| Examples of performance assessment
units can be used or adapted to fit your classroom.
Theme: Are Stories Important?
Context: Students have been learning about and
reading fables, fairy tales and children’s stories from the
target culture. Students have also learned and practiced structures
and relevant vocabulary that they need for describing and talking
about the stories.
Students read a legend from the target culture in class.
Instruction to the student
Interpretive Task: Read the legend and then do
a worksheet.
(The worksheet could ask students to identify the main character,
the main point of the story, and one or two supporting details by
underlining, or numbering the appropriate words. Students could
also be asked to respond to questions by writing short answers.
After you have checked worksheets for understanding, any misunderstandings
about the legend are discussed with the class.)
Culture and Comparisons: In class, students are
asked to think about the legend or story they read in the target
language and the stories and legends they are familiar with from
their language.
- What are the similarities and differences in the stories?
- How are the main characters portrayed in each culture?
- What is the message individual stories/legends convey?
- What do the stories tell about the way the target culture sees
the world?
- What seems important about each of the stories?
These questions can be a springboard for a rich discussion about
cultural perspectives and comparisons as they relate to history,
social values, materialism, altruism, values in child rearing, etc.
as a reflection of culture and provides a connection to other subject
areas such as history, social studies, and sociology. This discussion
could be in English, to allow students to express ideas for which
they may not have the target language. (The general note of caution
about targeted use of English/native language is appropriate here,
so that students do not rely on English/native language for discussion).
For an assignment, students are asked to think of their favorite
story, legend or fairy tale and to write notes about it in the target
language. The notes will be used in class for the interpersonal
task.
Students should answer the following questions:
- What is the story
- When did they first hear it and from whom?
- Why was it a favorite story?
- What is the moral or main idea in the story
- Who do they think would like it?
Interpersonal Task: In groups of four, students
will tell about their favorite stories and answer questions. This
task is interpersonal because the discussion is spontaneous. The
questions the students answered the previous night, gave them an
opportunity to reflect on their favorite story. Making notes provided
students with some “thinking time” to be better prepared
to participate in the conversation.
In assessing the students during the interpersonal task, a teacher
could have fill out a self-assessment checklist or rubric for their
participation in the discussion.
Students could also be evaluated using inner and outer circles,
where students in the outer circle are assigned a student in the
inner circle, directly across from him or her, to observe. Roles
and places are reversed after the inner group completes the task
assigned by the teacher. The second group of students discusses
an assigned task. Discussions could also be videotaped for the teacher
to view later.
Using a checklist, the teacher could move among the groups to rate
the discussions in each group, or, the teacher cold also choose
to pull several pairs of students aside and discuss the their story
with them in detail.
Presentational Task: Draw a sequence of five pictures
depicting the main events of a legend or story. Provide a heading
and dialogue for each frame.
The text for the sequences will be edited and revised for accuracy.
The editing may be first done as pair work with each partner being
responsible for making corrections and allowing the teacher to give
the final feedback before the students complete their final portrayal
of a legend or fairy tale. Samples of student work and a rubric
can be seen under Fables through
Comics (French)
This task is presentational because the students are writing
formal texts. Students write a rough draft for their sequences.
After the rough draft is completed, the student receives feedback
from the teacher and peers, makes the necessary changes and prepares
a final draft.
Peer feedback: Peer editing works well, when students
are responsible for one or two specific points in their editing
task; for example, they could verify that the contents of the two
paragraphs matched the instructions, or a student could check for
subject verb agreement, correct genders, or that no words were left
in English.
Give peers a short checklist (two or three items) to use in providing
feedback. They can complete the checklist, write their comments,
pose questions left unaddressed and sign their name to the checklist
indicating that they have given appropriate feedback.
Teacher feedback: The teacher must remember that
s/he is not writing the sequence for the student. Before accepting
a rough draft, give the students a list of non-negotiables. Non-negotiables
are items for which students can take complete responsibility. Rough
drafts should not be accepted unless the non-negotiables
have been met.
Examples of non-negotiables for this task might be:
- grammar has been checked
- each section has a title and an explanation
The interpersonal and presentational tasks can be evaluated using
a rubric (see the Evaluation section
for information on constructing rubrics), while the interpretive
task is evaluated from the students’ worksheets.
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