Hello Fellow Travellers,
I’ve written in previous posts about the wonderful opportunity of learning from and with students when I’m invited to collaborate with educators who work with students from kindergarten to age 21.
Hello Fellow Travellers,
I’ve written in previous posts about the wonderful opportunity of learning from and with students when I’m invited to collaborate with educators who work with students from kindergarten to age 21.
This is a busy time for ETFO members. It is also an important time of the year for students and their families.
The first term report cards have been written , reviewed, revised and are being prepared to be distributed. In addition, there are IEP updates to complete for Term 2. What we had planned to teach, that which was taught and assessed, now moves on the next stage of communication with our partners in education – students and their caregivers.
The tabs at the top of the page lead us to important information such as:
Shifting to an Asset-Based Lens to Support Student Identities
January is a busy time of the year for many educators: collecting various forms of data, reviewing grade books, collaborating with families and colleagues to write Term 1 report cards and goals for Term 2 IEPs (Individual Education Plans). During this time, it is important to reflect on how we communicate about learning. Language plays a pivotal role in this process, and adopting an asset-based approach is key to maintaining high expectations and supporting students’ identities.
The Ontario Ministry of Education’s Growing Success document encourages educators to adopt an asset-based approach when describing student strengths and areas for growth. This practice shifts the focus to potential, emphasizing the learning and progress.
Examples of shifting language
Instead of saying…
Shift to say …
The Impact of Language on Identity
Notice how what we say can also indirectly impact a student’s identity?
What we say about students—to families, colleagues, and the students themselves—shapes their identity as learners. Asset-based language communicates that we believe in their potential and growth. Having brave, critical conversations with colleagues about this shift is challenging. However, this shift in practice helps ensure that all students can achieve, regardless of their starting point or identity.
What are your thoughts on this?
A question I get frequently as an ESL/ELD resource teacher in my board is: what assessments are appropriate for Multilingual Language Learners (MLLs) of English (also known as English Language Learners, or ELLs)?
In response, I often say: “what exactly is it that you want to assess?”
This blog is all about understanding the importance of knowing your “why” when you are assessing language and literacy. Let’s take a look at some of the most typical things teachers of MLLs might choose to assess.
Quite possibly the most essential assessment of MLLs is their level of proficiency in English. This assessment is probably most useful to educators when a newcomer student has arrived in a school, and their teaching team wants to find out what literacy skills the student has.
English language proficiency encompasses a wide range of skills and abilities that can be broadly understood as basic interpersonal communication skills (conversation, practical language) to cognitive academic language skills (use of academic vocabulary and writing skills).
Beginner users of English will be in the process of acquiring essential English words and phrases to interact in practical situations, while intermediate and advanced users will be focused on learning the skills to participate in contexts like class discussion and formal writing for school.
In Ontario, educators are expected to use the initial assessment guidelines provided by the Ministry of Education. It is important to note that the assessment is not a “package” or “kit” that will churn out a score or proficiency level.
A better way to understand the initial assessment process is to consider it as a formative assessment for teaching and learning. Teachers can use the guidelines to choose questions, activities, and resources of their choice to get a “snapshot” of the student’s oral, reading, and writing skills in English.
The information gathered can be summarized on the Initial STEP Continua, which is a useful tool for providing an initial overview of what their level of English proficiency is. After an initial assessment, use the regular STEP Continua to monitor language acquisition on an ongoing basis.
With structured or foundational literacy at the forefront of so many teachers’ minds, many teachers wonder if a screener like Acadience or DIBELs is appropriate for ELLs.
The answer is yes, with a few considerations to keep in mind.
First of all, students in the very emergent phases of learning English and who are just starting to learn the English may have a difficult time with the test, because they may not understand what is being asked of them or may just be encountering English “code” or script for the first time. These students are not “at risk”, but may simply need more time to build their knowledge of English language vocabulary and script.
