for the Pen Pal. The student will

proficiently converse via audio or video in beginner-level German with a fourth-grade German.

Standards and Criteria for Success: A writing Rubric will assess the student’s learned German

written and oral expressions. The student should show proficiency and understanding in an oral

and written exchange. The student should also use these criteria to self-assess.

PART 2
“I CAN SPEAK GERMAN!” Rubric
CRITERIA Points 4 Points 3 Points 2 Points 1 Points 0

Written The writer The writer has The writer The writer has The writer's
Expression has no one to two has three to five to six postcard has
errors in errors in four errors in errors in more than
grammar or grammar and grammar and grammar and seven errors
spelling on spelling on spelling on spelling on in grammar
the the postcard. the postcard. the postcard. and spelling.
postcard.
Ideas The ideas The ideas are The ideas are The postcard The writer
are clear, somewhat seemed to be did not
expressed in addressing all organized, a collection of express the
a clear and requirements, addressing unrelated requested
organized but the some or most sentences information
fashion organization requirements, fulfilling a or did not
addressing and flow but are not few submit a
all could have very clear. It requirements. postcard.
requirement been better. took more It was very
 s. It is easy than one difficult to
to figure out reading to figure out the
the postcard figure out the message.
content. message.
Neatness The The postcard The postcard The postcard The student
postcard is is neatly is somewhat is sloppily showed no
neatly handwritten, neatly handwritten effort to
handwritten clean, and handwritten and is very fulfill
, clean, and somewhat and is crumpled or neatness
easy to easy to read. crumpled or stained. A few requirements
read. It was It was done slightly requirements .
done with with care and stained. It were met and
great care pride. was done was done with
and great with some little care.
pride. care.
Content The The postcard The postcard The postcard The postcard
Accuracy postcard contains five contains four contains three contains no
contains an to six accurate to five facts or less pertinent
accurate facts about the about the accurate facts content.
written topic: topic: about the
description student's student's topic:
of seven name, age, name, age, student's
items: the interests, interest, name, age,
student's residence and residence and interests,
name, age, asks Pen Pal's asks Pen Pal's residence,
interests, name, age, name, age, asks Pen Pal's
and and interests. and interests. name, age,
residence and interests.
and asks
Pen Pal's
name, age,
and
interests.
Drawn The picture The picture is The picture is The picture is No picture or
Picture or is drawn drawn and drawn and drawn and photo is
photo of and colored colored with colored colored submitted.
student with great some pride showing showing little
pride and showing a some resemblance
creativity, good resemblance to the student
showing the resemblance to the student or the student
student's to the student, or the student submitted a
clear or the student submitted a poor photo of
resemblanc submitted a somewhat their likeness.
e, or the good photo of good photo of
student their likeness. their likeness.
submitted
 an excellent
photo of
their
likeness.

Oral The student is The student is The student is The student The student
expression proficient in proficient in good at expresses a shows no
expressing all expressing expressing couple of retainment of
learned most learned some learned learned learned
sentences and sentences and sentences and sentences and German.
phrases in phrases in phrases in phrases with
conversation conversation conversation minimal
with with with some conversation
understanding understanding understandin and
, not just rote , not just rote g and some understanding
responses. responses. rote .
responses.
Total Points /20

REFLECTIONS

This Curriculum course has intensified my beliefs that educators must respect and

accommodate learners' diverse cognitive abilities and learning paths. Teachers must also strive to

develop curriculums that target goals to prepare students for Life. Creating the authentic

performance task helps me construct each teaching and learning endeavor and plan accordingly

to achieve predictable results (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). I keep in mind my predictions of

what some, most, and all students will know, understand, and forge toward those desired results.

Asking essential questions encourages thought-provoking discussions that expand the thinking

and learning process, which in turn, keeps the content relatable and applicable to real life

(Wilhelm, 2012).

After assessing each students' abilities in Stage 1 by creating learning profiles and

planning pyramids, I can plan a realistic and authentic assignment. Using GRASPS as a guide

ensures focus on the goals, the proposed outcome, and a viable criterion to assess student
understanding. The process helps me explore what the learners should be able to do and evidence

of their knowledge of what they have learned (Wywrot, 2016).

Authentic performance tasks encourage participants to experience real-life situations

outside the conventional learning environment (Wiggins, 1990). In this case, "I CAN SPEAK

GERMAN!" as a final step towards applying and transferring the learning (Wywrot, 2016),

students write postcards in German and engage in audio or video chats with German fourth

graders.

GRASPS is a perfect aid that guides the process towards the planned goal of teaching the

students beginner-level German and encouraging more interest by communicating with German

peers of like age. Lastly, the performance task is meaningful for the German language learners

because the final "S" for standards and criterion for success reveals the depth to which the

students understand and express their grasping of the lessons (Wywrot, 2016). The rubric serves

to judge the student's performance against "appropriate criteria aligned to the goals being

assessed" (Wywrot, 2016).

A QUESTION FOR YOU DEAR READERS

How has this lesson sparked your interest to learn more about the German language or

any other culture and enticed you to reflect on why learning about different cultures is

beneficial? What German influences have you noticed in the United States, e.g., city names,

people's names, vocabulary words, etc.?

 References

Wiggins, G. (1990). The case for authentic assessment. Practical Assessment, Research &
Evaluation, 2(2).
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/pare/vol2/iss1/2/
Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. ASCD.

Wilhelm, J. D. (2012). Essential questions. Scholastic Instructor, 122(3), 24-27.

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/essential-questions/
Wywrot, C. (2016, October 14). How can educators design authentic performance tasks? (Part
3). Learning

Personalized.

https://www.learningpersonalized.com/authentic-performance-tasks/