Assessment

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”–Nelson Mandela

At its heart, the standard of assessment is meant to determine the exact breadth and depth of a student’s knowledge of the subject. During my two week unit I performed several different assessments. I gave a pre-test to set a baseline standard and then I held a group discussion in order to determine how much pre-existing knowledge about the Victorian age and Gothic literature students possessed. Throughout the reading of the novel I conducted formative assessments, such as comprehension checks, in order to determine if students were retaining the appropriate material from the lessons. At the end of the unit I delivered a post-test, which allowed me to gauge how much my students had learned. My students were also assigned a literary analysis paper, in order to determine how comfortable they were with the themes which we had discussed.

Comprehension checks, like the one pictured below, were an easy way to swiftly assess student knowledge. Delivered at the beginning of the lesson, these comprehension checks allowed me to see what information students retained and what information needed to be re-introduced.

A side by side comparison of a blank comprehension check and a completed comprehension check. This assessment allowed me to see that students were still retaining the appropriate information for their lessons. 

I also utilized exit slips as a formative assessment. Students would turn in a scrap sheet of paper, like the ones pictured below, at the end of class, answering a few questions. For the exit slips pictured below, students were asked to summarize three key points from the novel.

Exit slips were another easy way to assess student understanding of the day’s lesson.

For final projects, students followed the final project guidelines in order to write a literary analysis paper. This paper was based on themes which were talked about in class, during formative assessments, as well as shown on the pre and post test. Students then wrote a literary analysis paper for their summative assessment. This allowed me to see how much information from classwork, as well as previous assessments, each student had retained.

For more discussion on Assessment for and of Student Learning, see my Assessment of and for Learning PPS paper.