1. Meg Shephard
TAL 540
4/14/15
Assessment Portfolio
Introduction Letter:
The class for which these assessments is created is an AP Spanish Language class,
inspired from the class in which I have been completing field experience, with Sra. Alina
Gonzalez at Southwest Miami Senior High. Specifically I will apply the analysis made
from my second focused observation to this assessment portfolio context. The grades
represented in my AP Spanish Language class are a few seniors, with mostly sophomores
and juniors. These students are almost all third generation native speakers of Spanish,
with the majority born here in Miami with high rates of fluency. Also, more than half of
the class is of Cuban heritage. None of them have IEPs or behavioral plans, however
many of them could use varied methods of instruction in order to encourage their
engagement and challenge their self-discipline.
Each assessment will tie into the themes previously presented in my four prior
lesson plans. The themes include cultural traditions and historical foundations of Spain,
specifically regarding the San Fermín Festival, The Running of the Bulls, and general
information regarding the 17 autonomies of Spain. My intentions are to have a well
established repertoire of objectives and assessments for a Spain-based unit in any High
School Spanish class, whether it be non-specialized, honors, AP, or otherwise. The over
arching learning goals for my students are to acquire and improve academic research
skills, to improve informal and formal writing skills, improve formal oral presentation

2. skills, and to gain confidence in the aforementioned abilities as well as experience in
preparation for real world encounters such as college and professional jobs. Sunshine
State standards that we see reflected and connected throughout the themes of the Spain
unit include “incorporate with ease appropriate idiomatic and culturally authentic
expression in presentations (WL.K12.AH.4.6)”, “Discriminate between different registers
of language (formal/informal, literary/colloquial, written/conversational), and explain
their cultural implications (WL.K12.AL.8.2)”, “Demonstrate understanding of idiomatic
expressions, proverbs, and sayings from a variety of texts and derive meaning from
unknown words by using context clues (WL.K12.AH.2.4)”, and “Use previously
acquired vocabulary to discuss familiar topics in other subject areas such as geography,
history, and language to reinforce and further knowledge of other disciplines through the
target language (WL.K12.IM.7.2)”.
Consequently, the first formative assessment would be embedded into the final
summative PBL project in the form of a rough draft of an evidential pamphlet to be work-
shopped in class. The second formative assessment to be embedded in the PBL will take
the form of an annotated bibliography providing a minimum of 2 primary sources and 2
secondary sources from which the students will base the information in the final draft of
their pamphlet. The final formative assessment will be to turn in an outline of the
persuasive proposal essay that will encapsulate all the previous scaffolds in a formal oral
presentation.
As you can see, I am constantly trying to combine a certain type of expression or
learner style with the simultaneous opportunity to verbally communicate, actively
challenging the students to practice their oral language skills which is proven to be a

3. successful way to learn, improve, or master a language. The above assessments will
engage visual learners (designing a pamphlet), tactile/kinesthetic learners (using
technology such as Smartboards, computers, and ‘smart’ devices), and auditory/rhythmic
learners (including visual media in oral presentations for the PBL assessment). Also, the
students will simultaneously have opportunities to work individually and cooperatively
during the participation of all above assessments (research independently yet edit
together, workshops, designing PowerPoints or trifolds, etc.)
Description of 3 formative assessments briefly mentioned in Intro Letter:
Starting with a brief description of the summative Problem Based Learning
project, the students will be pick an autonomy in Spain from which to base a holistic
presentation of a governmental petition to secede from Spain in order to a be an
independent country (based off the real and current debate of Cataluña’s petition to
become it’s own country). This PBL project will include three formative assessments
embedded in it: 1) pamphlet first draft, 2) annotated bibliography, 3) persuasive essay
proposal outline.
The first assessment would start off the students with a visual guide directing
them in their future research required for their annotated bibliography. In this evidential
pamphlet rough draft, students will need to demonstrate which aspects of their autonomy
they will be highlighting. From this list, they need to pick five areas to concentrate on in
order to maintain focus on the most important aspects that are directly applicable to their
autonomy and possible future independence: gastronomy, art, architecture, industry,
language, culture, history, academia, and politics. From there the students need to

4. describe in a paragraph or less what specific examples they have chosen from their
autonomy and why. There needs to be at least one example in each of the five categories
(areas). These examples need to be ones that specifically demonstrate developmental
strength of the autonomy that would lead it to be successful as an independent country.
Now that the students have chosen at least one example in all five areas of
development for their elected autonomy, they need to provide evidence that these
examples show pre-existing independence or will lead to the long-term independence of
the autonomy as a country. In order to find this evidence, students will need to do
research using computers and Internet as well as library books. In conducting their
research the students need to find a minimum of 2 primary sources and 2 secondary
sources that serve as evidence for their argument of secession. This evidence needs to
have the general effect of supporting the argument, acting as a source that can be cited as
proving the independence of the autonomy, which in turn would prove that the autonomy
can exist as a successful country. The format of the annotated bibliography itself must
look as follows (in MLA format): statement of purpose, thesis of argument, numbered list
of sources (primary then secondary) with each one including the paragraph which
explains what the source contains and why it is being used/how it proves the autonomies
independence.
Finally, the last assessment will be embedded into the PBL project, which will be
to turn in an outline of the persuasive proposal that will encapsulate all the previous
scaffolds in a formal oral presentation. I will be looking for an outline that delineates step
by step what arguments are being made and how they are proven by academic sources.
The students will need to prepare several things to bring the entire project to fruition.