Early literacy screeners will be more useful for assessing the phonological awareness of MLLs that have spent more time in Ontario schools and have had more exposure to the sounds of English and English texts. For ELLs it is important to consider the result of the screener as just one piece of evidence among other pieces of assessment and output, including the student’s growth on the steps to English proficiency continua (STEP).
ETFO has released an excellent document to support educators who are using early literacy screeners on MLLs. Take a look at this article to inform your own practice. ETFO members can access MLLs and Early Reading Screeners on the member site.
Reading comprehension assessment tools have come under a lot of scrutiny in recent years largely because they do not address skills like phonemic and phonological awareness.
However, the ability of students to comprehend texts of different genres and complexities is still important for educators to understand, especially when students already have decoding skills.
When assessing the comprehension of MLLs, it is important to ensure that the texts you are using fall within the student’s zone of proximal development (not too easy, not too difficult), so you can determine what skills the student should work on. You will also want to use texts that are culturally relevant and interesting to the student.This is where using STEP tools is important, such as the guide for selecting texts for initial assessment.
Depending on the student’s STEP, you may want to base the assessment on verbal answers, or have students illustrate a level-appropriate text they have read.
First language literacy skills are an important area to look at, especially for older ELLs that have spent time in schools outside of Canada. Getting a sense of their first language skills can be a good indicator of their literacy level, which will give you a good sense of what they will be able to do once they have built their vocabulary and oral comprehension skills in English.
But how do you assess first language skills when you don’t know the language yourself?
Personally, I have always found it helpful to provide students with a simple prompt, such as:
“What is your family like?”
“What was your last school like?”
I might use a translator to share the prompt with the student. In most cases, they will happily write away, knowing that they can use a language they are familiar and confident in.
When the student is finished, I might also ask that they try reading to me in a language they know. Sites like Global Storybooks have stories in many languages, or if I have a dual language text nearby I might try that. This is not the type of assessment I would score: it’s really just to get a sense of what multilingual skills they are bringing to their new school.
Of course, there are dozens of assessment tools out there that have been developed for different purposes. When you are using any tool on an MLL, you will really want to examine it critically to see whether or not they will actually capture any information beyond how much English the student knows.
This is not to say that assessment tools are not useful for MLLs – they will certainly give educators a “snapshot” of a student’s skills or growth in a certain area. Check the guidelines for assessment to see if there are any special considerations for students acquiring English, or if there are any recommended adaptations.
Diagnostics, screeners, and assessments all have a unique place in our classrooms. When we think about assessing MLLs, it is important to remember to consider learner variability (is the student a beginner, intermediate, or advanced user of English), and that you will want to consider the results of any assessment alongside other triangulated evidence in reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
As we head to the summer, this is a reminder to us all that education is life, a shared journey requiring the nurturing efforts of an entire community to ensure every young mind can flourish and grow.
Education is life,
A beacon in the darkness, a guiding light.
Yet how can one flourish,
When only a small fraction of this light reaches them?
Teachers, overworked and weary,
Limited in their resources,
Strive to nurture many young minds.
But this noble cause cannot be achieved
Without the cooperation of the entire village.
On school grounds, budding seeds sprout,
Some under the scorching sun,
Burnt before their leaves and petals form.
Others, in the shade, deprived of joy,
Receiving only sparse rain.
How can these young flowers thrive?
With just a few protectors, it’s an uphill climb.
More hands, more hearts, more care are needed,
Education is life, and life must be heeded.
(Poem co-created by a collection of educator friends).
Black Student Success programs play a crucial role in Ontario’s education system, providing tailored support to Black students who often face unique challenges. Educators involved with the programs are deeply connected to Black communities and serve as mentors and advocates, offering culturally responsive guidance that is vital for Black students’ academic and personal development.
One key importance of Black Student Success educators is their ability to create a sense of belonging and representation for Black students. In an education system where Black students are underrepresented among educators and administrators, these educators act as role models, demonstrating the possibilities of academic and professional success. This representation is critical for fostering a positive self-identity and encouraging students to aspire toward their goals.
