One Word Images and Criterion C Assessments

For one word images (OWI) I like to assess our students using Criterion C: Communicating in response to spoken and/or written and/or visual text. I teach mostly 9th graders in Spanish 1 so I use the Phase 2 criteria for assessment.


After a class completes their OWI, I snap a picture and save it to my Google Drive folder. I give each class their own folder and one of the subfolders is OWI. I name it whatever character it was and put the date so that I know when we completed this creation. Our school utilizes Schoology as our online platform for instruction. So when assessment time rolls around, I upload the picture to Schoology and they complete their descriptions from the image provided on their iPad.

To assess the students, I go over our Criterion C rubric with them. But, for now, I give them each a copy of the Crit. C rubric and let them look over the details of what they are being assessed on. I usually give them their rubrics 3-4 days ahead of time we go over it every day so that they know exactly what to do on the day of the assessment. 

For this assessment I sometimes give a word range for students because I have some who struggle to reach the minimum and if I don't put a limit on it, I have students who will write 200+ words (which is awesome but...). This really depends on the class and the student makeup that you have and it's a personal choice!

The rubric 

The level descriptions for IB Levels 7/8 in Phase 2 for Criterion C are as follows:

i. responds in detail and appropriately to simple short phrases and basic information in spoken and/or written and/or visual text

ii. interacts confidently in basic structured exchanges


iii. uses phrases effectively to communicate ideas, feelings and information in a variety of familiar situations; ideas are relevant, detailed and include examples

iv. communicates with an excellent sense of audience.


For strand i, I want to see that students are able to use the terms we used to create/describe the creature. I want the student to be very detailed in their description of our OWI. 

For strand ii, the student interacts confidently by using correct grammar and spelling in their description. 

For strand iii, I like to give my Spanish 1 students a sentence starter like "Yo pienso que" and "En mi opinión" so that they give some information that goes beyond just what we did in class and they give me their own personal thoughts or opinions on the OWI. 

Strand iv is hard to do in Spanish 1 when they are writing in Spanish so I usually leave it off of the side that says "Indicatiors/Task specific directions". 

A level 7 or 8 can be achieved by students more easily when the assessment is done the same week we have created our OWI. Students can achieve this IB score if the assessment comes later but I find that they leave out some of the more specific details that are necessary to move them in to that high-achieving category.

If you would like to purchase this rubric, it is available on my Teachers Pay Teachers site for $2! 

That is how I assess OWIs! The grading is fairly simple because I know what I talked about, I know what structures we targeted and it becomes very clear very quickly who comprehended our OWI and who I need to work with to get back on track. 

How do you assess OWIs in your IB classroom? Drop a comment below!