5 Ways to assess students writing progress

This is from the sixth post in the Teaching Young Writers blog series sponsored by Zaner-Bloser's Strategies for Writers. You can see the previous post on 5 Peer Revision Strategies.

1. X Marks the Spot
   Too often we teachers grade papers as if we are preparing a manuscript for publication. We proofread, line-edit and rewrite. Stop now. Refrain from spending all of your time writing long comments on your students' papers. A piece of writing filled with comments and proofreading marks can cause students to feel overwhelmed and bewildered. The goal is for your students to slowly gain writing skills and confidence, not to feel discouraged and negative about writing. Instead, focus on the content of the paper. When you see a grammar mistake or a spelling error, simply put a small x next to it. Let your students problem-solve what needs to be corrected. They figure out the mistakes marked with an x and enter their corrections in the margin. This will cut back your time and help students grow as writers and assess their own work. Save the proofreading marks for your students to do on their own writing, as well as on their peers'papers.
   
   
   
2. Write an End Comment
   Save your comments for the end of your students' writing. Your comment should include at least one strength. Then, it can point out a problem that the student needs to improve. Finally, it should end with suggestions for the student's next step in the writing process. Students can take your recommendations to assess their writing and set goals to continue their progress.
   
   
   
3. Address Common Errors Together
   If you notice that many of your students are inserting semicolons willy-nilly or skimping on the textual evidence, rather than writing this note over and over on each student's composition, do a mini-lesson (or three) with the class. By having a class discussion, students will all receive the same comment you would have written on many papers in one simple whole-group conference.
   
   
   
4. Use a Rubric
   Using a rubric to assess students' writing is a great way to see exactly what students are grasping and and what they're struggling with. Teachers can find premade rubrics or create their own on iRubric. This is my favorite site for creating and adapting rubrics, and it's free! What makes rubrics efficient is that teachers can circle and add notes to each category. Then, they quickly calculate the score. Rubrics help teachers pinpoint exactly what the student needs help with or where the student needs more of a challenge.
   



5. Incorporate Student Reflection
   Rather than viewing assessment as something only teachers do, have students complete a self-assessment. Encourage students to assess their own strengths and needs in their writing. An easy way to motivate students to evaluate their own writing progress is to create a rating scale. The rating scale could be in a traffic light format (red, yellow, green). Students color in the circle to describe their level of understanding: Red = I don't understand, Yellow = I'm starting to get it and Green = I got it! After they assess themselves, have your students create goals for themselves. By doing so, you will get an insight into what your student is thinking and feeling, which will make the ongoing assessment process a lot easier and more efficient!
   

Looking for more? Nine free Strategies for Writers lesson plans complete with teacher and student pages!

SOURCE

Teacher Template for lessons...

A bit busy, but some great components here you could use.... Nice to keep your lessons focused and assess as you go.

Source: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/233131718184471964/

Guided Oral Reading - 4 strategies....

Reading fluency is essential to comprehension. Here are four strategies for building fluency in the classroom. Click to see the full infographic: http://bit.ly/1boXhsh

Report Cards and Assessment

This post  goes through some "sticky situations" that seem to focus on the USA system. Still, the question has to be asked, what should you do if you 're asked to change a grade?

This opens up a greater discussion, for me, about the ways we use assessment and if grades are even neccessary as the "most important reporting of assessment"

Having recenly done my year end report cards for my Grade 8s I know how the various assessment methods can be used.

I have a lot of students and sometimes parents, ask me throughout the year about why they got this grade or that. I enjoy those conversations. It shows interest and opens up discussions about overall learning, not just "the grade"

I often use rubrics for projects, clearly laid out clear criteria for my students. They always know exactly what I am looking for when marking and how they will be assessed. This helps minimize "surprises" and opens up conversations about their learning.

I had a student come and ask if they could do "extra projects" to increase their grade (a week before report cards) I had that "difficult conversation" about where they needed to work on improvements and it was not their ability to do extra projects. It was a very honest conversation and the student was thankful for the feedback. Their parent even contacted me to follow up and thank me for the specific feedback to improve.

I think it is important to have those coversations with students so the expectations are clear and they really know where they are at and why.

Of course if we moved away from letter grades, I wonder how that may change the whole process?

I recently read this post:

Letter Grades No Longer Make the Grade

which is something I am very curious to explore further. Last year our district has job action and part of that was no report cards. Assessment still happened, communication with parents seemed to be even more frequent and overall I think the feedback was more productive than a letter on a piece of paper.

One of the parents of a student I taught a few years ago came back to me this year and told me they appreciated two years ago when I taught their son, emphasizing the work habits over the letter grade. They had, like many parents, always believed their son must get straight A's all the time (which he usually did) but what I pointed out, was that although she was getting very high letter grades, his work habits marks were S's and N's and that that was an area he could work on improving.

