Assignment #4: Assessment strategies for online literature circles Prof.

Tracy Dembicki Christina McKay December 2012 Please refer to my earlier assignment, literature circles online, to see how this online activity is constructed. Below, I have included the learning outcomes I need to address, the Swedish National Education Agencys course goals and grading criteria, and my own assessment rubrics. 1. Learning Outcomes: These are all the learning outcomes for English from the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket). Literature circles meet the majority of the learning outcomes stated for a sample first year (grade 10) English course. The specific outcomes addressed by literature circle study are highlighted here: Content of communication Subject areas related to students' education, and societal and working life; current issues; events and processes; thoughts, opinions, ideas, experiences and feelings; relationships and ethical issues. Content and form in different kinds of fiction. Living conditions, attitudes, values and traditions, as well as social, political and cultural conditions in different contexts and parts of the world where English is used. The spread of English and its position in the world. Reception Spoken language, also with different social and dialect features, and texts that instruct, relate, summarise, explain, discuss, report and argue, also via film and other media. Coherent spoken language and conversations of different kinds, such as interviews. Literature and other fiction. Texts of different kinds and for different purposes, such as manuals, popular science texts and reports. Strategies for listening and reading in different ways and for different purposes. Different ways of searching for, selecting and evaluating texts and spoken language. How words and phrases in oral and written communications create structure and context by clarifying introduction, causal connection, time aspects, and conclusions. Production and interaction Oral and written production and interaction of various kinds, also in more formal settings, where students instruct, narrate, summarise, explain, comment, assess, give reasons for their opinions, discuss and argue.

Strategies for contributing to and actively participating in discussions related to societal and working life. Processing of their own and others' oral and written communications in order to vary, clarify and specify, as well as to create structure and adapt these to their purpose and situation. This covers the use of words and phrases that clarify causal connections and time aspects.

2. Assessment and Evaluation: Grading criteria for the level A (highest possible grade) in Grade 10 English, from the Swedish National Agency for Educations criteria (www.skovlerket.se). Areas to be assessed in literature circles are highlighted. Grade A Students can understand both the whole and details of English spoken at a varying speed and in clearly expressed written English in various genres. Students show their understanding by in a well- grounded and balanced way giving an account of, discussing and commenting on content and details, and with good results act on the basis of the message and instructions in the content. Students can choose and with certainty use strategies to assimilate and evaluate the content of spoken and written English. Students choose texts and spoken language from different media and in a relevant, effective and critical way use the selected material in their own production and interaction. In oral and written communications of various genres, students can express themselves in ways that are varied, clear, coherent and structured. Students can also express themselves with fluency and some adaptation to purpose, recipient and situation. Students work on and make well-grounded and balanced improvements to their own communications. In oral and written interaction in various, and more formal contexts, students express themselves clearly, relative freely and with fluency, and also with adaptation to purpose, recipient and situation. In addition, students can choose and use well-functioning strategies to solve problems and improve their interaction, and take it forward in a constructive way. Students discuss in detail and in a balanced way some features in different contexts and parts of the world where English is used, and can also make well developed and balanced comparisons with their own experiences and knowledge.

These grading criteria are somewhat vague and unspecific to the task of literature circles. To help my students see what I am looking for as I assess their work, I will explain this to my students: What are my learning outcomes when I study in literature circles? Understand and apply concepts of literary analysis. I will be able to discuss and explain elements like plot, setting, character, theme, the authors vocabulary, tone and craft etc. Relate events and ideas in my novels to historical and present developments in the English-speaking world (in politics, history, culture, religion, science etc.). Be able to identify, discuss, explain and apply reading and writing strategies to improve my skills. These might include reading and writing recursively, visualizing, making predictions, drawing connections, interpreting, refining meaning, creating definitions, summarizing, and tapping prior knowledge. Use not just my analytical, academic skills, but also my creative, receptive, dramatic and artistic skills to interpret, explain and represent my novel in an understandable way. Gain strength in reading, editing and commenting on my own and others work, using specific editing tools (Track Changes or iAnnotate). Develop and comment on a progressive portfolio of written and creative work about my novel, and select and publish the best of my writing/texts in a creative and engaging online zine. Develop my competence in Web 2.0 technologies like online editing, Weebly, voice threading, film making, podcasting etc.

