Consider or refer to an assignment that you have given. Identify how a student did or might struggle
with one or two expectations that the assignment addressed. With reference both to your reading and
viewing in this block, provide specific and direct feedback on the problem in student-friendly language.
Identify a next step the student might take to improve.
What I usually like to do when I give an assignment is provide the students with a checklist of
things they will be assessed on. The challenge is to have students think critically about what they
already know and develop a learning plan on what they need to know. This allows the students to
take responsibility on their learning and to reflect on their own learning. I always emphasized the
final product, but I agree with the video that the majority of the assessment should emphasize
“assessment as learning”. This is why I believe it is important to assess students’ progress
regularly and to give them detailed and constructive feedback so that they may develop goals and
be motivated to improve.
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Deviating a little from the classroom, one experience I had with students struggling with
expectations came from coaching varsity football. After teaching the concept of man coverage to
my cornerbacks, one of the student-athletes could not grasp the idea of "off-hand jam". He
struggled to meet this expectation of getting a jam on the wide-reciever in practice. When
meeting with him after practice, he felt that he had jammed the receiver. The next practice we
decided to film the one-on-one wr vs. dbs piece and play it back for him to show him visually
where he needs to get the jam. This strategy offered a form of self-assessment that may be hard
to replicate in the classroom, but it can be done (ie, speeches for English, presentations for other
classes). By reviewing the students on film, I was not only able to provide direct feedback on
how and where exactly he needed to improve but I had the empirical evidence that allowed him
to process it as well.
I use video for feedback in my Grade 9 class when we play badminton, football and basketball. It
is a tool that incorporates technology and also is fun for students to see themselves and others
participating. I agree that is a great form of empirical evidence one cannot deny.
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What I like to do before the students begin working on any assignment, such as answering
worksheets or text book questions (1) read the instructions to the class and orally summarize
them; (2) discuss your expectations for answers and demonstrate on the board how to format
answers. These techniques seem to be helpful for students to understand what is to be done and
how to do it.
Students like positive feedback that acknowledges their good work. For secondary students, write
comments on the last page of a submitted assignment. Some of my comments can be on the work,
as well as on any positive behaviour in which I have noticed an improvement, such as
submission of assignments.
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I strongly agree with the video clip of Lorna Earl. To create a most effective learning
environment for special needs students, PIP students (Planning for Independent Program) need
accurate assessments. Although the students with intellectual and physically challenges would
have very little progress compared to mainstream students. Specially, with non-verbal students
with intellectual challenges, we do not know what they want or need to help with. Many of the
students that I work with use PECs to communicate their needs. Therefore in the PIP classroom,
specially with non-verbal students, I strongly agree with the video clip with ‘Reconfigured
Assessment Pyramid’ The assessment as learning to help non-verbal students to speak out for
themselves in every possible way through PECs or using pointing system etc.
I agree with your point regarding the reconfigured pyramid, we need to start allowing students to
be intellectually independent and get away from providing some sort of provisional self esteem
that is based on a number between 1 and 100.
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I had assigned a opinion assignment for the students based on the movie "Schindlers list",
students were asked to formulate their opinion of the movie and in partcular, "How could the
population of Germany have altered their thinking to conform to Hitler's violent and racist views
for Germany."
Many students struggled to evaluate how the descisions the populace made were racially
motivated and wrong based on their moral choices.
Upon reviewing the assignment I worked out that the format for pre assignment needed to be
altered. By insituting "Before" reading exercises as a group, the students were better able to
assess the value of actions of the population.
The use of better feedback and prior reading strategies through a group discussion would alllow
students the opportunity to self assess their work before, during and after they worked on the
assignment.
Instructor………………..I like the opportunity for group discussion to allow students to benefit
from their classmates. I agree that quality feedback and prior reading strategies would contribute
to student success. Thank you for your response.
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Our role as a teacher is to set our students up for success. We can do this by giving specific and
descriptive feedback on all assignments, projects and tests. Lorna Earl suggests that we as
educators need to change our assessment pyramid so that the formal assessments occur less
regularly, and therefore makes room for more formative evaluations where we can give the
specific and descriptive feedback. The best analogy of "Assessment as, for and of learning" was
described to me as preparing for the big game. First, as a coach we might have tryouts, that is
the pre-assessments, we want to know where each students level of learning in the subject/unit
is. From there we will have warm up and skills, the "as" of the pyramid. This is where we show
and teach the skills or knowledge. We give suggestions and feedback on what they can do
differently to improve or continue to do. If a student is unsuccessful understanding the
expectations, this is an opportunity to work with the student and give verbal and written
feedback. The next steps are practices, this would be the "for" of the pyramid. Here, is where
we give the students opportunities to demonstrate their skills, we give them different ways to
practice (differenciated instruction) and continue to give feedback. If a student is still struggling,
hopefully changing the format of the lesson to appeal to their learning styles would help them
understand what is expected of them on the summative. Finally, there is the big game, the "for"
learning. This is the lead up from all their hardwork in the skills and drills, the practices. The
"game day" is their summative evaluation. It is where we as the educator have lead the student
to shine.
