Section IV: Authentic Assessment of Instruction and Student Progress

Artifact 1: Foldables + Presentation

TESOL Domain & Standard:

- Domain 4 Assessment. Candidates understand issues of assessment and use standards-
based assessment measures with ESOL students.
o Standard 4.c. Classroom Based Assessment for ESL. Candidates know and use a
variety of performance-based assessment tools and techniques to inform
instruction.

The authentic assessment used for this artifact was a Foldable and a presentation.
Foldables have students combine their previous knowledge with new knowledge to enhance
learning, and it allows CLD students to use their L1 to acquire their L2. The students had 3
columns on each section of their Foldables: My Prediction, What I Learned, and My Definition.
The topic for this Foldable was Government Systems, and the information from the Foldables
was used to create a class presentation, with the two activities forming one assessment. After
assembling the Foldables, the students completed the My Prediction column on each section
of their Foldable (5 sections total). Students could both write what they thought the definition
was and draw images that they thought fit the word. After completing their predictions on the
government systems definitions individually, they shared their predictions with their table
groups (groups of 3-4 that are based on students academic abilities). Once each student had a
turn sharing their predictions and the groups discussed the predictions, the students completed
a webquest activity. This webquest had the students reading online resources that related to the
government systems, and the information learned from this webquest activity was added to the
What I learned columns on their Foldables. The students then discussed this new knowledge
with their groups and added any additional information their groupmates brought up that they
didnt already have on their Foldable. The students then individually completed the My
Definition columns, and again could both write and draw their thoughts in this section. After
completing the final column of the Foldable, the students used the information to create a
presentation that answered the question: Which Government System would you use for your
own [made up] country and why? This presentation also required the students to explain why
they werent going to choose the other Government Systems. After creating the presentation,
the groups shared them with the whole class, and we had an all-class discussion/debate on
which system was the best.
Furthermore, this assessment allowed students, regardless of their stage of second
language acquisition, to demonstrate their understanding of the content in many ways. First, the
students could use their L1 and/or draw pictures to express their knowledge as they completed
the activity, however, I currently do not have any CLD students who are not fluent in
English/none of my CLD students are in the schools ELL program, so I did not have a CLD student
choose to use their L1 while completing the assessment. The students were also able to work
with their peers when completing aspects of this assessment, which promotes their L2 academic
language acquisition, and provides an anxiety-free setting for the students to work in. Finally, as

Section 4 Artifact 1 Caption 1

students completed the webquest portion of this lesson activity, the resources could easily be
translated into a students L1 if needed, so that way they could make the connections between
their predictions and what they learned (to see if their predictions were accurate/correct).
Finally, this artifact aligns with what I wrote in Section Four of my Portfolio Platform in
multiple ways. First, this artifact promotes the use of the CLD Students L1 to further their
second language acquisition, which is something I discuss in Section 4 as an important factor in
creating authentic assessments. This artifact also considers each students academic and cultural
backgrounds because it utilizes students previous academic and cultural knowledge on
Government Systems to complete the Foldable, and students could create their own country
using a Government System of their choice for the final piece of the assessment. I also discussed
the importance of giving students agency within the classroom and this assessment does just
that since a key feature of the assessment is the student choice aspect for the presentation.

CREDE Standards for Effective Pedagogy

After reviewing my artifact, I think that it closely aligns with the Contextualization aspect
of the CREDE Standards for Effective Pedagogy. I would rate myself as integrating on the
Standards Performance Continuum for multiple reasons. First, the My Predictions column on
the Foldables acts as pre-assessment which determined what knowledge the students had on
the Government Systems and the academic vocabulary that is tied to the topic. The students
then worked in groups which were based on students academic needs, forming a community of
learners that supported each other as they gained new insights and knowledge. Finally, the
students linguistic and cultural backgrounds were considered throughout each aspect of the
assessment and students could tie their background knowledge to the new content knowledge
being assessed.
In my future work with CLD students I can use this artifact as a pre-assessment and just
have students fill in the My Predictions section, and then not complete the rest of the Foldable
until the end of the unit. This artifact could also be used as an assessment to analyze the second
language acquisition of my CLD students and they can add to their Foldables as they gain more
academic vocabulary in their L2. This assessment artifact can also be used for a review activity
for the students. They can use their definitions of the content to assess their own knowledge,
and use that self-assessment to determine what they still need more information on.

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