Published November 2013

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In the beginning, I gave very grammar-focused tests. As my teaching style changed, I found that my tests didn’t match what we were doing in class.

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Then I switched to performance assessments. I realized that they were great, but didn’t always show what they understood.

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Then I started giving reading assessments that had several readings about what we had covered in the unit. I really struggled to grade these.

IPAs

Finally, I took another leap and tried Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA). All of the skills and modes were previously separated, and now they were building on each other.

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Great things are being revealed!

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I begin by finding an authentic resource that I can weave through multiple modes and skills.

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For an interpretive activity, I like to ask them about the main idea, the purpose, and specific details.  (2018 Update: This has changed to real life tasks and/or pulling information from this in order to talk about it later.)

This rubric works best for me right now, but I’m looking for other options. (2018 Update: I do not use this rubric any more. Most of the time, I do not assess the interpretive for a grade. It is the first step for them to gather information that they will use later.)

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Interpersonal activities work best when they are using the information from the interpretive part. I try to recreate the situation as much as possible with props.

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I use our JCPS performance rubric to measure this.

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Then make it a writing assessment!

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Another idea: watch a department store commercial, look at a sale flyer, and then they have a text conversation about the sale.

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These two sites have some excellent IPAs!

http://swcolt2011.wikispaces.com/IPA+examples

http://swcolt2011.wikispaces.com/IPA+examples-Andrea+Henderson

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This was all new for me to try this trimester. Now I’m ready to improve.