Moreover, these educators offer intensive support that goes beyond academics. They address the holistic needs of Black students, including socio-emotional well-being, cultural affirmation, and resilience building. This comprehensive support system helps students navigate challenges such as microaggressions, racial biases, and other forms of discrimination that can hinder their educational progress.
Black Student Success educators also bridge the gap between schools and Black communities, fostering stronger relationships and better communication. By understanding and incorporating their students’ cultural contexts, these coaches can effectively advocate for necessary resources and support within the school system. This advocacy ensures that Black students receive equitable opportunities to succeed academically.
Black Student Success educators are indispensable in Ontario’s efforts to promote educational equity. Their culturally responsive mentorship and advocacy support individual student success and contribute to a more inclusive and representative education system, benefiting the broader community. This holistic approach ensures that students receive consistent encouragement and resources from all facets of their lives.
Next Steps for Educators to Engage with Students:
Educators should actively collaborate with Black Student Success educators to create inclusive learning environments that celebrate diversity and cultural richness. This collaboration involves integrating culturally responsive teaching practices into everyday classroom activities. Educators can start by diversifying their teaching materials to include perspectives and contributions from Black individuals and communities. They should encourage open discussions about race, identity, and social justice, creating safe spaces where students feel valued and understood.
By actively engaging with students, families, and community stakeholders, educators can contribute to building a more equitable and inclusive educational system where every student has the opportunity to thrive.
The program for Black Students is designed to provide intensive, culturally responsive support to Black students with the goal of improving their well-being and achievement. As intermediate students graduate and move to high school, they may be able to work with Black Graduation Coaches who can continue to work with students to demonstrate the possibilities of academic and professional success to promote Black Excellence.
Check out what these school boards are doing to promote Black Excellence:
YRDSB Black Excellence Program
TDSB Black Student Excellence Program
On paper, there are all sorts of things to see.
On paper, the letters are arranged to convey information, strengths, and next steps.
On paper, there are always messages to read in between the lines. Although unseen, they are still there even when they between the letters on paper. Let’s face it, when it comes to reporting, most readers are not looking for messages or next steps on paper, but rather for some numbers between 80 and 100 or for a couple of individual letters and math operators between A- to A+.
It’s important that things look good. On paper.
Is something missing?
We have all seen this in our classrooms whenever assessments are returned. For me, any output that requires evaluation, where a mark gets entered of learning, has already gone through several iterations accompanied by constructive feedback along the way. Whether this was done in one on one conferences or as a whole class activity, students are receiving several chances along the way to control what is going to go on paper.
After considerable planning, consistently paced instruction, clearly mapped out expectations/learning goals/success criteria, scaffolding, mid-unit course corrections, carefully curated choices to demonstrate understanding, and an easy to follow rubric Carefully outline the expectations, co-construct success criteria, instruct, provide access to resources to revisit, check-in to ensure understanding along the way, provide effective descriptive feedback, extend due dates, and then hope to receive a clear artefact that shows evidence of understanding from learners to assess.
Cue the rubrics and tests. It’s marking time, or is it?
As I have discovered over these past 14+ years, assessment can be exhausting on occasion. I usually try to do this earlier in the day whenever possible as the caffeine has not reached its half-life in my system. It has also been beneficial to dwell longer in the ‘assessment as learning‘ spaces than those ‘of learning’. This has allowed my students to see overall better results along with a more applicable set of skills to bring forward to other tasks and future grades.
For every educator, regardless of years of experience, assessment as learning, formerly known as, formative assessment needs to be acknowledged and implemented with the greatest frequency in every classroom. I have found it to be the biggest lever in helping learners progress during their time in class.
It has also allowed me a means to manage my assessment workload more effectively along with helping students develop more positive attitudes towards feedback beyond what is printed on paper.
Rubrics…meh or more please?
With a class of 25 grade 6 students this year, I have figured out it takes 2.5 hours to read a single journal assignment, 2 hours to grade a reading response or Math check-in, and 2 to 3+ hours for projects. Keep in mind that learning skills are also being factored in daily to provide our students the next steps for their next days. This is largely due to two things: Clearer expectations and a rubric to remind students about what they are working towards. I wasn’t always this efficient.
