Sample 1: Grade 11

Topic: Issues Facing Us Today

Prescribed Learning Outcomes:

Comprehend and Respond (Comprehension)

It is expected that students will:

• demonstrate the ability to read for a variety of purposes
• organize oral, written, or visual information into a variety of written and graphic forms

It is expected that students will:

• demonstrate willingness to reassess their understanding of a topic on the basis of responses from others and new information and experiences
• develop and defend a point of view using evidence from work they have read, heard, or viewed

It is expected that students will:

• compare different sources of information on the same topic

It is expected that students will:

• apply capitalization, spelling, and punctuation conventions and standard grammatical structures

It is expected that students will:

• use appropriate criteria to critique their own and others' ideas, use of language, and presentation forms relative to purpose and audience

It is expected that students will:

• create clear and appealing oral, written, and visual presentations using a variety of tools and techniques

It is expected that students will:

• demonstrate respect for others' viewpoints when working collaboratively

Overview

This unit involved students in a series of activities using readings (stories, articles, poems) and media productions (movies and documentaries) to explore social issues. Evaluation was based on:

• speaking and listening in small-group discussions
• response journals
• personal perspective articles
• verbal/visual compositions
• oral presentations

Planning for Assessment and Evaluation

• The unit began with students as a whole class brainstorming and listing some of the major issues that face society today. The teacher selected two issues from the list for which poems, stories, articles, and media productions were available. Each student chose another issue from the list to work on independently.

• The teacher and class then discussed what it means to speak and listen well in a small group. From this discussion, they generated criteria for small-group speaking and listening skills. Throughout the unit, students wrote reflectively on their speaking and listening abilities after each small-group activity. The teacher collected these reflections and considered them when evaluating students.

• The teacher presented lessons using poems, articles, stories, and media productions which focussed on the two issues. Students wrote response-journal entries for each selection and added to their responses following class discussions. The teacher often used a focus question to assist students in their responses. Before they began writing in their response journals, students as a class determined the criteria for an effective response-journal entry. They refined these criteria after some writing was completed. The teacher collected students' response journals from time to time to assess students' progress and provide feedback.

• During the unit, students worked in small groups to discuss their reactions to the selections and to share their insights on the issue based on their response writing. They drew on the ideas in their response journals to discuss what they had read or viewed, first in small student-led groups and then as a class.

• Students then began preparing their personal perspective articles on one of the teacher-chosen issues. They began by analysing articles from various sources to learn more about the style and construction of an article written from a personal perspective. Students chose from a range of writing formats, including columns, editorials, and letters to the editor. When they had completed their personal perspective articles, they worked together to edit and proofread them.

• As a concluding activity for the unit, students prepared verbal/visual compositions depicting their individually chosen issues. The class discussed the characteristics of an effective verbal/visual composition and then defined criteria for evaluation. Each student made a short oral presentation to the class explaining her or his visual and how it represented the issue chosen. The criteria for the oral present-ation was also determined by the class.

Defining the Criteria

The teacher reviewed with students the learning outcomes for these activities and explained the requirements of each task. The teacher and students decided that the following key criteria should be demonstrated in the assigned tasks.

Speaking and Listening in a Small-Group Discussion

• voice easily heard and understood
• works comfortably with the group and helps develop and sustain the group's interactions
• takes turns and listens to others' viewpoints
• offers clarification, elaboration, explanation, feedback, suggestions, and questions
• uses polite, tentative, and inclusive language

• makes thoughtful connections between personal experience, other selections, and the selections read or viewed
• includes specific references to selections
• revisits and revises original responses
• explores more than one interpretation and considers diverse perspectives

• clear and thoughtful presentation of personal perspective on the issue
• well-organized structure, appropriate to chosen format
• includes a variety of sentences and accurate vocabulary
• mechanically correct

• five to ten visuals effectively convey the essence of the issue
• five statements effectively summarize the causes or effects of the issue and possible solutions
• composition as a whole clearly presents the issues, possible causes, effects, and solutions
• overall design is attractive and includes a title, effective spacing, and clear arrangement of items

• explains the issue clearly
• speaks in an audible and modulated voice
• attempts to involve participants by inviting questions and comments; attempts to answer questions
• refers to visual as needed during presentation

Assessing and Evaluating Student Performance

The teacher and students used rating scales to evaluate student performance.

