The main idea behind UbD or Backward Design, is to start with your end goals first. Think about what you want your students to be able to achieve at the end of your lesson/unit. What are the essential questions and discussions that should take place? In other words, why are the skills truly useful beyond the classroom? With this goal oriented mindset, you'll be able to better plan the order of the steps and the resources needed to help them reach said goal. Starting from the finish line and working backwards becomes a strategic approach to lesson planing. In foreign language classrooms, our units/topics can easily be categorized into themes. At the novice levels, students are building vocabulary and sentence structures that allow them to talk about theirselves and their immediate circle of friends/family in ways that are realistic and used daily. By creating curriculum maps and using backward design, we as educators are able to omit the topics an resources that are not currently essential, and focus on what is most useful to our students in achieving the goals. This approach further allows us to teach "beyond the book" and shift toward more performance and proficiency based assessments.
Proficiency & Performance Based Assesments
In World Language classrooms, one of the biggest changes we are managing is the shift from standardized assessments based on subjective point values (tests or quizzes) to more proficiency and performance based assessments such as creative projects, live presentations, etc. Our students are not yet fully accustomed to this style of assessment, and it also a major adjustment for educators. The world of education has become so reliant on instant gratification met only through point values based on rote memorization and lacking much depth. Standardized test scores have been engrained into our educational system as the "be all end all" in terms of student success and college readiness. Those of us in the classroom though are collectively beginning to understand that this notion is incredibly far from the truth. Wouldn't we be better preparing students for the real world designing assessments that though can be rigorous, promote creativity and higher order thinking? Anyone can memorize a list of words to "pass" a test, and anyone can "teach to the test". Does that equate to true acquisition and proficiency though? No. The same goes for leaning a second language. In my classroom we say "if you don't use it, you loose it". Meaning, that if we are not speaking Spanish and applying the content to our own lives, then what is the point?
The above mini map is based on an actual thematic unit that I have recently been progressing through with my students. My Spanish 1 classes are majority 9th grade students. They are at a very novice level in terms of language learning. The focus throughout our year together is on building vocabulary and basic sentence structures in the target language that they would be able to utilize to describe themselves in as much detail as possible. The overall thematic unit is about two months in duration during which my students have been practicing speaking about their likes/dislikes, physical traits, personalities, and families. Up to this point, they’ve only had a few quizzes and homework assignments within the overall theme. The rest has been informal group/partner activities within our daily class meetings. As labeled at the top of the map, this thematic unit is entitled “¿Quién soy yo?” which so fittingly translates to “Who am I?”. Overall, within the map I tried to incorporate the key ideas and key resources that I have found effective thus far (as this is my third year working with this theme and this textbook) based on the example templates. I wanted to try something new.
Though I have never created an official curriculum map before, I’ve realized that I essentially have already been working with its “puzzle pieces”. I say this because I typically start preparing for a new chapter/unit with my students by taking the main ideas from the textbook that I am to cover but arranging them in an order that I see most fit for my classes and their abilities. I first go through the textbook and write down the pages form which notes, and vocabulary would be found, as well as practice activities. For this thematic unit, I’ve utilized three specific sections of our current textbook, (Unit 1.1, Unit 1.2 and Unit 3.2.) I then go to my categories of folders on my laptop that have dozens of review games, videos, handouts, etc. that would allow my students to practice the language further than what the book provides. I basically fill two pages in a notebook per chapter/unit with all the resources and ideas that I could utilize. I consider my notebook my “holy grail”. By doing so, when I then start to write/type out weekly and daily lesson plans (and get my pacing and time frame decided upon) I am able to start pulling from that bigger list and breaking it down into 3-4 weeks’ worth of material. I typically use the first week of a chapter/unit to get students acquainted with only the newest vocabulary terms, then the second week we merge the terms with the new verbs/grammar concepts. The third week then becomes our review week filled with a range of games and interpersonal activities that allow students to simply practice what they’ve been learning both orally and in written expression. More often than not, I anticipate a fourth week either to continue review or to simply then provide a test/quiz/project. So, my process of lesson planning in my opinion, made the creation of the mini map rather manageable. It was all the things I fill my notebook with but within a more formal arrangement.
