I’m sorry, Núria, for drawing so much on your diary and your activities, but they’re such good practice that I can’t think of other ways to improve them.
Language instruction -regardless of the language you teach- shares the same goal: teaching learners to communicate effectively.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA It is important that students know the criteria in advance that will be used to evaluate their performance. There are criteria for each independent dimension of the performance: communicative aspects (clarity of the intent of the communication, relevance of the message’s content); linguistic aspects (the use of culturally suitable vocabulary and idioms; strategies (the use of reference works such as word lists or dictionaries to correct texts; the use of visuals to help make oneself understood). Therefore, next year I’d like to inform my students what they are expected to achieve and how they’re going to be assessed to check if they have achieved the objectives.
By correcting an oral presentation you address two skills. It’s advisable to tell students beforehand what you are going to watch out for, e.g., third person singular missing -s, the pronunciation of certain vowels or words in the oral presentation, etc. An analytical approach is better, to separate contents and grammar.
Similarly, students should be given the opportunity to evaluate each other’s performance. Working with peers is an important motivator for promoting autonomous learning and developing metacognitive strategies and techniques that will allow each student to learn better. Formative evaluation must be task based. Nunan defines a task as a piece of meaning focused work involving learners in comprehending, producing and/or interacting in the target language.
LEARNING DIARIES I hold the view that keeping diaries has pride of place when it comes to formative assessment. This is from a teacher I had but I think it’s interesting to share it with everybody:
Learner diary feedback 1. Uses of learner diaries · To improve writing · To find out what they would like to know · To find out what kind of activities they like the most/least · To get students’ opinions about the class · To express their feelings about the topic · To suggest ideas, things they like · To evaluate their attitude, their performance · They can draw similes to evaluate themselves · To record what they have done in class · To record activities they have to do for the next class · To find out if students have any weaknesses
2. Problems with using learner diaries Students don’t want to share their opinions with the teacher. Students might be blocked when they have to write about their feelings, emotions and opinions. It’s a lot of work for the teacher. It’s a lot of work for the student. It might discourage them if you mark their mistakes. It could be a problem if another student reads a classmate’s diary and finds something upsetting or critical.
3. Possible solutions to those problems Make them see that you take their opinions into account, that they are useful. Allow them to draw similes. Do some bonding activities before. Take the diaries randomly and from time to time (weekly/monthly/termly/after a unit etc.). Make it online (blog/wiki etc.). Take advantage of the split groups. Have a “group” diary. Only allow a short amount of time for diary writing. You don’t need to respond to their mistakes, you only respond to the content. Make a comment (on a postit note?) The teacher controls the diaries. Sharing diaries and views that are too personal. Loss of interest in the activity if you overdo it. Depending on the level it might be difficult for them to express what they want. Teacher guides answers and gives specific questions to answer. Don’t overdo it. Do it e.g. at the end of a unit. Focus on content rather than grammar.
4. Why are they good learning tools? · You are listening to your students. · You make your students conscious about what they’re learning by making them reflect. · You foster the habit of writing. · You help students find their own voice. · Helps improve the lessons because you adjust the activities to the group’s likes/dislikes etc. · They help revision. · You give importance to using the language outside class. · It’s a record of what students do every day in class. · Improves creative writing. · We can see the progress of students throughout the year. · They build confidence. · For shy students it’s a good way of contacting the teacher. · Sts recall the class and realise what they’ve learnt. · If they do it in class, they do it themselves without translators. · They feel important if you take their opinions into account.
As Núria said in one of her posts, keeping a diary is as important as doing a traditional exam. As she points out, it helps students to structure their knowledge. In addition to this, her students would get lost and using a Wiki helps them keep track of their diary. Creating a wiki portfolio, as in Nuria’s example, benefits untidy students and then there are no excuses for records that get lost. The idea of a Wiki portfolio is very interesting. The problem is that some of my students may find it quite difficult because they lack computer literacy. Another conclusion I draw is that accuracy is very important, e.g. they get an extra point if they don’t make mistakes in Catalan. This is something I will apply to my low level courses. Diaries must reflect on the four skills and include teacher tips and written feedback (‘What errors did I make that I would not try to do again?’). Another area is exam correction. Watching a full movie in several parts is something I definitely want to do next year. Núria has got a very interesting approach in the Kung Fu Panda activity:
Innovation Up to now, we have always corrected this kind of presentations using Teacher / whole class interaction. However, this time I will
What is new is that this time, as they have their laptops, they will have to:
download it,
work on it in groups, and
upload it again before the class is over.
