Using Innovation on Demand to Assess Understanding of Texts
When trying to create connections for students to classic literature, we must consider their reasons for pushback. What are the reasons students dislike the classics or at least aren’t too terribly excited about studying them? I’ve heard many. Classics are boring or they’re too hard. Students hate being forced to read and assume if they are being forced to read something, it can’t be enjoyable. They hate being tested to death over complex texts that they barely understand. Sometimes, it feels as if those tests do little else than confirm for an unconfident student his/her inability to understand.
The adjectives that normally accompany honors and AP assessments might include grueling, taxing, and rigorous. Did you know that if you look up rigorous in the 10th edition of the Webster’s Collegiate dictionary, you’ll find the synonyms harsh and severe? Scrupulously accurate is also found. That sounds better, but looking up taxing and grueling gives you wearing and punishing. Except for the accurate part of those definitions, none of those words are ones I’d prefer to be associated with the academic curiosity and excellence necessary for honors or AP learning. For any learning, come to think of it.
While thorough and challenging exams are naturally part of accelerated classes, there is still room for innovation and–dare I say it–fun. In fact, having fun with complex texts and classic literature reinforces the enjoyability of them.
One year, after my honors students had quizzed and essayed their way through Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Miller’s The Crucible, I decided to offer a different kind of assessment, one that would not only test their ability to follow written instructions (which is sometimes surprisingly lacking) and innovate on demand, but it would also allow me to assess several other elements.
First, I divided the class into small groups of 3 to 4 students. Next, I handed out the instructions. Students were to create an advertisement for a product that a specific character would need or use. In the advertisement, the students must apply their understanding of the character, plot, conflicts, satire, and appeals. They must include a script that demonstrates knowledge and application of writing skills, including punctuation and grammar usage. Oh, and one more thing, they also had to create the product. They could use anything in the classroom or in their backpacks. Then each group drew a character’s name from a hat. They had about one hour to complete the task. At the end of the hour, the groups presented their products and their commercials.
While the reading and quizzes and essays were a necessary part of my lessons, none of those assessments could come close to checking so many elements all at once. With this one assignment, I was able to assess the following items:
- Knowledge and application of satire
- Knowledge and interpretation of characters
- Knowledge and interpretation of plot
- Knowledge and application of appeals to logos, pathos, and ethos
- Knowledge and application of writing skills, grammar, and punctuation
- Knowledge and application of collaboration norms
Of course, this was simply a theory until I put it to practice. I was a bit nervous. These student guinea pigs were used to rigorous exams. I wasn’t sure how they would take to this new model.
At first, the students didn’t know what to make of it. After only a few minutes, however, they were digging through their backpacks, and rifling through their brains, and scavenging through the hoard of craft supplies and odd trinkets I’d provided. I had collected quite a collection of wrapping paper tubes, tin foil, play dough, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and whatever else you can find at the Dollar Store or a garage sale.
The ultimate products created by the students were impressive. Hester Prynne’s Shame Scraper was a favorite. If she’d only had a way to scrape away her shame sooner, she would have saved herself and her child at least one hundred pages worth of anxious overthinking and self reproof. Rev. Dimmesdale’s Jackbone (a jacket with a backbone) could also have saved the day, along with his soul. Pearl’s My Little Daddy would have eliminated not only Hester’s soul-sucking dependence on the possibility that Dimmesdale might stop being a deadbeat dad, but also her own continuous creepy questioning about her father.
Elizabeth Proctor needed an anti-witch spell kit to dispel Abigail Williams from Salem (bonus points for irony). Reverend Hale needed the New and Improved Edition of Incubus and Succubus for Dummies to carry in with his “heavy books… weighted with authority”.
The commercials were as wonderful as the products. The activity was a hit. It also ended up being a successful assessment of many of the standards we’d studied over the last several weeks.
The on-demand thinking required with this activity is key. Students did not know what we were doing ahead of time. Therefore, they could not bring in craft supplies that might benefit their preconceived ideas. The fact that they were required to use only what they could find in the classroom guided their thinking. The shapes, colors, utility, and amount of various supplies meant they had to problem solve together. They had never done something like this on-the-fly before, so no one was an expert. Each student had to put ideas on the table. Each student had to engage. Every team member had to move forward with a sense of faith and accountability. It was truly one of the most memorable moments of the year. Guess what else, many students claimed they understood the use of appeals and satire more so after that activity than they did after traditional analysis of the texts. So, not only was it an assessment, it was also a good teaching tool.
Another bonus–this was not yet one more project that they had to take home and complete at midnight the night before it was due. It was a one-and-done class activity. No homework necessary. Also, no perfection required. For many students, homework breaks and perfection passes are very real blessings.
While fun activities like this one should not completely replace traditional forms of testing, I do feel like they should absolutely act as supplements, or enrichment at the very least. When students think back on the book, they’ll remember the fun they had with it rather than the grueling, taxing, and rigorous study of some dusty ol’ novel they were forced to read.
By the way, if you are nervous to try something so unconventional, let me know. I’ve got a gently used Jackbone that might help. It’s worth a try, anyway.
As always, I’d love to hear of the innovative activities you use to connect teens to classics. Share with us in the comments below.
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