Tapestry of Grace
Evaluations:
Using
Evaluations as PLANNING tools
SUGGESTIONS:
Grammar
Level Evaluation Strategies
Dialectic
Level Evaluation Strategies
Rhetoric
Level Evaluation Strategies
STOCK TOOLS FOR EVALUATION:
Published Tests: preparing for them and taking them.
The Grammar Stages and Evaluation Possibilities
Tapestry
of Grace divides the Grammar stage into two
levels: Lower Grammar and Upper Grammar.
This part of the worksheet will proceed from youngest to oldest,
but cover the whole Grammar stage (you will need to adjust, obviously, for
any learning disabilities and develop plans that fit the learning level of
your individual child).
This page
seeks to help you develop assessment strategies for the following elements
of your program:
Character development:
Definition:
learning to obey quickly, cheerfully and completely, and to perform
tasks cheerfully, diligently, and thoroughly.
Possible Evaluation strategies (there are more!):
- While setting your goals, ask several people who are
close to your family to assess your child’s strengths and weaknesses
AND your strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the child’s
development. Determine to
check back with these people at specific intervals for their
observations on your progress and your child’s progress in areas of
weakness.
- Set down on your paper a list (perhaps in two columns) of your child’s strengths and weaknesses (and list also your growth areas as they relate).
- Set specific, reasonable goals for your child to attain this coming year. After prayer and consultation with your spouse, agree in prayer for these goals, and try to daily lift them up with your spouse and child.
- Determine if you will record your faithfulness in
prayer on paper (for the sake of accountability) perhaps by using a
simple check mark on a chart you create.
- Possibly develop a list of Scriptures that aid your
child in fighting battles with besetting sin. It
may be best to choose one sin battle at a time. Set specific
goals for memorization, and quarterly (or weekly) assess progress
toward this goal.
- Depending on your child’s age, consider quarterly
(or weekly) self-evaluation.
You can develop a form, a checklist, or simply interview the
child to see if he is aware of his need to grow and working at
progressing in his battle against sin.
Bible:
Approaches to
Bible instruction for Grammar level students are as varied as the number
of families attempting it! Some families have Family Devotions as
their Bible course. Some do this in the mornings; some do it at
dinner, some do it at bedtime. Some fathers lead Family Devotions;
sometimes moms do it. Some families do Family Devotions and ask
their children to use a separate Bible curriculum. Some families
only use a published curriculum, either from the open market or from their
church. Some families teach their children to have individual
devotions (quiet times), and children get their Bible reading in at this
time. Whatever your approach, there should probably be a place for
the following in your "school" program, for Deut. 11:18-21
reminds us,
"You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on
your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall
be as frontals on your forehead. And you shall teach them to your sons,
talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the
road and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall write them
on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and
the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore
to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the
earth."
- Scripture memory (the ultimate age for it is the Grammar stage!)
- Bible Stories of the Old and New Testaments (these dovetail with Year 1 studies and are detailed in the Reading Charts for that Year-Plan.)
- Constant reinforcement of sound doctrine through very concrete "lessons." These can include object lessons, teaching during and after conflicts arise, teaching during and after corrections (chastisement) for sinful behavior.
- Constant reinforcement of the gospel, and our need for a Savior. Make connections every day between your struggles against sin and your need for a Savior and your child's. Let him know he's not alone in his need, nor the provision for that need!
- Prayer: for others and for himself.
- Worship: singing, praising, etc. according to your family's beliefs and traditions.
- Evangelism: developing a heart for the lost and engaging in evangelistic endeavors.
Possible Evaluation Strategies (there are many more!):
- Number one on the list: set reasonable, concrete, measurable goals and then evaluate consistency. You can't do it all every day, but consistency and humility in the TEACHER are key to developing joyful disciples. "Drop by drop, the bucket is full" is my favorite image for imparting spiritual growth.
- Disciples are made "on the way" as we walk with them. Spiritual things are best "caught" not "taught." Evaluate YOUR spiritual growth: kids can catch what they aren't exposed to! Your example will always me more powerful than your words or any purchased curriculum or church program.
- Ask your young children, from time to time, what God is putting on their hearts concerning their study of spiritual things. You may be surprised by their answers.
Reading:
Reading is
the skill fundamental to education. Children
read fluently at different ages. We’ve
known 5 year-olds to be fluent readers; we’ve had kids who didn’t
really read fluently until they were 9 or 10.
Fluency is your goal, but don’t fret: given enough steady
practice, almost all children (without learning disabilities) are fluent
readers by the end of the Grammar stage.
