Assessment – Page 8

February 4, 2014February 4, 2014 Alison.Board Assessment, Equity, Report Cards, Resources

Assessment and Planning for Reports

Whenever I complete reports, I seem to reflect on the practice of evaluation and how to improve my assessment practices. Here is what I have noticed:

assessment begins when you first meet your students. This provides a starting point, so you can recognize growth or progress. Initial observations may seem too obvious to record, but are often useful at time of the Progress report or the first interview with parents.
observation charts made like a grid with the students first names in alphabetical order are my preferred format. I have tried observation notebooks (one for each student) and index cards. The grid observation chart is simple as I can copy a stack and keep on clipboards around the room for quick accessibility. It is also easy to see if a block is empty – ensuring that I am making observations equitably. I also find these observation charts useful when marking. There is enough space to provide a grade for an assignment as well as a quote or excerpt of the student’s work. I then add the sheet to my assessment binder. When writing reports, I can refer to the grade of an assignment as well as an excerpt, which I include as an example for the report – showing how the student demonstrated their understanding.
photos are an excellent way to capture student work and refer to during report writing. I have used my smart phone to capture pictures of the students in tableaux, their writing in their notebooks, artwork, collaborative pieces, brainstorming discussions, math activities, and music (video of the students experimenting with instruments). Referring back to the photos and videos provided evidence of student engagement and understanding that I may have missed with anecdotal notes.

In addition to my preferred practices, there is a section in The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning book (pp 84 -90) that provides practices more specific for Early Years, guidelines and considerations for report card comments, as well as information on IEPs and English Language Learners.

December 15, 2013 Erin.Grewar Assessment, Building Inclusion, Celebrating Success, General

Revising the Talking Strategy in French Class

At the beginning of the year, I remember writing about my new strategy of getting students to speak more French during class. Brimming with hope and optimism, I had implemented “chat sessions” where kids would casually discuss with a partner/group various topics related to what we had been studying. There were times when I provided structure (specific question to discuss/specific structure to use) and others where it was more casual and focused on just speaking in French for the duration. I was pleasantly surprised by the relative “enthusiasm” and commitment with which these activities were met. By mid to late October though, both were in short supply. Instead I was forced to reckon with the all too familiar resistance and lethargy known to many Core French teachers. When I could no longer deny this fact, I mustered up the willpower and energy to once again confront the issue. Upon further reflection, I am ready to acknowledge the following:

#1: Be Consistent With Routines
This seems self evident but for me, I tend to easily get sidetracked and let it slide (a bad trait but at least I can admit it). I think a five minute window is adequate and it’s a good way to start the class – every class!

#2: Provide Variety to Activities
I still think my discussion topics are a good idea and posting some support vocabulary is helpful and sometimes crucial to the success of the conversation. Perhaps a more innovative approach is to have a pairs of students generate the topic/question/sentence starters. Getting them directly involved this way is a means of having them more implicated in your lesson. Something else I tried is the French version of 4 corners (Quatre coins) where I would read a statement and once in their corner, students would have to discuss the topic (and in my case, practise forming an opinion statement). Games are always a favourite and, when structured properly, can really provide an opportunity to work in a lot of conversational French.

#3: Recognize those students who really make an effort
Find a way to somehow give credit where credit is due. I myself use a star card where I sign a certain number of times and once they reach a corner, they can redeem a prize (usually a small chocolate bar). I also have something called “Les points de participation” which the accumulated total counts towards their speaking mark at the end of the term.

Whatever the challenges, it is nonetheless rewarding to see (hear) what your students are capable of without inhibition and doubt. Take the opportunity to share what is working for you. It’s great to have new ideas to try.