Rubric Rationale: Effective Evaluation in a World Language Classroom
Picture it. It is Sunday morning. You are finally able to enjoy your coffee from a mug while it is still hot, rather than as you lap around your classroom. You sit down to tackle the pile of projects and assignments that need graded. You are about twenty papers in, feeling productive, then BAM! It happens. All of a sudden you get to that one paper where things were worded or presented “just well enough” that it creates a loophole that your answer key did not anticipate. Now your scribbling out all of the scores you’ve already written and second guessing yourself. You have now doubled the time it should have taken to grade one class set and you still have at least three classes to get to. This is where a rubric (and possibly a second cup of coffee with an extra shot of espresso) would be rather helpful! Rubrics allow educators to anchor grading to specific learning objectives, rather than the more subjective and distracting considerations of rank and or effort (“Grading Rubrics”, 2020.) Narrowing the field of evaluation to desired learning outcomes not only saves teachers time when grading, but also helps to lower student anxieties while creating the final product (“Grading Rubrics, 2020.) Rubrics essentially allow teachers to focus on grading what matters, not just the “flash” and “flair”, though they still may be incorporated. The issue with rubrics though is that they can be somewhat time consuming and overwhelming for teachers to first create. This is especially true for teachers who are still new to the profession, like I am. I personally still struggle with creating rubrics and sometimes shy away from them. Between the wording of the criteria and making points values transfer to letter grades, it can be a bit confusing. You want it to be useful but fair and sometimes start to overthink what you are actually saying. Through this module though, I believe I’ve come up with at least a solid base example that I can adapt as needed from topic to topic as I progress in my career.
My Spanish 1 students are nearing the end of a unit all about describing not only themselves, but also their friends and family. Throughout the unit thus far they have already had small vocabulary and grammar quizzes (on paper) to serve as formal assessments, as well as interpersonal/communicative activities to serve as informal assessments. For the final, cumulative assessment though, my goal is for them to complete a project that allows them to really demonstrate their oral proficiency. I’ve tried to come up with a modern version of a “family tree” project that they can complete using their iPads, in order to do so. This project would be aligned with the following learning objectives from our current unit: I can describe myself and others, Ican talk about my family, I can ask and tell ages, I can give dates, I can make comparisons.
Though my district’s demographic and our current curriculum are not exactly ideal for a proficiency-based foreign language classroom, I try to incorporate proficiency-based assignments as much as possible. In my limited time with students I want to not only make them more globally aware and combat cultural ignorance, but I also want them to truly be able to communicate in the target language. Whether they pursue the language after high school or simply have some survival skills for a vacation to Cancun, it is worth it! Grammar quizzes and vocabulary quizzes cannot be obsolete as they are still crucial building blocks at a novice level but speaking opportunities and oral proficiency projects are the more telling of both informal and formal assessments. They also allow students to show their creative sides and put a personal spin on the current vocabulary. With most Spanish projects, there is almost always two main parts that need graded. For the family tree project these two parts would be the oral descriptions of the family members and the second part would be the physical presentation tool that is used to display family photos and support the oral descriptions. My suggestion for that presentational tool would be to use programs such as Adobe Spark. Students use it often in other classes, but I’d be open to student suggestions as well. The photos involved would preferably be real photos of the students’ actual families. However, to be respectful of those who have less fortunate home lives, I would allow them to place themselves in the families of their favorite celebrities or movie characters. For example, if a girl wants to be the sixth Kardashian sister or a boy wants to be another brother in the Weasley family, they would use online images to help them create a family. They would still have to incorporate their own personal description but would be able to use relevant details about the characters that the audience would recognize. With that all being said, an analytic rubric would be most useful as there are several working parts and different criteria to be addressed.
Analytic rubrics look at the details of each task being assessed. They use a separate scale for each trait or learning outcome within the assignment (“Grading Rubrics”, 2020.) Some tasks maybe be written, while others are spoken. Criteria such as grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure are being evaluated within a work as well as body language, vocal expression, and pronunciation (Arroway, 2020.) The project my students would be completing involves all of that criteria working together simultaneously. In order to help them see where they are in their second language acquisition, it is necessary for me to break the rubric into those traits, rather than simply using a holistic approach that is more general. Some students may be great at public speaking and entertaining overall but may not speak well grammatically. On the other hand, a student may have immaculate grammar but need more encouragement when it comes to speaking freely in front of others in terms of inflection and stage presence. In order for students to learn from their mistakes, it is important to have the breakdown of the tasks that an analytic rubric can provide so that they can see where improvement is needed. There is definitely a time and place for the holistic rubric, but for this particular cumulative assessment I felt that analytic worked best.
