Week 2-Assignment 2A-Differentiated assessment

Differentiated assessment

In the world beyond school, we don’t have to be good at everything.  We have specific skills that match the needs of a specific job, and we have plenty of adult experience and maturity. As children in school, however, we have to be good at everything regardless of our skill set or background, and we have little experience or maturity.

What is fair…

…isn’t always equal

       

Differentiating instruction is doing what’s fair for students.  It’s a collection of best practices strategically employed to maximize students’ learning at every turn, including giving them the tools to handle anything that is undifferentiated.  It requires us to do different things for different students some, or a lot, of the time. It’s whatever works to advance the student if the regular classroom approach doesn’t meet students’ needs.  It’s highly effective teaching.  

“Differentiation curriculum moves teachers away from the “one size fits all” curriculum that really fits no one.”  It encourages students to become more responsible for their own learning and to recognize and use their own strengths, thereby helping them become lifelong autonomous learners” (Coil, 2004)

 Rubrics are "rules" or a way to explicitly lay out expectations for an assignment, and the means to evaluate or grade an assignment using a point system. Rubrics allows the educator to develop one lesson that is not intended to be a one size fit all lesson but instead a standard lesson that can be evaluated according to the student’s ability. The use of rubrics will increase as each educator makes an effort to differentiate instructions. Rubrics work very well for differentiated instruction, because the teachers can establish different levels of performance for general education students and for children receiving special education services.

One of the goals as a Spanish teacher is to promote oral proficiency in the target language.  I know I am facing a diverse classroom where students are learning in different ways.  Therefore, I like to use group projects because they can use everybody’s strength to succeed in the activity.   There are different activities that can help me to promote and assess oral proficiency.

This rubric is used to grade the students’ presentations and also to inform me how I could promote oral proficiency in my students.  The categories for this rubric are: vocabulary, using complete sentences, content, collaboration with peers, enthusiasm, volume, and follow directions.

	Oral Presentation Rubric: Oral Presentations in Spanish- 5G Teacher name:  Mrs. Viviana Rodriguez Nombre: _________________________________________________________
CATEGORY		4	3	2	1
Vocabulary		Uses vocabulary appropriate for the audience. Extends audience vocabulary by defining words that might be new to most of the audience.	Uses vocabulary appropriate for the audience. Includes 1-2 words that might be new to most of the audience, but does not define them.	Uses vocabulary appropriate for the audience. Does not include any vocabulary that might be new to the audience.	Uses several (5 or more) words or phrases that are not understood by the audience.
Uses Complete Sentences		Always (99-100% of time) speaks in complete sentences.	Mostly (80-98%) speaks in complete sentences.	Sometimes (70-80%) speaks in complete sentences.	Rarely speaks in complete sentences.
Content		Shows a full understanding of the topic.	Shows a good understanding of the topic.	Shows a good understanding of parts of the topic.	Does not seem to understand the topic very well.
Collaboration with Peers		Almost always listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others in the group. Tries to keep people working well together.	Usually listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others in the group. Does not cause "waves" in the group.	Often listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others in the group but sometimes is not a good team member.	Rarely listens to, shares with, and supports the efforts of others in the group. Often is not a good team member.
Enthusiasm		Facial expressions and body language generate a strong interest and enthusiasm about the topic in others.	Facial expressions and body language sometimes generate a strong interest and enthusiasm about the topic in others.	Facial expressions and body language are used to try to generate enthusiasm, but seem somewhat faked.	Very little use of facial expressions or body language. Did not generate much interest in topic being presented.
Volume		Volume is loud enough to be heard by all audience members throughout the presentation.	Volume is loud enough to be heard by all audience members at least 90% of the time.	Volume is loud enough to be heard by all audience members at least 80% of the time.	Volume often too soft to be heard by all audience members.
Follows Directions		The presentation addressed the directions of the instructor totally.	The presentation was missing 1 element of the directions.	The presentation was missing 2 elements of the directions.	The presentation did not follow the directions.

 References

Coil, Carolyn. (2004) Standards-Based Activities and Assessments or the Differentiated Classroom. Pieces of Learning