Enhancing competencies, broadening minds - how assessment supports learning

1. Enhancing competencies,broadening minds- how assessment supports learning March 8, 2008 Ms Dorothy Lam & Ms Fiona Chung S.K.H. St. Peter’s Primary School speakers

2. Challenges to schools nowadays …. Pre-Sec 1 TSA Textbooks Curriculum guide Different programmes (e.g. CECES, PLPR, school-based support) operating in schools

3. From 2003 - what are we up to now? While realizing the objectives suggested in the English language curriculum guide, we help students get prepared for standards required in TSA While enhancing students’ language skills and generic skills in the modules, we bear in mind that meeting Basic Competency Descriptors and the learning outcomes is important. While implementing reading workshops, we train more able students to read high order thinking questions and support the struggling ones with achievable tasks While designing writing tasks for students, we keep in mind that our students nowadays need more exposure to different text types in face of the rapidly developing media world.

4. An overview of today’s sharing • How reading skills are embedded in the curriculum (both design and delivery) • How learners’ differences are catered • How independent and process writing skills are incorporated in the curriculum (feedback – when and where?)

5. Our school experience

6. Challenges to our students in reading nowadays • Questions that require them to read into details • Questions that require them to look for main ideas by drawing information from several places in the text • Questions that require them to analyse • Questions that ask about intentions, attitudes, feelings • Questions that require them to think ….

7. A comprehensive idea of book concept ~ Locating information provided on the book cover, on the spine or blurb, index and glossary.

8. Working out unfamiliar words ~Predicting speakers’ feelings and intentions ~ “… the rat to nibble with her sharp front teeth.” (paragraph 2, p.4) To nibble means … A. to hold the food. B. to play with the food. C. to take the whole piece of food at a time quickly. D. to eat the food with small bites. What is the meaning of ‘as usual’ in the sentence ‘Mum is happy as usual.’ on P1? A before B after C always D now On P4, Grandma says, ‘What a mess!’ Do you think she is happy? A yes B no

9. Locating information and ideas from a biography Complete the fact file based on the biography in Part C. Real name: _________________________ Pen name: _________________________ Job: _____________ Age: ___________________ Place of birth: _______________ Important times / events / achievements: _____________: born in England Childhood: studied in _____________________________; wrote her first story about ______________; liked _____ing At her 20’s: studied in ___________________________________ First book: name--“___________________________________”; about a boy studying in _____________________ ____________________________________________; image of this boy appears in her mind when she was travelling on a ___________; 1994: wrote her book in a _______________; later published by _______________________; 1997: won her the first award: ______________________ ____________________________________________; 1998: ____________________ began to make the Harry Potter books into films

10. Locating information and ideas from a story Character Snapshots What characters are in your story? Use this character snapshot table to help you describe the characters.

11. Understanding story structure Understand story structure that comprises setting, characters, problems, events and solutions. Students need to build up their analysing ability

12. Looking for main ideas and supporting details

13. Teach them the way to read • Train them the ways to work out the meaning of unfamiliar • words or expressions by using contextual clues or pictorial cues. • Most importantly, they need to have the right attitude • when dealing with this kind of questions • Get students think more during class time

14. Skimming and Scanning Techniques Skim a text to get the gist and main idea.

15. Skimming and Scanning Techniques Scan for specific information.

16. Skim a text to get the gist and main ideas.

17. Reading exposure • Balance intensive and extensive reading • Are the text types well covered in each modules, at each Key Stages, throughout the whole year? • Do your student benefit from the extensive reading scheme? Is there room for improvement especially when it comes to monitoring the practice • Have they been reminded that reading can be done any time and anywhere? (Look at the signs around us, look at the advertisement on the street, look at the bar of chocolate you are eating, etc)

18. How reading skills are taught to students? All the materials are done, time to deliver them during lessons …

19. Catering for learner differences

20. Cater for Learner Differences • Different sets of materials Creative writer booklet for more able students—with an additional page for each topic Creative writer booklet for the majority of students

21. Cater for Learner Differences • Bilingual notes to parents • Help explain the school’s English language policies to parents and solicit their support

22. Challenges to our students in writing nowadays COMMON WRITING CHALLENGES lack ofelaboration short of ideas lack of variety or creative expression in guided writing limited vocabulary inappropriate diction (choice of words) syntactical problems (not enough understanding of what a sentence is) Sometimes, direct translation from Chinese to English e.g. I can do your friend. The lion wants to eat the mouse. The mouse is afraid. The mouse is lion friends now.

23. They could All Be Little Writers! • journal writing • I’m a creative writer! • create platforms for writing

24. I’m a creative writer!

25. I’m a creative writer!

26. Make a biography using a can. • This time you will try to write not on a piece of paper, but on a can! Think of a famous you like. Write a biography for him or her. • Instructions: • Find a can of soft drinks. • Enjoy the drink. • Wash the can and let it dry. • Cut long slices of drawing paper. • Join the slices together with tape. • Stick the end of the slice to the can. • Roll the paper on the can. • Write on the can with colour pens. • Print photos or draw pictures of the famous person. Stick them onto the paper. • Show the can to your friends and read your biography to them. • Peer editing: Help your partner to check the followings Your scroll will be marked based on the following criteria:

27. Biography student work

28. Setting up a common marking criteria Target structures are expected Marks awarded according to the spectrum fallen in Detailed descriptors Comments can be derived from this

29. Teacher feedback to students

31. Quality Marking • Use different marking methods and subject-specific marking criteria in line with the focuses and emphases within the learning targets set for the assessment tasks • Do NOT confine marking to ticks, crosses, marks and grades (A tick marked with the word 'good' only does NOT tell the student why the work is good or what criteria it fulfils) • Try to provide explanatory comments (which are timely and concise and inform students about why something is good or less good)

32. Quality Marking • Agree guiding principles among panel teachers as to the methods, frequency and amount of assessment and ways for marking based on professional judgment • Detailed marking is desirable but schools cannot expect teachers to mark every single piece of student work in a detailed way, nor is it necessary for them to do so in view of their manageability and workload

33. Connecting Formative Assessment and Feedback with Learning • Involve students in self-assessment  (self-checking, peer feedback) • Help students to know themselves and the standards they should attain (show them both good and bad examples) • Celebrate achievement, enhance motivation, build self-esteem

34. How do you organise the writing in the curriculum? • Have students got adequate inputs in the module? • Do these inputs help to build up their productive skills? • Are they provided with an authentic context to write? • Is time being given to them to enjoy the writing process ? • Are constructive feedbacks provided at different stages of writing?

35. Thank you!