Assessing Your Students

Types of Assessments:

• Diagnostic Test- A diagnosis of what the student already knows about a specific topic. A pre-assessment.
• Formative Test-  On-going assessment. Checking the students for understanding constantly. Are the students following your lesson?
• Summative Test- A summary of what has been learned throughout the unit. Using rubrics to grade essays, having students create a portfolio of their work, a unit test, a project,  etc. 

What can be assessed about students?

• Readiness - Skills, content knowledge, concepts.
• Interest- Interest surveys, interest centers, self-selection.
• Learning Profile - Students areas of strengths & weaknesses, work preferences and self awareness.

Here is an example of an assessment I made:

Example Assessment

Power, Authority & Governance

My topic for the research article was power, authority & governance. I thought this assignment was really useful because the article guided me and helped me create a good lesson for students. The article explained that using documents was a good way for students to learn more about government so I focused on document analysis in the activity.  

***Learning Activity***

To go along with the activity I have picked out some websites students can visit, along with books that can be utilized for the lesson. Also a charlie brown episode that explains the beginnings of the United States government! 
The book I chose to go along with the lesson is pictured to the left. It is called "How the U.S Government Works" by Syl Sobel. Here is a review of the book from senate.gov:
"Explains why government is necessary ("Can you imagine what your school would be like if each class had rules that were different from the rules in other classes? . . . And what if the school had no principal?"). Then goes on to describe what the three branches of government do. Readers learn how officials are elected or appointed and how government agencies work for the benefit of the people."

Constitution Game

Charlie Brown: The Constitutional Convention

Columbus Day!

Today is Columbus Day, a day that we recognize Christopher Columbus' achievements. Here is a lesson plan I would use to teach students about Columbus day:

Christopher Columbus Lesson Plan

I would use this lesson because it uses both literature and technology to teach about Columbus day.I also like their use of "K-W-L" charts. K stands for "Know", as in what students already know about Christopher Columbus. W stands for "Want to Know", which is the questions students are asked and need to answer during the lesson. L stands for "Learn". The learn part is where students will reflect and reinforce what they have just been taught. 

Teaching History

Some questions teachers should ask...

• What are the big ideas and concepts that I need to teach?
• What is freedom? Liberty? Use the common core standards, they give the big ideas that need to be taught. 
• How can we pique students interests in history?
• Projects such as biz world that can make learning fun and interesting. Use manipulative's to engage students (artifact bag). Using technology and the internet such as kid-friendly videos, interactive games, etc. that can help students learn. 

What are the benefits of studying history?

Personally I think studying history makes you a smart and knowledgeable person. If you know the past and you know mistakes people have made in the past, you will be less likely to make these mistakes. It will make you more conscience of the people around you and more culturally aware. 

How to engage students:

1. Using timelines to develop chronology
2. Locating and using historical resources
3. Visual literacy and history
4. Reenactments and drama
5. Biographies and historical literature