Your goals should be “progress” each year: from introducing A,
B, C’s in Kindergarten (or before), to blending sounds, to progression
through a solid phonics program (which can be used to simultaneously teach
spelling skills, depending on the program), to reading simple readers
aloud and silently, to reading fluently (for pleasure, without prompting).
Possible Evaluation Strategies (there are more!):
- Start by setting specific, concrete goals for the
year. Agree with your
husband on all goals before beginning the school year.
Example: Christy will work through Book A of the Happy
Readers Phonics Program (not a real program!).
She will complete 2 pages of the Student Workbook per day.
Our goal for Christy this year is that she be able to blend all
phonemes with ease.
- As the school year starts, share with your child, at his level, the goals and standards for the year. You can develop methods for self-evaluation at his level (in this case, maybe a chart on which he can check off his progress, or even simply his Weekly Assignment chart, on which he'll check off completed assignments).
- Evaluate your progress through any published
program each week.
- Are you, the teacher, sticking to the schedule
you laid out at the beginning of the year?
If not, why not? Consult
with your husband:
- Was your goal ambitious? Perhaps dictated not by the Lord but by someone else's idea of "good progress?"
- Does your schedule merely need an “in flight correction” to make it run more smoothly?
- Do you need to be more diligent?
- Is your household too busy?
- Do you need to re-prioritize your time?
- Is your child a “late bloomer” or is he showing any indications of a learning disability? Are you pushing too hard for his God-given stage?
- Or, is your child sinning: refusing to obey
reasonable requirements?
- Are you, the teacher, sticking to the schedule
you laid out at the beginning of the year?
If not, why not? Consult
with your husband:
- Encourage your child by showing him the progress
he’s making, for the purpose of jointly giving glory to God.
Possible ways to do this include making weekly audiotapes of
him sounding out phonemes, or reading aloud (depending on his level).
You can also show him samples of work he finished earlier in
the year. Together, give
glory to God for his excellent work!
Handwriting:
In the
Grammar stage your child needs to master this fundamental skill.
Tapestry recommends that your goals for this skill be steady
progress towards true mastery of cursive handwriting by the end of the
Grammar stage. As you
probably know, cursive handwriting was developed as the fastest, most
efficient form of handwriting. Youngest
children will start with printing, because their fine motor coordination
hasn’t developed sufficiently to begin cursive, and cursive writing
differs so much from the letters they are seeking to associate with sounds
in learning to read. Most
third graders are ready for the transition from printing to cursive. Tapestry
strongly encourages you to require this transition of your child.
Though we live in the computer age, and Tapestry recommends
that your child learn touch typing and use the computer as often as he
can, most children will need the ability to write a quick and legible
hand. This skill may be
especially crucial during essay tests in High School and College, and
subsequently, on their jobs.
Possible Evaluation strategies (there are more!):
- Start by praying about, and discussing, concrete and
specific goals with your husband.
Decide, based on the motor ability of your child and the Lord's
leading, what a reasonable expectation for handwriting progress will
be this year, and how you will assess his progress.
-
Try to decide before beginning the year what criteria you will
use to “grade” his work, record that on paper. Share
the goals and assessment strategies you arrive at with your student as
the school year begins.
- Assessment can take the form of handwriting tests: the student submits a sample at regular intervals. These are filed, or inserted in a portfolio, and evaluated by comparing them to models provided in your handwriting curriculum.
- Another form of assessment might be to incorporate handwriting grades with other, more complex projects. For instance, if your child will be making a display board this year, why not have him hand write the text on it, and then agree that neat handwriting will be one of the factors used in assessment. Or, you could use the same idea in connection with a book he is making this year.
Example: Christy will make the transition from printing
to cursive this year. She
will complete one page daily in Happy Handwriting! (not a real
program!). This year, she
will learn to form all lower and upper case letters of the alphabet and
join them. Mom will, daily,
check her work. Those letters
that are incorrectly formed will be practiced with Mom’s direct
supervision until properly learned. After
letters are learned, Mom will daily circle letters that deviate
significantly from the curriculum’s model letters, either in form or
slant. Christy will have to
write each such letter 5 times correctly before checking off her
assignment for that day as “complete.”
- Another possible form of handwriting assessment is to
have the child evaluate himself each
day (according to standards you write with her). You might then review
her self-assessments only weekly.
Example: After I explain how, Christy will evaluate her
work each day, circling letters or words in her work that do not
seem to match the model letters in the curriculum.
She will ask for help from Mom if she’s unsure as to how to form
the letter, or join a letter to other letters, correctly. She will then
write all circled letters 5 times correctly before checking off her
assignment for that day as “complete.”
Each Friday, Mom will look over her work to make sure she is
correctly assessing her work.
