Assessment+Information


 * Assessment of Metaphors/Similes**

The students were asked to provide two different assessments on the lesson.

The first assessment was done individually, in which the students would reply to 10 statements that were presented upon the Powerpoint. Each of these 10 statements was pulled from the book //Holes// that the students were currently reading during their novel unit. These 10 statements were either a simile or a metaphor. Each student numbered their paper 1 – 10 and responded whether they identified each statement as either a simile or a metaphor. The following are the statements and answers:

Following the independent practice, I reviewed the statements and answers with the students. Various students were randomly called on to read the statement out loud and to then respond with the correct answer. I would ask the class as a whole whether they thought the answer was correct or not, if it was incorrect, I would explain why. Upon the return of the papers, most students received 10 out of 10. Very few received 9 out of 10. Only one student had 8 out of 10 correct. During my first lesson, I did not go back over the answers for the statements, but I did do so for the next classes following a suggestion by my teaching advisor.

The second part of the assessment was a worksheet that had the lyrics of two different songs upon it. The students were asked to create groups of 2-3 students so that they could collaboratively locate the similes and metaphors within the lyrics. The sheets looked like this:

I told the groups how many metaphors and similes were in each song. Many students had difficulties identifying one simile in the Daniel Boone song and one simile in the Kermit the Frog son. They all located the metaphors immediately. I would move around the room, talking to each of the groups as they collaborated together to identify the literary devices, giving them hints to the correct answers if they found locating a simile particularly difficult.

This assessment changed for one class period, where instead of the students forming groups, we worked on identifying the similes and metaphors upon the Smartboard. This was suggested by my teaching advisor because the students in this class period were a little slower in their learning. Those students would come forward to circle the statements on the board so that the entire group could work together in identification. During the course of this assessment, the students seemed to be far more focused in identifying the simile/metaphor passages.