Chapter 3: “Isn't This Crazy?”: Engaging Learners Through Text-Based Assessments

Before entering Heather Rippeteau's 10th-grade global history class at Manhattan Hunter Science High School (MHSHS) in New York City, students know they will be expected to critically read and analyze complex social studies texts. Students are asked to regularly analyze primary sources for different purposes in her class: conceptualizing an event in history, using texts to support Socratic seminar discussions, or to craft a historical argumentative essay. The first argumentative essay students are tasked with completing for Ms. Rippeteau is an argumentative essay on Imperialism, assigned near the end of the first semester. While the final product for this assessment is the argumentative essay, this chapter focuses on the informal assessments and embedded strategies that Ms. Rippeteau employs to engage students with a myriad of skill levels and motivation in reading and writing.