November 9, 2013November 12, 2013 Erin.Grewar Assessment, Use of Technology

Bitstrips Part 2 – Assessment Ideas

If you choose to use the program Bitstrips, students will submit their completed assignments directly to you via the program. To evaluate them, you will do so by logging into the program. I gave my students a rubric with the criteria we developed together as a class. This serves as a checklist and allows them to know in advance how the assignment will be assessed (see attachment). Usually, I have an Author’s Share where students present their work in their groups but since there are no hard copies, I just modified it somewhat. I provided each student with a total of 4 rating scales and posted all of assignments to the “Class Gallery”. They had a list of 3 students whose work they had to evaluate using the established criteria and lastly, evaluated their own work as a form of self assessment. This provided me with lots of input when doing my own assessment. Also available for viewing online at Bitstrips are samples of student work to get an idea of what they were able to accomplish and see how the program functions. All in all, it was a positive experience which provided a nice creative alternative for students who are not the best artists. Below are some suggestions that I would follow the next time.

You can access the link at:

vouloir pouvoir comic grille d’evaluation

vouloir c’est pouvoir comic rubric

*Have students complete their written scripts in full before proceeding to the computers. Because I was away for a day, I had them start with the program which made it very difficult to get them off the computers to go back and complete their drafts. Given the unexpected length of time it took to complete (about 8 classes), I would evaluate at several stages (vocabulary brainstorming, rough draft, 2 scenes, etc) and also have deadlines in place along the way to ensure that all students are progressing at more or less the same pace.

October 2, 2013October 2, 2013 Erin.Grewar Assessment, Differentiated Instruction, Learning in a Real Life Context

Getting Kids to (Really) Speak French

This year, my goal is to get my students speaking a lot more French and sound better doing so. If it were me, I would like to have something more to show after learning French for four or five years. I suppose this is what is really behind the focus of the (soon to be released?) new curriculum.

As for me, I’m going to vary my approach this year. In the past, a lot of the French speaking came from short daily activities, questions/answers and summative oral presentations that focused on integrated targeted vocabulary and grammar structures. The summative activities were always creative and students responded well to them, however, they were perhaps not the most practical (cooking show, blind date, etc). Based on feedback to some written response questions and from parents, it is surprising to me to find out that students seem to really want to learn French. I know, shocking isn’t it? My challenge this year is how to balance out the practical but still make it interesting and most importantly fun.

For September with my grade eight classes, I have begun with the basics. I mean the real basics like greetings, variations of how are you and trading contact information. I’ve been using the resource and provided them with current lingo/slang in order to make their interactions more authentic. A typical lesson includes some explanation/questioning by me followed by 5 to 10 min of guided conversation with “freestyle elaborating”. We have already tried a short skit with a partner whereby they had to incorporate “Comment vas-tu?” and trade contact information but they were free to come up with their own context. The end product was okay but I found that they were more carried away by adding in all this extra detail to support the scenario which distracted and in some cases derailed them entirely. In the end, I decided that I would follow up with a one-on-one “examen oral” based on the same content. I think that an actual conversation will give me a better idea of how they are really able to communicate. Will keep you posted as to their progress. In the meantime, please let everyone know about anything that has been working for you.

February 28, 2013March 13, 2013 Katie Pryde Assessment, Literacy

Keeping Track of Writer’s Workshop

In my many experiences of LTO teaching in Kindergarten, all my classes have taken part in Writer’s Workshop. We have all used the Writer’s Rainbow as a form of assessment of students’ writing, as well as students using it as a form of self-assessment. I have struggled with keeping track of student writing growth, and how to assess their writing come report card time.

While working my current LTO, the teacher I am replacing has a wonderful way to easily keep track of student writing and growth. After every piece of writing, the teacher writes a little dot of the colour of the Writer’s Rainbow that the student achieved with that writing piece. I have continued to do this, and found it very easy to assess my students’ writing come SK report card writing. It was very easy to look through their writing journal and see whether the student was all over the board, or whether they were quite consistent with the colour of the Writer’s Rainbow. It was also very easy to see when students grew in their writing, by moving up a level (colour) or two. I have attached some pictures of the Writer’s Rainbow, as well as a students’ writing with the colour of the dot that corresponds to the colour they achieved. I highly reccomend doing this for any teachers, Kindergarten teachers or not, to use this as a tracking system of their student writing.

