Assessment Alternatives

By: Erika Liebel & Marsha Harrell

Vocabulary Assessments

• Vocab-u-logues• Crossword Puzzles• Story writing • Multiple choice quizzes• Jigsaw Puzzles• Vocab cards • Vocab Concentration• Who Am I

• Flash Cards• Jeopardy• Sentence writing• Illustrations• Graphic Organizers

Vocabulogues

• Students in pairs.• Each group gets a word.• Students have 5 to 10 minutes of class time or

assign for homework• Students come up with a skit in which the

students use 3-5 forms of the word in the dialogue

• Variation – students do not use the word in the dialogue but the skit acts out the meaning

Crossword Puzzles

• Use a crossword generator to create crossword puzzles:

• Discover Education• Instant Online Puzzle M

aker• The Teachers Corner

Story Writing

• Have students use the five words of the week in a story (paragraph). Even though the words may be unrelated it makes for a humorous and creative story.

Multiple Choice Tests/Quizzes

• Still an option, questions and answers can be thought provoking rather than rote response.

Jigsaw Puzzles

• Create word and definition jigsaw puzzles or quilts

• http://create-vocabulary-puzzles.winsite.com/

Vocabulary Cards

• Quick Assessment• Students make cards

(3x5) of the words without the definitions

• Teacher quizzes the whole class on the definitions and students hold up the word they think it is on their forehead.

Prism

Concentration

• On an even number of cards write the vocab words on half of them and definitions on the other half, then play the matching game as usual.

Who Am I?

• For each word make a card that says “I am … I am looking for …” a student will stand and read his/her card the student holding the match will join that student and read their card and so on.

I am looking for a four legged animal with fur that says meow.

I am a cat and I am looking for a body of water that spans from Texas to Florida

Flash Cards

• Cards can be traditional with words on one side and definitions on the other

• Cards can be words on one side and word used in a sentence on the other

Jeopardy

• You can create vocabulary Jeopardy games

• For Jeopardy PowerPoint templates

• Educational Technology Network

Sentence Writing

• You can have students create original sentences using the word. Modify and use sentence stems

Illustrations

• Have students illustrate the meanings of the words

Graphic Organizers

• Organizers can incorporate many assessment types in one organizer.

This PowerPoint available at:

http://liebel.biz