Mod05_U01_Act01 - Formative Assessment Techniques

In this activity I was required to elaborate on three formative assessment techniques that I use or could be used within the classroom I teach. They must be relevant for the subject and level that I teach, I must state how I would use the information for future instruction while also taking into consideration modifications for any ELLs and students with special educational needs. As I'm teaching ELLs anyway, this first base is covered.

Matthew Hughes

Formative Assessments

Module 5- Unit 1, Activity 1

Class overview

• Grade 11 class of ELL

• Level of students range from intermediate to upper-intermediate English proficiency

• Once student is challenged by dyslexia

• Class is made up of 11 students in an international high school

• Generally outgoing group of students with a few shy individuals within the group.

• A good class camaraderie exists

FA01 - Entry Ticket

Goals/Purpose

To ensure that prior knowledge exists to allow scaffolding and progression of the student’s spoken language skills to occur. If the skills are lacking or do not exist, then modifications and adjustments to the lesson can be made appropriately. This approach would be used as a follow up on a vocab/grammar lesson to facilitate recently learnt language.

Timing

At the start of the lessons as a warm-up/introduction to the lesson.

Procedure

At the beginning of the class following the initial greetings, I would present and image relevant to the lessons topic or theme. For this example let’s say the topic and target language revolves around the word “Environment”.

The image may look something like below and the students would be asked to brainstorm any thoughts, opinions, words or phrases which would be placed on the board.

The teacher would then follow up with a “Big Question” which will carry the theme of the class, such as “Do you think that the environmental situation will improve in the nearest future?”. Students will share their thoughts (if any) with some possible elicitation from the teacher to encourage answers. The questions would be asked again at the end of class as a means of measuring their progression.

Assessment and uses

The teacher would carefully listen to students as they speak for any pronunciation errors or grammatical mistakes. The lesson should have already been adjusted based on their previous grammar/vocab lesson to target problematic areas.

By listening, the teacher can have students practice pronunciation of specific words/sentences as individuals or as a class accordingly. For problematic areas, the teacher can note (physically or mentally) and evoke discussions and responses that would specifically require the students to practice those challenging areas.

Modifications

The class is specifically for ELL, so I always have visual aids to help illustrate the area of discussion or what the teacher is saying in conjunction with text that highlights the key points/questions being delivered to the class. The intent is to fill any gaps of understanding made through misunderstandings of what was said, inability to hear, or lower language levels in a particular area (listening/reading) etc. allowing for a greater access to the information and lesson provided.

To accommodate for those with SENs and lower level or less confident ELLs, a tool such as the pin-board element on Nearpod can help where students can submit their contributions on the “Big Question” or brainstorming task anonymously and via their laptop/tablet. The teacher can withhold submissions and display them all at once when everyone has had time to submit, allowing for those with difficulties to have time to process. Once done, the teacher can display all responses at the same time and open up the room for discussion. Additionally, this also allows the teacher to see and keep track of who is contributing what to gain a greater insight into individualistic competencies.

FA02 - Nearpod Exit Ticket

Goals/Purpose

To give students the ability to self-reflect while providing important feedback on the teacher’s instruction from each individual student’s perspective.

Timing

At the end of class

Procedure

In the last few minutes of the class, the students will be required to complete an exit ticket before being dismissed from the class.

Upon completion they are free to go if they wish.

Using Nearpod (or any other similar tool, I like this because of the range of suitable features it has. It makes it a fairly comprehensive tool for my classes) students complete a survey in reference to the lesson they’ve just had. The survey gives valuable feedback to the teacher on the effectiveness of their instruction and an overview of what the students feel they have understood and their confidence in using any relevant dialogue/grammar structures etc. Additionally, students have a chance to self-reflect and assess their own performance and identify room for improvement.

Nearpod allows for the teacher to instantly review the replies, additionally, it can store and compile them for later revision and convert them into a PDF.

This would be done after every class.

The questions would be as follows:

1. What do you think the most interesting part of the lesson was?

2. How do you think you performed in the lesson? (Using a scale of 1-10, higher is better)

3. Do you feel confident in expressing your thoughts/opinions/feelings on this topic? (Using a scale of 1-10, higher is better)

4. What is the most important thing you have learned today?

5. What questions(s) would you want to ask about today's topic? Is there anything you want to know more about or anything you didn’t understand? (Must make at least one question)

Assessment and uses

The students are only graded for completion of the survey, not for the content of it. The survey can be used to create a greater understanding of my students' needs, their understanding of the lesson content, as well as their perspective of what elements of my instruction does and does not work for them. Thus, allowing for my own self-reflection and opportunities to adjust and modify my lessons and instruction to better meet their needs.

Students are able to take more agency over their studying as they will self-reflect and identify the areas they need to improve by themselves. At this age they should be taking responsibility for their own actions and this is a critical skill they should be learning and putting into action.

Finally, over the course of the semester and year it is possible to gain insights into students' self-perception and their performance on tests. This is useful in terms of adjusting instruction to their needs of building their confidence, or getting them to identify areas of improvements they may not see due to overconfidence and so forth.

By converting the performance and confidence self-review (Q2 & Q3) into a numerical value, it can be recorded and measured over time and compared with their results, allowing the teacher to differentiate support and guidance where necessary.

Modifications

To complete the survey accurately, the ELL students may not always have the words they want or need to express themselves clearly. Most of my students have handheld translators which act as a TTS or STT device that will assist in helping them find the right words but can also assist those who may be challenged by dyslexia.

Additionally, if a student does have dyslexia, due to it being on computers/tablets it’s possible to use an app such as ColorVeil by Aurelitec to place a colour filter on the screen to assist in reading or to use built in TTS software.

FA03 - Vlog Entry

Goals/Purpose

To have students build on their exit ticket reflections and turn them into something more meaningful and constructive while also encouraging them to develop a greater understanding of lesson content and coordinate their own learning objectives for the future. Additionally, it further allows the teacher to use student content to create more engaging and appropriate lessons for the class’ and student’s needs.

Timing

At home as homework.

Procedure

Students will receive copies of their exit tickets and once weekly they will discuss what they found difficult during the week and identify specific ways that they can improve, as well as what they enjoyed and where they think or feel they made progress with emphasis on the positives.

Additionally, if their personal goal has changed, the direction they would like to go in, any areas or topics that they are interested in learning or discussion should also be told in the video.

After making the video, students can upload/post to the personal vlog (private) where the teacher can review it and post comments.

Assessment and uses

Students assess themselves and are accountable to themselves. Through the identification of their personal challenges and choosing specific measures to improve on those problem areas, they have now set themself the next task in reaching for their personal learning objectives.

By using these measures to improve, they (with the teacher’s guidance where necessary) can improve their English and identify where they previously went wrong and why they are better than before.

Using this format, practicing it and internalising it sets a model that is transferable and beneficial in their lives enabling them to become self-sufficient learners and to have agency over their own progression.

Additionally, the vlog acts as a means for the teacher and student to monitor their progress over time in a low-risk setting which should allow and encourage them to push their language skill beyond their comfort zone.

Modifications

Some students are shy and don’t like the idea of their face on the internet, for those individuals, or as a matter of preference, Voki is a useful tool that students can use where they can record their voice but use a customisable avatar as a representation of themselves and submit that.

TTS and STT tools can be used for lower learners or those that are uncertain of pronunciation while also assisting students with dyslexia.

Generally though, the modifications and forms of assistance would be the same as the Nearpod survey in the previous formative assessment.