Instructor……………..Great analogy using activity and the "Big Game" . I think you hit the nail
on the head. We need to focus more on formative and diagnostic evaluation, providing students
with more quality and descriptive feedback.
Thank you for your response.
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In my English class, students were assigned to write a news report based on a number of events
from the play Macbeth. Students could choose a topic from a list of options. Before beginning
the rough work, I showed students level 1 and level 4 exemplars from previous classes. We also
examined the use of language and tone, using examples from local papers. Most students did
well, however one student continued to struggle with completing the rough draft of his
assignment and organizing his work. He was effectively able to communicate his ideas orally,
but had difficulty getting them onto paper. I always scribed for him, in class, but his rough work
(homework) was never completed because there was no one at home who could scribe for him. I
suggested he record his own voice, play back his recording, and then type or write his response
on paper. I also recommended he come up with similar strategies he could use to ensure all
homework was completed.
With respect to the organization of his work, I referred him to the editing checklist made
available, to each student, at the start of the task and to review the exemplars shown.
The student was successful on this task. I strongly encouraged him to come up with
similar strategies he could use to enable him to work indepedently, based on his learning styles
and preferences.
Instructor…………Great job suggesting a means by which the student could be successful Recording theri own voice. We need to be creative to allow students the opportunity to be
successful. I like how you tasked the student to come up with some strategies himself. Thank
you for your response.
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This year year in my grade 10 applied English class there was a particular assignment that many
of my students struggled with. The assignment involved the students watching an episode of a
television show in class and writing a newspaper article about the events depicted in the episode.
We had been learning and reviewing the format and parts of a newspaper article for the last
couple of classes. This assignment was designed to assess students ability to take new
information and apply it to their knowledge of a media text. Many students struggled when
completing the lead in their articles.
After reading the article and watching the two video clips I realize that when preparing this
assignment my focus was on assessment FOR and OF learning. If I had spent more
time focussing on assessment AS learning students may have experienced more success on this
assignment. An approach where the learning was scaffolded would definitely promote selfdirected and self-monitoring learners.
I agree that we need to provide as many opportunites for students to become self-directed and
self-monitored learners as possible. Thank you for your response it was very specific.
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I found when giving an inquiry project that some students struggled with developing their own
questions. With these students I found that using KWL charts helped them to develop questions.
The KWL chart allows the students to reflect on what they know about a topic and helps lead
them to develop questions on what they want to learn about that topic. Using the KWL chart
starts as assessment as learning and moves towards assessment of learning. I found that by
always having check points with the project allows me to give feedback on what the students is
doing but also give suggestions on where they might want to go.
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I teach Co-op to Adult students and 98% are new Canadians. They must have grade 12 English
before registering. Language is a challenge, I start by assessing for learning - their level of
english through a first day journal and short introduction presentation. As we work through a
self-assessment excerise (Who Am I) it provided the works they need to express their skills. I
continue to assess as learning to see if additional support is needed. We are working to an end
product which is a resume. Still assessing as learning with a rough copy - have a peer look at it to their good to assess of learning and final mark.
Just to add to this, most of the students have a hard to with self-reflection and finding a solution
for themselves in this class. I provide solutions in the way of handouts or strategies. These
strategies in 1.1 will really be helpful.
It is great that you are following a process with an end point - A resume. This would be very
valuable to new Canadians. Starting with an exercise that involves talking about themselves is a
great idea to allow for some self - reflection as well. Thank you for your response.
For my Grade 3/4 class we wrote friendly letters to our penpals in another country. One of the
expectations was to follow the conventions of writing such as capitalization,
paragraphs and punctuation. The assignment began with a discussion of interesting things that
we could discuss, interesting questions that we could ask and interesting information we could
share with our penpals. The students mainly struggled with the paragraphing requirement. They
did not understand that whenever the subject changed they had to start a new paragraph. My
descriptive feedback involved drawing an arrow to a section of their work and asking a question
such as, "Are you talking about the same thing here that you are talking about here?" It could
also be verbal and I would say to a student, "Here you are talking about your favourite desert and
here you are talking about your pet. Should these two things be in the same paragraph?" This
gets the students thinking for themselves. We make several revisions until they are satisfied.
