CONCURRENT Teaching, Learning and Assessments

Black History Month: Teach, Learn, and Assess Concurrently

In whatever subject area you teach, there are men and women of African American heritage who have utilized knowledge from your content area.  Consider using fifteen minutes of class time for college students to show what they know and are learning this week in your class.  Start with your choice from the list of general names of persons who are acclaimed artists, mathematicians, musicians, scientists, engineers, and Writers on the list below, and then add missing names that you know about.  This is an ungraded in-class task designed as a formative assessment tool to measure students’ learning and your teaching.  If they get it, you know you’ve taught it well.  If they don’t, you know what needs to be retaught differently.

Invite your learners to write a three to five-sentence letter sharing with an African American person who has contributed to your content area or field. To speed learners along on their search, direct students to write about a person whose name begins with the same letter as one of the student’s names.  Add another five minutes of class time to have students share with a peer what they discovered and wrote.

To focus student writing and your reading, ask your learners to include in their writing answers the Five W’s and H.  Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?  The “how” must include ways at least three topics or skills the student is learning in your class may be seen in the work of the person the student is writing about.

African American Artists
African American Mathematicians
African American Musicians
African American Scientists and Engineers |
African American Writers

For other ways to incorporate formative assessment in your classroom practice, check out Chapter Seven of PLANNING WITH PURPOSE: A Handbook for New College Teachers (2022) or Chapter Two of EMPOWERING LEARNERS: Teaching Different Genres and Texts to Diverse Student Bodies (2023)

Sentence Starts

Dear (name of person),

This term we’re learning what __________________ (list of three topics, skills, strategies, theories, etc.)  I imagine you found knowledge of _____________________ useful as you                  ____________________.  (Be specific. How would knowledge of specific scientific music, or rhetorical devices be used by the recipient of the letter?)

Thanks so much for showing practical ways to use what I’m learning from (Name of Classroom teacher/Prof)

ASSESSMENT POINTS:  Full “credit” for complete response and accurate information.

See the PLANNING WITH PURPOSE WEBSITE for other methods, management, and materials for use in your teaching.