Task 4: Assessment of and for student learning
My students have been working on agreement and learning new skills to be able to
communicate information regarding clothing articles and color. The lessons focused
being able to describe a person for whom you were looking for. This assessment included
sentences with errors related to gender, singular/plural, and the use of the verb ESTAR.
Some sentences in the assessment had no errors, in order to see if students could identify
when language was used correctly.
In order for students to perform well on this assessment, they had to be able to evaluate
the sentences and decide if there were any errors, and then correct them. Prior to this
assessment, we completed a class activity that required the students to use a step-by-step
approach to determine if there were any agreement errors in a paragraph. I hoped that
students would be able to employ this strategy at a much smaller scale, single sentences,
and accurately determine if there were any errors.

Copy of directions and prompt for assessment.
Assessment Commentary
1. Identify the specific standards/objectives measured by the assessment chosen for
analysis. You may just cite the appropriate lesson(s) if you are assessing all the of
the standards/objectives listed.
This assessment was intended to measure mastery of the following skills:
 Determining if a noun was masculine or feminine.
 Knowing how to make a noun singular or plural.
 Understanding that direct and indirect pronouns are gendered and can be singular
or plural and must agree with the noun in the sentence.
 Knowing the correct conjugations for SER and matching it to the noun in the
sentence.
1
2.
Create a summary of student learning across the whole class relative to your
evaluative criteria (or rubric). Summarize the results in narrative and/or graphic form
(e.g. table or chart). Attach your rubric or evaluative criteria, and note any changes from
what was planned as described in Planning commentary, prompt 6. (You may use the
optional chart provided following the Assessment Commentary prompts to provide the
evaluative criteria, including descriptions of student performance at different levels.)
The result of the Agreement Quiz 2 were as follows:
# of students
score out of 5
8
5
3
4
3
3
2
2
The half (50% of the class) mastered the material sampled by the quiz. 20% were
proficient, and 30% need to improve. After analyzing the assessments, it was obvious that
many students had trouble with the irregular verb SER. Most students now understand
how to conjugate nouns for gender and plural/singular. They have also mastered direct
pronouns. This assessment allowed me to see that most of the my students need more
practice conjugating SER. This knowledge allowed me to incorporate more Rassias drills
into my week in a subsequent class so that students practice them. This was also useful
knowledge when students were completing their skits on day 4 of my lessons. I actively
asked students to double check their conjugations of SER and informally assessed them
while they worked on their skits. If they were not competent with their conjugations, I
would let them know that they should study their flash cards more.
These assessments were graded out of 5 points(one point per sentence), with no partial
credit given. In order to get the point, students had to correctly modify the sentence so
that there was agreement between direct/indirect pronouns, masculine/feminine nouns,
singular/plural nouns, adjectives and the verb SER. If the sentence contained no errors,
the students had to indicate this by writing “correct,” “no error,” or placing a checkmark.
Since there were two correct answers for each potential error, the students could select
which agreement to fix the sentence with.
3.
Discuss what most students appear to understand well, and if relevant, any
misunderstandings, confusions, or needs (including a need for greater challenge) that
were apparent for some or most students. Cite evidence to support your analysis from the
three student work samples you selected.
As a whole, the class seems to understand how to determine if a noun is masculine or
feminine, singular or plural, and can also use the appropriate direct and indirect pronoun
in a sentence.
2
Not counting isolated mistakes, mostly students understand that to make a noun plural
you must add an “-es” if it ends in a consonant, and “-s” if it ends in a vowel.
Student 1’s only mistake in the quiz was incorrectly conjugating “azul” for a singular
subject. He correctly conjugated the direct subject pronoun “el” as singular and
masculine, the noun “pantalon” as singular and masculine, and “ser” as “es” for the
subject “el,” and just incorrectly conjugated the adjective “azul” as “azule.” His only
mistake was removing “es” to make it singular. However, this student shows much
progress from Agreement Quiz 1 in which he made more agreement errors. It also shows
that he is having trouble with the color “azul” blue and is confused on how to make it
singular and plural. Quiz 1 also shows a lack of understanding of how to use “ser”, a skill
he has mastered by Agreement Quiz 2.
Student 2 shows the most common mistake for this class in this quiz. He did not correctly
conjugate SER for a plural subject “pantalones,” and instead left it as is, for a singular
subject. Since a good number of students in the class made this mistake, it is safe to
assume that they have not memorized the conjugations for SER. It appears that students
who make this mistake understand the underlying concepts that it must be conjugated to
fit the verb, but did not know what that conjugation was. This modified my plan by
informing me that students needed more practice. I will weave this concept in through
daily Rassias method drills (which are good for reinforcing language), to help students
memorize and become automatic with the conjugations. Based on this students previous
quiz on agreement and the verb SER we can see that while he continues to struggle with
conjugating “ser,” he is now able to correct sentences and show proper agreement in
terms of singularity vs plurality and gender. This understanding will continue to be
strengthened as the course continues.
Student 3’s work is typical of the work of students who are struggling the most in this
class. Her mistakes reflect confusion in subject pronouns (singular/plural) and making the
noun plural (forgetting to add an “s” at the end of the word). She, like most students who
struggled with this quiz, did not correctly conjugate for SER, conjugating it for a singular
noun in question five and leaving it out completely in question three. Since I realized that
a minority of students were still struggling with subject pronouns and not understanding
how to make nouns plural or singular, I made sure to keep highlighting this step in my
future lessons. When I compare this student’s quiz to her previous quiz on agreement I
see that she is still having trouble with the same concepts. The best way to mitigate this is
one-on-one lessons during the reassessment periods and I have done this successfully
with other students. However, this student has been unresponsive to requests to show up
after school, even to retake quizzes and exams. Collaboration with her parents and IEP
counselor will be essential to ensure her success, not just in Spanish, but in high school
more generally.
