Assessment

(This is the assessment for Crystal Boulton-Scott and Joseph Scott‘s curriculum, “Tribal First Foods: American Indian first foods, legends, and traditional ecological knowledge
along the route of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery.”)

 

Essential Question

How are ways of knowing among tribal peoples shaped by important First Foods, and how is this reflected in  Native American peoples’ understanding of the human connection to the place?

Assessment Rubrics and Guides for 2nd Grade

Copyright 2006 Joseph Scott

A reminder about assessing First Foods teachings.

Educators who are considering using these materials will notice that the included assessment resources lack the worksheets, quizzes, and other materials familiar to many. Obviously, all educators and learners are unique individuals with corresponding individual teaching and learning styles. The rubrics on this document are provided as an example of what, in my experience, has been most effective in determining learning outcomes as compared to learning objectives. They provide an excellent opportunity for educators and learners to work together in assessing learning outcomes. This provides a voice to the learner and places an element of responsibility upon them to know what they are learning, and how they are learning it. Among many Tribal people, this would be considered culturally appropriate. This emerges as a teaching and learning strategy that sets a course toward encouraging learners to make predictions about upcoming events and information, imagine connections among the self, the place, and the other, use visualization tools to describe processes, conduct self-review and self-evaluation of both learning material and understanding, and finally to ask clarifying questions and wonder what might happen next. The acronym “PCVREQ” describes this Prediction, Connection, Visualization, Review, Evaluation, and Questioning strategy.  When paired with teachings about creating a positive learning environment found in Lesson 1, the strategy empowers learners in reflecting on their own progress and provides space for the expression and exploration of various learning styles. Standardized tests and other forms of competitive assessments are arguably inappropriate for evaluating student progress through these teachings, but there is no rule that dictates which strategies an educator uses.

  • Assessment 1: First Foods Enduring Understandings.
  • Assessment 2: First Foods Cultural Activity Rubric.
  • Assessment 3: First Foods Essential Questions.
  • Assessment 3, Continued: First Foods Story Response Rubric.
  • Assessment 4: First Foods Active Listening and Project Guide.
  • Assessment 5: First Foods Cultural Universals Guide.
  • Assessment 6: First Foods Core Concepts: the Four Cardinal Directions, the Four Seasons, and the Four Elements.
  • Assessment 7: List of First Foods Additional Standards.

 

Assessment 1: First Foods Enduring Understandings

Understanding Unacceptable:

0 Points.

 Poor:
1 Point.		 Fair:
2 Points. 		Good:
3 Points.		 Excellent:
4 Points.
People:

The bands and tribes encountered by the Lewis and Clark expedition.

 The learner was unable to identify the lesson’s tribal people and did not make an effort to do so. The learner made an attempt to recall the tribal people being studied but was unable to do so. The learner misidentified the people being studied and perhaps knew a couple of details of their lifeways. The learner remembered the tribal people being studied and made efforts to explain their lifeways. The learner could identify the people being studied and offered details about their lifeways.

 
Place:

The original homelands of the tribal people; the place Lewis and Clark would have met them.

 The learner was unable to identify homelands and did not make an effort. The learner made an attempt to recall tribal homelands and guessed at their location on a map. The learner remembered homelands only after consulting lesson materials and/or partners. The learner recalled the homelands of study after prompts and was close to being able to identify the territory on a map. The learner recalled the tribal homelands and was able to identify them on a map.

 
First Food:

The identification and basic knowledge of a first food, including environmental factors and human components

 The learner was unable to identify the first Food being explored, and could not prove any of the basic knowledge necessary to understand environmental needs and human significance. The learner may or may not have been able to name the first food, and made very little effort to understand environmental needs or the role it played in human survival. The learner identified the first food by name and little else. The learner could not prove knowledge of its environmental needs or cultural significance. The learner remembered the first food of study after being given several prompts. The learner identified the first food by name and shared several important details about environmental needs and relationships to human prosperity.

 
Cultural Components:

The cultural significance of the lesson’s first food.