When I was a new teacher, assessment took considerably longer. I have also come to my senses and have sought help from some reliable sources such as our ETFO Members Sharing in Assessment portal and by working with my grade team on moderated marking tasks. As a newbie, working alongside a more experienced educator to assess was a very eye opening and important experience. It helped me see how to look at student outputs through the lens of curriculum expectations and success criteria. It is now something I do with each teacher candidate.
It is here where we can get the information we put on paper right when it comes to assessing students. Knowing how much work goes into it all and in providing the feedback with next steps has me thinking about the most recent batch of report cards.
The buildup and aftermath from Term 1 reports has come and gone, but I am left wondering, again this year, whether if, how, and when what was printed on paper will be used that will be reflected when it happens all over again in June? How can we get our students to see themselves beyond the few letters and math operators, but as works in process and progress?
I am not sure there is an answer in the current way we do this at a systemic level. Is there a way to lessen the addiction that students develop to marks and leverage that desire into something more edifying to their long term happiness and development of their uniquely gifted abilities even if they are not seen on paper?
A few years ago, I wanted my students to have a deeper understanding of what each learning skill meant so we dissected them as a class. The one we struggled with the most was “self regulation” as it was the only one students hadn’t ever understood. All of the other learning skills were easy to understand as the meaning was in the word but for self regulation, there was no prior knowledge.
We looked at a few different documents defining the learning skills and got a better understanding. For that reason, each year I have my students work on setting goals and creating steps to ensure that it’s possible.
Each Monday, my students start the morning off by writing a goal for the week. This goal is usually related to school work, relationships with peers, personal life or about something that is challenging them. Throughout the week, they take steps to try to reach that goal and then the following Monday, they write down if they reached that goal or not. Students can share each Monday if they reached their goal or not and what their next goal is. This is optional as goal sharing can be very personal to the student.
Then, before term one and term two report cards go home, I ask students to count how many times they met their weekly goal. That determines part of their self regulation mark. I have a lot of students who comment during the week how they are working hard towards their goal and that extra motivation helps them succeed.
I also had a student write her entire speech for our school speech competition on the importance of goal setting and how it can help you achieve your dreams. She made specific reference to how setting weekly goals each week helped her achieve bigger goals. I was so excited to hear how this helped her!
In addition to these small goals, in September I ask all my students to create one big goal for the year. The goal has to be something that they want to achieve by June. Goals range from:
The list goes on and on. Last week I asked students to reflect on their goal from September and to write about whether they reached it or not. Some students are still unsure as the year has not ended but they reflected on if they think they will reach it or not. Many students have high hopes that they have reached their big goal and can identify at least three or four reasons why they may have reached it. I can tell the students have a lot of pride relating to their goal and are excited to see if they reached it or not. I can say that out of my 25 students, more than 75% achieved the goal they created in September by June.
I look forward to continuing this activity each year as I know goal setting is a big reason why I am where I am today. Having something to aspire towards is sometimes the motivation needed to get through a challenging week.
Last post, I discussed mental health activities and one was discussing report card feelings. I went further into the topic with my class and thought I would share the results of how that went.
Today was the day that report cards went home with students so I took a moment to re-read their brainstorm list of ideas about how they felt regarding report cards. I also asked today that if they felt comfortable, they could raise their hand to show how they were feeling. I thought it would be important to look around and see who was raising their hands for the positive feelings vs. the negative ones. It was not what I expected. Students who put up their hands for the negative responses were not necessarily the students who had reason for concern. We cannot always assume that the students who participate the most/ try the extensions etc. will feel positive about seeing their report cards. They may have the highest expectations for themselves of everyone and with that, their parents may share those expectations.
It will also be important to talk to my class Tuesday after they have read their reports, discussed them with family and have had time to reflect on them to see how they feel. One number/comment to summarize all their efforts in a subject can often feel defeating so I want to address those feelings next week.
