NikBrink+Journal+3

Assessment 3 This week in the fifth grade class I observe, the students were assessed on their ability to do research and write what they have learned in their own words. The class was spit up into 5 groups of 5 and each was assigned an Indian Tribe. They were given books about the tribes and had access to internet from the classroom computers. After they gathered research each student independently wrote an antidotal paragraph where they pretended to be a part of the tribe and wrote about their life and experiences. They also used the information they gathered about their tribe to write a poem about an important asset to their tribe. Some students wrote about canoes, some wrote about jewelry, some wrote about hunting etc. The teacher provided the students with a rubric before they started the project so that they would know exactly what she expected. She also had the students do several drafts that she had to approve before they could make their final copy. Doing so allowed her to know that the students were on the right track and was correctly completing the assignment. I think that this was a good way to assess the students understanding because they got to feel like they were a part of the tribe and write about what their hobbies or responsibilities were in the tribe. If I could change anything about this assessment to make it more authentic I would have the students present the information to the class possibly dressed up like their tribe would be! =)