Activity 2.3

Ms. Toliver's Mathematics Class

Purposes:

1. To discuss and examine what makes assessment effective in the classroom

2. To illustrate the term "authentic" assessment

3. To think about assessment beliefs and principles

4. To observe a teacher who models good assessment practices

Uses:

This activity is at an intermediate level. It can be used in Chapter 1, Chapter 2, or Chapter 3 to illustrate terminology, illustrate continuous monitoring of student achievement, demonstrate good quality assessment tasks that are integrated with instruction, or stimulate teacher reflections on effective classroom assessment. Prerequisites might be Activity 1.12—Assessment Principles, and 1.5—Clapping Hands or 1.11—Assessment Standards.

Rationale:

This activity will help participants view assessment more as a process over time than as an activity or test given to students at the end of instruction. Teachers need to see examples of how it looks in the classroom when a teacher is engaged in continuous and standards-based instruction and assessment. On this video, Kay Toliver is featured interacting with students at East Harlem Tech in New York City. After watching the video, discussion groups are formed to look at the "big picture" of effective classroom assessment practices.

This activity can be used to bring many aspects of the classroom together and to emphasize assessment as a vital part of instruction and learning. Good instruction requires knowing:

• The destination (targets) of what students know and are able to do
• How to provide multiple and various opportunities for student practice
• How to create authentic instructional experiences for students
• How to provide good feedback to students so they know what to do next to continue to improve their academic achievement
• One's own beliefs or principles guide assessment practices

Reference Box Good Morning Ms. Toliver is a Peabody Award-winning video, VHS, color, stereo, 27 minutes long. The program is underwritten by the National Science Foundation, ARCO, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It is available for $24.95 plus $6.50 UPS shipping (1997 prices) from FASE Productions, 4801 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 215, Los Angeles, California 90010, (800) 404-3273, fax: (213) 937-7440, e-mail: inquiries@fasenet.org

Materials:

• Video, Kay Toliver and the Students of East Harlem Tech
• Overheads A2.3,O1—Ms. Toliver Purposes, A2.3,O2—What Makes Assessment Effective in the Classroom?, A2.3,O3—What Is "Authentic Assessment?", A2.3,O4—Authentic Assessments Can Include Many Formats, A2.3,O5—A Question Might Be, A2.3,O6—A Closer Look at Assessment Principles
• Handouts A2.3,H1—What Makes Assessment Effective in the Classroom?, A2.3,H2—Assessment Principles

  Time Required:

  1-½ to 2 hours

  Facilitator's Notes:

  1. (10-15 minutes) Go over the purposes for the activity (Overhead A2.3,O1—Ms Toliver Purposes) and give a pre-video overview using Overheads A2.3,O2 to A2.3,O6.

    a. Using Overhead A2.3,O2—What Makes Assessment Effective in the Classroomm?, describe effective classroom assessment practices:

  • Knowing the destination (learning targets) for students. This means more than just being able to say, "I want my students to be critical readers, good writers, and know how to work well with others." A teachers knows the destination when, for example, he or she can define what critical reading is and identify examples of different levels of sophistication in the day to day performance of students. A teacher is a master of the targets of instruction when his/her students can also define the outcome and identify examples of different levels of sophistication and their own progress toward it.

  • Providing opportunities for practice on these learning targets.

  • Having clear purposes for the assessment that go beyond grading. Most classroom assessment should be for the purpose of providing feedback on progress toward our clearly defined targets. The most effective assessment is student self-assessment; but only if students understand the nature of quality and how to systematically apply criteria of quality to their own work.

  Ask participants for other practices.

    b. Ask participants to compare and contrast "authentic" and "alternative assessment." Participants often get authentic and alternative definitions confused. Alternative assessment is anything other than selected response (multiple-choice, matching, true/false). Use Overhead A2.3,O3—What is "Authentic Assessment?" to give a definition of authentic assessment.

    c. Ask participants what types of assessments could be "authentic." Place Overhead 2.3,O3—Authentic Assessment Can Take Many Forms on the overhead projector, and ask participants if they agree and if their state or local assessments includes such authentic approaches.

    d. An example of an authentic assessment in chemistry might be:

  • The state chemistry or physical science curriculum instructs a teacher to teach students about acid/base reactions.

