Assessing learning in Literature using a Brown Bag. (Melissa)

http://www.adlit.org/unlocking_the_past/brown_bag_exams/

There are many things I found interesting about the Brown Bag Exam. For one, its very name already seems to add texture and intrigue to the look and feel of an examination. Behold the five stages of this assessment, and my thoughts about each stage.

Stage One:
Open your Bag!

The anticipation of drawing things out of an inconspicuous brown bag relates the task to a lucky dip, and such happy associations certainly help to redefine the dread and anxiety commonly connoted by the term, “assessment”. One must never underestimate the debilitating influence of nerves, tension and stress on a students’ ability to perform for an assessment. By contrast, the fun and light-hearted framing of the BBE seems to have the potential to lift that tension despite being an assessment, and I wonder if this merit alone is worth considering the assessment strategy.

Stage Two:
List all possible connections between the item(s) inside and the novel. Items may (or may not) fall into the following categories: plot, character, theme, setting, symbol, event, all of these, something else entirely.

The item(s)in your bag might not even be in the novel. Start swimming on the surface then take a breath and go deeper. Be open to thinking literally and metaphorically. Use the first box to make a bulleted list of all the connections you see.

The range of items in the bag mirrors the range of elements that one might encounter in a traditional written assessment like a passage-based assessment. The skills of identification, categorisation and drawing connections between these elements are also being assessed at this point. The key difference seems to be the effort to scaffold the candidate’s assessment, and divide his performance into manageable stages. Once again, the BBE is almost considerate in the way it is structured to prevent the candidate from feeling overwhelmed.

Stage Three:
Get into groups of 3.
Each person shares connections and then asks group members for the connections they see.
Please list all additional connections in the second box.

By stage 3, the assessment shifts from an individual effort to a group sharing.  By compiling their responses, candidates have the room to develop their own original ideas and possibly synthesise them with those of their group members. Students appear to be given freedom to pick their group members – while there may be valid classroom management concerns, it is also possible to argue that autonomy within structure has helpful implications on student motivation and generating enthusiasm for tasks. Furthermore, the formation of groups is likely to be dictated by the speed at which candidates complete stages 1 and 2, which reduces the possibility of candidates being picky about group partnerships.

However, attaining a fair and accurate measurement of each candidate’s competence becomes tricky in stage 3, seeing as it will now be challenging to know when one student’s idea ends and another begins. For instance, the third group member to share his thoughts may now have had more time or inspiration to refine his original response in stage 2. In this, BBE may be more suitable as a formative assessment for learning, than an assessment of learning. 

Stage Four:
Find at least two passages from the text connected to your brown bag item(s)
Copy them into the third box (ellipses are encouraged). Provide enough of the passage so that you (and others) can find it. Please be sure to include page numbers!

Returning to independently work, stage 4 taps into the candidate’s big picture understanding of the text he has studied. This stage almost seems to thrust the learner into the shoes of an assessor, by getting him to isolate relevant passages that lend themselves to future discussion. Well-selected passages would likely be ones which are rich with the elements that were identified in stage 2, and tests the candidate’s close-reading and analytical skills.

Stage Five:
Choose one idea you'd like to share with the class about your brown bag item(s). (This could be a bit about your discussion, connections, passages, initial reaction, or surprises.) Note this in the final box and prepare to share with the entire group.

The final presentation is oral, rather than written. As a side note, this has been the dream of many a Literature student at some point in the journey. Rubrics will likely need to be drawn up in order to evaluate what makes a good sharing. Once again, this style of assessment is more suited for formative pieces of work. However, its merits certainly lie in the ability to draw out the skills needed to make good observations and annotations in a traditional assessment.