ARTIFACT COVER SHEET
NAME: Jeff Johnson MAJOR: Biology and Secondary Education ARTIFACT TITLE; Chapter Test: Genetics, RAFT Rubric RELATED COURSE & INSTRUCTOR: Literacy in the Content Area; Dr. Sharon Andrews RELATED PROGRAM COMPETENCY: Assessment of Student Learning IN THE SPACE BELOW, DESCRIBE THE ARTIFACT: The Chapter Test was written to be a formal assessment given to an imaginary class at the end of a unit on genetics. The “RAFT Rubric” was designed as a grading system for an assignment that would be given following the reading of a chapter on Mendelian genetics. IN THE SPACE BELOW, DESCRIBE IN WHAT WAY(S) THIS ARTIFACT RELATES TO THE COMPETENCY YOU ALIGNED IT WITH AND HOW IT CONTRIBUTED TO YOUR GROWING COMPETENCE IN THIS AREA: Chapter tests and rubrics are essential tools in the formal assessment of student learning. Creating a quality test that has fair questions takes practice. By creating a test that covers a chapter, I have gained a better sense of how to best word questions. Also, I benefited from practice creating a variety of types of questions ranging from multiple choice to matching and fill-in-the-blank. Rubrics are a great way to convey expectations of assignments to students. Also rubrics establish a numeric score for papers and projects. This is a necessary way to determine student comprehension of material and provide a score that can be incorporated into an end grade for a course. Assessment of student knowledge and mastery of content can be done in a variety of ways. Due to state and federal requirements, there needs to be numerical data to display student understanding. I feel I am better prepared to create both chapter tests and rubrics now that I have had practice at each. DATE: May 21, 2008
IN THE SPACE BELOW, EXPLAIN HOW THIS ARTIFACT HAS CONTRIBUTED TO YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE CIRCLE OF COURAGE AND ITS CORE VALUES OF BELONGING, MASTERY, INDEPENDENCE, AND/OR GENEROSITY: My understanding of mastery was highly contributed to by both of the artifacts present. While creating both the artifacts, I needed to keep in mind the student centered goals I had in mind for the material. Also, I was continuously thinking of information that I felt were key elements in the content, how I would teach those key elements, and what the best way to test for understanding of those points would be. For student evaluation, everything boils down to student mastery of material. In writing these artifacts, I had to think as much about how I would facilitate mastery as I did about how I would test for it.