Assessing Learning: Hispanic Lessons and Assessments Essay

Introduction

Assessment is a vital activity in the process of learning in the modern educational framework and it is through assessment that the learning of the content is evaluated and central changes in the process are made. As Harada and Yoshina establish, “Assessment is the process of ‘collecting, analyzing and reporting data’ that informs both student and instructor of the progress and the problems that the student encounters throughout the learning experience.” (Harada & Yoshina, 2005, p. 1).

Significantly, an assessment is different from an evaluation mainly since it is performed as an ongoing activity that offers formative data on student learning. In their work, Harada and Yoshina provide an all-inclusive guide to the best practice of assessment. This paper focuses on developing three assessments for the three lesson plans selected, using the assessment methods in the Harada and Yoshina textbook. Therefore, the main stress of the paper is to practice the use of some of the assessment methods and tools such as rubrics, graphic organizers, KWL, matrix, etc. The assessment methods have been implemented on the Lessons for Hispanic Heritage Month which aims at engaging students in creative activities.

Create a Folktale

The first assessment will be done on the lesson plan “Create a Folktale” which aims at the improvement of students in creating folktales relating to various Hispanic cultures. The subject of the lesson is ‘Language Arts’ in Grade 3-5 and 6-8. In the lesson students first, read and listen to folktales from various Hispanic cultures and then write a new folktale on their own. The main objectives of the lesson include making students “define the word folktale, demonstrate creative thinking and writing skills to create a folktale, [and] work together in cooperative groups.” (Create a Folktale: Language arts, 2005).

The main materials in the classroom activity include library sources of folktales from Hispanic cultures which are selected by the teacher and printouts of some of the stories. After discussing the meaning of the word folktale, the teacher provides examples of the folktales which students read aloud in groups. At the end of the reading practice, students engage in group activities to prepare a new short folktale, using the examples they heard and read as models.

A review of the student-created folktales is the main objective of the assessment. Therefore, the assessment method of rubrics seems to be most effective in the evaluation of the folktales as it is the most effective assessment tool for subjective assessments where standardized evaluation is possible. It is a decisive assessment tool widely used in classrooms

In the preparation of the rubric for the assessment of the folktales which the students create, it is important to comprehend that rubrics help the students how effectively they learn along with what they learn. Rubrics are the essential guidelines that assist the students in realizing how they improve in their learning and the creation of the most effective rubrics or guidelines is of primary significance. The rubrics for the assessment of the student creations include the following:

1. The originality of the folktales created by the students.
2. The expression of their understanding of the idea ‘folktale’.
3. The realization of the various elements of the folktales from the Hispanic culture.
4. The quality of the folktales was created, on the basis of the concept of ‘folktale’.
5. The quality of the presentation of the Hispanic culture in the folktales.
6. The quality of the language used for the creation of the folktales.
7. The range of the words used, the quality of the language, punctuation, etc.

Therefore, the rubrics for assessment specify the various elements which act as the guidelines for the assessment of the learning by the students. The rubrics have a significant role in the development of the student in the learning process as these specify the key factors that assess the improvement of the learner.

Flags of Nations

The second lesson for the assessment is “Flags of Nations” which prepares for the subject Arts & Humanities in the Grade K-2, 3-5. Through the conduction of the lesson, the students are expected to demonstrate the flags of various countries which use Spanish as the official language. The main objective of the lesson has been that “Students demonstrate abilities to draw flags of countries where Spanish is the official language.” (Flags of nations: Arts and Humanities, 2006).

In order to improve the ability of the students to draw the flags of the nations that use Spanish as the official language, the names of such nations will be presented to the students. These include countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, etc. Following the presentation of the names of such countries, their national flags will be shown to the students. Through the classroom activities, the students learn the art of drawing flags of the nations which use Spanish as an official language. In the assessment of their activity, observation of the student participation, as well as evaluation of their illustrations, is the main objective.

The assessment of the lesson mainly makes use of the tool of classroom-ready checklists which specify the various criteria for evaluation. The use of this assessment tool will be justified by its effectiveness in evaluating the performance of the different members of a group individually. Therefore, the tool provides scope for the students to rate their performance as well as the performance of the team members. The method also is effective as it is simple to indicate and there is a rating scale for the performance.

The checklist of the lesson will be as follows:

Class: ­­­­­­­___________________. Date: ____________.

Famous Hispanics Hall of Fame

The third lesson for the assessment is “Famous Hispanics Hall of Fame” in which the students learn to write biographies of famous Hispanics. The subject area of the students in Arts & Humanities, Ed. Technology and the Grade are 3-5, 6-8. The most significant objectives of the lesson include a demonstration of the “abilities to use various sources to research information” and “abilities to write short biographies.” (Famous Hispanics hall of fame: Arts & humanities: Ed. technology, 2007).

The students use the library sources and the Internet in order to explore information on famous Hispanics who made achievements and contributions in different areas. The students prepare the biography of the people from the collected information and provide an illustration of the person in the biographies prepared. The assessment mainly focuses on an evaluation of the biographies prepared by the students. The usefulness of the tool of rubrics in order to effectively make the assessment of the given lesson is noteworthy. Therefore, the assessment mainly includes the use of rubrics which may be presented in the following:

Rating scale Rubric

Rating Form

Name of the Student: ____________________________________________________________

Grade:

__________________________________________________________

Conclusion

Assessment of student performance has great value in the learning process. It is through the assessment of the performances and evaluation of the progress in learning that the student, as well as the teacher, prepares the further strategies for the effective acquirement of learning. Rubrics, graphic organizers, KWL, matrix, checklists, etc. are the major tools for the assessment of student performance. In the paper, an illustration of the major assessment tools has been done on the basis of three different Hispanic lessons.

References

Harada, Violet H., & Yoshina, Joan M. (2005). Assessing learning: Librarians and teachers as partners. Libraries Unlimited, p. 1.

Create a folktale: Language arts. (2005). Education World. Web.

Flags of nations: Arts and humanities. (2006). Education World. Web.

Famous Hispanics hall of fame: Arts & humanities: Ed. technology. (2007). Education World. Web.