Sample approaches to developing an assessment task
General information
When developing assessment tasks, teachers should refer to the VCAA policies and school assessment procedures as specified in the
VCE and VCAL Administrative Handbook section:
Scored assessment: School-based Assessment.
Assessing the task
The VCAA Performance descriptors can be used and adapted to the specifics of the task to assess a student’s level of performance. The assessment tools (performance descriptors, rubrics and / or marking guide) should reflect the outcome, key knowledge and key skills. The assessment task and assessment tools should be explained to students before they commence the task.
The VCAA
VCE assessment principles underpin all VCE assessment practices.
Time
School-assessed Coursework assessment tasks must be a part of the regular teaching and learning program and must not unduly add to the workload associated with that program. They must be competed mainly in class and within a limited timeframe.
Conditions and authentication
The teacher must consider the conditions in which the task is completed and the authentication strategies relevant for each assessment task. Information regarding VCAA authentication rules can be found in the
VCE and VCAL Administrative Handbook section:
Scored assessment: School-based Assessment.
Assessment tasks for Unit 3, Classical Hebrew are prescribed. There is one assessment task for each of the three outcomes for Unit 3.
For Outcome 1 students are required to respond in English to comprehension questions on the content and grammar of one seen passage of approximately 130–150 words of Classical Hebrew text and one unseen passage of approximately 90–100 words of Classical Hebrew texts.
Guide to choosing the text and designing the questions for the assessment task
This outcome should reflect the text of Chumash that has been studied and one unseen passage from the Early Prophets.
Choose one passage of approximately 8–12 verses from the prescribed chapter that will allow you to create questions relating to a variety of grammar and vocalisation rules studied. The verses should also allow for short content questions that require students to have some knowledge of the commentary in order to be able to respond correctly.
Choose one passage from the Early Prophets, following the same guidelines as the detailed learning activity on unseen texts.
The value of each question should reflect the type of detail required. Often, a one-to-one correspondence works well for content questions.
Extended responses (those worth more than 5 marks) should not be included in this task.
The texts chosen for both the seen and unseen questions need to be given to the students with cantillation marks. It is therefore best to create the task using the text from the text library of DavkaWriter or from Sefaria.org.
An assessment based on the guidelines above should take students between 70 and 90 minutes to complete.
Assessment tasks for Unit 4 Classical Hebrew are prescribed. There is one assessment task for each of the three outcomes for Unit 4.
For Outcome 3 students are required to write a response in English of approximately 1000 words that analyses and explains features of Mishna and Halakhic concepts that are reflected in the historical circumstances of the Mishna.
Guide to choosing the text and designing the questions for the assessment task
This assessment task provides teachers with the opportunity to check students’ understanding of the background, style, features, and content in the Mishna and the role of the Sages in determining the laws given the historical circumstances in which they were applied.
Analysing style and features of Mishna can be done with almost all Mishnayot. Teachers choose 3 to 5 Mishnayot from those prescribed and already studied, with at least some of them also reflecting historical circumstances. The Mishnayot chosen do not need to be consecutive.
As this task is completed in essay form, students need to create a logical and structured discussion and demonstrate their ability to reference the Hebrew text and cite specific examples from both text and commentary within their discussion. This task may take about 90 minutes to complete.