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Rationale
I chose my History 202 Essay Test as on of my artifacts, because it not only shows my knowledge of the Harlem Renaissance, women’s roles during WWI, and major issues surrounding the Treaty of Versailles, but also my ability to pay attention to details and explain concepts well. To gain my knowledge and understanding of the Harlem Renaissance, I listened in lecture and read the books America Between the Wars 1920-1945 and American History. I decided to pair this artifact with, not only Intasc Principle #1, but also Intasc Principle #8 because by taking this test, I saw how much better I learned concepts because I had to know them in depth and saw this form of test taking as a great form of assessment that I can use someday in my classroom. By taking this essay test, I learned how important it is to dig deep into what you are learning and learn the details. By doing this I learned more about the content area I was studying then if I had just skimmed the top of the subject. This made me realize, that as a social studies teacher, I want to encourage my students to seek out the details of every subject we study, so they will be more knowledgeable social studies students and will be able to retain not only basic knowledge of social studies but also the details surrounding it. I also learned from preparing this artifact, that as a teacher, I want to use a variety of assessment strategies as described in Intasc #8, to challenge my students to learn in a variety of ways. In my experience as a student, a lot of times I have felt discouraged to gain knowledge in the subject being studied because I know I won’t be challenged when it’s time to take a test over it. Most of the tests are multiple choice and most basic information will get you the right answer. However, whenever I’ve taken a test that requires me to share details in order to answer the questions, like the essay test in History 202, I leave the test feeling more knowledgeable and well fed in the subject. This has encouraged me to challenge my students through test taking, to not only learn the subject being studied, but to retain it for a long period of time. |