- For older children who may need remedial handwriting
work, or for those in Upper Elementary levels, I suggest “speed
drills.” Use one
passage all week (three to four sentences—perhaps combine this task
with Scripture memory, but caution: NEVER make Scripture memory a
punishment or odious chore!). Time
Monday’s attempt at writing this passage quickly but legibly.
Correct/practice any troubling letters/combinations.
Tuesday: same passage, timed. Same on Wednesday through Friday.
See what the lowest time/most legible job the student can
achieve. Save Friday
papers in a file for accountability (with times written on!)
Keyboarding skills:
We ARE in the
computer age, and your child WILL need these skills.
Many 4-year-olds can zoom around the computer using a mouse.
When they’re ready, they should be taught touch typing.
Like handwriting, you will need to decide stages and ages, but the
"mastery goal" is speedy, accurate touch typing without looking
at the keyboard. Most
students can achieve mastery by the end of the Grammar stage.
Possible Evaluation Strategies (there are more!):
- Start with setting specific, concrete goals with your husband after prayer. Determine your child’s readiness for keyboarding skills. Purchase a curriculum and determine the rate of use.
- Record your goals as for handwriting above, specifying rate of completion of the program and “grading” criteria before the child begins his year.
- Be sure to share these goals and specific standards
for grades with him.
- Many typing programs include evaluation features:
speed, accuracy, etc. You
can choose to rely on these for evaluation.
- The child can self-evaluate
daily, and you can check his evaluations and his progress weekly or
monthly.
- When evaluating, be sure to show the child his
progress and encourage him for diligence and perseverance (perhaps by
keeping a chart of his timed tests if the program does not include
such automagically).
Mathematics:
Goals for the
Grammar Stage differ with the teaching philosophy you adopt.
Most curricula attempt to teach counting, number theory, place
value, the four functions, some algebraic language, fractions, and
decimals. Many also teach
measurement, time telling, scientific notation (the metric system), etc.
You will need to prayerfully consider what math curriculum to
adopt. In so doing, you may
want to consider your child’s dominant modalities: some math curricula
are heavy on manipulatives, and therefore serve a tactile learner well,
but may not serve an auditory learner as well.
Possible Evaluation Strategies (there are more!):
- Start by writing down concrete and specific goals for the year. Decide the rate at which your student will progress through the curriculum you choose. Decide whether to administer published tests. At the start of the year, share your goals and standards with your child.
- If your curriculum is primarily tactile and majors on
manipulatives, your child may not score as high on standardized tests
in the Grammar years. You
need to understand your goals clearly, and if traditional testing
methods will not apply well, create alternate measures of your
child’s progress.
- We always purchased Teacher Books for the curricula
we chose, and had our children self-correct
their work daily. We then
required them to re-work any problems they got wrong and self-correct
AGAIN, BEFORE showing their mistakes to Dad (our math teacher).
Dad then spent his precious time working only on the problems
they truly could not understand on their own.
- Curricula with traditional approaches to math in the
Grammar years lend themselves very well to traditional test formats
and grade averaging, since the answers are always objectively right
or wrong. (In higher math, grading should take into account
partial answers.) Parents
are encouraged, during the Grammar years, to focus teaching goals on
building a solid understanding of math concepts, as well as
requiring necessary rote memorization of such things as times tables.
Thus, you should remember to use your tests and quizzes to help
you spot patterns of misunderstanding, not just to develop a
grade for the report card.
Science:
Goals for
this discipline vary widely. Some
feel that early introduction of scientific language benefits a child.
Others feel that science curriculum should major on “discovery”
of God’s creation, and leave the memorization of technical terms for
higher grades. Again, as his
teacher, it’s your decision.
Possible Evaluation Strategies (there are more!):
- Begin with prayer and consultation with your husband, and decide and record specific, measurable goals.
- Share these goals with your child, and familiarize him with the standards by which his work will be evaluated.
- If you purchase a “planned” curriculum that publishes tests, then you will probably rely heavily on those tests for evaluation. Be sure to begin the year with clear goals that specify the rate at which you plan to cover the curriculum, and the frequency of testing, and share this plan with your student.
- If you plan to allow your child to do experiments, then much of your assessment strategy can involve oral presentations, lab journals, or demonstrations (to dad and siblings) of what your student has learned. Again, the key to implementing this assessment strategy is your introduction of the strategy to the student before work is begun. In the Grammar stage, try to involve your child in developing self-evaluation plans so that he'll fully understand (and own) the resulting evaluations you make together.
- At the Grammar stage, book making is highly recommended as an evaluation strategy for science work.
