Planning without a textbook: Part III Assessments

This post is part of a series that discusses how I moved away from the textbook. I initially discussed how I decide what to teach and how I decide on goals. This post will discuss assessments. I have found that throughout the years, I prefer to assess with IPAs or Integrated Performance Assessments as I

Interpersonal assessment successes

I have continued to work on developing the interpersonal assessments and facilitation.  It seemed to be work out well as a start.  My colleague and I decided to start with an introductory unit discussing what to see and do in our community, the DC area for our level 3.  For our interpersonal assessment, students could

How to start using IPAs: an evolution

On a recent #langchat, someone said that they needed more help to use IPAs (Integrated Performance Assessments).  I believe that the best thing to do is to start making slow changes.  While some people may be happy making huge changes, I prefer to change a little bit at a time until I am ready to

How to help students prepare for a final IPA

This year, my Spanish 2 students are taking an IPA instead of the final exam.  Our final exam had to be all on paper or in ExamSoft which can be limiting for foreign languages.  If we only use paper, the exam cannot consist of any listening tasks or any speaking tasks.  It all has to

How I try to decrease anxiety on assessments

Assessments alone can be daunting.  As any teacher, I want to assess my students with what they know and can do, but I want all of my students to be successful.  While I keep changing, there are a few things that I do to decrease anxiety. Overall, I have noticed that with a switch to

Daily Routine Integrated Performance Assessment

After my Netflix unit, we have been completing the daily routine unit.  Here are some of the authentic resources that I have used.  Recently, I have developed my final unit integrated performance assessment.  I feel that this unit was easy to incorporate into a “traditional” classroom. First, my students will complete an interpretive section using

Rethinking my feedback for students

As I have been using Integrated Performance Assessments, it has been easier to give specific feedback to students.  It is important to have a good rubric, but once you do, it gives you specific points to give feedback to your students.  As I am giving more feedback via these rubrics, I want to continue to

An example of my new interpretive readings

Amy Lenord has mentioned uncomo before, and I thought that I would get to it… and it was great!  As I wrote before, I am working on how to develop my interpretive assessments.  I created two interpretive readings for different articles that I wanted to share with others who are working through this process: The first

The evolution of my interpretive reading tasks

As I am becoming more of a proficiency based teacher, I have been evaluating my interpretive reading tasks.  (Sometimes along this path, I feel that as I learn more information, the amount of information that I do not know increases!)  When I first read about the interpretive reading tasks, I assumed that they were just

Reflections on my first Interpersonal Bootcamp

Two weeks ago in #langchat, I talked about how I wanted to try more speaking assessments.  I have done one speaking assessment (other than the exam), and it took me for.ev.er. to grade.  I procrastinated, and I never wanted to give another speaking assessment again.  (I know, that is not a good reason.) Then Rebecca mentioned