 The learner has made no effort to examine or understand the cultural components of the lesson. The learner has made a minimal effort to explore the lesson’s cultural components and has made very little progress towards completing the performance task. The learner made an earnest effort to explore the lesson’s cultural components and worked toward the completion of the final performance task. The learner was able to make progress toward understanding cultural components, but was unable to complete the project’s final performance task. The lesson’s cultural components have been explored, and the learner made good progress toward completing the final task.
Participation and Effort:

The learner’s level of interest demonstrated in working on the lesson.

 

 The learner made an attempt to be distracting and/or disruptive. The learner did not put any effort into the project.

 

 The learner participated but paid little attention to instructions, and demonstrated a very weak effort. The learner participated well with some refocus directions from the instructor. The learner participated well and met basic expectations.

 

 

Assessment 2: First Foods Cultural Activity Rubric

Unacceptable:

0 Points.

 

 Poor:
1 Point. 		 Fair:
2 Points.  		 Good:
3 Points. 		 Exceptional:
4 Points.  
Activity:

General Activity Review.

 The learner did not do anything related to the activity. The learner tried a little bit. The learner met a few of the project goals. The learner did the bare minimum. The learner made good effort, and had some success meeting goals.

 
Participation:
To take part and make an attempt.		 The learner did not participate in the activity.

 

 The learner mostly watched others, and did not help. The learner did not participate very much, and didn’t really follow directions. The learner did participate after much encouragement.

 

 The learner participated well and met expectations.

 
Completion:

To complete a project.

 The learner never started and never finished the project. The learner may have started, but gave up and never finished. The student made some progress, but not very much and not very well. The learner started well but did not finish. The learner  started and mostly completed the project
Effort:

To make an earnest attempt.

 The learner gave no effort.

 

 The learner tried a little bit. The learner put some effort into the project.

 

 The learner put in the minimum effort needed for project completion. The learner gave the expected effort.

 

 

Assessment 3: First Foods Essential Questions

  • Who: The characters, human or otherwise.
  • What: The desired outcome.
  • Where: The setting in which the characters, methods, and outcomes develop.
  • When: The timing of events and methods.
  • Why: The motivation of characters, the relative success of desired outcomes, the choice and timing of settings, and the reasoning of characters.
  • How: The method(s) used by characters to achieve the desired outcome.

 

Assessment 3 Continued: First Foods Story Response Rubric

Unacceptable:
0 Points.		 Poor:
1 Point.		 Fair:
2 Points.		 Good
3 Points.		 Excellent:
4 Points.
Characters:
Identify characters in a story.		 The learner was unable to identify any characters. The learner was able to identify a few main characters, but cannot identify supporting characters. The learner was able to identify the main characters, but only a few supporting characters. All main and supporting characters were identified. All characters were identified and described.
Sequencing:
Describe the rising action, climax, and conclusion of a story.		 The learner could not describe the sequence of the story.

 

 The learner attempted to describe the sequence of the story, but the order did not make sense. The learner could recall some elements of the story sequence. The learner was able to describe the sequence of the story but did not provide details. The learner could describe the story sequence, and could describe sequence details.

 
Setting:
Describe where and when a story takes place.		 The learner could not describe the setting.

 

 The learner could identify basic setting details.

 

 The learner could identify and describe the setting.

 

 The learner could identify the time and place of the story and can recall details. The learner could identify and thoroughly describe time and place, including supporting details.

 

Assessment 4:  First Foods Active Listening and Projects Guide

  • Predict: A storyteller will ask learners to make predictions about story plot elements, and then stop long enough for listeners to make predictions about what might happen next, or what the outcome will be.
  • Connect: The storyteller encourages listeners to make connections between and among details of the story or project and their own life experience.
  • Visualize: If there is an opportunity to do so, it is fun and educational to encourage listeners to form an image and then draw an image or conduct some sort of project that allows them to share what they imagine as they listen.
  • Review: Learners go over the details of the story or the process of creating their project. Whether it is on paper or in their minds, it is a way of understanding steps in the process of creation.
  • Evaluate: Learners should take a look at what has been accomplished by either the author or project designers and builders, and decide whether or not they like what they have seen or heard. If they did like it or if they did not, they should share their reasoning.  They should explain why they like the end result, or why they do not.
  • Question: After hearing a story or completing a project, learners should be able to think about what they experienced and then develop questions about what they might accomplish in the future.