January 28, 2013 Alison.Board Assessment, Communication with Parents and Guardians, General, Report Cards

Reporting for JKs

The Junior Kindergarten Summary is an important document, as it is the first formal written assessment that parents may receive about their child. In saying that, there also should be no surprises when they read the report. Part of the reporting process in Kindergarten is to provide ongoing assessment in an informal basis when necessary through notes, phone calls, or updates during face-to-face interaction at entry or dismissal times. If you feel that a report you have written may have information that would be of specific concern to the parent, you may want to give a “heads up” phone call before your reports go home in February. If however, you have shared information with parents/guardians regarding a child’s struggles or difficulties in adjusting to the program, then the report will be of no surprise and act as a record of the child’s development at this time, which may be referred to if struggles continue in the next year or two.

The Summary includes three broad areas to provide information for:

1) Interests and Strengths – Try to individualize reports as much as possible. In this section you want to highlight what the child can do (not what they can’t do compared to others). Qualifiers on scripted sentences will not work, as each child will have different interests and different strengths. Suggestions for this section include mentioning the learning centres that the child most enjoys, the ways in which the child contributes to the class, and what attributes the child brings to either group discussions or play.

2) Development and Learning – In this section I would suggest providing assessment on the child’s development according to any of the six areas of development: Personal and Social Development, Language, Mathematics, Science & Technology, Health & Physical Activity, and the Arts (see http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/kindergarten_english_june3.pdf). Remember, you are stating where the student is based on the outcomes/expectations at the end of a two-year program. In this section it is a good idea to draw on specific examples of a child’s learning by quoting what they have said, or referring to something they did or created.

3) Planning for Further Learning – Here you can provide two short paragraphs. One for the planning that the Kindergarten teacher/team will implement to support or extend the child’s learning, and another short paragraph to suggest practical ways that the parents/guardians can help the child at home. Rather than suggest “reading to your child” (which we always want to suggest), you can add specific ideas like counting the floors on an elevator ride to your apartment; counting cheerios at breakfast, learning the sounds of letters on cereal boxes, learning how to write the names of family members. These suggestion may sound obvious to you, but they may be more useful to the parent than suggesting they work on letters and numbers with their child at home.

When you re-read your finished reports, it is important to get a sense of who the child is – including their strengths and needs. It is also a good idea to add an encouraging line at the end of the report, noting the child’s efforts and accomplishments in their adjustment to Junior Kindergarten.

January 26, 2013January 27, 2013 Tina.Ginglo Assessment, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Literacy, Planning, Questioning, Use of Technology

Using Audio for Self-Assessment

I have added a new layer to the writing process in my third-grade writing workshop. As I wrote in a past post, our writing workshop process begins with students writing in their Writer’s Notebooks. When a writer completes a piece of writing, they then meet with their assigned writing partner and/or me for a writing conference. At this conference, writers review the success criteria for their writing assignment and then identify two ways in which they have successfully met the criteria. Writers then identify one criterion that needs to be developed further. They then transfer their writing to their laptop keeping in mind the feedback they received and making their revisions as they type their second draft. Ultimately, writers post their narratives in their writing group on Edmodo.com where they receive more feedback from their group members.

Using Audacity software and a set of headphones with microphone, my third graders have learned how to read and record their personal narratives. Once recorded, students listen back. They then ask themselves two questions: “In what ways does my story sound like a real story?” And “In what ways can I make my story sound more like a real story?” Students enthusiastically record their stories. This component of the writing process engages those auditory learners who could benefit from this new component of the writing process.