3.

Assessment Rationale: Through the course of this unit, I will work with rubrics and comments to give students both formative and summative evaluation. The underlying idea I have when working with this assignment is based on Vygotsgys Zone of Proximal Development, where I am acting as an experienced writer and editor who offers my students a challenging goal to reach (publishing their work online). My job is to offer scaffolding and support in the form of regular reading, commenting, edits, feedback and engagement to help them improve their writing and oral discussion.

I have chosen to use detailed and descriptive rubrics to make sure my feedback is fair and consistent, as well as efficient. However, I am conscious of the value I place in the affective domain of learning. Rubrics can seem rather cold, mechanical and distant. So, along with feedback given through rubrics, I plan to offer a good deal of spontaneous and enthusiastic personal comments both inside the texts students write on Dropbox, and also at the bottom section of rubrics left for free comments. This will hopefully give the students a greater sense of being seen as individuals, as creators, as different learners (see Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences). Students in this activity must prepare a weekly response to their novel both in written format (submitted to their groups dropbox folder) and orally (a discussion contribution submitted to their groups weekly voice thread). Each week, I will post this rubric in the groups Dropbox folder, providing some feedback about their weekly oral and written production. Each group will receive a rubric below, but it is important to note that much of my formative assessment also takes place inside each Word document using Track Changes to highlight grammatical errors, make comments in the margins, and suggest text changes. This is where they will hopefully get a sense of me as a support/guide/co-writer as we discuss the development of texts on a weekly basis.

Literature Circle Role Discussion Director Written

Needs Improvement Need to work on leadership role. Texts are missing or not edited together in a coherent manner. Many grammatical errors appear. No reflections about the discussion are provided.

Making Progress Some effort made to edit together texts, but better organization needed. Some grammatical errors appear. Some questions and reflections posed about the discussion, but more needed.

Good Good effort to edit together texts, which appear together as a coherent and interesting report of your discussion. Few grammatical errors appear. Good effort to pose questions and reflect about the discussion. Good effort to pose questions and reflect about the

Discussion Director Oral

questions have limited relevance to topic requires prompts in order to guide discussion The passages selected are not very relevant or worthy of discussion. Your writing lacks organization (weak paragraphing, lacking clear topic sentences, lacking supporting details). Writing lacks sufficient formality, detail, and grammatical accuracy.

Some questions and reflections posed about the discussion, but more needed.

Literary Luminary Written

You chose some good passages but you have not given sufficient motivation or detail to show us how they are relevant. Paragraphing could be stronger with more specific detail and motivation given to explain passage choices. Some grammatical inaccuracies, and/or informality. You chose some good passages but you have not given sufficient motivation or detail to show us how they are relevant. Some errors in

You provide good detail about your passages, which are well selected and relevant. Your response is logical, clear, well organized and has a good focus. You make some personal connection to the topics, and your writing is generally accurate, formal and varied.

Excellent Excellent and thorough effort to edit together texts which appear as a coherent, interesting and insightful report. No grammatical errors appear.The questions you pose are challenging and reflective. Your reflections about the discussion are insightful and analytical. The questions you pose are challenging and reflective. Your reflections about the discussion are insightful and analytical Your selections are wellchosen, and you reveal a personal connection to the text which is creative, innovative and insightful. Your writing is varied, expressive, wellstructured, logical, clear and grammatically accurate.

