More than one way to assess!!!

One thing that challenges teachers is different ways of assessing their students. I guess, as my experience as a low achieving student in elementary, middle and high school, I sympathize with my students when it comes to taking a test. Me, personally am not a very good test taker. It is not an issue of testing anxiety but rather it is an issue of remembering what I have read or picking the right answer. Usually when I give a test or am ready to assess students when we are reading or have just finished a novel, I believe that the best method of seeing whether or not a student grasped the novel is to give choice. So, when it is time to assess, I usually offer a written test, require a paper and offer a huge list of project options. In the end, it balances out. If a student cannot is not a great test taker he or she can still succeed with a project or a written paper. I never require my students to have a book report. I always tell them (remember, I teach high school) that they did book reports in the third grade. So, with projects, I want them to be able to explain the book in a variety of ways such as, diorama, write a screen play for one of the scenes, rewrite one of the scenes, act out an interview with one of the characters, etc.

Another thing I do is to have students keep a reading log. With technology nowadays, this would work with what I am doing now; create a blog on that book. The last book that I taught was Night by Eli Wiesel and my student we asked to keep a reading log of each chapter. They had three columns that included: a summary of the chapter, one thing that stood out to them in that chapter, and a personal response on how that point make them felt and why that stood out to them. I have to say that almost all of my students were very successful with the reading log. Tovani (2204) suggests that students should keep a weekly log but I had them keep the log from chapter to chapter to stay organized.

Another activity that I did with the students concerning the same book is the have guided reading questions. I would come up with a small list of questions concerning the chapter. I would have the students read the questions aloud before we start the chapter and clarify exactly what I want. The students would have the questions with them as they read the chapter so they know what to look out for.

There are a number of ways for us teachers to assess our students' knowledge of a particular piece of literature. We have to remember that no one way is the best due to, as I have mentioned numerous times, that not all students learn in the same manner. We need to give our students choice when it comes to assessment because the point is to make sure they understand what they are reading.