I have changed the way I phrase these reflection questions. At first I instructed students to ask themselves, “Does my story sound like a real story? Yes or no?” If yes, why does it sound like a real story? If no, why not?” I found that this self-assessment exercise wasn’t making a significant difference in their writing. I concluded that it wasn’t the process that was ineffective, but the questions I was asking writers to consider. These yes/no questions left writers basically rating their narratives as “good” or “bad.” Their narratives either sounded “real” or didn’t. These questions didn’t allow students to identify the strengths in their narratives and where it could sound better. Realistically, all of my writers’ stories sounded a tad real, some more so than others. The goal here is to make everyone’s writing sound better. Using these new questions should ultimately improve the writers’ craft.

I am also thinking of adding audio to the writing conferences with writing partners and teacher. Some students struggle to give feedback on other students’ writing for a number of reasons. Perhaps a student’s penmanship is difficult to read or spelling or punctuation is interfering with comprehension. Listening to a story as it is intended to sound eliminates those barriers to comprehension.

I am proud of my third graders. Each day they are becoming more independent writers. I believe the secret to their success is that the students understand the flow of our writing workshop and, thanks to clear success criteria, they can identify their strengths as writers. They see themselves as writers! I am fortunate to have access to audio technology. In reality, you don’t need computers or even headphones to make this happen in your classroom. You can go “old school” with a mini cassette recorder. Some old cell phones have recording devices. One of our goals is to teach our writers to write like readers and read like writers. Using audio is one way to get there!

January 16, 2013January 18, 2013 Carmen.Oliveira Assessment, General, Professional Learning and Growth, Resources, Use of Technology

What’s On My Professional Learning Bookshelf?

A question that sometimes comes up in my ongoing teaching-learning cycles with colleagues and beginning teachers is, “What books do you recommend I read for my own learning?” Yikes, this is a tough one! As teachers, the truth is that if we were to pile up the professional learning books we’ve read and/or used throughout our careers we’d easily surpass the height of the CN Tower (I know you it to be true)!

I tend to prefer sharing some of my favourites and those on my shelf at this moment. The following books are ones I’m currently going through (and enjoying!) because of insights, lessons, questions, and reflections they’ve sparked in my professional learning. I’ve added the links to their websites which I find very helpful.

Tuned Out: Engaging the 21st Century Learner- Karen Hume

This book invites readers to both rethink what it means to teach and learn in a digital age and put those ideas into action. The ideas are practical, closely tied to current learning theories, and important to take into consideration within the current reality of how students learn and become engaged. Along with the book an educator can use the website which becomes a virtual classroom for teachers to both gather and share ideas. This resource helps educators realize an energized, student-focused classroom that takes advantage of today’s digital technologies.

http://www.karenhume.ca/resources/publications/tuned-out/

What Do They Really Know? Assessment That Informs Teaching and Learning- Cris Tovani

This book explores the complex issue of monitoring, assessing, and grading students’ thinking and performance with fairness and consistency. The author admits to struggling to balance her student-centered instruction wit school system mandates. Her recommendations are realistic and practical and understands that what isn’t manageable isn’t sustainable. Cris shows teachers how to use assessments to monitor student growth and provide targeted feedback that enables students to master content goals.

Below are a link to a blog and an interview with the author about the book.

http://readingyear.blogspot.ca/2011/07/so-what-do-they-really-know-by-cris.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3ir43_qzPU

January 14, 2013 Alison.Board Assessment, Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Interviews, Math, Report Cards

Math in Play-based Learning

Math is integrated into most of the learning centres in the classroom. Although glancing around the room, it often looks just like play. To ensure that I am continually assessing for math, I keep a clipboard of observations sheets accessible. I prefer observation sheets that have a square with each child’s name that I can fill-in with any pertinent information I want. Then, by glancing at the sheet, I can easily see if there is a blank box and ensure that I seek out that child to observe. Looking around the classroom, I may see children measuring at the water table, sorting in the drama centre, or comparing shapes in the building centre. I approach and listen. Often, I can record their understanding with a phrase or a brief description. Then, I am able to clarify or extend their learning. For example, if a child is counting animal figures and gets stuck at 15, I may direct them to the number line to show them what was missed. Observation and recording them at play allows for assessment of their current understanding as well as an opportunity to support their learning.

