Exclusion Brainstorming Assessment

           I administered my pre-assessment to a mixed group of teachers, administrators and students at my current school here in South Korea. The test was administered in a classroom and the group of people that participated role-played as if they were all students, in the same grade and I was their teacher. I added in the role-play because in Korean society your relationship and how you treat and speak to others is determined by age and job standing. I did not want this to interfere with the results so I stressed to the group that they all were equal for this project. I also gave the class a quick refresher on vocabulary words that students in my actual class would have learned just so they could apply them to the activity as an actual class would.

           The pre-assessment that I administered was Exclusion Brainstorming. In this assessment on the white board I wrote this chart;

Attending College is Important because…….

-parents say so

-it can open up many opportunities

-it will expand your education

-the parties and social life

-it will expand your social network

-it will help you progress in your career

The students then participated in a class discussion. They had to decide which of these they believed were strong arguments and which of these they believed the weak arguments were. When the class determined a weak argument I would cross it out on the list and when they determined a strong argument I would circle it. This is where my expectation of the assessment was completely off. Rather than coming to a consensus on which of the arguments were weak and which of the arguments were strong, all of the students had varying opinions as well as very convincing and passionate reasons why what they believed one to be a strong argument. My assumption was that the class would eliminate certain arguments and keep other arguments. In the end, there were no arguments that were crossed out, all were circled. A few of the arguments I was sure that they would be eliminated; the parties and social life and, parents say so. To my surprise, the older people in my subject group, (principal and vice principal), both argued that the parties and social life was a strong argument and the youngest people in the subject group argued that because your parents say so was a strong argument as well. While these reasons may not seem like strong arguments for why attending college is important, the students were able to produce compelling reasons that were valid so I could not eliminate them.

Overall, I feel like this pre-assessment is extremely effective. It really had the students thinking about the different elements of a strong argument, arguing their point of view and applying vocabulary that they have learned. It also gave the students a chance to interact with one another and see other’s view points as well as how others formed opinions and applied them to the discussion. There were many “ah-ha” moments during this assessments when one person heard the argument of another and it was something that they did not think of but after hearing believed that the point they were discussing was a strong argument. The students also really enjoyed this assessment. Everybody, despite various levels of English, participated in the assessment and really made an effort to present their reasons and positions.

To adjust this pre-assessment based on how it went, rather than crossing off weak arguments and circling strong arguments I will instead composing a list of reasons a person could use the arguments that are presented on the board.  This will show the class that there is not definite right or wrong and no matter the position you take you should have your reasons and apply them appropriately. It will also serve as an example of various positions a student can take and various types of reasoning a person can have. As for using this assessment for myself, rather than looking to see if the students can identify a weak argument, I will look to see if the students can chose an option (or a few) and form reasons why they believe it to be a strong argument. I will also see how the students are able to express their positions and listen to the positions of others. This will help me determine if the students are on their way or already ready to write an argumentative essay. It will also help me pinpoint what aspects of an argument I need to work on with my students. Besides helping me see how effective my lessons have been, it will also be a great introduction for the students to the debate portion of the unit and give me an idea on what aspects of debate I need to work on with my students.