Assessments

Formative Assessments: Pre-test (traditional) European Scavenger Hunt (traditional) Peer edit of essay (collaborative) What defines a country (authentic) Summative Assessments: Basque country persuasive essay (authentic) Mapping Quiz (traditional) Vocab Quiz (traditional) European Union Notes Quiz (traditional) Comprehensive Unit Test - 125 points total (traditional): True/False - 30 points Multiple Choice- 28 points Short Answer - 30 points Mapping - 20 points Essay 15 points

Every lesson in the unit has an assessment organic to it. In addition to organic assessments, I continually assessed student learning by asking questions to individuals, asking questions to the class, and based off student questions. The formal assessments on lessons were designed to create accountability for students, give me an idea of where they were, and advance student knowledge of the subject. A detailed explanation of each assessment, in the order they were given in the unit, follows.

Vocab and Mapping Quizzes

Summative, Traditional The first two assessments are a traditional vocab quiz and a mapping quiz. I used these assessments in part because all other units in the semester contained both vocab and mapping quizzes and I wanted to create continuity for students. Additionally, the primary purpose of these two assessments was to create accountability for learning key words and locations that we would discuss in more depth later. The vocab quiz (see attachment) had 12 words and 2 extra credit words from a previous unit. The mapping quiz (see attachment) consisted of 22 countries, cities, bodies of water, and land features. I offered extra credit for naming the countries of Scandinavia. For the vocab quiz, I would

read the definition 3 times and students would write the name of the vocab word. For them mapping quiz, students filled in the blank for the country, city, or landform in question based off a blank map.

European Scavenger Hunt

Formative, Traditional The European Scavenger Hunt (see attachment) was a 2 day traditional written activity where students answered 30 prepared questions on the book. The answer sheet functioned as my assessment tool. I designed to questions to act as a review for the vocab and mapping sections, force students to use geographic tools to answer questions, and use higher order thinking skills to answer open ended questions. The assessment addressed geography standards 1 and 2. I scored the assignment primarily based on completion and thoughtful (even if they were wrong) answers on open ended questions.

What Defines a Country

Formative, Authentic At the end of the What Defines a Country class discussion, students individually created their own list of what they believed defined a country and why. The purpose of this assessment was to solidify what the students had learned about fundamental aspects of a country. I also used it as an assessment tool to see what students got out of the class discussion. I graded this assessment based on completion and thoughtful (even if wrong) answers.

European Union Quiz

Summative, Traditional The European Union Quiz (see attachment) consisted of 17 multiple choice questions that students could use their notes on. I let students use their notes in order to encourage them to take notes on the lecture and because many of the questions asked general questions about the institutions of the EU that notes would assist with, but not directly provide the answer for. My primary goal in this assessment was to create accountability for students to pay attention during the lecture, take notes, and provide me a tool to assess the effectiveness of my lecture.

Peer Edit of Basque Persuasive Paragraph

Formative, Collaborative The Peer Edit of the Basque Persuasive Paragraph (see attachment) was a series of yes/no questions and open ended questions that students answered on their peers rough drafts. The editing sheet was designed to make sure all essays would be in the correct format and used convincing evidence to support their claim. I used this assessment because some students were still having trouble preparing their essays in the proper format, I lacked time to give specific feedback to each student on their paragraphs, and allow students to look at their peers essays to perhaps influence the final draft of their own. The grade on this assessment was based on completion.

Basque Persuasive Paragraph

Summative, Traditional The Basque Persuasive Paragraph (see student work) was a summative assessment on the series of Basque Country lessons we had done. The assignment was to argue for or against Basque independence using a 5-8 sentence paragraph, topic sentence, 3-4 supporting pieces of evidence, and conclusion. I graded the assignment based on if the student used the correct format and if the supporting evidence was detailed, relevant, and supported their main argument.