Prompt #3 Assessment Practices

Today, 11/22/10, I worked with Jelissa who really helped me think about assessment. In Jelissa's science class she had to give a presentation on the chemical element Chlorine. Originally she was going to have to give this presentation live but Jelissa has a speech impediment when she gets nervous. Apparently she asked her teacher to turn in a paper or a powerpoint instead but he said no. Finally she went to the guidance councillor who spoke with the teacher. The teacher agreed to let Jelissa record her presentation in a video and include pictures to help her explain Chlorine. We worked on the project for two hours. We could not do the recording because the DW Center is too loud but we wrote a script and found all of her pictures. In the time we worked her anxiety around me decreased and her stuttering became almost unnoticeable but initially it was very hard to understand her. I am glad she was given a alternate assessment. I hope i never put a student through that kind of stress. I feel that all class projects should have options. If a teacher feels a student needs to branch out it is important that the student get the chance to decide how far and how fast. If Jelissa was told "yes" to an alternate assessment right away the teacher could have suggested the video in a way that still made Jelissa feel good, instead she felt like an outcast. The teacher did not give choices to the whole class so now Jelissa's was the only project that would be different. For class this week we read Shore who said "their curiosity and social instinct decline, until many become non participants. It is not the fault of students if their learning habits wither inside the passive syllabus."Jelissa did not feel engaged by her assignment she felt terrified. According to the methods described in this article, to truly have engaged this situation in a democratic way, the teacher should have discussed the benefits of being comfortable speaking in public with Jelissa and offered her a few smaller opportunities to get her feet wet. Maybe she could have presented to a small group of friends that she chose. They could come to the science class as soon as school ended and listened to her give her five minute presentation while the teacher graded her. Because Jelissa chose the group she may have felt more comfortable. What would it have cost the teacher? Fifteen minutes to care enough to come up with the alternative assessment and five minutes to listen? I am angry that Jelissa will be singled out. I will never be so narrow minded.