Formative Assessment: Integration

In this entry you will be able to find an example of an oral presentation rubric, an example of a scale, and an example of a checklist. Each one of them is better described in their sections.

Rubric:  Oral presentation

First of all, we had to determined what we were going to assess, in this case, we wanted to assess some oral presentations of our classmates.

When we started doing our rubric, the teacher provided us with some reading about rubrics (reading 1 and reading 2) , and we looked for other examples of rubrics evaluating oral presentations. 

We obviously need to define what we want to evaluate in order to know the characteristics it should have.

Therefore, speaking is defined as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information. Its form and meaning depend on the context in which it occurs, the participants that are involve in the process, and the purposes of speaking (Burns & Joyce, 1997).

Speaking is the students' ability to express themselves orally, coherently, fluently and appropriately in a given meaningful context to serve both transactional and interactional purposed using correct pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary and adopting the pragmatic and discourse rules of the spoken language, in this case, English. They are required to show mastery of the following sub competencies:

• Linguistic competence: This includes using intelligible pronunciation, following grammatical rules accurately, and using a relevant and appropriate range of vocabulary.
•  Discourse competence: This includes structuring the discourse coherently and cohesively, and managing the conversation and interacting effectively to keep the conversation going, especially at the end, when the questions happen.
•  Pragmatic competence: This involves expressing a range of functions effectively and appropriately according to the context and register.
• Fluency: This means speaking fluently demonstrating a reasonable rate of speech.

In an article about oral presentation, Stephen Billups suggested that some guidelines for a good oral presentation  are:

1. Having a clear purpose

2. Addressing the intended audience at their level

3. It is well-organized, including a clear introduction, which motivates and previews the talk, and a summary

4. Avoiding unnecessary details, and staying in topic all of the time

5. Using well-designed visual aids

6. Engaging the audience

7. And, ending on time

We used Rubistar, which is a tool that allows you to create your own rubrics. It provides you the format and it also gives you some examples of different types of rubrics, the categories or aspects that you can evaluate in them, and the descriptions for each aspect. In our case, we chose to assess five aspects or categories: organization, mastery of the content, verbal effectiveness, delivery, and visual-aids. 

Here is the rubric that we came up with: oral presentation rubric

Rubistar was really easy to use and it actually gave us a starting point, it helped us to choose which aspects we wanted to evaluate and the actual characteristics of those aspects. I would absolutely recommend it to other teachers because using it is not only helpful but it’s also very quick to utilize.

When it was time for its application, I found two main struggles: the first one was that there were some aspects that we didn't covered in our rubric and that when I wanted to evaluate them, it was difficult to choose where to place them. And the second one was that it was difficult to me to evaluate them as a team, because some of them accomplished the characteristics of an aspect and some of them didn't, so I got confused about how to evaluate them. 

The rubric was made by:

Maria Juana Reyes Parada

Adriana Aquino

Diana Jiménez López

Scale

A scale is a tool used for assessing the performance of tasks, skill levels, procedures, processes, qualities, quantities, and many other end products, such as reports, presentations, drawings, etc.

These are judged at a defined level within a stated range. Rating scales are similar to checklists except that they indicate the degree of accomplishment rather than just yes or no. Scales list performance statements in one column and the range of accomplishment in descriptive words or numbers, in other columns. These other columns form “the scale” and can indicate a range of achievement, such as from poor to excellent, never to always, beginning to exemplary, or strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Effective rating scales use descriptors with clearly understood measures, such as frequency. Scales that rely on subjective descriptors of quality, such as fair, good or excellent, are less effective because the single adjective does not contain enough information on what criteria are indicated at each of these points on the scale.

The scale that I designed was based on a revision of the Minerva Model. I used a scale from 1 to 4, 1 being the lowest rating and 4 being the highest. 

  

Here it is the link to download the scale: Minerva model's scale

As a conclusion, I thought making a scale was very easy but it turned out it wasn't. You need to be careful when you choose your parameters, for example if you want to evaluate frequency or effectiveness, because that will govern your overall instrument. 

Checklist

First, we need to define what a checklist is. A checklist  is a tool for identifying the presence or absence of conceptual knowledge, skills, elements, or behaviors. Checklists are used for identifying whether key tasks in a procedure, process, or activity have been completed. 

They usually offer a yes/no format in relation to student demonstration of specific criteria. This is similar to a light switch; the light is either on or off. They may be used to record observations of an individual, a group or a whole class.

The checklist I designed is based on the characteristicas and the elements that our blogs should have. I took 12 aspects into consideration and there should be 18 elements in our blogs, from maps, to videos, to other assessment tools. 

Here is the link to download the checklist: Blog checklist

To summarize, the purpose of checklists and rating scales  is to:

• ·         provide tools for systematic recording of observations
•       provide tools for self-assessment
• ·         provide samples of criteria so students can know what it's soing to be evaluated ··         .

Questions 

To finish this never-ending entry, I will answer some questions about the blog as a learning tool and as an assessment tool.

1. How does the blog work for the teacher, classmates and me? 

For all of us is a portfolio, in which we can find our assignments in an organized way and it allows us to add to our post all types of formats and content. It provides, not only to the teacher, but to us as well a kind of time-lapse work, where we could see our progress and our improvement on designing assessment tools and on the way we express ourselves when we are explaining the topics.

The blog shows our level of understanding about the topics. And it was a source of feedback, not only from my classmates but I could also see my mistakes and the thing I could improve on.

2. To what extent does it match in practice with what I read?

I think that all the reading that the teacher gave us helped me to create every work in my blog. Every reading was useful and accurate to the topic. If I wouldn’t have read the articles, I wouldn’t have being able to accomplish what the teacher asked for, because I used the readings not only for the concept maps but I also used them for my videos, my tests, my rubrics, and every other task. They did not only provide me with the content for my work but they also gave steps and tips to do the tasks.

3. Would I implement it in my own classes? Why?

Yes, as the reading said, you can be used in any grade level and in any curriculum and I found the blog very useful and accessible. You can enter and have the resources whenever and wherever. It’s an interactive tool, and you can receive feedback, when making the blog, from your teacher and your classmates. From their points of view, you can learn something different, whether it is their method of organization or a different understanding of a topic.