This subsection involves using a game-based activity to assess student progress. Game-based activities can be used informally or formally and can be formative (occurring during the learning process) or summative (used as a final evaluation). The following activity is a formative, informal assessment for a mixed-proficiency 4th-grade classroom that can be used by teachers to understand and physically see student progress. This activity will provide immediate feedback and can be used in preparation for an exam for both students through practice or teachers before creating an exam. Although the example below shows a specific topic and objective, this activity can be adapted for any age group, any proficiency level, and any topic.
Example Activity
Homophone Identification: Reading and Writing
Rationale: Because this is a grammar-based reading and writing game, the content is designed for a specific grammar topic assessment. For a student to fully grasp a grammar concept, they must be able to tell when it is incorrectly used. This activity focuses on detecting errors and how to correct them. It will also include topics and vocabulary relating to the On Our Way to English: Grade 4 textbook being used in this course.
Objectives: Students will read a sentence and state whether the sentence contains correct or incorrect grammar. Students will identify the correct use of the homophones they're, there, and their.
Pre-Planning
Pre-knowledge: Students should have been introduced to the differences between they're, there, and their before beginning this activity.
They're: contraction; they are
There: adverb or pronoun; refers to a place
Their: possessive; shows ownership of something that belongs to a group of people or animals.
Homophone: words that sound the same, but are spelled differently
Materials needed: A whiteboard/chalkboard/projector where the teacher can display the sentences needed. Either a whiteboard, paper, or technological submission where students can write down their answers. May need expo markers (for teacher or students), chalk (for teacher), or pencils/pens (for students).
Language level: Mixed-proficiency (intermediate) 4th grade students
Recommended age group: Any
Procedures
Before beginning: The teacher introduces the topic, reviews the grammar tenses and how to use them, and explains the activity in the following steps:
For this activity, students will be divided into small groups (or individually depending on the class size).
A sentence will be written or displayed on the board to the class.
Students within their groups will need to decide whether or not the sentence contains the correct homophone. If the sentence uses the incorrect spelling, the group will need to collaborate to fix the sentence. They can write their answers and corrected sentences on whatever material was made available to them by the teacher. (A whiteboard is preferred that way students can hold up their answers once every group has finished.)
For each sentence they get correct, the group will receive a point. The group with the most points gets a prize chosen by the teacher.
It is extremely important that teachers provide explanations as to why each sentence is correct or incorrect. Providing feedback and gauging student progress is the entire purpose of this activity. Feedback should be focused on the objective, however, feedback on any off-topic spelling errors displayed by the students in their correction sentences should also be given along with any others that students may display during the exercise.Â
Sentence Examples
Their going to drive all the way to the Grand Canyon in the summer. (incorrect)
I want to go over they're later to get something to eat. (incorrect)
Tom and Hasan left their house keys on the table by accident. (correct)
Have the children finished there homework yet? (incorrect)
My favorite region of the U.S. is the South. It is warm their. (incorrect)
Sarah's parents have retired and are moving to Florida soon. I have only been there once. (correct)
Maria parked her car in the garage over there. (correct)
I love my students. They're very kind. (correct)
More sentences can be used according to the time available and allotted by the teacher.
Evaluation
After the activity is finished, both the teacher and students will have a better understanding of what is expected from them as well as what the students; knowledge and applied use is for these spelling homophones.
This activity assesses for using the homophones they're, there, and their correct in written language through error correction.
Activity Description
As mentioned above, this assessment is formative meaning it is a low-stakes evaluation where students are still learning the specific objective of the activity. These kinds of activities provide teachers with evidence to support whether they should continue on to a more formal evaluation or whether more practice is needed in class. It also identifies specific areas of improvement or mastery that the teacher can build off of in future lessons and assessments. This activity also provides students with immediate feedback from the teacher. It is a constant exchange of student response, teacher feedback, student response, and teacher feedback. This creates an involved, engaging, and productive study session and allows for active questions, comments, and concerns for students that may come up during the activity.
This activity is also informal as it does not require teacher evaluation of each individual student nor is it reported on their progress reports; however, individual questions and concerns can be noted by the teacher outside this system. There is no formal "grade" recorded on the student's records. The main distinction between informal and formal is how the activity is planned, but the feedback is not. With a formal assessment, the exercises or activities have specific "yes" or "no," "correct" or "incorrect" answers predetermined by the teacher with little to no direct feedback. This activity, however, thrives off of feedback and group effort to produce the correct answer.
Additional Ideas
An important aspect of this activity is that it can be easily incorporated into different learning objectives and topics. The above example can work as a template for teachers to use throughout the year and adapt it to their curriculum. If students enjoy the game and find it engaging, it can become a routine review game that students look forward to and are motivated to participate in. It can also provide teachers with immediate feedback on how well-understood the topic is by students before administering a more formal evaluation or assessment.
This activity can also be altered to be student-led. Students can try to stump their classmates by creating sentences with errors in them. This can also elicit more student motivation and engagement; however, teachers know their students best and would know if this addition would be appropriate or not.