My Favorite Alternative Assessment

The first thing that came to mind when I was reading about performance assessments was a learning activity that I had to complete my sophomore year of high school in an Advanced Algebra class. I had to collect information about different ways to finance college. We had to compare interest rates of different types of loans and determine our eligibility for those loans. We also had to look into different repayment options. We had to apply knowledge from that math class as well as from other subjects to complete our final task. It definitely connected "schoolhouse" learning and real-world activities. I had to contact different banks and the financial offices of different colleges. My teacher also shared the scoring rubric that he used to focus our efforts.

Linking Standards to Learning Targets

All of my targets are linked to Social Studies Standard 3-Geography (Elementary)

Learning Target1- Key Idea 1, PI 4

LT2- KI 1, PI 4; KI 2, PI 1

LT3-same as LT1

LT4- KI 1, PI 4 and 5

LT5- KI 1, PI 1and 4; KI 2, PI 1

LT6-same as LT1

LT7- KI 1, PI 4 and 5; KI 2, PI 1

Link to standards:
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/pub/sslearn.pdf

Learning Targets Draft

These learning targets are for a third grade unit on kinds of communities. I started by looking at the objectives listed for each lesson in the teacher's guide. I then looked at the taxonomies of learning targets. I am interested in getting feedback on the verbs associated with the learning targets. Of course any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.

(1) Students will be able to explain what is meant by the term rural community.

- Mastery
- Verbs: define, describe, identify, give examples, match

(2) The student will be able to describe the geography of different kinds of communities.

-Mastery
-distinguish, compare, compile, identify, generalize

(3) Students will be able to explain what is meant by the term suburban community.

-Mastery
-define, describe, identify, give examples, match

(4) Students will describe how rural communities can change to suburban communities.

-Mastery
- explain, give examples, identify, summarize, relate

(5) Students will be able to identify reasons people form communities.

-Developmental
- list, explain, give examples, tell, state

(6) Students will explain what is meant by the term urban community.

-Mastery
-define, describe, give examples, match, identify

(7) Students will be able to compare and contrast rural, suburban, and urban communities.

- Mastery
- diagram, differentiate, point out, relate, distinguish