Listening Assessment

So, in an effort to show what my students’ skills are, to have data to show to their parents at conferences next week, I have decided to do some assessments.  I learned from Claire Ensor, who is passionate about assessing students in a compassionate, success-oriented way, that curriculum, instruction, and assessment should align, according to the educational theorist John Biggs.  So therefore I wanted my assessment of listening to align with classroom practices and curriculum.

Basically, my curriculum is stories and images – either the stories we create together based on images as I learned fro Ben Slavic, or stories I tell the kids using Dr. Beniko Mason’s story listening approach.  So this listening assessment is for students to listen to a retelling of the story from yesterday and demonstrate (in English) their comprehension.

I took the students to the library where we can use tables.  Rhea and I retold the story from yesterday, with little extra-linguistic support, just reading as a storyteller would, with voice intonation.  We read at a somewhat normal pace, without drawing or writing on the board.

I believe that the students are listening at an Advanced Low to Advanced Mid level – after only one quarter.

From ACTFL:  At the Advanced Low sublevel, listeners are able to understand short conventional narrative and descriptive texts with a clear underlying structure though their comprehension may be uneven. The listener understands the main facts and some supporting details. Comprehension may often derive primarily from situational and subject-matter knowledge.