Literary Luminary Oral

The passages selected are not very relevant or worthy of discussion. You have some difficulty formulating yourself, and make many

You provide good detail about your passages, which are well selected and relevant. Your response is logical, clear, well organized and has a

Your selections are wellchosen, and you reveal a personal connection to the text which is creative, innovative and

grammatical and formal errors.

register and grammar.

good focus. Good fluency.

insightful. You formulate yourself in a way that is Logical, fluent, formal and engaging. Excellent and detailed word list with definitions, clear effort to connect all words and meanings back to the novel. Excellent and detailed word list with definitions, clear effort to connect all words and meanings back to the novel. Great effort to teach the group new words. Images/texts are well selected, presented and justified with strong and innovative connections to the text. Well organized writing with no grammatical errors. Excellent justification of image/text choices. Clear, creative, wellorganized and insightful. Excellent connection to the topic is made. Clear, organized and fluent. No grammatical errors. Excellent details provided. Excellent connection to the topic is made. Clear, organized and fluent. No grammatical errors. Excellent details provided.

Wordsmith Written

Limited word list. Insufficient or inaccurate definitions.

Good word list, though more detailed definitions needed

Good word list, with good definitions and some attempts at making connections back to the novel Good word list, with good definitions and some attempts at making connections back to the novel. Good effort to teach the group new words. Images/texts chosen had a good connection to the text. Writing was organized and clear. Few grammatical errors.

Wordsmith Oral

Limited word list. Insufficient or inaccurate definitions. Little effort to teach the group new words.

Good word list, though more detailed definitions needed. Some effort to teach the group new words.

Artist-in-Residence Written

Artist-in-Residence Oral

Connector Written

Images/texts chosen had little connection to the text. Writing was poorly organized and lacking in a connection to the image/text. Lack of clarity, grammatical errors. Little oral justification of image/text choices, lack of connection to the text. Lack of clarity and fluency Little connection to the topic is made. Lack of clarity, organization. Grammatical errors.

Connector Oral

Little connection to the topic is made. Lack of clarity, organization. Grammatical errors.

Images/texts chosen had some connection to the text. Writing was somewhat organized but a clearer explanation needed. Some lack of clarity, grammatical errors. Some justification of image/text choices. Some clarity, fluency but better organization and more detail needed. Some connection to the topic is made. Some clarity, organization. Some grammatical errors. More detail needed. Some connection to the topic is made. Some clarity, organization. Some grammatical errors. More detail needed.

Good justification of image/text choices. Good fluency and clarity, good organization. A bit more detail needed. Good connection to the topic is made. Good clarity, organization. Few grammatical errors. Good details provided. Good connection to the topic is made. Good clarity, organization. Few grammatical errors. Good details provided.

Summative Assessment: The final project to be completed at the end of this online literature circle project is a multimedia zine. Each student will receive a rubric (below) which assesses their participation in this collective project. The Swedish educational system works on an ABCDEF grading system, where A is an outstanding grade and F is a fail.

3452629 Does Not Meet Req

STUDENT NAME: Making Progress E-D

Good C-B

3452632 3452631 Outstanding

Satisfactory 4 3
Excellent A

1
Needs Improvement F

Submissions How many pieces have you submitted to your groups zine? Are they varied enough? Do they represent a sufficient breadth of skills and knowledge?

You have not submitted a sufficient or thorough enough amount of work to this zine.

3452634

You have submitted the very minimum amount of work to this zine and it needs to be more thorough.

You have submitted a sufficient amount of work to the zine and it represents a good overview of your skills. Some oral and written texts.

3452636 Zine contains 7 or m

3452633 Zine contains 3-4 p

Content Knowledge How well do you show that you know your novel? Do you demonstrate your understanding of plot, setting, character and theme? Content Knowledge: Historical If your zine includes texts dealing with a historical novel, how well do you deal with your sources? Your submissions do not demonstrate you have read the novel with any real understanding or awareness. Your submissions demonstrate only a superficial understanding of this novel and its elements (plot, setting, character, theme) Your submissions demonstrate a good understanding of this novel and its elements (plot, setting, character and theme)

You have really made a tremendous effort to present a wide, thorough and interesting variety of contributions to this zine. A good combination of oral, written and visual texts.