At the beginning of the year, some parents may ask about the math program, as they do not see generic math sheets coming home in the backpacks. It is therefore a good idea to take photos of the children engaged in mathematical activities as you are observing them in the classroom. These can be added to a website to communicate to your families what math learning looks like in the classroom. Or you can print them to display in the hallway, add to a student’s portfolio, or keep for a parent interview.

Recording comments during circle time is also another way to demonstrate a child’s understanding of math. Last week, when the children were considering a number line together, one student pointed out that there were kid numbers and teenage numbers. He said, “The 1-10 are like kid numbers and the 11-20 are like teenager numbers!” Another day we did a group activity when reading the book One Monday Morning by Uri Shulevitz. Using connecting cubes we represented the characters, as someone new arrived, each day of the week. When the concrete graph was finished, a student observed, “It looks like stairs going up!” By recording these comments, I am able to add them to their math profile when writing reports or planning for further learning.

The photos show what math looks like in a play-based learning environment:

This child is using 1:1 representation with counters on the light pad to represent each individual in our class photo (her idea!)

This child has sorted the animals into two groups and is then counting them as she places them on the top of the drums (her idea!)

These students are measuring volume by filling a larger container with a smaller one.

The children grouped like objects, sorted them, and displayed them on wood blocks using 1:1 representation.

There are also opportunities for children to write mathematically throughout the classroom with pencils and paper provided, as well as number lines and number displays of quantity. They use magnetic numbers to put in order on white boards and they learn to recognize their phone numbers at the carpet (after learning their first and last names), then write their phone numbers at entry during sign-in. Children enjoy songs with counting and books with sequences. Math is happening all around the classroom and children are intuitive with math. When teaching Kindergarten, it is important to see it, name it, and record it!

June 19, 2012June 19, 2012 Carmen.Oliveira Assessment, Celebrating Success, Communication Tools, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students, Planning, Report Cards, Year End Activities

My Report Card

As I mentioned in my last post, I feel that not only is it important for our students to receive feedback on their progress but I too like to get a sense of how my year went in terms of what I feel are the essential foundations to a successful classroom: lesson delivery, classroom culture, assessment and evaluation, and communication. My students get extremely excited to write my report card and after all the jokes about what my mom and dad will do if I end up receiving less than favourable results, they always share very meaningful feedback about what I did well and what I can improve on. I read my report cards carefully, reflect on the ideas and suggestions, and just before the end of the year I sit with the class and go over my results as well as my plan to address the areas I need to improve on.

I honestly feel this is a powerful exercise in modelling what I expect from my students. I like to walk the walk and this is a great way to demonstrate to them that I am a lifelong learner and continuously use feedback to reflect on my practice in order to make the necessary adjustments so I can reach the goal of becoming not only a great teacher but hopefully one of the inspirations in their lives.

For next year I need to work on providing descriptive feedback that is more specific and provides a clearer focus with respect to how the students can improve. I also have to be more mindful of bullying behaviour that may be occurring outside my classroom but can impact students’ learning inside the class. I plan to work on how we co-construct success criteria in order to simplify it while at the same time making it effective. Just a few things to keep in mind…

I’m quite satisfied with my progress and look forward to continuing on my path to living the art of teaching and learning!

Below I share with you a few report card comments. I’d like to note that I did receive a few Level 3 marks but they were difficult to read and spoke to the same topics mentioned below.

: Mrs. Oliveira was able to create entertaining lessons that had; an effective impact on my learning. She was able to effectively; communicate to me in many different ways. Mrs. Oliveira has; also provided many opportunities for me to show information; (eg. poster, Prezi, essay, etc.)