Using Projects and Performances to Check for Understanding

Using Projects and Performances to Check for Understanding: "Projects and performances often demand a heavy investment of time and effort. Needless frustrations result when students have made that investment in good faith, only to discover that their end result misses the mark. More often than not, there were no systems in place to have work in progress assessed for revision.

We build incremental assessments into our project-based assignments to prevent these difficulties. For example, we assign a photo essay to our 9th grade writing class (Frey, 2003). This is quite an undertaking, and students' interest and enthusiasm run high. However, because we know the assignment is fraught with potential problems, we meet with each student several times over the course of the project. Students develop a storyboard, draft text, and assemble the final product. At each stage, we confer with them and complete a checklist (see Figure 5.1). In addition, we use a mutually constructed rubric at each stage so that they can gauge the level of completeness of their project (see Figure 5.2). These checklists and notes from our meetings are turned in with the final project. Of course, these tools can be modified for use with students with disabilities and for students who find school difficult.


Figure 5.1. Feedback for Draft Photo Essays

Feedback on Draft of Photo Essay

Student: _______________ Date: _________ Draft # _________

CATEGORY


RESPONSIBILITIES

Conventions


□ My paragraphs have more than one sentence.

□ Each of my paragraphs has one main idea.

□ I have used correct grammar.

□ I have used correct punctuation.

□ I have checked my spelling.

□ I have used capital letters correctly.

□ My handwriting is legible.

Organization


□ My introduction is interesting and inviting.

□ The sequence of ideas is logical.

□ My ideas flow from one to another.

□ I use helpful transitions between main points (e.g., “First of all” or “Similarly”).

□ I have a satisfying conclusion.

Flow


□ My sentences build logically upon the one(s) before.

□ My sentences are different lengths.

□ My sentences start in different ways.

□ There are no run-on sentences.

□ There are no incomplete sentences.

Punctuation


□ Commas separate items in a series.

□ A comma follows an introductory word or phrase.

□ A semicolon connects two sentences.

□ Closing quotation marks always follow commas or periods.

□ Apostrophes are used correctly to show possession or to create contractions.

□ A period, question mark, or exclamation point ends every sentence.

Word Choice


□ I use descriptive words (adjectives and adverbs) often.

□ I use strong, active verbs.

□ I use synonyms and different words to add variety.

□ My pronouns match the nouns to which they refer.

Next Steps:

From “A picture prompts a thousand words: Creating photo essays with struggling writers,” by N. Frey, 2003, California English, 8(5), 20.


Figure 5.2. Rubric for Photo Essay

Student Name: _____________________ Date:_____________

Title: _________________________

Category


4


3


2


1

Required Elements


Photo essay included all required elements as well as a few additional ones.


Photo essay included all required elements as well as one additional element.


Photo essay included all required elements.


One or more required elements were missing from the photo essay.

Spelling and Grammar


Few or no spelling or grammatical mistakes on a photo essay with lots of text.


Few or no spelling or grammatical mistakes on a photo essay with less text.


Several spelling or grammatical mistakes on a photo essay with lots of text.


Several spelling or grammatical mistakes on a photo essay with little text.

Use of Time


Used time well during each class period with no adult reminders.


Used time well during most class periods with no adult reminders.


Used time well but required adult reminders on one or more occasions.


Used time poorly in spite of several adult reminders.

Content


Photo essay uses both text and pictures to tell an imaginative story.


Photo essay uses mostly text, with some support from pictures, to tell an imaginative story.


Some pictures and text are not clearly related to one another.


Text and pictures have little connection with one another.

Required Elements:

□ 15–20 photographs used in photo essay.

□ Text is typed or written neatly.

□ Photo essay includes a cover with title, author, and illustration.

□ “About the Author” essay included.

From “A picture prompts a thousand words: Creating photo essays with struggling writers,” by N. Frey, 2003, California English, 8(5), 21.