  • Part of acid/base reactions studies would include neutralization reactions. An acid (like HCl) or a base (like NaOH) alone could melt the flesh off the body. When the two are mixed, the neutralization reaction will always produce a salt (usually harmless to flesh) plus water (that one could potentially drink). In some cases, carbonic acid which is very unstable is produced and quickly breaks down into water and carbon dioxide. These are simple chemical reactions that occur naturally in the body.

  • It is the job of the teacher to take what must be taught like a chemical reaction and teach it so that students could easily interpret and answer a question similar to the one on Overhead A2.3,O5—A Question Might Be. This would be an authentic assessment that the students would never forget (they will forget memorizing chemicals like NaOH and HCl).

  • To explain the answer: Stomach acid is dilute HCl (hydrochloric acid) and Mom has acid indigestion, which is an acid build-up. The Tums™ tablet contains a base, CaCO₃ (calcium carbonate) to neutralize the acid. The acid and base produce salt CaCl₂ (calcium chloride, which is flushed out through the feces or used by the body) and H₂CO₃ (carbonic acid). She burps because the carbonic acid is unstable and breaks down into H₂O (water) and CO₂ (carbon dioxide), a gas which leaves the body as a burp. Students need to know why Tums™ is taken and be able to relate the chemistry behind the possible reaction. This, then, is a more familiar approach to learning about neutralization reactions.
    2. (5 minutes) Tell participants that the video they are going to see illustrates the principles discussed above—assessment tasks that are related to everyday experience, and assessment that is continuous and embedded in instruction.

    Reference the information about Ms. Toliver from the video cover. Some points you might mention about this video:

    a. When teachers view the video, sometimes they comment: "Gee, if I only had the number of students she has, I could teach like her." The original number of students in Ms. Toliver's classroom was over thirty, this was too many to tape, so student names were put in a box and randomly pulled for participation.

    b. When teachers view the video sometimes they comment: "I don't have the time or energy to teach like that everyday." Listen at the beginning of the video when the students comment, "Sometimes she's the great pumpkin, etc., but most of the time she is just Ms. Toliver." Ms. Toliver does not conduct her lessons in this format everyday and besides, she is a 30+ year pro who has had numerous years to build her teaching style and material reserve.

    c. Most of the time, teachers will go wild over this video and will want to purchase it to show at their schools. (Ordering information is on p. 2 of this activity.)

    3. (60-70 minutes) Watch and discuss the video.

       a. (5 minutes) Form small groups and pass out Handout A2.3,H1—What Makes Assessment Effective in the Classroom? Give each group one of the questions to watch for in the video and discuss when it's done.

       b. (30 minutes) Show the video.

       c. (10-15 minutes) Have groups discuss their question and think about what they do in their own classrooms.

       d. (15-20 minutes) Have each group share their question and a summary of their comments with the whole group.

       Optional Extension—45-60 minutes to prompt more discussion

    1. Ask participants to share what they think were Ms. Toliver's strongest beliefs or principles about student assessment.

    2. Give participants Handout A2.3,H2—Assessment Principles. (Note that these principles were designed by a group of educators to help guide their own practice. They are meant as discussion starters, not a model that everyone should use. Emphasize that it is okay not to agree with each and every point and that some principles might need clarification. Since these points are made as part of Activity 1.12—Assessment Princples, it is a good idea to do that activity first.)

       Ask participants to respond to the questions on Overhead A2.3,O6—A Closer Look at Assessment Principles:

       a. Which principles seemed to be illustrated by Ms. Toliver?

       b. Find two of the principles that might be the easiest to implement.

       c. Find one of the principles that might be the hardest to implement.

    3. Give each participant two stick-it dots of the same color and one stick-it dot of a different color. Ask participants to post their dots on the chart paper graph that has sections for each of the principles. See example:

       A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I

        

        

        

       4. Review the posted chart and discuss which principles the group decided were the easiest to implement and why. Discuss the principles that the group decided were the hardest to implement and why.

       5. Tell participants to use this list to reflect on and guide their own growth in changing or improving on assessment practices in their own classroom.