It is important to determine the scale for the rubric and where certain characteristics of student work would fall on that scale. The more gradations your scale has, the harder it will be to apply consistently, and the longer it will take for you to grade. A good rule of thumb is to use six gradations or fewer (“Grading Rubrics: Steps in the process”, 2020.)The example analytic rubric I have created is divided by the sections of “communication” and “visual presentation” but follows a four-point scale amongst six categories. The categories geared toward communication criteria are labeled as Language Complexity, Content, and Language Accuracy. Language complexity is basically the way a student was able to manipulate and present their vocabulary while speaking. For example, were they able to speak in full sentences or did they use sentence fragments and one-word answers? Content is related to the spoken details that the directions had asked students to describe about their family members. This involves using their current vocabulary terms to provide details regarding each member’s name, hobbies/interests, physical appearance, personalities, age/birthday, and more. Language Accuracyfocuses on the content that was used but determines if the student spoke grammatically correct. For example, did they conjugate their verbs appropriately and did they match their adjectives to their subjects. The visual categories are Required Elements, Organization, and Creativity. Required elements coincides with the spoken content as it represents the required photos and slides that were to be used on the presentation tool for each family member. Organizationrefers to how well the students transitioned not only their spoken details but their photos/visuals to support the family members being described. Were the pictures in a specific order, perhaps divided by households to support the spoken details, or were they random and scattered about? Were photos colored and easy to see, or were they gritty and small? Creativity would be the section were “flair” is part of the main focus, but it is done so in a realistic manner that again acted as a supporting detail. Perhaps a student mentioned that their grandpa liked to sing and that he was a fan of Frank Sinatra. They chose to not only include photos of their grandpa singing to them when they were little but also played a popular Sinatra song in the background of their slide while they spoke of their grandfather’s characteristics. That extra “flair” was not just for show, it was completely relevant and added to the true character of the family member being described.
The point values of one through four are also accompanied by value names of Below Proficiency, Approaching Proficiency, Meeting Proficiency,and Exceeding Proficiency. These value names make the points seem attainable and promote progress. It strays away from typical terms like “unsatisfactory” that often are interpreted as somewhat demeaning. Within each category and point value, expectations are clear and transparent (“Grading Rubrics”, 2020.) My goal was to come up with categories and values that sounded less subjective. I also chose to use the word “I” within the criteria of the communication categories so that when students are creating the project and reviewing their earned scores, they are taking ownership for their work. Accountability matters! With the use of the rubric, students have a better understanding of what the teacher will be looking for from the moment they begin their project. Though written directions would still be provided to outline the concept of the project and motivate students, the rubric will help them to organize their thoughts and remain on task.
In terms of grading a student’s project, the final score would need to be weighted. It wouldn’t be fair for a student who is meeting or exceeded proficiency in each category, who clearly put time and effort into their project and presentation, to only have the opportunity to earn no more than twenty-four points. I decided for my scale that multiplying by two would be more sufficient and better reflect the quality of the task being completed. For any score earned, I would multiply by two and then divide by forty-eight to get the percentage. The percentage ranges below would then allow for transferring the points earned to a letter grade. A failing grade would be reserved for assignments not completed/submitted for even if a student scored below proficient in all categories, the lowest possible score to earn is a fifty percent.
Rubrics go beyond the idea of a basic checklist when it comes to guiding students through an assignment. It essentially is giving examples of the quality of different works that may be submitted and that are expected. It is very to-the-point and honest about the scores being earned. Often times students think that teachers “give” grades and are “too judgmental.” Though this is not true (hopefully), at least by having a detailed rubric, teachers are able to support the points they have simply tallied up with evidence provided by student work. Though a rubric may not me necessary for every single assignment I create, the mindset that it gives about keeping students accountable and how it emphasizes quality is a component that is always applicable.
References: Arroway, R (n.d.). Foreign language rubrics: a guide to writing analytic and holistic rubrics. Retrieved April 8th, 2020 from https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator/foreign-language-rubrics/ University of California Berkley Graduate Division.(2020) Grading rubrics Retrieved April 8th, 2020 from https://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-contents/grading-intro/grading-rubrics/ University of California Berkley Graduate Division. (2020) Grading rubrics: steps in the process. Retrieved April 8th, 2020 from https://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-contents/grading-intro/grading-rubrics/rubrics-steps/
World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25th, 2020, from https://www.actfl.org/publications/all/world-readiness-standards-learning-languages/standards-summary