Reimagining Home Summative Assessment Ideas

Overview
 

The objective of this summative assessment is for students to review the unit’s concepts and key learning. Students will write a letter to an audience of their choosing that reflects their new understanding of “home” and how it connects to their sense of belonging in the world. 

Letter-Writing Procedure

• Inform students that they will begin class by reviewing the summative assessment task. Before reading the assignment together, explain that the objective of the assessment is to review the unit’s concepts and each student’s key learning through the art of letter writing.
   
• Invite students into a reflective writing space by reading the Letters about Home handout aloud. After reading, let students know that they will be writing quietly for the remainder of class. You may choose to provide extra time for students to complete and revise their letters outside of class.
   
• Circulate around the room to field questions or to help students begin writing.
   
• Students should be encouraged to share their letters with their chosen audience if it’s appropriate for them. Depending on time and your class dynamics, you may also offer students the opportunity to share their letters with the whole class or in small groups the following day. This option can cultivate a deeper sense of community and shared understanding as the unit concludes.

Overview
 

Through a “discussion circles” activity ¹ , students help one another grapple with the ideas, questions, and new understanding reflected in this text set. Students are responsible for both listening to and participating in a group discussion about the ideas in a short text and its connection to the unit’s theme and essential questions. Through this type of discussion, students practice how to listen to one another, make meaning, and find common ground while participating in “inner” and “outer” circles.

Discussion Circles Procedure

• Explain to students that they will begin by reviewing the two-day summative assessment task. The goal of this assessment is to provide students with some focused time and space to discuss what they have learned throughout the text set and how they have connected with the essential question: How can reimagining “home” empower us to define how and where we belong in the world?  
   
• Before passing out the handout that includes the text that students will use to guide their discussion next class (“What Makes a House a Home?” Discussion Circles), explain the discussion circles procedure. 
   
• Next class, students will be randomly assigned to group 1 or group 2 (with half the class in each group). The group they are placed in will determine whether they begin in the inner or outer circle. Explain the roles of the inner and outer circles and the procedure for discussion:
  • Participants in the inner circle are tasked with discussing “What Makes a House a Home?”: a text they will read and annotate during today’s class or for homework. 
  • Participants in the outer circle are asked to listen and take notes about the discussion on the Discussion Circle Feedback and Reflection handout. It is important that students in this group do not speak or make comments about the discussion they are observing. When the inner-circle discussion ends, each outer-circle member provides brief verbal feedback to the group. 
     
• After the first discussion, the two groups switch places. The first inner circle becomes the outer circle—the listeners and note-takers—and the first outer circle becomes the inner circle—the discussion participants. 
• Participants in the first outer circle (the listeners) will be expected to add onto the conversation that transpired in the first inner circle, bringing forth new ideas while also building upon those of the other group. 
• When both groups have provided feedback and participated in the discussion, provide time for students to complete the reflection portion of the Discussion Circle Feedback and Reflection handout.
   
• Once you have explained the procedure and fielded questions, take some time to review discussion norms and preparation techniques with your class to ensure that all members are prepared for a civil, thoughtful, and engaging conversation.
   
• Then explain that for the remainder of class, students will read and take notes on the text they will be discussing next class, provided on the handout. At this time, pass out copies of the “What Makes a House a Home?” Discussion Circles handout. Read through the directions and annotation key as a class. Further, remind students that they should use texts, notes, and reflections from previous lessons to make connections to this reading. 
   
• Assign the reading for homework if students do not complete it in class.
   
• Students who do not annotate the text prior to class or who are not present during the discussion will need to complete an alternative assignment of your choosing. We recommend using Option 1 or creating an assignment that asks students to write or record an analysis of the discussion circles text, “What Makes a House a Home,” that includes connections to previous texts and the essential question from the unit.

• 1Adapted from Matt Copeland’s Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High Schools (Portland, ME: Stenhouse, 2005).