Report Cards are confusing, as a parent, reading report cards was always confusing. Of course you look right to the letter grade, the snapshot of your childs learning. But, the work habits, the words chosen inthe comments, those are important too! As a parent and as a teacher, I think ongoing assessment and communication with the student and teacher and parent is far more important than a piece of paper.

 

THOUGHTS?

This reminds me of a post last year about giving ZERO on assignments... oh the discussions continue...

 

 

Student Digital Portfolios for assessment and learning

Really enjoyed this blog post on Assessment using Student blog-portfolio's: http://plpnetwork.com/2013/05/30/digital-porfolios-thinking-assessment/

It is unfortunate that many schools don't have the capabilities to do this (not enough ipads, laptops, computers in classroom, bandwidth, wi-fi, money, etc.) but I do like the idea. I have used forums and such for independent novel studies and interactive class activities in the past, but I would love to use blog portfolio's for students. It would be interesting for them as well to have and be able to look back on.

The post explains:

Verbal explanations
I have always used formative assessment in my classroom, but our digital portfolios give me much richer information than our paper portfolios ever did. Because my young students are still beginning writers, it is often difficult for them to explain their learning through writing. They can, however, explain their learning verbally. There are lots of apps (including my current iPad favorites Educreations and Draw & Tell) that record voice over an image. These digital artifacts allow me to understand a child’s thinking in a much deeper way.

The beauty of digital portfolios is that as the children and I are constantly assessing their learning in a formative and summative way, the students are also demonstrating their growing knowledge for a wide audience and learning about digital citizenship and appropriate online behavior. What great by-products of the assessment process! 

Please check out the entire article here: http://plpnetwork.com/2013/05/30/digital-porfolios-thinking-assessment/

Blooming Orange

The Blooming Orange

I've always been interested in new ways to view and think about Bloom's Taxonomy and the folks at Learning Today have created a poster worth sharing. To help teachers get thinking about ways to apply Bloom's higher-order thinking skills in the classroom, they've put a spin on the traditional hierarchy and  limited the number of verbs in each section to create The Blooming Orange.

They've popped Bloom's verbage into the segments of an orange and intentionally depicted it as a circle to illustrate the fact that often these skills do not occur in isolation, they often occur simultaneously. This Blooming Orange presents itself as a teacher-friendly tool for planning and possibly an easier way for everyone to think about Bloom's. Be sure to click on the link below to visit the Learning Today blog and print a copy of this poster to hang  in your classroom.

Via:Cool Tools for 21st Century Learners

PS - for new teachers and TTOCs these are some great buzz words to understand. I find educators often USE these things but don't necessarily know how to LABEL them. In interviews and professional conversations, a new teachers ability to understand and use these words will go a long way.

Zero Grade

 How do you feel about issuing "zero" grades on assignments? This is an interesting discussion I have been reading a lot about lately.

Minister of Education in Alberta has said that zero is a last resort only. After an Edmonton teacher was suspended for issuing students zero.

Lynden Dorval, an Edmonton Science teacher was suspended after issuing students a zero grade for assignments not handed in.

The physics teacher with 35 years experience said he continued giving zeros when students failed to hand in assignments, instead of using behaviour codes such as "not completed," which the school requires under its grading and reporting practice.
...
In Dorval's physics and science classes at Ross Sheppard High School, students who didn't turn in assignments got a printout of their marks showing them how a zero would affect their overall grade. Most times, the strategy spurred students to complete the work, he said.

This got me thinking... In the high school english class I am currently teaching, I plug in an "NHI" (Not handed in) for assignments missing. This is practice continued from the previous teacher as I am in for the last month of school.

Students get a print out of what is missing and an opportunity to hand them in. I believe in giving students an opportunity to make up missed work since some have not handed things in due to absence, illness, and so on, and to be honest, some are just being lazy or avoiding work. Either way, they are given adequate time to catch-up, make up and ensure they have submitted all assignments for a grade that reflects all their work.

But, I am in a temporary contract with one English class and one Student Services block.

I wonder, how a teacher with 4 english classes per semester, over 100 students, may handle a wave of late assignments at the end of a semester while marking end of term exams, essays and projects.

What is the purpose of a deadline? How important is formal grading? How much control do we really have over assessment and grading in high school, particularily Grade 11 and 12 as many students prepare for post-secondary education.

Giving a student a zero teaches them a lesson  talks about alternative motivation and argues against giving a zero to students. It is an interesting read.

What I enjoyed about this post most were the comments. The discussion.

One talked about the fact that, until Universities stopped using grades as criteria for entrance, we can't stop using them in high school.

