Assessments

This unit provided students opportunities to express their understandings in numerous ways. There were many formative assessments I used throughout the lessons to guide my teaching including turn and talks during read alouds, thumbs up/down to check for class wide understandings of main concepts, and closing questions and reflections after read alouds and activities to circle back and nail home main takeaways. I used quick writes, worksheets, interviews, and charts to assess my students individually and collectively. I used a 3-2-1 style quiz at the end of the unit to capture all of the different ideas we had covered. These assessments allow me to adjust my practice as I teach to make sure I am hitting my learning objectives and students are understanding the content in a deep enough way for it to be meaningful to them.

Expectations

Students know what quality work is because I often guided them through each assignment. Because this lesson was taught earlier in the year, support and scaffolding was in high demand. Many of my students varied in their abilities to read independently and produce substantial written responses. Because of this, I expect my students to be “active learners” and listen and absorb as much as they can from each other and from the content. This is part of our school’s expectations for all students and they know that effort and attention are the keys to being successful. Despite the varying degrees of work I received, the expectations that every student tries their hardest and uses their resources stands.