student+work+egypt

Egypt: After the initial moans and groans that I heard when I introduced this project, most students really embraced it and produced some excellent work. Projects ranged from what looked like just a report that was broken up into a couple different categories and printed off on standard printer paper, to actual news papers complete with advertisements, crossword puzzles, weather, extra stories, obituaries, and pretty much anything else you might find in your standard paper. For the most part I saw much more creativity during this unit. It could be because it id a task some of them have possibly completed before, it could be that the added direction made them feel more comfortable branching out, it could be that they were settling down a little more in the authentic assessment style, regardless, I saw a drastic increase in the quality of work. In my opinion Nick kind of took a step back on this project. He and his partners were not the strongest writers, and I think the prospect of this much creative writing intimidated them. Nick created a very good political cartoon, but overall I thought the project lacked some of a potential it could have had. Lance created a very nice newspaper. His articles were well thought out, creative, and at many times funny. As I had expected he brought together all the ideas of the unit in a project that was superior to most. Very similar to Lance, Sammi created a newspaper that was above and beyond what was expected. Thriving on the opportunity to do extra, like Lance, Sammi had very well thought out articles and an editorial that took a hard stand on increased rights for pyramid builders. This is the type of project, one with some direction and an opportunity to add a lot of extras, I had seen Sammi and Lance excel at before and both met my expectations. Arriel was my wildcard. I knew she had an artistic side to her, and could be a creative writer, but would she be motivated to show that side? As the work time progressed I tried to keep an eye on what Arriel was doing. The first few days she worked very hard and then the last day she did very little, but when I asked I was informed that she was done. Thinking that maybe she once again just completed the task as painlessly as possibly I was curious to see the final result. When she presented I couldn’t be happier. She has produced a newspaper that was on par with those of my top students. Not just were her articles creative, funny, and well written, but she also included many extras. She is a student who feels that school rarely is a way to express herself and that the general assignments she is required to do are pointless and therefore are no fun. This was a project that she enjoyed. It played to her strengths, and she embraced the opportunity to express what she had learned in a way that made sense to her. This is a great example of the possible success of authentic assessment. With the variety of tasks available, once students get accustomed to the style and process, authentic assessment opens the door for all types of students to have success and showcase what they have learned.

Arriel's newspaper: