Assessment
How Students Were Involved In Developing Assessment Criteria
Prior to implementing The Outsiders Debate Project, students were asked to list the characteristics associated with taking good notes, supporting their arguments, making their arguments clear verbally, and creating an authentic debate costume. A copy of The Outsiders Debate Project Rubric (see below) was given to them and they were asked to compare their list to the "superior" category for the rubric.
As a class, we compared their list to The Outsiders Debate Project Rubric and found the two were essentially compatible. We discussed the different rubric gradations. Students were asked to refer to their rubrics before beginning a debate project section so they might be aware of what the project required as well as the quality of work required. Also, they were told to refer to the rubric as needed while they were doing a project section and then again after the section was completed to make sure their work was consistent with what the rubric required.
Students also used previous work to help them maintain an awareness of their progress and reflect on their work. Prior to The Outsiders Debate Project, students were engaged in a series of activities used to assess their understanding of The Outsiders as they read the book. These activities included:
- reflective writing
- free writing
- Venn diagrams
- poetry interpretation relative to the novel, The Outsiders.
- information webs
- creation of relationships between The Outsiders and songs
- creation of relationships between The Outsiders using similes
- value graphs
- drawing
This packet was assessed holistically and received an overall grade based upon the following scale:
- Superior Work Overall : A
- Good to Very Good Work Overall : B to B+
- Satisfactory Work Overall : C to C+
- Poor Work : D to D+
- Unacceptable Work Overall : F
Packets were returned to students who were asked to look back upon these activities, revisit the understandings derived from each, and either incorporate these understandings into the debate project or test information and ideas used in the debate project against them for validity.
Techniques Used To Collect Evidence Of Student Progress and Achievement
Student progress toward meeting the Learning Standards' performance indicators was monitored in a number of ways. Students were paired together based upon position. That is, a student who had the Social position (Position B) was paired with another social. Students who had the Greaser position ( Position A) to debate were paired with other Greasers. As the students worked in pairs, I was able to meet with each pair and monitor daily progress toward meeting whatever part of the project they were working on.
Additionally, I would ask students who were working individually on their Position Papers to conference with me either as they ran into difficulties or finished, so I could make suggestions for improvement. Students were encouraged to read each other’s Position Papers as well and give positive responses for good work or constructive suggestions for improvement.
Debate strategies were monitored as debate pairs worked together to develop and then finalize their plans for the actual debate. After debate pairs were matched up with opposing debate pairs (Greaser Pairs with a Social Pairs), and the debate began, I monitored student performance of each debate group. Assessments for student debate performance were guided by the Debate section of The Outsiders Debate Project Rubric.
Tools Used To Document Student Progress
Students were routinely urged to refer to two rubrics before they did their work, as they did their work, and after they did their work. The two rubrics were:
- The Outsiders Debate Project Rubric (see below) which had assessment guidelines for Note Taking, the Position Paper, the Debate, the Personal Reflection, and the Debate Costume.
- The General Writing Rubric (see below) which delineates the specific areas in which student writing is assessed.
I used both rubrics to guide my assessment of student progress as the students worked.
The Outsiders Debate Project RubricGeneral Writing Rubric
Learning Context/ Introduction
Where this Experience Fits Within the Curriculum
All 8th grade students are expected to read a number of novels during the school year. Teachers are given a variety of selections to choose from, but perhaps the most popular selection is The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Virtually all 8th graders end up reading this book by the time they leave school in June.
Teachers use The Outsiders in any number of ways. For example, the book is often used to illustrate the literary elements of setting, characterization, plot, conflict, and theme. Additionally, teachers use The Outsiders to teach "big ideas" such as tolerance, peer pressure, responsibility, and personal growth. And, teachers use The Outsiders to facilitate higher order thinking skills of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation through oral and written formats.
What students need to know and/or be able to do to succeed with this learning experience
For this learning experience, students need to be able to:
- read the book The Outsiders for understanding.
- work with a partner.
- take notes for support.
- develop arguments, with support, for six assigned debate points.
- write a position paper based on six debates points.
- develop a debate strategy with their partners.
- participate in a debate with a partner where they present and support their debate positions.
- respond to their debate opponents’ arguments.
- dress up in character as a member of the group in the book their debate position matches (either Greaser or Social).
- reflect, in writing, on any aspect of the debate project.