4.
From the three students whose work samples were selected, choose two students,
at least one of which is an English Learner. For these two students, describe their prior
knowledge of the content and their individual learning strengths and challenges (e.g.
3
academic development, language proficiency, special needs). What did you conclude
about their learning during the learning segment? Cite specific evidence from the work
samples and from other classroom assessments relevant to the same evaluative criteria
(or rubric).
Student 3 was part of a Spanish exploratory program in middle school. This knowledge
has not really helped her in the class but is most evident in her vocabulary. While her
lexicon contains different words from the rest of the class, it is not necessary more
extensive. She still has trouble with the vocabulary we learned in class and requires a lot
of practice. This student has been particularly challenging for two main reasons: 1) she
has some depression issues and we did not have a complete IEP until 5 weeks into the
term and 2) she has not yet demonstrated motivation to do well in school, either in
Spanish or other subjects. Her special needs, combined with an inadequate IEP for most
of the term made it complicated to teach this student. I did not know how to approach this
student, who has exhibited explosive behavior before, so I had to leave her on her own
often. Once I received an adequate IEP, I had some guidance I could use to begin to reteach the classroom culture to her and to work with her to hold her accountable for
learning. Despite these challenges, I think that during this learning segment, this student
began to grasp an understanding of how to make nouns plural. She definitely still needs
more help on all the other concepts.
Student 1 had no previous Spanish knowledge. This student has exhibited good learning
skills in the class, but the biggest challenge has been to motivate him. Initially this
student showed a lot of doubt in Spanish abilities, but after a couple of one-on-one
discussions and after-school mini-lessons, he learned to participate in class. While he can
still occasionally be disruptive in class, he has been very responsive to my requests for
him to adhere to the class rules. I saw tremendous improvement in his class work,
homework completion, and classroom behavior over the course of the semester.
However, it is evident that he needs constant motivation and sometimes requires
additional structure. This student has a 504 plan for attentional disorder, but if he is
constantly motivated and kept on task, can be a very positive participant in class.
5.
What oral and/or written feedback was provided to individual students and/or the
group as a whole (refer the reviewer to any feedback written directly on submitted
student work samples)? How and why do your approaches to feedback support students’
further learning? In what ways does your feedback address individual students’ needs
and learning goals? Cite specific examples of oral or written feedback, and reference the
three student work samples to support your explanation. As appropriate, draw on the
research literature.
These quizzes demonstrated that half the class has mastered the material by the beginning
of the week. As a language teacher, my goal is 100% mastery of essential content.
Because of this, I reinforced the material throughout the week through Rassias drills.
Students with failing grades were notified and encouraged to come to class during
reassessment period for a mini lesson or to retake the exam if they felt they had made
simple errors and did not require a mini lesson. Feedback on this exam was very simple; I
4
marked the errors that the student made. I did not provide a correct answer because the
solution could be figured out by asking questions or in some cases just knowing that they
added or forgot letter in their spelling. By doing this, I hope to encourage students to go
back and review their exams on their own to assess their own knowledge. Some students
were very quick to do this and excelled during the in-class Rassias drills. I also paid
particular attention to students who made many errors in the assessment during class. I
asked them probing questions as they completed their tasks and checked for
understanding. As the week finished, my interventions were minimal since the students
worked in groups and had minimal questions.
6.
Based on the student performance on this assessment, describe the next steps for
instruction for your students. If different, describe any individualized next steps for the
two students whose individual learning you analyzed. These next steps may include a
specific instructional activity or other forms of re-teaching to support or extend
continued learning of objectives, standards, central focus, and/or relevant academic
language for the learning segment. In your description, be sure to explain how these next
steps follow from your analysis of student performances.
Using this pre assessment and subsequent information gathered from student work
throughout my solo week, it appears students have gained a solid understanding of
agreement. Since agreement is a fundamental skill in Spanish, its mastery will be
reflected in their work for the rest of the year. While occasional mistakes are to be
expected, if as a class their performance is not up to par, I would have to re-teach the
content.
In my opinion, Student 3’s learning potential has not been achieved partly because of
lack of motivation for school, and partly because of her IEP. I have tried to compensate
for her motivation by letting her work with her friends when we are doing class work, but
this has had mixed results. Her peers can motivate her to contribute to the assignments
but she can also lead her group off-task. She requires constant motivation when working
individually that is hard to provide when managing a whole classroom. There were also
cases in which she addressed me during class to let me know that she was medicated and
felt “off.” Since she did not offer this information often, I believe she was being honest so
I tried to encourage her to do her best. This student requires constant motivation and
scaffolding that would be easier in a smaller class or with a teacher’s assistant.
Student 1 on the other hand, simply requires more motivation. When properly motivated
and focused this student will put in honest effort. Even though he is very spontaneous,
simple requests for him to follow the class rules are always fruitful. He has also been
responsive to mini-lessons and has shown up during reassessment period to ask for help.
In order for this student to learn, I would encourage the teacher to form a connection with
him and constantly check in. He is not shy to admit when he does not know something. It
is obvious he cares about his social appearance so any interventions are best met when
the other students are not paying attention. Overall, this is a very able student who must
simply be constantly motivated and scaffolded.
5
Student 1: Sample 1- Agreement Quiz 2
6
Student 1: Sample 2- Agreement Quiz 1
7
Student 2: Sample 1- Agreement Quiz 2
8
Student 2: Sample 2- Agreement Quiz 1
9
Student 3: Sample 1- Agreement Quiz 2
10
Student 3: Sample 2- Agreement Quiz 1
11