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This activity is designed to support teachers in crafting assessment policies and lesson design that facilitate risk taking and communication in the classroom.

Procedure:

1. First, examine your grading policy. Ensure that the weight of your formative assessments is very low. This approach maximizes opportunities for learners to practice before summative measures without fear of it hurting their grades.
2. Next, examine how you grade. Make sure that you are using rubrics (typically with four levels of achievement: Below expectations, Meets expectations, Exceeds expectations, Exemplary status) that are framed positively- that is, they define the work that is expected at each level instead of defining the possible deficiencies at play (e.g., Student communicates using memorized words and phrases instead of Student does not form complete sentences).  Avoid attributing the loss of certain point values to certain errors related to form (e.g., minus .5 points for orthographic errors) as this type of grading can discourage motivation and cultivate an environment in which learners privilege vocabulary and grammar acquisition over meaning making.
3. After that, consider the extent to which you empower learners to effectively deal with the unknown. Ensure that you teach them strategies (i.e., circumlocution, scanning, or predicting meaning) for learning and communication. Make sure that you protect time for practicing those strategies during class.
4. Finally, ensure that your classroom activities adequately prepare learners for their summative assessments. If your classroom activities are focused on form and your assessments are more focused on meaning making, there is only a slim possibility that your learners have tried to achieve your expectations before assessing. Make sure that you empower learners by allowing them to try hard things before (and during) the final assessment. That way, they will have a clearer idea of how they are performing, what they can do to improve, and how to continue to push themselves in summative contexts.