Assignment Sequence

20% of course grade

Goals

The purposes of this assignment are to learn how to build and align an assignment sequence, i.e., learning targets, assignments, and assessment criteria. More specifically, we will learn how to

o create a compelling culminating project for your unit

o break down that project into smaller ones in order to teach procedural knowledge

o identify learning targets

o develop assessment criteria that align well with your learning targets and assignments

Assignment

Write an assignment sequence, consisting of about 3-5 assignments, including the culminating project. Then, for each assignment, you need to articulate the learning targets you want your assignment to achieve AND the assessment criteria by which you'll measure to what degree students have met those learning targets.  Here are more details on each of these parts:

Writing up your learning targets

Generally, "learning targets" are measureable; "goals" aren't (necessarily).  Please preface this section with this acronym: SWBAT ("students will be able to").  Then finish that sentence.  What will students be able to do after completing this assignment?   To help you identify possible learning targets, you may find the EALRS interactive site helpful (linked on our home page).  Try to isolate precisely what you're hoping each assignment will accomplish; that way, your assessment criteria will be equally precise.

Writing up your assignments

What counts as an "assignment"?  Typically, in educational lingo, "activity" refers to teacher-directed work that students do largely in-class. An "assignment," on the other hand, requires students to work largely without you, the teacher, either in groups or independently. Although (and because?) your audience is this class, you still need to explain your assignments in enough detail that we can follow--and maybe even use, some day in our own classrooms. For example, if you are going to assign a peer workshop, you need to explain how you will set it up and what, exactly, students will be required to do--followed, of course, with your assessment criteria for the workshop.

Of course, your assignments need to link up and build up--as the word "sequence" would suggest.  Although you may proceed as you like, I recommend working backward from your culminating project to develop that sequence.

Final notes on writing up your assignments:

o you do NOT have to do all the assignments for your entire unit.  Just five, max.

o your "culminating project" doesn't have to be the last project at the very end. You may have a reflective piece closing out your unit.

o you DO have to have lots of writing in your sequence, at least low-stakes writing and in multiple genres and for multiple purposes.

o you must have students learn, use, or expand their knowledge of technology as integral to your assignment(s)--and not just for research and word-processing.

o PowerPoint assignments are great for helping students organize their thoughts for a long, formal paper. 

o Being creative and being challenging aren't diametrically opposed.

o Avoid

>personal connection and emotive assignments

>creative writing assignments

>just assigning Internet research to incorporate technology

>>Use the right technology for the right job: e.g., multimodal writing in PowerPoint, workshops in wikis, blogs for learning logs.

>>Assignments like "write a tweet" or "translate this piece into textmessaging" or "wordle your essay" do count as technology assignments...but without the problem of access in class or school.

o Try to give students choices within the same assignment (so your assessment criteria will hold up for all options)

Writing up your assessment measures

Your assessment criteria should echo your learning targets. Additionally, it's common practice to also include this particular criterion: "met all the requirements for this assignment."  And, although uncommon practice, I require that you include at least one grammatical or convention issue as your last criterion. You don't have to build a rubric (with low, medium, and high ratinig descriptors) or explain how you would use it or whatever. Just a bullet list of criteria.

Bear in mind that these three parts--learning targets, assignment, assessment--must align.

Format

We're going to use this very simple format:

Assignment 1

>learning targets (numbered list)

>assignment description (numbered list)

>assessment (numbered list)

[horizontal rule--just click icon in the toolbar in wikispaces]

Assignment 2

>learning targets (numbered list)

>assignment description (numbered list)

>assessment (numbered list)

[horizontal rule--just click icon in the toolbar in wikispaces]

Assignment 3 (or 4 or 5)

>learning targets (numbered list)

>assignment description (culminating project)

>assessment (numbered list)

Logistics

We will post our work in our wikispaces, where we'll also conduct our peer workshops (as we did with the Unit Overview).  Please post under a tab named "Assignments"

Due Dates

see calendar

Rubric for Assignment Sequence

You will receive a letter grade for this major assignment, holistically based on the following criteria:

1. Your assignment sequence fits your unit, addressing the main focus question.

2. You incorporate these two principles of Standard V: technology integration and student reflection on learning targets. And you do so in meaningful ways.

3.  You have a solid culminating project--an age-appropriate project that will cognitively challenge students in their ZPDs; one that is personally relevant, socially significant, and critically engaging; one that connects everything in the unit well.

4. Your assignment sequence breaks down the culminating project into smaller steps, which are appropriately scaffolded, to teach the procedural knowledge necessary for successfully completing the culminating project.

5.  Your learning targets/assignments/assessments align well.

6.  You provide lots of opportunity for writing in multiple genres for multiple purposes a nice range of learning opportunities to reach all learners, including but not only papers.