In the end, everything they have done in the groups will be public to everyone.
Students record how their English is improving. This is very important to foster self-esteem. The teacher has to think of a structure for the learning diary, getting students to focus on particular areas as in Núria’s diary:
At least 50 entries that are a minimum of 80 words long based on the following index
Grammar rules
New vocabulary
Pronunciation rules
Teacher tips
Exam correction
Spelling Rules
Written feedback: grammar errors
Written feedback: vocabulary and spelling
Written feedback: Syntax
Oral feedback: Pronunciation
Individual research, song I hear, games I play, films I watch...
On the other hand, Núria also provides a checklist students can use to think about which elements to incorporate in their diaries:
It is important that students are conscious of all the sources from which they can and must draw to develop their learning diaries. These are:
Teacher
Exam correction
Textbook
Wiki
Other students
Films watched
The MP3 files they create
Their written productions
Their presentations
Their optional exams
Individual research on the Internet, private classes…
Fifty entries that are a minimum of 80 words long seems a lot for my low level students. Núria’s learning diary is very thorough. I don’t know if I can carry out such a diary with my students. Having said that, effective teaching requires a means to verify student learning at regular intervals and thus allow for quick intervention with students who demonstrate certain weaknesses and strengths. In this way, formative evaluation serves as a mechanism to regulate teaching. It allows the teacher to evaluate the impact of instructional strategies and to take the necessary measures in order to achieve the expected outcomes. Learning diaries are a good tool because they clearly target what is to be evaluated. They also help develop a strategy for planning. I think I have to place a lot of emphasis on the importance of the diary and try to drill my students to use it because it’s really an effective tool.
Redrafting Redrafting is another tool for formative assessment which I already use. Here is an example that can be modified and tailored to suit other needs: 1. Students finish a draft of their text and exchange them to get feedback from their peers. 2. The teacher collects in the students’ texts and indicates where there are problems. 3. In pairs or small groups students help each other to make sense of the corrections that the teacher has pointed out in their written work. 4. The teacher monitors and helps the pairs and groups, clarifying anything that is unclear in the marking. 5. Students write the next draft of their text incorporating the feedback.
Assessment The ESL portfolio is a tool for organizing a meaningful collection of the work carried out by the student over a given period of time and allows the teacher to assess student achievement and progress. It will contain “concrete evidence of student work” with a view to an improved monitoring of his or her learning (formative evaluation).
The portfolio intends to present concrete evidence of the student’s progress. It should capture the richness, depth, and breadth of his or her learning within the context of the instruction and the learning that takes place in the classroom. It should include examples of all aspects of language learning. Student should manage their own portfolio. To this end, teachers should explain how to collect and organize samples of work in the portfolio that demonstrate what has been learned. Students should be encouraged to collect samples regularly and systematically, and class time should be allotted to keep the portfolio up to date.
Advantages
The portfolio lends importance to activities done in the English class
It involves students in assessment.
The portfolio is an excellent way to show parents, administrators, and future teachers what the student has done during the term or years. There is excitement about learning.
Because it can be used for teacher-parent interviews, teacher-counsellor or teacher-student interviews, it encourages interaction.
Finally, by providing a tangible, continuous and cumulative record of language development, it is an excellent means for students to see how they have progressed during the term, year or cycle.
I must admit that I didn’t know how to work with gold stars, but after reading about how Núria uses them I think they can be effective. Assessment is based on getting gold stars for solving the problems and incorporating the feedback.
Setting up one-to-one tutorials helps the teacher to get to know each student individually and follow his or her progress.
English teachers also need to bring real and authentic materials to the classroom. That’s the reason why an activity such as watching Kung Fu Panda also has to do with formative assessment. E.g., when you prepare a quiz you’re testing students in a fun way and providing them with feedback. Nuria prepares quizzes on what the students watch. Also, the homework after watching a section of Kung Fu Panda, writing and translating five true sentences about the film on the class wiki is formative assessment. That’s another practice I want to implement next year, doing quizzes so that students get feedback on a range of topics.
Nuria’s activity on error correction is wonderful, not only is it learner-centered, but also fosters learner autonomy and reflection on language (I like very much the part where students have to explain why the sentence is wrong, apart from correcting it). An activity like this may enable students to correct certain difficulties and progressively perfect certain aspects of their language proficiency. Different formative assessment tools also cater for different learning styles. Developing strategies through formative assessment and reflecting on them on the learning diary. Redrafting includes a lot of peer assessment and feedback. Nuria also takes this into account in her activity after exam correction, where she singles out a mistake she thinks her students can solve.
