Chelsea Carter 14.1

For this scenario, I will teach my 10th grade English class about literary devices in poetry and how their use is critical to creating an auditory experience. We will cover a variety of poems from poets like Shakspeare, Eliot, Frost, and Poe. It will take several lessons to cover four forms of informal and formal assessment in the classroom, so the assessments will occur over the entire span of the unit. The unit will begin with an informal assessment to gauge what the students already understand about literary devices – what they are, how they are used, and their impact on the spoken word. Beginning the lesson, I will ask who recognizes a list of terms on the board, including “alliteration”, “meter”, and “metaphor”. Based on what is discussed in class and my input, the class and I will define those terms and write them on the board. From this inital informal assessment, I can gauge their level of familiarty with literary devices. My students will then participate in an individual assignment, finding examples of the devices in a variety of texts. By engaging them one-on-one during their individual in-class work, I can better gauge their previous involvement with identifying literary devices. The students will then compare their work in small groups, once again allowing informal assessment by evaluating the types of questions they have and their overall comprehension of the subject matter. At the end of class, I will send them home with a worksheet, and inform them of a quiz they will take the following class. More formal assessments come into play later in the unit, beginning with the quiz. Because they are informed of the quiz prior to taking it, my students will have a chance to review the material discussed in class. I will assign a poetry writing assignment that encourages creativity whilst providing me with yet another formal assessment of their knowledge on the subject. At the end of the unit, my students will take a test that provides them with new poems that contain devices they should be able to identify after a week’s work on the topic.

In utilizing group and individual work alongside traditional testing and homework assignments, I am using both informal and formal assessment to better gauge the mastery and comprehension of my students on literary devices. By using a combination of both forms, I am likely gathering a more accurate picture of what they know and what they have accomplished throughout the unit.