Another comment talks about class size and how a high school teacher can adequately give the individual attention needed with 4 full classes and over 100 students a semester.

I taught in Middle School where I used a 4 point scale for most assignments. Final grades were converted to a letter grade, but we did not focus on percentages or grades the same way high schools do. I used comments and ongoing assessment and communication to work with students on goal setting and improving.

Now, teaching in high school, it is all about the grade. Students are obsessed!

Not a single day goes by without at least one students asking me what their grade is so far.

Nevermind that somethings are not marked, or entered into the system yet, nevermind that provincial exams and finals or huge parts of their grade is not yet input, they want to know their percentage at that moment. Every moment!

Why?

Because the focus has become the grade.

As parents, we focus on the grade as well. I told myself I wouldn't, but when my daughter brings home her report card, I inadvertently look at the grades first.

I really enjoyed the Job Action this year, because there were no report cards, instead, communication, discussion, between teachers and parents on how a student was progressing. Without the letter or percentage to occupy all the attention, the details, the study habits, the OTHER parts of assessment were more important.

Have you ever seen a student with an A but an N work habit grade? What about a C- but a G work habit grade? Which would you rather see?

Far too often the letter grade is given more weight.

I enjoy professional conversation on this topic and others. I am curious what others think and what they use for their teaching practice.

Are Teacher's and Report Cards an Essential Service?

CBC News Reported:Saskatchewan essential services law struck down.

A Saskatchewan law limiting the ability of public sector workers to go on strike has been ruled unconstitutional by a Queen's Bench judge, but the provincial government says it is still committed to having essential services legislation

The essential services is an interesting concept. If teacher's are an "essential service" why are we not paid and respected as other "essential services"?

My first thought is, how are teacher's an essential sercvice?

To me an essential service is life or death and to my knowledge no one has died from not going to school for a few days. Furthermore, in the current stage of Job Action, teacher's in BC are still teaching. The only major change is no official report cards, however, teacher's are reporting in various other methods, most of which are far more comprehensive and efficient than the official report cards.

As a parent, I am updated on my daughter's progress through notes in her daily agenda book and in-person meetings when neccessary with the teacher.

As a teacher on call, I have been in a number of schools and grade levels and seen the various methods teachers are reporting on their students progress to parents.

Classroom newsletters, notes in planners, emails home, phone calls home, student self-evaluations with teacher remarks, and so on.

In fact, I have loved seeing the various methods of assessment and communication teacher's are using instead of report cards and have to say, I think they are far more comprehensive and informative.

In December, The Coquitlam NOW featured two of my friends and colleagues, Sandra Daviss (Grade 4/5) and Stephanie Duncan (high school)discussing assessment & reporting methods used in their classes.

So are report cards really neccessary as long as the message is getting home?

I think in highschool formal reporting of actual grades is important at the end of term as it is needed to get into post-secondary institutes, however, the various methods of reporting I have seen teacher's use have been far more effective than official report cards.

Why couldn't (even in high school) teacher's continue to report in these various methods. Year-End "grades" may be neccessary for reasons mentioned above, but otherwise what is the significance of a letter grade or a number?

Is a report card essential?

Are teacher's an essential service?

David Komljenovic, BCTF Member-at-large, wrote on facebook:

"Saskatchewan ruled a month ago that the essential services law in that provice was unconstitutional because it interfered in the collective bargaining process to the extent that public sector employees did not have any significant pressure to apply to the table.

The situation with teachers in BC is not very different. After the phase 1 in 2001, teachers were legislated back after the Labour Relations Board ruled that a one day strike on January 28th was legal. In 2005, the plan was to start phase 1 and, should an agreement not be concluded, rotating strikes would start in the middle of October. The government intervened and prevented a strike from occurring. This year (2011/12), teachers were engaged in phase 1 since September. If there is a successful vote on a legal strike, there would be a good argument that interference by the government is significant enough that essential services is unconstitutional for teachers in BC.

A "yes" vote on escalating actions would provide a recourse through the courts as government interference before a strike can be enacted would be consistent with what the Saskatchewan courts found to be unconstitutional."

On Tuesday & Wednesday Teacher's will vote if they are in favour of escalating actions should the government legislate us back to work....

I don't think the government should legislate us back, especially now....

1. Both parties have agreed to mediation
2. What would they legislate us back to? Writing report cards? We ARE teaching we ARE working!
3. If mediation doesn't help, there are still other actions that could be taken.
4. Collective Bargaining is the way to go, BCTF wanted local bargaining on some issues from day one, and they were turned down... if local issues had been taken to the local table from the start, at least SOME issues could be dealt with already locally. Both parties need to bargain in good faith, and sadly one party is clearly not!