How can I encourage self-assessment? Learning diaries Word spiders or mind maps Quizzes Redrafting Completing or correcting the transcripts Conduct a survey on the kind of activities students liked best or disliked or about different aspects of a task the teacher has set. They survey may ask each student to indicate if the task was difficult, if explanations were clear, if the activity was interesting. etc. The overall response will guide me in deciding on which action should be taken.
Apart from one-to-one tutorials, there can be student conferences. For example, two students may have a discussion about each other’s texts, referring to the criteria on a checklist.
Mind maps I found this article on mind mapping: “So what is mind mapping? Mind mapping is a learning technique which uses a non-linear approach to learning that forces the learner to think and explore concepts using visuospatial relationships flowing from a central theme to peripheral branches which can be inter-related. According to Buzan and Buzan, a mind map should be drawn on blank paper that is larger than standard 8 ½ by 11 inch paper. The rationale behind using a large sheet of paper is that it allows the student the opportunity to break away from the boundaries established by standard sized paper. The medium for drawing the mind map is usually colored pens or pencils. Students begin by drawing an image in the center of the paper that reflects the central theme, or topic, of the mind map which is to be created. By placing this central image in the center of the paper it allows the student 360 degrees of freedom to develop their mind map. Next, the student draws main branches with key words extending from this central image. The branches represent different categories which the student perceives as being relevant to the content of the key concept of the mind map. From these main branches, sub-branches are created. One key tenet of the mind map is that each of the branches and sub-branches should contain pictures to aid in recalling the information. These sub-branches of key words or pictures can be linked together resulting in the integration of different parts of the mind map. Recently, many on-line computer versions of mind mapping have emerged such asiMindMap (Tony Buzan),MindMeister (MindMeister Labs),Visio(Microsoft), andMindNode(MindNode Software). A key question which needs to be further investigated with these online programs is, “do they limit the creator’s creativity in developing the mind map because of software limitations?”
Another way to foster a learning to learn approach is implementing mind maps or word spiders. Mind maps could be included in the learning diaries not only as scaffolding activities. María Ascensión’s very good example in German gives me a lot of insight. Mind maps are not only very good for organising vocabulary, but also foster critical thinking. Lessons usually focus on a topic, I am going to ask students to draw a mind map of vocabulary in L1 related to the topic. For homework they have to look up the translation of the vocabulary in the mind map. Not only can mind maps be used for scaffolding, but as a tool to summarise a unit.
Online collaborative projects Finally there are collaborative online projects such as eTwinning. In my case I’d better pull my socks up and get to grips with these kind of projects.
Language instruction -regardless of the language you teach- shares the same goal: teaching learners to communicate effectively.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
It is important that students know the criteria in advance that will be used to evaluate their performance. There are criteria for each independent dimension of the performance: communicative aspects (clarity of the intent of the communication, relevance of the message’s content); linguistic aspects (the use of culturally suitable vocabulary and idioms; strategies (the use of reference works such as word lists or dictionaries to correct texts; the use of visuals to help make oneself understood). Therefore, next year I’d like to inform my students what they are expected to achieve and how they’re going to be assessed to check if they have achieved the objectives.
By correcting an oral presentation you address two skills. It’s advisable to tell students beforehand what you are going to watch out for, e.g., third person singular missing -s, the pronunciation of certain vowels or words in the oral presentation, etc. An analytical approach is better, to separate contents and grammar.
Similarly, students should be given the opportunity to evaluate each other’s performance. Working with peers is an important motivator for promoting autonomous learning and developing metacognitive strategies and techniques that will allow each student to learn better.
Formative evaluation must be task based. Nunan defines a task as a piece of meaning focused work involving learners in comprehending, producing and/or interacting in the target language.
LEARNING DIARIES
I hold the view that keeping diaries has pride of place when it comes to formative assessment. This is from a teacher I had but I think it’s interesting to share it with everybody:
Learner diary feedback
1. Uses of learner diaries
· To improve writing
· To find out what they would like to know
· To find out what kind of activities they like the most/least
· To get students’ opinions about the class
· To express their feelings about the topic
· To suggest ideas, things they like
· To evaluate their attitude, their performance
· They can draw similes to evaluate themselves
· To record what they have done in class
· To record activities they have to do for the next class
· To find out if students have any weaknesses
2. Problems with using learner diaries
Students don’t want to share their opinions with the teacher.
Students might be blocked when they have to write about their feelings, emotions and opinions.