Social Organizations That Promote Participation and a Sense of Agency

Many projects and performances involve group collaboration, and these instructional arrangements can be a source of frustration when not carefully designed and monitored. A common element in the findings about successful cooperative learning groups is that there should be both group and individual accountability (Cohen, 1994; Johnson & Johnson, 1998). Therefore, it is wise to provide students with a mechanism for evaluating their own performance in the group. We have included a sample self-assessment in Figure 5.3.

Figure 5.3. Self-Assessment of Group Work
Language arts workshop: Purposeful reading and writing instruction

Projects that are completed individually may benefit from inviting peer feedback, which can be valuable for all students. Anyone engaged in a creative endeavor knows how useful it can be to run an idea past a trusted colleague. Peer response in the classroom can offer the same advantages, but the skills required for offering and accepting need to be taught. In particular, we remind our students of the following principles:

* Students determine when they need peer feedback. We don't construct an artificial schedule of when students are required to get peer feedback, only that they do so at some point during the project.
* Not everything needs peer feedback. Too much feedback can result in an overload of information.
* Teachers, not students, should offer feedback on the details and mechanics of the piece. Peer response should not turn classmates into miniature teachers. Instead, peers can provide reactions as a fellow reader, writer, or audience member related to what they understood and what might be confusing (Frey & Fisher, 2006).

Problem-Based and Project-Based Learning

Both problem-based and project-based learning (PBL) can be integrated into performances. These approaches seek to replicate an authentic experience or application that occurs outside the classroom. Most experiences are designed to be collaborative, resulting in social as well as academic learning. Both problem-based and project-based learning are intended to integrate skills and content across disciplines, resulting in a holistic experience.

Although the approaches are similar, there are some differences between the two. Project-based learning is more common to elementary and secondary classrooms; problem-based learning is used less frequently (Esch, 1998). Problem-based learning is used widely in the medical field, where case studies serve as an important method for developing the skills of novices (Hmelo, 1998). Because problem-based learning is, by design, authentic to the situation, young students are more limited in their ability to successfully complete these complex assignments. Therefore, project-based learning, where a multidimensional task is defined and supported, is used more frequently in K–12 classrooms.

Projects can extend from a few days in length to weeks or even a semester, with even young children finding success. For example, project-based learning has been used in inclusive 5th and 6th grade classrooms to teach historical understanding (Ferretti, MacArthur, & Okolo, 2001). While the potential of project-based learning is appealing, Meyer, Turner, and Spencer (1997) offer cautions regarding the design of such learning experiences. Having noted that some students have less capacity for dealing with setbacks and other challenges, they state that “typical classroom goals such as accuracy, speed, and completion dates may conflict with the project-based math goals of justification, thoughtfulness, and revision” (p. 517). Keep in mind some of the design principles discussed earlier, especially access to frequent formative assessments to guide revisions. These, along with structures such as timelines and intermediate goals, can be especially helpful for students who are less persistent or who like their work to be perfect before the teacher sees it.
Performance Learning

A third type of learning opportunity used frequently in the classroom is performance, which can be presented through public or other visual means. Many performances focus on the application and synthesis of knowledge to create novel products. Like project-based learning, there is an end product in mind (e.g., a poster, a Web-based project, a musical). Not all performances are as elaborate as problem- and project-based learning (PBL) assignments. Some are simpler and do not need all of the formal supports associated with PBL. For example, the creation of a graphic organizer to visually represent the influence of Muslim scholars on scientific processes, mathematics, and literature is not likely to require a series of formative assessments along the way.

The importance of performance opportunities lies in their potential for providing other outlets for students to demonstrate their mastery of different concepts in ways that are not limited to more traditional school-based demonstrations such as reading, writing, and computational tasks. In many ways, performance tasks lie at the heart of differentiated instruction because they afford learners with diverse needs creative ways to show competence (Tomlinson, 1999).

In the next section, we will discuss techniques for using performances and projects to check for understanding. All of them use principles of design discussed earlier, especially scaffolds and group interactions. Although many are public performances, some are transactions between the teacher and learner only."