Developing Lessons with Technology

Focus Question: How can teachers evaluate and assess their students?

     Standardized testing such as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, acts as practice for teacher's assessing student learning. Norm-referenced tests which compare a student's performance to another of the same grade or age, and criterion-reference tests, which compare a student's performance to a set of objectives or standards.  The usage of an electronic grading software provides a visual/report on the performance of each student and the entire class.  The use of rubrics can be used as a performance assessment to evaluate student's work on course assignments and activities. They establish known-in-advance criteria to assess student performance.


Tech Tool: Online resources for lesson planning: RubiStar

      Below is a rubric I have made using RubiStar. This website first has you choose a topic then from the topics you narrow you choices down to a customizable rubric. I choose the topic of products and then making a game. This is fantastic way for teachers to define in concrete terms what is needing to be accomplished to meet the criteria.
                                                       Making A Game : history

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Teacher Name: Natalie Blanco


Student Name:     ________________________________________

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Knowledge Gained	All students in group could easily and correctly state several facts about the topic used for the game without looking at the game.	All students in the group could easily and correctly state 1-2 facts about the topic used for the game without looking at the game.	Most students in the group could easily and correctly state 1-2 facts about the topic used for the game without looking at the game.	Several students in the group could NOT correctly state facts about the topic used for the game without looking at the game.
Accuracy of Content	All information cards made for the game are correct.	All but one of the information cards made for the game are correct.	All but two of the information cards made for the game are correct.	Several information cards made for the game are not accurate.
Rules	Rules were written clearly enough that all could easily participate.	Rules were written, but one part of the game needed slightly more explanation.	Rules were written, but people had some difficulty figuring out the game.	The rules were not written.
Cooperative work	The group worked well together with all members contributing significant amounts of quality work.	The group generally worked well together with all members contributing some quality work.	The group worked fairly well together with all members contributing some work.	The group often did not work well together and the game appeared to be the work of only 1-2 students in the group.
Creativity	The group put a lot of thought into making the game interesting and fun to play as shown by creative questions, game pieces and/or game board.	The group put some thought into making the game interesting and fun to play by using textures, fancy writing, and/or interesting characters.	The group tried to make the game interesting and fun, but some of the things made it harder to understand/enjoy the game.	Little thought was put into making the game interesting or fun.

Summary & Connection: I enjoyed this chapter. It has given me great insight on the future of my lesson plans. Lesson plans that need to fit accordingly with each individual by performing learning assessments to evaluate each student's knowledge, understanding, and performance.