I often wonder if it is better to
give students a final exam or project to measure their learning and progress at
the end of the semester. For my level 4
Spanish course, I decided to do a final paper in place of a final exam this
year. Throughout this semester, we have studied various complex authors in the Spanish-speaking
world. As a culminating paper, students had the opportunity to write a dialogue
between two of the authors that we studied this semester. In the dialogue
students had to synthesize, the topics and information that we learned from
these authors based on our discussions and analysis of the literary texts. An
important as aspects of the paper was for students to demonstrate that they
understood the author’s texts and could incorporate themes as well biographical
facts from the writer’s lives. The students completed the paper in various
stages.
give students a final exam or project to measure their learning and progress at
the end of the semester. For my level 4
Spanish course, I decided to do a final paper in place of a final exam this
year. Throughout this semester, we have studied various complex authors in the Spanish-speaking
world. As a culminating paper, students had the opportunity to write a dialogue
between two of the authors that we studied this semester. In the dialogue
students had to synthesize, the topics and information that we learned from
these authors based on our discussions and analysis of the literary texts. An
important as aspects of the paper was for students to demonstrate that they
understood the author’s texts and could incorporate themes as well biographical
facts from the writer’s lives. The students completed the paper in various
stages.
The first stage involved an
activity called “Around the World Café.” I divided students into groups and
assigned an author (that we had studied during the semester) to discuss. On a
large piece of paper, the students could write ideas about these authors, their
themes from their works and important biographical information. After about 5
or 10 minutes, the bell would ring and the students were given another piece of
paper with the name of another author. The students could review the
information and add ideas to the other group’s notes. We continued this activity until all the
papers had been passed around and each group discussed and added comments to
the papers. The point of this first activity was to review the literature and
authors that we had studied.
activity called “Around the World Café.” I divided students into groups and
assigned an author (that we had studied during the semester) to discuss. On a
large piece of paper, the students could write ideas about these authors, their
themes from their works and important biographical information. After about 5
or 10 minutes, the bell would ring and the students were given another piece of
paper with the name of another author. The students could review the
information and add ideas to the other group’s notes. We continued this activity until all the
papers had been passed around and each group discussed and added comments to
the papers. The point of this first activity was to review the literature and
authors that we had studied.
In the second phase, students were
required to choose two authors and to start writing an outline of their
dialogue. In the third phase, students wrote a draft and met with me
individually to check on their progress. This was a checkpoint to ensure that
students were on track and to offer constructive feedback. After revising
drafts and completing the final dialogue students were given, time to practice
orally their dialogues. On the day of the final exam, students presented and
acted out their dialogue with a partner.
required to choose two authors and to start writing an outline of their
dialogue. In the third phase, students wrote a draft and met with me
individually to check on their progress. This was a checkpoint to ensure that
students were on track and to offer constructive feedback. After revising
drafts and completing the final dialogue students were given, time to practice
orally their dialogues. On the day of the final exam, students presented and
acted out their dialogue with a partner.
Overall, I was very pleased with
the results. This was a great activity for the students to be able to
synthesize what we learned in a creative format. It also took some pressure off
students. They were relieved that they did not have to take an exam but they
still had to use their critical thinking skills to demonstrate what they
learned. For me, I thoroughly enjoyed reading these dialogues.
the results. This was a great activity for the students to be able to
synthesize what we learned in a creative format. It also took some pressure off
students. They were relieved that they did not have to take an exam but they
still had to use their critical thinking skills to demonstrate what they
learned. For me, I thoroughly enjoyed reading these dialogues.
Did they write in Sapnish? I assume so. Love the idea. One of the issues I've had with final exams is that they were presented as part of a 90 minute time frame and the expectation was that the exam had to fill that time. Instead of creating a tool that would assess content acquisition, it was more important to fill the time, thus leading to the 150 question multiple choice test that focused on minutiae (what was the name of the brother of the main charater that appeared in two paragraphs in the middle of a 225 page novel?). So you could gauge their critical thinking skills as well as overarching themes and ideas of authors that you studied, and they did it within the target language….sounds awesome to me! 🙂
At this level everything is conducted in the target language. Yes, they wrote their dialogues in Spanish and had to incorporate the some of the vocabulary that we learned this semester.
This is a really interesting idea! I'm testing out the idea of eliminating the final exam for forensic science because of EXACTLY the issue that Kevin raised- it just results in a test that is a struggle to write and a struggle to take. Instead, my students will be presenting their final projects, which should be interesting!
The best thing about this to me is the dialogue AND the revising … talking about stuff and reviewing it is key! Thanks for this great post!
what a great system to have them learn more about the authors and engage with the material
Thanks for the great post! I love the idea of a project as the final assessment in a class. In my English classes, I feel that the proper way to assess their learning is by covering all of the areas we teach: reading, writing, language, and listening and speaking. A project seems to be the best way to do this. The only problem I have is that grades are due so soon at the end of the year. I feel like I have to give the project way early in order to grade it in time.