In this lesson, students are expected to recognize the difference between plagiarism and the correct use of source material and to develop an understanding of paraphrasing. Students will have the opportunity to practice paraphrasing verbally and in writing. Students work with a partner for the written paraphrasing exercise, allowing learners to support one another.
Assessment of this stage of the lesson is done on an informal basis. Both the classroom teacher and the media specialist conduct brief conferences to gauge students' understanding and provide help as needed.
During the second day of this lesson, students are expected to acquire basic skills in skimming and scanning and locating fact fragments to be used as brief notes. Again, students complete practice exercises with a partner and are informally assessed through brief conferences. In addition, students are assigned homework that combines the skills from both days of the lesson.
Assessment of the homework with a rubric gives the teachers evidence of how well each student has mastered the skills. Assessment of the learning process is conducted using a reflection questionnaire that asks students to articulate their problems or successes during the course of the lesson.
Some evidence that students have truly assimilated the lessons will appear in their research notes and any written product. It will be fairly obvious which students were able to take concise, relevant notes and paraphrase from them. If students do reasonably well on their homework and are able to put the skills into practice as they research, I would consider the lessons to have been successful.
Example student work and assessment tools:
- Keyword diagram (imaginary student)
- Note-taking/paraphrasing homework article, data sheet (imaginary student)
- Homework grading rubric
- Reflection questionnaire