Procedure
The Outsiders Debate Project reflects all of the basic themes of reading, writing, speaking, and listening common to all ELA Learning Standards. What follows is a narrative of student and teacher actions relative to the project, along with a direct connection to the specific ELA standards. These narratives fall into four areas:
Pre-DebateThe Outsiders Debate ProjectHow This Learning Experience Reflects Current SchoHow This Learning Experience Incorporates Technolo
Student Work
Each student completed two sets of work.
- One set is work done immediately prior to The Outsiders Debate Project material. It is a packet whose first page is titled "The Outsiders Work & Assessment Sheet" (see Student Work 1 below.) This packet has been included because it was referred to in the Assessment section.
- The second set of work has a first page is titled "The Outsiders Debate Project Rubric." This packet contains the work that directly represents what the students did for this Learning Experience (see Student Work 2 below.)
Student Work 1Student Work 2
Resources
Resources (human and material) needed to complete this Learning Experience were as follows:
- The book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, for each student.
- The Outsiders’ Debate Project Student Information Sheet (see below)
- Project Schedule(see below)
- The Outsiders’ Debate Project Rubric (see Assessment section)
- General Writing Rubric (see Assessment section)
- The video, "The Outsiders".
- TV/VCR set up in the classroom.
- Assistance from Special Education Teacher and/or Resource Room Teacher
- Camcorder and camcorder video tape to video students during the debate.
Student Information SheetProject Schedule
Instructional/Environmental Modifications
My classes are made up of students with a wide range of academic and social abilities. All were native speakers, though. I had no bilingual students. One way to accommodate this range of abilities was to have all pre-debate activities supported using cooperative groups. All students had previously been placed in cooperative base groups, so it was not unusual for students to work together here. Discussions and activities were almost always preceded by groups meeting to discuss questions, possible answers, and strategies for successfully completing the activity.
During the times groups met, I monitored each group’s activities. Special attention was paid to students with disabilities or having special needs. In an inclusion class I teach with a Special Education teacher, we talked over potential problems any student might have, especially the students with disabilities, and developed strategies to provide support and assistance for each. This process was repeated with a school reading specialist for another one of my classes heavily populated with students designated as requiring Academic Intervention Services.
Additionally, myself, the Special Education Teacher, and the Reading Specialist:
- reviewed all students IEPs or 504 plans so that we were aware of any special learning conditions or programs we might be unaware of or not implementing.
- had students work with our Reading Specialist during either their lunch periods or resource room time.
- pulled students who were having difficulties from their lunch periods so we might work with them.
To compliment and reinforce readings from the book, I showed scenes from the movie, "The Outsiders". For those who had difficulty reading, additional time and support was given as needed. I coordinated reading assignments with the Resource Room teacher. To accommodate students with particularly severe reading difficulties, the Resource Room teacher read and recorded the book The Outsiders on tape for these or other students in need to listen to.
Duration
Planning, Implementation, and Assessment Time
The initial planning was the most time consuming part of The Outsiders’ Debate Project. Setting up and typing the debate positions, the accompanying rubrics, and the student work schedule took a number of hours to complete.
Prior to implementing the debate project, the book had to be read. Although The Outsiders is not a long book, this took about two weeks. Daily homework assignments of reading followed up by assessment activities, many of them alternative, in class each day were necessary to make sure students had a good understanding of the book before they could debate.
Actual implementation of the debate project required about six days. My classes are 41 minutes long. The general plan for the activity included collaboration, research, writing, debating, assessment, and reflection. The suggested schedule for implementation of the debate project is available in the Resources section.
The time necessary for assessment of the debate project was spread throughout the project. Pre-debate activities to assess student understanding as they were reading the book were done daily through a series of activities. The time frame for the actual debate project was as follows:
- Costumes: Costumes were evaluated by me on the day of the debate. As students made their final debate preparations, I looked at each costume and wrote an assessment score on The Outsiders Debate Project Rubric.
- Debate: Student debate performance was monitored as they debated. After the debate, I determined a debate assessment score for each. Students also used the rubric to assess their own debate performance.
- Position Paper, Note Taking, & Personal Reflection: Since these were all written pieces, they took longer to assess. The Position Paper was weighted more heavily than the notes or the personal reflection and more attention was paid to it. Assessment of all written pieces for 130 students took about 5 hours total time.
