Command Terms and Summative Assessments

• Include in a GRASPS task sheet

GRASPS stands for Goal, Role, Audience, Situation, Product, and Standards. When explaining the situation, you can use the command terms to guide the student through the process of the project.

(see the bottom of this page for an example)

• Put snapshots of the visual glossary in the task sheet (see below)

When you are creating your GRASP sheet, you can insert some of the images created from the activity of the visual glossary and link to them. Make sure to highlight the command terms in the GRASP sheet and highlight the visual glossary when introducing the assessment task.

• Have students match command terms with criterion descriptors and clarifiers

Once the assessment has been introduced and the command terms reviewed with the help of the GRASP sheet and visual glossary, move down to the section of the GRASP sheet that looks at the standards. In this section, students should see the criterion standards for the task as well as task-specific clarifiers. Have students match the command terms from the situation section of the sheet with the language of the clarifiers in the standards section. You can follow this up with a discussion on how they are linked and if the clarifiers need revised to more closely reflect the command terms.

• Have students collaborate on the task sheet instructions and with writing clarifiers to have student buy-in to the assessment.

Another avenue for students to explore the command terms for their assignment is to have them write clarifiers for the criterion strands so that the command terms are present. This can make the criterion easier to understand and promotes student buy-in for the assignment.

Achievement level	Level descriptor	Clarifiers
0	The student does not reach a standard described by any of the descriptors below.
1–2	The student: i. formulates a limited action plan to investigate a research question or does not follow a plan iii. collects and records limited information, not always consistent with the research question	i. formulates a limited action plan to explore 19th century China (simple list with no dates or details) or does not follow the plan. ii. documents limited information (point form with little depth), not always consistent with the prompt (information lacking relevance or connection to life in 19th century China)
3–4	The student: i. formulates and somewhat follows a partial action plan to investigate a research question ii. uses a research method(s) to collect and record mostly relevant information	i. formulates and somewhat follows (creates the plan out of obligation, but does not use well) a partial action (list with minor details) plan to investigate 19th century China. ii. uses a research method (s) (described in action plan: OPCVL, compare and contrast, range or mediums) to document mostly relevant information.
5–6	The student: i. formulates and follows a substantial action plan to investigate a research question Iii. uses research method(s) to collect and record appropriate, relevant information	i. formulates and follows a substantial action plan (dates and steps are clear and reasonable) to investigate 19th century China. Iii. uses research method (s) (described in action plan: OPCVL, compare and contrast, range or mediums) to document appropriate, relevant information.
7–8	The student: i. formulates and effectively follows a comprehensive action plan to investigate a research question ii. uses research methods to collect and record appropriate, varied and relevant information	i. formulates and effectively follows (this becomes the blueprint that is consulted regularly) a comprehensive action plan (dates, steps, clear links between steps) to investigate 19th century China ii. uses research methods (described in action plan: OPCVL, compare and contrast, range or mediums) to document appropriate, varied and relevant information

• Reflection: trace the understanding of the command term and how it aided in ATL development.

At the end of the assessment task, you could have students trace the command terms they used and see how these reinforced the ATL development which took place in the formative and summative assessments. You could provide some guiding questions such as:

“What command terms were used to complete the assignment?”

“How are the command terms connected to the formative assessment(s)?”

“How easy or difficult was it to write clarifiers for the summative task?”

“How did the command terms help you in the creation of your product?”

“How did the command terms reinforce the ATLs that were necessary to complete the task?”

• Have students atomize a command term to create ideas for assessment tasks.

Once students are used to MYP Assessments and task sheets, you could stretch them by giving them command terms and having them use these to brainstorm assessment tasks that would show their development of ATL skills. (Provide some examples).

SOI and project adapted from: Thomas, Jo and Keely Rogers, MYP by Concept 4&5: History, London: Hodder Education, 2018.

Here is an extra resource on GRASPS from the Excited Educator https://www.excitededucator.com/home/grasps-for-assessment.

GRASPS worksheet from the Excited Educator.