I like the fact you started out discussing what questions students could ask and what things your
penpals would be interested in reading. Revisions also allow the students to be a part of learning
process. Thank you for your response.
The following is an assignment I designed for my Grade 10 History class (during my York U
Faculty of Education practicum placement this year).
Which Canadian mission was the greatest disaster – The Battle of Dieppe or the Battle of
Hong Kong?
Part A: Reflect on the following two historical thinking concepts
1. Cause and Consequence: (How do we explain the effects and decisions and actions taken
regarding the two battles?)
2. The Ethical Dimension (Should we be making an ethical judgment regarding one or both of
the battles?)
Part B: Taking into consideration your thoughts on the above historical thinking concepts AND
the evidence you noted on the chart you just completed, write a paragraph arguing which
Canadian mission you think was the most disastrous for Canadians? PUT ON YOUR
HISTORICAL THINKING CAP! YOU BE THE JUDGE!
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A few students struggled with the concept of providing sufficient evidence to support their
argument. The website Constructivism: Knowledge Building in the Secondary Classroom
includes an article on “Pre-Assessment” that indicates that “it is critical to recognize prior
knowledge so students can engage in questioning, formulating, thinking and theorizing in order
to construct new knowledge appropriate to their level.” It is possible that a few students did not
do well because they failed to realize what criteria they should use in order to determine which
battle was the most disastrous. Therefore, I would provide specific and direct feedback on the
problem knowing that I should have taken more time for assessing prior knowledge. By focusing
on assessment for learning, I would ask the students to create a “list of criteria” that they think
should guide them as they argue which battle was the most disastrous for Canada. After
reviewing their list and offering suggestions, I would ask them to revise their paper.
Lorna Earl notes that assessment for learning occurs when teachers use assessment to find out
what students are thinking so teachers know what to do instructionally.
If I were to re-teach this lesson, I would use the following pre-assessment tool to prepare
students for the written assignment.
SA/A/D/SD - Students are given to opportunity to formulate their own views and opinions along
a continuum rather than dialectically. Given an issue (Dieppe was the greatest disaster for
Canada) “students are asked to consider the topic and determine whether they strongly agree
(SA), agree (A), disagree (d), or strongly disagree (SD) with the statement. They are then asked
to move to the appropriate station in the classroom identified with one of the options. A class
discussion follows as students are given the opportunity to outline and defend their positions,
refute the arguments of others as well as re-evaluate their own ideas. “
http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/constructivism/how/preassessment.html
Hey Johathan
I like the use of SA/A/D/SD and gathering at appropriate stations or areas before the class
discussion. I think it would empower the learner and strengthen their agreement. I hate defending
an agreement on my own.
Pat
Instructor…..I like the use of a continuum especially for the purpose of giving students the
opportunity to re-evaluate their positions. In the primary grades I find that students often believe
that their opinions are facts. (It's true because that's what I believe)
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like response activities that allow students to be a part of a group. As Pat states it is easier on the
students. I like forming a "list of criteria" this would allow the students who are unclear to
better understand the activity.
Good Job.
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An assignment I have given was an introduction lesson to the GPS. Students may struggle
because they may not be as technically able as others, some may be visual impaired and might
struggle with the system, and some may struggle relating the points on the GPS to their physical
location. I would give students direct feedback by telling them they made a great effort and
offering further support for them so they do not get discouraged. I would also encourage them to
partner up or shadow a student who is more comfortable with the activity where that student will
show them how to and have them repeat it until they catch on. Assessment for this would be
based primarily on participation (“assessment as learning”)
My next steps would be to consider reviewing previous lessons pertaining to maps, positioning,
longitude/latitude and compass/directions. Have students pair up in terms of strength so that a
student who is struggling may benefit from the knowledge of students who are more advanced. If
that doesn’t work, pair myself up with those students who are struggling while the rest of the
class completes activities with the GPS Develop a simple activity where the student go to a
specific point (school flag pole for example) and mark the position. Then have the students refer
to their starting point and have the GPS guide them back to the flag pole I will need to ensure
that all students are comfortable in using the GPS before moving on to more advanced activities
(like Geocaching).
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Great job - I like pairing students together - Good group skill opportunity