I thought it would be meaningful for all educators to see the results of the question “How do report cards make you feel?” My class sorted all of the feelings into either positive feelings or negative feelings.
We agreed as a class that we were happy there were more positive feelings than negative. We know that these feelings resulted from past experiences and could change based on what to come. But, as their teacher, I need to think about where to go from here. There are so many great podcasts, inservices, articles and books about how to approach report cards. The negative stigma around them will always be hard to shake because so many students struggle with feelings proud of their efforts. I hope this year to help shake those feelings and help students feel proud of what they are doing, regardless of what it all averages out to be.
Every year when curriculum night rolls around, I feel challenged. Well, let me clarify. I feel challenged in my hope to ensure that the evening is meaningful for students and their families. I understand that parents are interested in finding out how their child is progressing but with 4 weeks under our belts – and sometimes less than that – I know what I’ve seen so far is often just a tiny glimpse into a child’s potential. We’re still getting to know each other, learning routines and quite frankly, expectations that we may have of each other. So whenever the conversation starts about what we are doing for curriculum night, I ask myself three questions:
In this post, I’ll share my thoughts on each of these questions.
What works for our school community?
Students, families and the community should be at the forefront of what we do in education. As such, considering all members of our community in planning curriculum night is essential. Being new to my school and school community, it was really important for me to understand what usually happens in order to determine what I might consider doing. I’ve been in schools where the expectations have been formal presentations during particular timeslots and in others where less formal meet-and-greets where handouts are provided. I have found that every school is different. Not only that, but the pandemic has also opened our eyes to what might be done virtually to support a variety of families. This year we went with a less formal, in-person, meet-and-greet where parents popped in and out of classrooms and were free to move around the school at their leisure. During the hour, I found that there were times when there were lulls and then periods when the room was packed and buzzing with excitement. Families felt free to come for parts of the evening when it was ideal for them and had the freedom to not stay for the entire time and I found that worked best for our school community.
How do I encourage students to move freely within our classroom space with a sense of confidence, showing their families what they have been learning?
This year, I teach prep and although I have a fairly large room, it’s often hard to have student work from all classes on display. As of late, we have been working on design thinking projects that are all in various stages. The kindergarten students and the grade 1/2s all have their animal habitats built and those were on display but the 2/3s and 4/5s have most of their plans and work in piles together as many are just beginning to design prototypes. That said, I tried to consider how students could show parents that they have been learning skills to help them solve real-life problems in a way that was fun and engaging. Our Lego challenges at the beginning of the school year were a great success so I gave out another challenge to students and their families and the builds were on. Families created together and students walked them through their solutions with joy and confidence. It was really great seeing families working together to solve a problem and the rich conversations that came of it. I think it was an opportunity to lighten the pressure of coming in and meeting the teacher and gave students the chance to feel right at home with something familiar that they could share with their families. It was so nice to see some students return later in the evening to sit and build with their families.
How can I help parents see this evening as an invitation to open communication and collaboration for this year’s learning journey?
Being new, this was the first time meeting many families. Because of our Lego challenge, I did enjoy that there wasn’t the pressure of a formal presentation. I chose to create a slideshow that was on a loop and noticed that many families – while building – were taking a look and jotting down information on how we could connect. I have a classroom blog that I use to update families on what we get up to in our classroom and many noted that it was a great way to start conversations about what students are learning and doing on a weekly basis. I also let parents know that my door is always open and that I look forward to working with them in supporting their children this year. For the few who were asking for specifics, I asked if we could set up a time to speak and also mentioned that progress reports and interviews are coming up soon and that would give me more of an opportunity to get to know their child and for us to have the chance to have a more meaningful conversation.
How does curriculum night work in your school? What considerations are made when planning the evening? Please feel free to share as the more we know and are able to consider, the better we become in our practice. Based on our curriculum night this year, I’m excited to work with students and their families for a successful year of learning. Hope you are too!