I have always done formal speaking assessments on exams, but I have struggled for years to find an easy way to assess in-class speaking. I tried a few systems that were cumbersome and impractical for the ease I needed!

In January I read a blog by Señora Chase that inspired a new, easy system that both allows for quick feedback AND is simple: index cards. While Sra. Chase does a few modalities, I decided to just target speaking. I rolled it out quarter 3 and made it very clear in the roll out to the students:

Each student has a name card (which I already used for random calling, grouping, etc.), organized by class.

• 5 Points is earned when students are doing a speaking activity and they are SPEAKING IN SPANISH
• I stand and listen to a full exchange before I award credit, so I can really hear their Spanish and give feedback
• A is written if a student is ABSENT
• 0 is written if a student is not speaking in Spanish (I usually cycle back once if I caught them at a bad time)

I enter grades for a bank of 10 or 20, which would equal 2-4 speaking assessments.

What to do with the A’s or 0’s for students who want to improve:

It’s impractical to duplicate many of the speaking activities we do in class – especially those that have kids up and around the room asking multiple partners questions. I opened a Flipgrid for students to practice the skill/raise their grade per unit goal – for example, we just finished the town and neighborhood, so students would have to answer in a Flipgrid “Qué hay en tu pueblo, o ¿cómo voy a tu casa?. Flipgrid emails me when there is a submission, so I don’t open the email until I am sitting with my grade book, ready to make the changes in grade-book.

Kids see their scores when they see their cards, or in the online grade portal. I also announce when a bank has gone in, so kids can check what they may owe me.

Thanks, Sra. Chase for helping me design an easy was to assess speaking during class time!