Reflection
For the second week of a unit on historical texts and point of view, students will analyze two text that speak about freedom and inequality. To get students thinking about these two ideas, I tested out a Chalk Talk pre-assessment. For this assessment, I first had students think independently about these two words and record their ideas in their journal. Students were free to write down anything they thought of when they heard these two words. Next, I explained to the class how the chalk talk works and that they would have to record their thoughts or words on the Venn Diagram poster at the front of the room. Also, students were required to stay silent and observe what people wrote and must participate when they are handed the marker.

I conducted the Chalk Talk with a group of seven college age students. The Chalk Talk lasted about 10 minutes with directions, so the total activity took about 15 minutes, including individual writing. Looking back on this pre-assessment, it was a very effective way to get students thinking on their own, about complex and controversial topics. Because students had to think individually first, they have a variety of response and thoughts. This led to a strong discussion about freedom and inequality and how these ideas mean different things to different people/ These differences are often influenced by individuals environment and experiences. While giving directions, I also stated that ideas had to be original and could not have already been shared on the board, which made this activity more interesting and led to a variety of responses. In the future, I would keep this aspect because it pushed students to share ideas they might have avoided, for the "safer" or less controversial ideas. This criteria helped produce a diverse and thoughtful discussion between the group of students.

This pre-assessment was already over 5-8 minutes, but I think additional time would have been beneficial. Everyone was involved in the concluding discussion and had some very passionate ideas that developed an educated discussion about topics that are complex and would help them develop a clear point of view on these concepts, which would be helpful for the remainder of the unit. In the future, I would allow more time to complete this activity. Also, I think clarifying and spending more time on the directions, prior to the activity, would be helpful for some students, especially the first time this activity is used. Clarifying that it continues and some people will share multiple times would keep the room silent during the activity and clarify this point prior to starting.

In looking at the on going assessment rubric I created for the unit plan, I think a more effective and clear one could be developed for this activity. I think assessing students meaningful contributions on the Venn Diagram and during the class discussion, would be effective at assessing who is on board and has meaningful thoughts regarding the topics. I have recreated the rubric and it is displayed below. Using this rubric, I would use a tally system to asses the whole class and give myself a picture of those participating at each level on the four point scale. This rubric is more general, but would provide me a tool to quickly assess students while they are participating. At the end of the assessment, a general picture could be developed based on the tally marks in each category. This could be used to assess the effectiveness of the activity, as well as student participation and engagement with various topics. This activity is one that I plan to use multiple times throughout the year and therefore, this rubric would be an effective tool to assess student performance sharing ideas and participating in discussions.

New Chalk Talk Rubric

Sharing of Ideas
4	3	2	1	0
·       Significant ·       Well thought out ·       Added new idea	·       Meaningful ·       Developed ·       Added on to another idea	·       General idea ·       Something already shared, but used different words	·       Very General ·       Repeated Idea ·       Not Clear	·       Did not participate
Contribution to Discussion
4	3	2	1	0
·       Idea is original ·       Well said and composed	·       Idea is developed ·       Thought out and planned	·       General idea added ·       Rephrases or summarizes previously said idea	·       General idea added ·       Uses previous ideas, does not add depth	·       Did not participate