Enhancing competencies, broadening minds how assessment supports learning

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Enhancing competencies,broadening minds- how
assessment supports learning
March 8, 2008 Ms Dorothy Lam Ms Fiona Chung
S.K.H. St. Peters Primary School speakers
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Challenges to schools nowadays .
Pre-Sec 1
TSA
Textbooks
Curriculum guide
Different programmes (e.g. CECES, PLPR,
school-based support) operating in schools
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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.
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An overview of todays 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?)

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Our school experience
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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 .

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A comprehensive idea of book concept
Locating information provided on the book cover,
on the spine or blurb, index and glossary.
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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
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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
20s 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
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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.
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Understanding story structure
Understand story structure that comprises
setting, characters, problems, events and
solutions.
Students need to build up their analysing ability
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Looking for main ideas and supporting details
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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

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Skimming and Scanning Techniques
Skim a text to get the gist and main idea.
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Skimming and Scanning Techniques
Scan for specific information.
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Skim a text to get the gist and main ideas.
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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)

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How reading skills are taught to students?
All the materials are done, time to deliver them
during lessons
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Catering for learner differences
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Cater for Learner Differences

• Different sets of materials

Creative writer booklet for more able
studentswith an additional page for each topic
Creative writer booklet for the majority of
students
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Cater for Learner Differences

• Bilingual notes to parents
• Help explain the schools English language
  policies to parents and solicit their support

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Challenges to our students in writing nowadays
COMMON WRITING CHALLENGES
lack of elaboration
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.
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• They could All Be Little Writers!

• journal writing
• Im a creative writer!
• create platforms for writing

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Im a creative writer!
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Im a creative writer!
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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
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Biography student work
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Setting up a common marking criteria
Detailed descriptors
Comments can be derived from this
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Teacher feedback to students
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(No Transcript)
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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)

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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

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Connecting Formative Assessment and Feedback with
Learning

• Involve students in self-assessment  (self-checkin
  g, 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

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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?

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Thank you!