History:
I purposefully put history near the end of this "worksheet," because by now, you are getting an idea of the process you can use to develop assessment strategies, and your options for evaluating historical studies for Grammar stage students are so varied that if I started with this area, you might grow quickly overwhelmed. Assuming you're using Tapestry, your goals for historical studies (I'm including Church History, Cultural History (art and music), the history of Science, and Geography here, since we integrate them in Tapestry) are probably to begin introducing your young student to the "giants" of history, the flow of main events in human history and the shape of the world and its nations. Below is a chart that suggests content for goal-setting that is Year-Plan specific. Your goals for Grammar students (and this represents a wide age/ability range from K-5th grades!) might include:
| Year 1 |
|
| Year 2 |
|
| Year 3 |
|
| Year 4 |
|
As you know, we are not looking for mastery of these goals: they are our core goals, but our day to day practice involves light reading (or read-alouds) from interesting books that have many pictures, completing associated project and writing assignments and holding quarterly Feast Nights that sum up our unit studies and display achievements. Depending on their level, our students should remember some names, a few dates, and learn much geography, but first and foremost, they should be excited about learning more about God's unfolding plan on the Earth, and their part in it.
Possible Evaluation Strategies (there are more!):
- As you know, my highest recommendation, especially
for the Grammar stage, is to build a portfolio
as your major evaluative tool. This form of evaluation
encourages the student to:
- "sum up," "overview," and "solidify" his course material
- combine the honing of life skills with the academic, factual subject matter
- display his work to others for added encouragement and enjoyment
- learn more about his subject by continuing to review his past work as he displays and explains it to others.
The portfolio will contain samples of written work, but I encourage you to buy lots of film and take pictures of his other work: projects, presentations, demonstrations, activities and field trips can all be represented (and evaluated) to arrive at a complete picture of his year. If your child is like ours, he'll enjoy reviewing this portfolio (alone and with others) for years to come!
- Upper Grammar students can benefit from simple, objective tests and quizzes. I recommend these as a secondary, skill building activity. As you know, such tests are limited in what they can offer in terms of evaluation. Their value, at this stage, in my humble opinion, lies in learning how to take such tests, not in actually displaying their depth of comprehension of the material. I suggest presenting these tests in this light: majoring on helping your Upper Grammar student to learn HOW to take such tests, not in the score he or she achieves. Writing simple multiple choice, or fill in the blank quizzes, is time consuming, but if you feel that your child would benefit from taking such tests, by all means, invest the necessary time! (Perhaps an older sibling could design the test as his evaluation for advanced study on this subject. He would demonstrate a clear grasp of the main ideas of the week's lesson by successfully writing a Grammar-level objective test or quiz.)
- Throughout the Writing Component of Tapestry and in the Student Activity pages, projects are suggested that lend themselves well to display. Projects can be good evaluation tools IF they are seen as such from the beginning. To read more about designing projects as evaluation tools, click here.
Literature:
In the Grammar stage of the Tapestry program, our goal is to introduce children to good books. Most suggested titles are related to the historical period they are studying (in order to add rich context to children's studies). At this stage, our primary goals in choosing "literature" are:
- To engage students by making history interesting and enjoyable
- To provide deep contextualization of historical information
- Where possible, to introduce children to the joys of great and/or classical stories and characters.
Possible Evaluation Strategies (there are others!):
- Each week, the Tapestry of Grace curriculum
plan gives you several "leading questions" for discussion of
literature selections in the Weekly Overview charts. There is a pattern
to these questions. We want to, over time, develop certain
habits in our children. These include:
- Looking for the "main ideas" as they read their assignment
- Noticing how story characters measure up to Biblical standards of morality and ethics
- Evaluating the crafting of the story by noticing both good and bad features in the writing style
- Deciding the worth of a book on Biblical bases (this is the purpose for "did you like the book or not, and why?" questions)
Your discussion can constitute the whole of your evaluation plan for Literature in the Grammar stage. Through asking questions, and guided discussion, your child can show you whether he's developing the habits bulleted above. If it helps you grow as a teacher, you can make the above bullets into a checklist, continuum, or evaluation chart (see Projects and Self-evaluation pages for examples and detailed directions) and mark the chart as you discuss literary works with your child. Then you can file these evaluations, or insert them into his portfolio.
NOTE:
While Tapestry of Grace realizes the importance of many other possible extra curricular activities not profiled here (such as Physical Education, Art, Music, early foreign language study, etc.) we hope this page has given you enough coaching that you can go on to set goals for, and evaluate, these "optional" activities as well.
Develop rubrics automagically from this site for most types of evaluations!
home
| philosophy |
overview
| year one |
year
two | year three
| year four
site map |
ordering
| contact us
copyright © 2002 Books 'N Kids, Inc. All rights reserved.