Chapter 9 Reading Response

To find out what students already know about a subject it`s a good idea to take a small poll among the students to see how many of them are familiar with the project.  Next I might do some kind of an activity about the subject that has a little bit of basic information to interest the students but also play on what many of them already know.  I`d like to have them in small groups so they can also use each other as a reference. 

Establishing anchor gives a teacher an idea of where a student started in their knowledge.  They are important because the teacher can monitor how much each student has learned throughout the project and can see if the project has been effective in helping the student gain 21^st century skills.

One way of assessment is to use rubrics to assess the skills students should have used during the project.  I like the idea the English teacher, Mr. Burg, in the book had an assignment to assess how well the students could interpret the literary elements and the significance behind every event in the book Of Mice and Men.  This was helpful to the students because when designing their comic book, the students would have to analyze not just the plot but also all of the symbols and depth to the story and be able to put their view of it as a comic.  I also like the idea to interview students on what they learned throughout the project because it lets the teacher and students talk one on one about what went well for the project, what they learned, and what didn`t work for each student.

I found this chapter to be one of the most influential to our project because assessment is so important in determining not just how much the students have learned but also what the teacher and students can do to have an even more successful outcome for the next project.