It’s a lot of work for the teacher.
It’s a lot of work for the student.
It might discourage them if you mark their mistakes.
It could be a problem if another student reads a classmate’s diary and finds something upsetting or critical.
3. Possible solutions to those problems
Make them see that you take their opinions into account, that they are useful.
Allow them to draw similes. Do some bonding activities before.
Take the diaries randomly and from time to time (weekly/monthly/termly/after a unit etc.).
Make it online (blog/wiki etc.).
Take advantage of the split groups.
Have a “group” diary.
Only allow a short amount of time for diary writing.
You don’t need to respond to their mistakes, you only respond to the content. Make a comment (on a postit note?)
The teacher controls the diaries.
Sharing diaries and views that are too personal.
Loss of interest in the activity if you overdo it.
Depending on the level it might be difficult for them to express what they want.
Teacher guides answers and gives specific questions to answer.
Don’t overdo it. Do it e.g. at the end of a unit.
Focus on content rather than grammar.
4. Why are they good learning tools?
· You are listening to your students.
· You make your students conscious about what they’re learning by making them reflect.
· You foster the habit of writing.
· You help students find their own voice.
· Helps improve the lessons because you adjust the activities to the group’s likes/dislikes etc.
· They help revision.
· You give importance to using the language outside class.
· It’s a record of what students do every day in class.
· Improves creative writing.
· We can see the progress of students throughout the year.
· They build confidence.
· For shy students it’s a good way of contacting the teacher.
· Sts recall the class and realise what they’ve learnt.
· If they do it in class, they do it themselves without translators.
· They feel important if you take their opinions into account.
As Núria said in one of her posts, keeping a diary is as important as doing a traditional exam. As she points out, it helps students to structure their knowledge. In addition to this, her students would get lost and using a Wiki helps them keep track of their diary. Creating a wiki portfolio, as in Nuria’s example, benefits untidy students and then there are no excuses for records that get lost.
The idea of a Wiki portfolio is very interesting. The problem is that some of my students may find it quite difficult because they lack computer literacy.
Another conclusion I draw is that accuracy is very important, e.g. they get an extra point if they don’t make mistakes in Catalan. This is something I will apply to my low level courses.
Diaries must reflect on the four skills and include teacher tips and written feedback (‘What errors did I make that I would not try to do again?’). Another area is exam correction. Watching a full movie in several parts is something I definitely want to do next year. Núria has got a very interesting approach in the Kung Fu Panda activity:
Innovation
Up to now, we have always corrected this kind of presentations using Teacher / whole class interaction. However, this time I will
- upload the presentation to Slideshare and then
- embed it on ourwiki.
What is new is that this time, as they have their laptops, they will have to:- download it,
- work on it in groups, and
- upload it again before the class is over.
In the end, everything they have done in the groups will be public to everyone.Students record how their English is improving. This is very important to foster self-esteem. The teacher has to think of a structure for the learning diary, getting students to focus on particular areas as in Núria’s diary:
At least 50 entries that are a minimum of 80 words long based on the following index
On the other hand, Núria also provides a checklist students can use to think about which elements to incorporate in their diaries:
It is important that students are conscious of all the sources from which they can and must draw to develop their learning diaries. These are:
Fifty entries that are a minimum of 80 words long seems a lot for my low level students. Núria’s learning diary is very thorough. I don’t know if I can carry out such a diary with my students. Having said that, effective teaching requires a means to verify student learning at regular intervals and thus allow for quick intervention with students who demonstrate certain weaknesses and strengths. In this way, formative evaluation serves as a mechanism to regulate teaching. It allows the teacher to evaluate the impact of instructional strategies and to take the necessary measures in order to achieve the expected outcomes.
Learning diaries are a good tool because they clearly target what is to be evaluated. They also help develop a strategy for planning. I think I have to place a lot of emphasis on the importance of the diary and try to drill my students to use it because it’s really an effective tool.
Redrafting
Redrafting is another tool for formative assessment which I already use. Here is an example that can be modified and tailored to suit other needs:
1. Students finish a draft of their text and exchange them to get
feedback from their peers.
2. The teacher collects in the students’ texts and indicates where there
are problems.
3. In pairs or small groups students help each other to make sense of
the corrections that the teacher has pointed out in their written work.
4. The teacher monitors and helps the pairs and groups, clarifying
anything that is unclear in the marking.
5. Students write the next draft of their text incorporating the feedback.
Assessment
The ESL portfolio is a tool for organizing a meaningful collection of the work carried out by the student over a given period of time and allows the teacher to assess student achievement and progress. It will contain “concrete evidence of student work” with a view to an improved monitoring of his or her learning (formative evaluation).
