With Rigor For All

1. With Rigor For All Assessment Options

2. “Seminar” Can replace formal assessment to explore a text. Students’ desks are placed in a circle. Every student must participate at least once. Each student is given an opportunity to complete their thoughts before others offer comments/questions. If silence lasts too long, students are encouraged to open the text they are studying and focus on an interesting passage they noted. Teacher observes silently and records positive behaviors and ways that students help one another through the literature.

3. “Trials” Students become the experts of an area of the material. Roles are assigned, teams are formed, costumes are designed, and rules are reviewed. Students can see their work and gain confidence in their knowledge. EXAMPLE: Students put Victor Frankenstein on trial for the murders his monster committed.

4. “Quote Quizzes” In class, a key sentence or two is selected from the end of the last chapter assigned. Students write for five minutes placing their chosen sentence in the context of the story. Activity makes students reflect on how the novel is developing.

5. “My Epic Simile” Students choose one of Homer’s epic similes from The Odyssey and adapt it to describe how they perform an ordinary act. Students model lines after Homer’s. The goal is for students to learn how Homer composed his brilliant similes in The Odyssey. Example Topics: How students practice an instrument How students struggle on a test How students eat a banana

6. “Visualizing Box”

7. “Essay Assessments: Stretching Understanding” Example: Write about a major character in The Odysseywho is most like you and explain the similarity using examples from your own and the character’s lives. You’ll be able to tell if students read the epic, understood what they read, and were able to apply the story to their own lives.

8. “Essay Assessments: Playing with Form” Example: Using Wallace Stevens’ poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” write a poem modeled after Stevens’ about a central character from the novel Animal Farm. This activity reveals students’ personal and private interpretations of the novel and an important character.

9. “Essay Assessments: Reminders” “I want my students’ essays to be experiments in thinking.” -Carol Jago Have students construct their own focus questions using books and notes. Remind students that your prompts are only suggestions, and should be considered “jumping-off places.”