5. Firstly, finalize their second and last draft of their evidential pamphlet. From there, they
will need to show how this information has been supported by the sources in their
annotated bibliography, and how those evidentiary supports have served as the basis of
their persuasive proposal. Next, the students will take the main points of their proposal
and design a visual presentation (of their choosing) to present to the class as a
supplemental guide to their oral persuasive proposal. This visual presentation and
pamphlet serve as the basis upon which the students will argue the following: “This
autonomy is so developed in the mentioned ways that we deserve to be our own country
independent from Spain, and this is why…” The “this is why” part is where the students
will propose their persuasive and analytical petition. Once the petition is given to the
class orally, after having presented the visual presentation and pamphlet, the students
who watched the project presentation will vote on weather to pass or deny the petition.
As a fun incentive for the students, the project group who wins the most votes ‘yes’ will
earn a special prize. In continuation, the students will be given an overall rubric for the
entire project that aligns with the assignment sheet given at the introduction of the
project.
All of the above formative assessments will be graded, given feedback, and
returned within 2 classes from date turned in. This way, the students have enough time to
review their feedback and make the appropriate adjustments and corrections.
Description of Differentiation:
Regarding Universal Design of Instruction, this particular PBL project does a
thorough job of addressing representation, expression, and engagement throughout the

6. scaffolds and embeddings. Starting with the creation of an evidential pamphlet that
includes the first two formative assessments aforementioned, the students have the
freedom to choose the autonomy they will support (engagement), the way in which they
will design their evidential pamphlet (representation), and the types of primary and
secondary sources they can use to argue in favor of their proposal supported by the
evidential pamphlet (expression). The final portion of the PBL, which is the formal oral
presentation of their autonomy’s petition, also gives the students the liberty to choose
how they incorporate their evidential pamphlet to structure their proposal outline [third
formative assessment] (engagement), which visual aids they present complementary to
the oral proposal (representation), and which group members will orally present which
portions of the petition (expression).
In a class based and taught in English, instruction and materials would be
differentiated for English Language Learners throughout the PBL project’s realization.
This is necessary because research shows that although ELL may have good
conversational English skills, but they may lack the vocabulary and academic language
that’s pivotal for real world encounters such as college and professional job settings.
Although my hypothetical classed based off my field experience has no ELL, there are a
few ESOL students. However, the class itself is an AP class in which English is
discouraged in order to promote the proficiency of the students’ Spanish. Regardless, if
there were any ELL students in the class who are simultaneously learning Spanish,
certain materials would be given in that student’s native language along side the Spanish
materials, depending on their level of language proficiency. And if necessary, according
to if they were in a specified ELL or ESOL exit program, those students would also

7. receive certain information in English as well as their native language. Assessments
would reflect their linguistic levels, using their native language in the assessments if
necessary. Furthermore, sheltered instructional supports would be offered to those
students in class as well as in instructional materials.

8. A Petition to Secede from Spain
For this project, you will pick an autonomy in Spain from which to base a presentation of a governmental petition to become
independent from Spain. This is designed to realistically depict the real and current debate of Cataluña’s petition to become it’s
own country. With this project, you will be able to immerse yourself in the culture of your group’s chosen autonomy to the
extent that you will be capable of arguing in favor of your autonomy’s secession from Spain. By doing so you will gain and
improve research skills, visual media design skills, and formal oral and written presentation skills.
Why:
A. You will demonstrate to a panel of councilmen and councilwomen (your classmates) that your autonomy deserves to
secede (to become independent) from Spain due to certain outstanding characteristics of yourautonomy that prove its
preexisting independence and its consequent future success as a country.
a. To find out what characteristics make your autonomy special, you will do research in class and outside of class
b. This research will be used to create an MLA annotated bibliography and an evidential pamphlet (see below)
B. You will argue your autonomy’s right to secession (independence)by designing an evidential pamphlet that
supplements the oral proposal,an annotated bibliography of sources used to prove the evidence in the pamphlet, and a
formal visual presentation orally given to the council.
C. The autonomy that wins the most votes from the council (your classmates who voted) will gain secession from Spain
(and win a special prize from me, of course!)
What you need to know:
- The annotated bibliography needs a guiding statement, an argument thesis,2 primary sources and 2 secondary sources,
and a paragraph for each describing what specific categories you have chosen from their autonomy and why with examples
o To be turned in September 30th
- The evidential pamphlet needs to highlight five categories (see options listed in box 1 below)
o First draft to be turned in on October 15th
o The second draft will not need to be turned in, but you are free to do so and I will review it
o Both drafts must be in a brochure form, with each category (listed below) as a section in the brochure-formatted
pamphlet
- The petition outline will need to be typed and written, at least 2 pages,Times New Roman, size 12 font, and
bulleted/roman numerals
o To be turned in on November 15th
What To do:
1) Choose your group partners (maximum four people)
2) Choose your autonomy and sign up for presentation date
3) Collect necessary materials (rubric, example of former students pamphlet,annotated bibliography, and proposaloutline)
a. Use these as a structure to follow while designing yourmaterials
4) Brainstorm ideas
5) Follow the steps outlined below
6) Turn in all three assessments IN class on due date (11/15/15)
7) Create a full formal oral presentation in which you incorporate all three documents/assessments to argue on behalf of your
petition (total 15 minutes)
THE PROCESS
Step One Step Two Step Three
1. Design evidential
pamphlet
2. Pick 5 categories of the
following to highlight
autonomy
independence
a. Gastronomy, art,
architecture,industry,
language, culture,
history, academia,and
politics
1. Write annotated
bibliography
2. Use 5 categories
3. Describe importance of
each in 1 paragraph
1. Create proposal outline
2. Use pamphlet and
annotated bibliography
to support argument
3. Use persuasion to
convince council of
petition
DUE: DATE WRITTEN ON SIGN UP
SHEET

9. Grading Scale
90-100 80-89 70-79 60-69