Criteria	Rating	Comments
voice easily heard and understood	5   4   3   2   1   0
works comfortably with the group and helps develop and sustain the group's interaction	5   4   3   2   1   0
takes turns and listens to others' viewpoints	5   4   3   2   1   0
offers clarification, elaboration, explanation, feedback, suggestions, and questions	5   4   3   2   1   0
uses polite, tentative, and inclusive language demonstrating respect	5   4   3   2   1   0

Key: 5-Excellent
         4-Good
         3-Satisfactory
         2-Developing
         1-Unsatisfactory
         0-No Effort Made

Rating	Criteria
Outstanding	personal, innovative, and thoughtful responses make connections with previous knowledge and experience as well as with other selections provides specific evidence that demonstrates close familiarity with and understanding of selections shows evidence of reflecting on and revising initial responses fully explores different interpretations and considers diverse perspectives
Very Good	personal and thoughtful responses make connections with previous knowledge and experience as well as with other selections provides specific evidence that demonstrates familiarity with and understanding of selections usually shows evidence of reflecting on and revising initial responses explores more than one interpretation and considers diverse perspectives
Good	personal and generally thoughtful responses often make connections with previous knowledge and experience as well as with other selections provides some specific evidence that demonstrates familiarity with and understanding of selections may show evidence of reflecting on and revising initial responses explores more than one interpretation and considers diverse perspectives
Satisfactory	personal and sometimes thoughtful responses may make connections with previous knowledge and experience as well as with other selections may provide some specific evidence that demonstrates familiarity with and understanding of selections may show evidence of reflecting on initial responses, but rarely revises them may show evidence of exploring more than one interpretation and considering diverse perspectives
Minimally Acceptable	personal responses may make connections with previous knowledge and experience as well as with other selections provides limited evidence that demonstrates familiarity with and understanding of selections generally does not revisit initial responses shows little evidence of exploration of other interpretations or perspectives
In Progress/Failure	extremely limited and unclear responses seldom demonstrate evidence of meeting the criteria; or no response attempted

Rating	Criteria
Outstanding	engaging, thoughtful presentation of a personal perspective on the issue coherent and logical structure using appropriate format point of view supported by specific references to material presented in class variety of sentences and accurate vocabulary mechanically correct; few surface feature errors
Very Good	clear and thoughtful presentation of a personal perspective on the issue logical structure and clear format point of view supported by specific references to material presented in class some sentence variety and accurate vocabulary mechanically sound; occasional surface feature errors
Good	reasonably clear and thoughtful presentation of a personal perspective on the issue obvious attempt at structuring and organizing point of view supported by some references to material presented in class clear sentences and reasonable vocabulary generally sound mechanics; surface errors not intrusive
Satisfactory	generally easy-to-read presentation of a personal perspective on the issue acceptable organization and structure some support for point of view from material presented in class straightforward vocabulary and basic sentence structure some mechanical errors may occasionally impede meaning
Minimally Acceptable	limited attempt at presenting a personal perspective on the issue evidence of some organization limited support for point of view from material presented in class unsophisticated and, at times, inappropriate vocabulary, with simple sentences lacking in variety mechanical errors may distract readers
In Progress/Failure	extremely limited presentation of a personal perspective on the issue no clear structure point of view unsupported inaccurate vocabulary; many sentence errors pervasive mechanical errors no punctuation attempted

Criteria	Rating	Comments
five to ten visuals effectively convey the essence of the issue	5   4   3   2   1   0
five statements effectively summarize the causes, effects, and possible solutions to the issue	5   4   3   2   1   0
composition as a whole clearly presents the issue, causes, effects, and possible solutions	5   4   3   2   1   0
overall design is attractive and includes a title, effective spacing, and clear arrangement of items	5   4   3   2   1   0

Key: 5-Excellent
         4-Good
         3-Satisfactory
         2-Developing
         1-Unsatisfactory
         0-No Effort Made

Criteria	Rating	Comments
explanation of issue is clear and easy to follow	5   4   3   2   1   0
voice is audible and modulated	5   4   3   2   1   0
involves participants by inviting questions and comments; attempts to answer questions	5   4   3   2   1   0
refers to visual as needed during presentation	5   4   3   2   1   0

Key: 5-Excellent
         4-Good
         3-Satisfactory
         2-Developing
         1-Unsatisfactory
         0-No Effort Made

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