 

Assessment 5: First Foods Cultural Universals Menu

Students should be able to identify the Cultural Universals’ focus of their Summative Assessment Project(s). This list below should be consulted as learners ask themselves questions about their objectives, predict the outcome of their work, and make connections to other projects, experiences, and feelings. When they are finished with projects and/or other evaluations, learners should examine their outcome, review the list of universals, and determine how well their outcome aligns with their original goals.

  • Food: All cultures eat food, both as basic sustenance and as a statement of social status.
  • Clothing: All cultures regularly cover themselves, some more than others. The vast majority of students’ projects focused on clothing will describe something other than nudity.
  • Shelter: Whether seasonal/temporary, permanent, or intermittent, all cultures seek shelter at some point, or all points, in their seasonal round.
  • Medicine/Healing: In all cultures, healing and medicine are driven by tradition, academic science, spirituality, or some combination of these.
  • Fun: Throughout the world, peoples gather in small numbers or large, and they engage in entertaining activities.
  • Communication: All cultures communicate with other individual members of that culture and/or members of other cultures.
  • Rules: Rules are often manifested as a form of government in which rules are established and enforced through an organized social structure, although sometimes rules are established and enforced through social norms.
  • Tools: Tools are used by cultures to solve problems. Many of the cultural universals are closely tied to this ability, and this ability often requires the utility of an object.
  • Way of Knowing: Cultures explore the unfamiliar. Individuals and/or groups may pursue academic science, groups may understand their place in the world, their ways of behavior, and the workings of their surroundings through trial and error, traditional belief, or any combination of these things.
  • Transportation: All cultures move around, whether this takes the form of a walk around their shelter or a long journey by jetliner.
  • Money: Trade of goods, and/or symbols representing goods, often establish and describe social status, basic needs, or anything in between these things.
  • Family: Everyone has a mother and a father. This is a genetic mandate beyond any socially defined phenomenon. Interrelations beyond this are highly variable.
  • Beauty: Whether it is appreciating the desirable physical qualities of another person, intricate details included in forms of shelter or clothing, ceremony or appeals to creation, or paintings and sculpture, all cultures include a group and/or individually defined ability to appreciate the aesthetically pleasing.

Assessment 6: First Foods core concepts: the four cardinal directions, the four seasons, and the four elements.

    • North
    • South
    • East
    • West
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Earth
    • Air
    • Water
    • Fire

 

Assessment 7: List of First Foods Additional Standards:

Honoring Tribal Legacies project’s “Eleventh Standard”, NMAI “Native Knowledge 360°” Essential Understandings, local requirements for tribal education, and supplemental science, technology, engineering, arts, and math recommendations

Honoring Tribal Legacies, “Eleventh Standard”
“Demonstrate environmental stewardship and a sense of service achieved through acknowledgment of the interconnectedness of humanity in historical, cultural, scientific, and spiritual contexts.”

National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Essential Understandings
(https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/about/understandings)

NMAI “Native Knowledge 360°” Framework for Essential Understandings about American Indians
https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/pdf/NMAI-Essential-Understandings.pdf

It is also important to consult local/state requirements regarding the integration and implementation of the Native American curriculum.

STE(A)M Next Generation Science Standards: https://www.nextgenscience.org/)

●      2-PS1-1 Matter and Its Interactions
Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties.

●      2-PS1-2 Matter and Its Interactions
Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.

●      2-PS1-3 Matter and Its Interactions
Make observations to construct an evidence-based account of how an object made of a small set of pieces can be disassembled and made into a new object.

●      2-LS2-1 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.

●      2-LS2-2 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.

●      2-LS4-1 Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

●      K-2-ETS1-3 Engineering Design
Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.