Design an Assessment

Hannah Nagi
TE 407

Audience
• 11th grade English

Unit
• One World, One People: Diversity Literature

Placement within Unit

• Upon completion of entire unit

Text/s
• Budhos, Marina: Ask Me No Questions
• Gaines, Ernest: A Lesson Before Dying
• Selvadurai, Shyam: Story-Wallah
• Yang, Gene Luen: American Born Chinese
*All texts dependent upon student
demographic

Assessment
• Summative
• Creation of digital or drawn comic strips that reflect concepts of
identity and perception
• Direct correlation and inspiration from Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel
American Born Chinese

Objectives
• Students will be able to apply their understanding of identity and
perception to the world around them.
• Students will be able to recognize and define the difference between
internal perception and external perception.
• Students will be able to properly employ this distinction in order to
develop and create unique works of art.

Standards
• 1.2- Use writing, speaking, and visual expression for personal
understanding and growth.
 • 1.3- Communicate in speech, writing, and multimedia using content,
form, voice, and style appropriate to the audience and purpose.
• 1.5- Produce a variety of written, spoken, and multimedia works,
making conscious choices about language, form, style, and/or visual
representation for each work.
• 3.1- Develop the skills of close and contextual literary reading.

Pre- Assessment Learning Activities

• Revisiting our “About Me” posters from the beginning of the year
• Pre-writing about stereotyping, identity, inner and outer self
• Written reflections on the graphic novel American Born Chinese
• Discussion of important concepts of graphic novel: identity, perception,
stereotypes, prejudice, internal/external, etc.
• Exploring and sharing various examples of comic strips
• Photo Story 3 workshop in computer lab along with other various
computer lab dates for exploration of similar programs

Rationale
At the beginning of the creation of this assessment I was a little
worried that it would hold no weight for my future students. However, after
the time and details I have put into this assessment I strongly believe this
will be something fun and meaningful. As outlined previously, this
summative assessment will fall at the end of our Diversity Literature unit.
Hypothetically, the graphic novel American Born Chinese will be read as the
culminating piece of diversity literature and therefore the assessment will be
assigned. Of course the unit organization and flow will be dependent upon
the student demographic and which pieces of literature would be appropriate
for the class. This summative assessment would only be given if this specific
novel could be taught in tandem. However, it is my opinion that such a
graphic novel like American Born Chinese would be fun and easy to teach in
many classrooms regardless of the student demographic.
At the heart of this assessment is identity crisis which so many, if not
all, adolescents are going through. I wanted to find a seemingly fun and low-
risk way for my students to express their fears of not knowing who they are
which may have resulted from stereotyping, prejudice, racism, etc. It is my
belief that this activity will mean more to them than they are aware of.
Thinking way back to this part of my life I always felt like no one understood
what I was going through, not even my friends or family. By sharing their
work with others (Gallery Walk) it is my hope that they will become more
aware of the fact that they are not alone and they will begin to recognize
that everyone is struggling with identity each and every day…even their
teacher!

Miss Nagi
11th grade English
April 20th, 2009

Now it is your turn to become…

COMIC CREATORS!
Hopefully this below looks familiar to all of you! Just like the
author of American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang, you are going
to be creating your very own comic strips! The comic strips that
you construct may be drawn or digitally created using any
program that you have access to. It is important to keep in mind
that we are going to be holding a “Gallery Walk” after all comics
have been completed…so make sure your comics are 1)school
appropriate 2) something you do not mind sharing with the class.
Below are the guidelines for what your comic strips MUST include:

 2 STRIPS: min. of 4 blocks per strip (which means you need 8

blocks total)
 FIRST STRIP: must reflect how you see yourself in the world
 SECOND STRIP: must reflect how others see you in the
world
**You may want to highlight this through a brief story,
conversation, exchange, gestures, joke, etc.
Things you MAY want to think about when creating your comic
strips:

 Who or what makes me who I am?

 Am I only defined by my race, ethnicity, gender, sexual
orientation, etc?
 When I look into the mirror what do I see?
 When I look into a stranger’s eyes what do I think they see?
 Who or what is responsible for who I am?

Hold on! You’re not done yet…

To support your wonderful creations I am requiring you to type
or to legibly write a minimum 500 word reflection
describing your reasoning for representing yourself in such a
way. I would like you to tell me:

 HOW you see yourself and WHY

 HOW you think others see you and WHY
 WHO or WHAT has influenced you to think this
 WHEN or WHAT made you decide this
**FYI these reflections will be read by me and ONLY me. They will
not be a part of our gallery walk at all!

Important Upcoming Dates:

 Monday, April 27th- Rough draft proposal due for BOTH strips
in order to make sure that your comic strips are going to be
SCHOOL APPROPRIATE!
 Friday, May 8th- COMIC STRIPS & REFLECTIONS due!
 Friday, May 15th- GALLERY WALK! Bring comic strips to
school to share your hard work with your classmates!

**DO NOT WORRY! These dates are subject to change if it seems

that everyone needs more time! Keep me posted on your status!
HAVE FUN! 

My Grading Rubric
• Scale of 1-10…1 being the lowest & 10 being the
highest.
• WHY?

1.Creativity and Expression

2.Correlation to Text

3.Providing for Community

4.Providing for Individual Discovery

5.Utilizes Technology and Creative Tools
Appropriately

6.Realization of Self from Text

7. Realization of Self from Assessment

Creation