Author
Edgar Daniels, National Board Certified Teacher
Reflection
I originally used this debate format with an activity designed by David and Roger Johnson (University of Minnesota) to illustrate the use of scientific inquiry for an artifact I was creating for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
The debate topic for that artifact dealt with whether or not the timber wolf of Minnesota should be preserved or selectively hunted. The Johnsons provided research materials and a format that structured academic controversy so that students would be able, among other things, to see a number of different perspectives for one topic.
After becoming familiar with the NYS Learning Standards, it occurred to me how compatible such an activity using the book The Outsiders might be with ELA Standards 1,3,& 4 and a number of their performance indicators. Since The Outsiders Debate Project provides a natural context for reading, writing, listening, and speaking, and the book provides a basic, high interest set of conflicts, I thought it would be a nice fit. A look back to the Learning Context of this Learning Experience shows how well the student actions specified would match what this debate called for.
Another way to consider this is to refer to the Standards verbs found in the performance indicators I selected. For example verbs such as select, organize, categorize, distinguish, and develop appear in a number of the performance indicators relative to student manipulation of information. All of these verbs were enacted by students in the course of the debate project.
Additionally, verbs including listen, understand, present, develop, and express that appear in other performance indicators relative to speaking and listening, are also all enacted by students in the debate project. Finally, Standards’ verbs such as produce, pre-write, draft, revise, proofread, and evaluate, that appear in other performance indicators relative to producing a written product, are also all enacted by students in this debate project.
What I Learned From Implementing This Lesson
I found this lesson to be quite instructive. One important understanding is that an activity such as The Outsiders Debate Project can incorporate a variety of NYS Learning Standards and a variety of performance indicators. This is good news for the planning and implementation of future assignments.
Another understanding is how important providing a variety of learning contexts is for students. In this lesson, the different learning contexts provided allowed me to view my students from more than one perspective. In essence, I got to see them in a different light. Students worked individually and cooperatively with others. The cooperative context allowed me to see students interacting in ways impossible in a traditional classroom setting. This interaction was revealing as students who were reluctant to speak in a whole class setting often spoke volumes to their partners.
Equally instructive was the quality of the interaction. Having students work as debate pairs allowed me to monitor student discussion very effectively. I was able to listen in as students presented their ideas to their partners. I was quite surprised, in a positive way mostly, about the depth of understanding students had of the book. I was happy to be able to assess these understandings in a much more realistic way than had they been asked to show them on a test or some other similar instrument.
The level of student understanding was even more evident when the actual debate began. I was often surprised and even amazed at times, by the student who often took the lead in the debate. More than a few times, I saw students who were almost "invisible" in class make positive, assertive, and effective arguments when it was their turn to speak. Interestingly, I was sometimes surprised the other way. It wasn’t often the case, but some students who always volunteer answers in class were not particularly effective in the debate.
One of the things that I seem to "relearn" each time I use this Learning Experience with my classes is how concerned the students are with what their costumes should look like for the day of the debate. Girls and boys, alike, have many questions about what they should wear. The "Greaser" boys especially, and most of the girls regardless of debate side, worry about their hair. The boys wonder how much "grease" they should put in their hair and the girls wonder if they should use hair spray. Since most of the girls balk at wearing a dress or a skirt, I assure them that slacks are fine. I spend at least a half period before the debate talking about this, showing pictures, and brief video clips about life during the early 1960’s, the time period of the novel. I also remind them of what the greasers and socials look like as depicted in the movie "The Outsiders." Additionally, I emphasize that no one need go out and buy anything new for their costume. It’s never happened, but I worry about students telling their parents they must have a new leather coat, or the equivalent, for the debate.
Student Comments
"I learned what a debate was all about. I never really argued with another person about topics found in a book. I learned how to defend myself verbally and how to campaign with another person. The most valuable thing I learned is that everyone has their own way of thinking."
"I learned that I work well with others. My most valuable lesson was don’t judge a book by its cover."
"I learned so much more from the debate than just a test. It gave me a different view of the book. It gave me a look from the Social side and the Greaser side. It taught me to organize my work. I realized that note taking is easier than I thought it was. The Position paper taught me to take notes and organize them into an essay with an opening and concluding paragraph. The debate taught me how to argue my side of the story and listen to the other side. It taught me how to take notes while the other side is speaking so I can counter example them. It taught me to work with others to achieve a certain goal. That goal was to win the debate and have more evidence than the other person. A test would not teach me any of those things I talked about. All a test would do is to see if you read and understood the book. The Project did that and much more."
