Looking at students' work

Looking at students' work By Cynthia LEE SKH St Peter’s Primary School (AM) Tel: 2546-2624

Improvement Implementation INSIDE the classroom (peer lesson observation -> reflection -> further adaptation) Assessment for learning through observation an/or analyzing students’ work + follow-up Why? Curriculum planning + material design

When? Every day? Once a term? Once a year? Too late? Too frequent? How to strike a balance?

How? Quantitative analysis? All parts? Selected parts only? Qualitative analysis? Both? NO prescribed mode Primary concern: Looking for patterns in students’ work and understanding why the students make mistakes (Misconception? Laziness? Carelessness? Not taught before? Lack of input? Infrequent practice / recycling? …)

What is the attainment target? Is it handy? Is it manageable? What is the priority? What should be the focus? What can be the effect on new learning? What NEXT? • Re-teaching / re-cycling in the next module • Careful scaffolding • Change in teaching strategies • Designing worksheets etc. Be specific, explicit and clear

From finding to curriculum planning

Reading Comprehension

2nd Term Test Part G (April 04)

Look at these photos, Betty. This is my father, George. He is a policeman. My mother, May, likes children. She is a teacher. This is my uncle, Jack. He is a postman. He has a big bag. My aunt, Lily, is a singer. She can sing very well. This is my grandfather, David. He is a driver.

Part G (Full marks = 12) Class A B C Max111212 Min 00 0 Average 5.81 6.12 6.54

5 students 18 students

Part G Finding • Most students perform quite poorly in this part. • 5 students score full marks. • 18 students do not get any marks. • Quite a lot of students directly lift the answers from the text without understanding the meaning.

Look at these photos, Betty. This is my father, George. He is a policeman. My mother, May, likes children. She is a teacher. This is my uncle, Jack. He is a postman. He has a big bag. My aunt, Lily, is a singer. She can sing very well. This is my grandfather, David. He is a driver. • Q1: What does May do? • She is a teacher. (correct) • She is teacher. (correct but with grammatical mistakes) • My mother. (not understanding the question) • May, likes children. (direct copying)

Look at these photos, Betty. This is my father, George. He is a policeman. My mother, May, likes children. She is a teacher. This is my uncle, Jack. He is a postman. He has a big bag. My aunt, Lily, is a singer. She can sing very well. This is my grandfather, David. He is a driver. Q2: Who has a big bag? • Jack has a big bag. (correct) • Jack. (correct) • Jack is a big bag. (correct but with grammatical mistakes) • He is a postman. (direct copying) • Postman has a big bag. (understanding that “he” refers to “postman” but fail to infer that the “postman” is “Jack”) • Yes, it is. (not understanding the question)

Look at these photos, Betty. This is my father, George. He is a policeman. My mother, May, likes children. She is a teacher. This is my uncle, Jack. He is a postman. He has a big bag. My aunt, Lily, is a singer. She can sing very well. This is my grandfather, David. He is a driver. • Q3: Is Aunt Lily a nurse? • No, she is not. (correct) • No, it is not. (correct but with grammatical mistakes) • No, she not a nurse. (correct but with grammatical mistakes) • I don’t No. (wrong) • Yes, it is. (wrong) • No, it is a singers. (correct but with grammatical mistakes???)

Follow-up • Design some reading comprehension exercises for students • Teach reading skills in depth through the reader “Goldilocks and the three bears”

2nd Term Exam Part B (July 04)

Peter, Lily and I go to the zoo today. We go there by bus. At the zoo, we can see many animals. There are three monkeys. One is small and two are big.There are four giraffes.There is an elephant. It is big.There is a panda, too. It is in the cage.

Part B (Full marks = 8) Class A B C Max7.588 Min 01.5 0 Average 4.22 5.05 5.11

Part B • Finding: • Q3 “How many animals are there?” is especially difficult for most students since they fail to interpret the sentences “There are three monkeys.One is small and two are big…” • Some students do not understand the question “How many…?” • Some students do not start with capital letters when writing the answers.

Peter, Lily and I go to the zoo today. We go there by bus. At the zoo, we can see many animals. There are three monkeys. One is small and two are big.There are four giraffes.There is an elephant. It is big.There is a panda, too. It is in the cage. directly lifting the answer from the text

Peter, Lily and I go to the zoo today. We go there by bus. At the zoo, we can see many animals. There are three monkeys. One is small and two are big.There are four giraffes.There is an elephant. It is big.There is a panda, too. It is in the cage.

Comparing students’ performance in reading comprehension in test and examination

Comparing students’ average scores in reading comprehension in test and examination Test (Part G) Class A B C Average (%) 43% 51% 55% Examination (Part B) Class A B C Average (%) 53% 63% 64%

4 students 4 students

Comparing the no. of students getting full and zero marks in reading comprehension in test and examination Test (Part G) Full Zero No. of students518 Examination (Part B) Full Zero No. of students44

Discussion time

What are students’ problems in learning? How can students learn better?

Misspelling the plural form of sandwich (sandwiches)

Students know that the possessive pronouns ‘their’ and ‘our’ are for plural nouns, but they are not familiar with their difference.

Cannot make pronoun reference to the previous sentence

Not understanding the difference between “long” and “tall”

tall <-> small big <-> short Not understanding the opposites

Lots of careless mistakes in writing (e.g. spelling, plural, article etc.) • More practice on error correction • Promoting self / peer correction in the class

Thanks

Looking at students' work