The portfolio intends to present concrete evidence of the student’s progress. It should capture the richness, depth, and breadth of his or her learning within the context of the instruction and the learning that takes place in the classroom. It should include examples of all aspects of language learning.
Student should manage their own portfolio. To this end, teachers should explain how to collect and organize samples of work in the portfolio that demonstrate what has been learned. Students should be encouraged to collect samples regularly and systematically, and class time should be allotted to keep the portfolio up to date.
Advantages
I must admit that I didn’t know how to work with gold stars, but after reading about how Núria uses them I think they can be effective. Assessment is based on getting gold stars for solving the problems and incorporating the feedback.
Setting up one-to-one tutorials helps the teacher to get to know each student individually and follow his or her progress.
English teachers also need to bring real and authentic materials to the classroom. That’s the reason why an activity such as watching Kung Fu Panda also has to do with formative assessment. E.g., when you prepare a quiz you’re testing students in a fun way and providing them with feedback.
Nuria prepares quizzes on what the students watch. Also, the homework after watching a section of Kung Fu Panda, writing and translating five true sentences about the film on the class wiki is formative assessment.
That’s another practice I want to implement next year, doing quizzes so that students get feedback on a range of topics.
Nuria’s activity on error correction is wonderful, not only is it learner-centered, but also fosters learner autonomy and reflection on language (I like very much the part where students have to explain why the sentence is wrong, apart from correcting it). An activity like this may enable students to correct certain difficulties and progressively perfect certain aspects of their language proficiency. Different formative assessment tools also cater for different learning styles.
Developing strategies through formative assessment and reflecting on them on the learning diary.
Redrafting includes a lot of peer assessment and feedback. Nuria also takes this into account in her activity after exam correction, where she singles out a mistake she thinks her students can solve.
How can I encourage self-assessment?
Learning diaries
Word spiders or mind maps
Quizzes
Redrafting
Completing or correcting the transcripts
Conduct a survey on the kind of activities students liked best or disliked or about different aspects of a task the teacher has set. They survey may ask each student to indicate if the task was difficult, if explanations were clear, if the activity was interesting. etc. The overall response will guide me in deciding on which action should be taken.
Apart from one-to-one tutorials, there can be student conferences. For example, two students may have a discussion about each other’s texts, referring to the criteria on a checklist.
Mind maps
I found this article on mind mapping:
“So what is mind mapping? Mind mapping is a learning technique which uses a non-linear approach to learning that forces the learner to think and explore concepts using visuospatial relationships flowing from a central theme to peripheral branches which can be inter-related.
According to Buzan and Buzan, a mind map should be drawn on blank paper that is larger than standard 8 ½ by 11 inch paper. The rationale behind using a large sheet of paper is that it allows the student the opportunity to break away from the boundaries established by standard sized paper. The medium for drawing the mind map is usually colored pens or pencils. Students begin by drawing an image in the center of the paper that reflects the central theme, or topic, of the mind map which is to be created. By placing this central image in the center of the paper it allows the student 360 degrees of freedom to develop their mind map. Next, the student draws main branches with key words extending from this central image. The branches represent different categories which the student perceives as being relevant to the content of the key concept of the mind map. From these main branches, sub-branches are created.
One key tenet of the mind map is that each of the branches and sub-branches should contain pictures to aid in recalling the information. These sub-branches of key words or pictures can be linked together resulting in the integration of different parts of the mind map. Recently, many on-line computer versions of mind mapping have emerged such asiMindMap (Tony Buzan),MindMeister (MindMeister Labs),Visio(Microsoft), andMindNode(MindNode Software). A key question which needs to be further investigated with these online programs is, “do they limit the creator’s creativity in developing the mind map because of software limitations?”
Another way to foster a learning to learn approach is implementing mind maps or word spiders. Mind maps could be included in the learning diaries not only as scaffolding activities. María Ascensión’s very good example in German gives me a lot of insight. Mind maps are not only very good for organising vocabulary, but also foster critical thinking.
Lessons usually focus on a topic, I am going to ask students to draw a mind map of vocabulary in L1 related to the topic. For homework they have to look up the translation of the vocabulary in the mind map. Not only can mind maps be used for scaffolding, but as a tool to summarise a unit.
Online collaborative projects
Finally there are collaborative online projects such as eTwinning. In my case I’d better pull my socks up and get to grips with these kind of projects.