Your submissions demonstrate a critical and personal understanding of this novel and its elements (plot, setting, character and theme)

3452649 Categories do not m

Your submissions do not represent any coherent knowledge of this historical context. There is plagiarism and failure to cite sources (F on whole zine project if this occurs)

Your submissions make some attempt to illustrate, explain and draw connections with the historical context but there are inaccuracies and too much missing info. Citations present.

Your submissions include a good amount of illustration, explanation and connection to your research on this historical context. Sources are evaluated and cited well.

3452651 Categories are writ Categories are enj

3452652 Categories are enj

Visuals are wellchosen and add meaning to the text. Good texts accompany the images to demonstrate their meaning, connection and purpose.

Your submissions demonstrate a critical and thorough understanding of events in this historical context and an ability to draw interesting connections to events and themes in in your novel.

Use of Visuals (Images and Video) Were images carefully selected and placed for maximum meaning and effect? Are they justified and explained with clear, well organized texts?

Visuals are rarely used and if used are randomly placed and add no meaning. No texts are included to explain or justify their presence or connections to the novel.

3452642 Images add little<B

Visuals add little meaning. Your zine needs more images! You need to write clearer, more explanatory and better organized texts to justify your image choices.

3452641 Images are rarely<

Research & Computer Skills Research from reliable sources, and online zine-making resources used (wiki, blog, or website). Student shows little or no skill in the use of Web 2.0 resources. Research did not come from any reliable sites, no source evaluation evident.

3452644 Images are well-ch

Student shows fair skills in the use of Web 2.0 resources. Research came from only 1 reliable site. Minimal or incomplete source evaluation. Student shows good skills in the use of Web 2.0 resources. Research came from only 2 reliable sites. Some source evaluation present.

Great selection of visuals which add meaning above and beyond their texts. Accompanying texts are clear, well organized and make critical, interesting connections to your novel.

3452637 Student shows little

Oral and Written skills Is the oral/written English presented in your contributions clear, coherent, wellstructured and accurate?

3452638 Student shows goo

Little effort put into oral and/or written texts. The language used is inappropriate/inaccurate poorly structured, lacking in coherence or badly edited. Lacking in a sufficiently varied or expressive vocabulary.

3452639 Student shows fair

Some effort put into oral/written texts, but significant errors are present in grammar, structure and/or style. These may include diction errors, s/v agr.or errors in register. There is a lack of coherence in some texts.

3452640 Student shows<BR

Good effort put into oral/written texts. Texts are, for the most part, clear, coherent and accurate.There are occasional errors in diction and one or two s/v agr/sp/poss or punctuation errors may be present. A good effort to be creative and expressive and still search for some of the

Student shows excellent skills in the creative use of Web 2.0 resources. Research came from at least 3 reliable sites. Thorough source evaluation.

Originality and Creativity how have you used multiple literacies to create

Insufficient effort here. There is not enough really to judge if you have invested any

3452647 Your zine is neat, b

Outstanding texts: clear, coherent, wellstructured and written/spoken in fluent, accurate, wellexpressed prose. No errors in grammar or register are present. Writing or speech engages interest and communicates seamlessly. An outstanding, creative, innovative and engaging

visual/oral/written texts that connect on a personal, creative and critical level with the novel?

originality or creativity.

3452646 Your zine is presen

3452645 Little effort was put

A minimal effort here, with some effort to express your ideas about the novel. However, your submissions are somewhat unclear or lacking in originality.

novels main themes and ideas.

3452648 Your zine shows th

presentation! Your ideas about the novel shine through in new and interesting ways and it is clear you have made an effort to connect on a personal, original level.

This space below the rubric is really important for both formative and summative assessment. It is where I offer personal and specific comments to support and engage the student, and show them that although I work with the rubric as a standardized assessment tool, I try to see them and their work on an individual and personal level too.