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Monday, October 30, 2017
Monday, September 19, 2016
Friday, December 19, 2014
Friday, February 24, 2012
TEACHING COMPOSITION: BEST PRACTICES EMPLOYING ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING
How lucky am I to be in a school where the students are already in general, highly motivated to excel academically? The main challenges I face are with learners who have adaptations and learning challenges. Since my first years at this tiny public school in the forest in the early 1990's, the language background of my learners has changed. Previously, my learners were primarily Caucasian. Many were children of UBC students and professors.
Today, over 80% of the students in my English classes are of East Asian descent and many of them are ESL learners. The unwavering similarity through the years to present day is that they are just as academically driven as the students of the past.
During the first term with my three English 11 classes and my one English 10 course, I embarked on my inquiry to engage my students in learning that focussed on AFL strategies. This was to enable my learners to be less "marks-centric" and see the value of lifelong learning. I wanted them to take ownership for their own learning.
For the first full term, I taught and evaluated as usual. I wanted to have some reflections and data with which to compare my new strategies. Upon embarking on the new focus on formative assessment, I think the students gave me some feedback that I suspected would occur. Many high achieving students were primarily motivated by marks. Removing those marks would certainly affect their motivation. They recognized this. I worried that I'd lose those students in the process.
The second term saw me fully embrace formative assessment strategies. We maintained writing portfolios where they kept their many compositions. They did peer editing and feedback. I underlined and commented. In the end they were to choose their "best" piece and submit that for summative assessment because of course, I still had to come up with a mark for their term marks.
Disappointingly, I saw marks in general plummet. I was not so happy. They were just as disappointed. They told me that because they knew only one piece would be assessed summatively, they didn't try as hard for each composition, thinking that they would be able to do better next time. That next time never happened for some of them. Also, some students rely on the numbers I give them to indicate to them the level of effort they needed to adjust for the next time. Admittedly, this particular method of formative assessment (the portfolio where they choose their best work) was a failure in my mind.
Undeterred, I decided to do what I usually do...which is tons of practice in class composing and peer editing in groups. This is a technique I have employed successfully for most of my career as an English teacher at this school. This time, I told them I'd post online (privately) on the class wiki, the best composition their group agreed upon and then the rest of the students could look at the model before their next in-class composition (which would be for marks). After a round of peer editing, I told them to take their composition home and address the issues their peers noted, underlined or circled. There was a bit of pressure to produce quality work. I asked them to do their best to submit next day a paper that was as "perfect" as they could make it. I reminded them not to get any help (tutor, parent or otherwise). Armed with checklists and rubrics, the students did another round of peer editing to find the best paper of their group. I told them I'd take a picture of that paper and post it online as a model. If they found errors or problems in that chosen composition, they were to fix them before I took a picture. I think it was of value to see their classmates' writing. Their ability to assess the level of writing of their peers was good. Additionally, now all learners could see what they needed to do to improve their own compositions. Previously, students rarely had the ability to read their peers' marked writing (unless they asked their friends). It is a definite benefit to be able to read and model top papers.
Recently, I had them do their in-class paragraph composition...an analysis of a sight poem. This was a composition that they will find in the English 12 government exam. I was so happy to see dramatic improvement in their compositions. The assessment strategies that we employed seemed to have improved many of the students' recurring problems. I saw evidence of real learning. I was so relieved.
Some of the improvements that were noticeable involved:
-topic sentences: T.A.G. (title, author, genre) indicated; rephrasing/responding to the question
-minimum of 3 examples/brief quotes for evidence
-integration of quotes to flow smoothly in their sentences
-organization of ideas
-concluding sentences
From comparing my two terms of attempting brand new AFL strategies, I have found one that fits my teaching style and my students' style of learning. I certainly do not want to lose those students that are already high achievers but I hope to help pull up those learners with academic challenges. I will not give up hope for portfolios, but I have found a better use for them. Instead of maintaining a portfolio of "works in progress" (which doesn't necessarily promote excellence but seems to be a collection of mediocre work), I have them post their best work on their personal blogs, which are all linked on my class wikispace. They will have a wonderful paperless e-portfolio that they can add to over the years and they can share it with their friends and family if they wish. It is the best of both worlds.
Today, over 80% of the students in my English classes are of East Asian descent and many of them are ESL learners. The unwavering similarity through the years to present day is that they are just as academically driven as the students of the past.
During the first term with my three English 11 classes and my one English 10 course, I embarked on my inquiry to engage my students in learning that focussed on AFL strategies. This was to enable my learners to be less "marks-centric" and see the value of lifelong learning. I wanted them to take ownership for their own learning.
For the first full term, I taught and evaluated as usual. I wanted to have some reflections and data with which to compare my new strategies. Upon embarking on the new focus on formative assessment, I think the students gave me some feedback that I suspected would occur. Many high achieving students were primarily motivated by marks. Removing those marks would certainly affect their motivation. They recognized this. I worried that I'd lose those students in the process.
The second term saw me fully embrace formative assessment strategies. We maintained writing portfolios where they kept their many compositions. They did peer editing and feedback. I underlined and commented. In the end they were to choose their "best" piece and submit that for summative assessment because of course, I still had to come up with a mark for their term marks.
Disappointingly, I saw marks in general plummet. I was not so happy. They were just as disappointed. They told me that because they knew only one piece would be assessed summatively, they didn't try as hard for each composition, thinking that they would be able to do better next time. That next time never happened for some of them. Also, some students rely on the numbers I give them to indicate to them the level of effort they needed to adjust for the next time. Admittedly, this particular method of formative assessment (the portfolio where they choose their best work) was a failure in my mind.
Undeterred, I decided to do what I usually do...which is tons of practice in class composing and peer editing in groups. This is a technique I have employed successfully for most of my career as an English teacher at this school. This time, I told them I'd post online (privately) on the class wiki, the best composition their group agreed upon and then the rest of the students could look at the model before their next in-class composition (which would be for marks). After a round of peer editing, I told them to take their composition home and address the issues their peers noted, underlined or circled. There was a bit of pressure to produce quality work. I asked them to do their best to submit next day a paper that was as "perfect" as they could make it. I reminded them not to get any help (tutor, parent or otherwise). Armed with checklists and rubrics, the students did another round of peer editing to find the best paper of their group. I told them I'd take a picture of that paper and post it online as a model. If they found errors or problems in that chosen composition, they were to fix them before I took a picture. I think it was of value to see their classmates' writing. Their ability to assess the level of writing of their peers was good. Additionally, now all learners could see what they needed to do to improve their own compositions. Previously, students rarely had the ability to read their peers' marked writing (unless they asked their friends). It is a definite benefit to be able to read and model top papers.
Recently, I had them do their in-class paragraph composition...an analysis of a sight poem. This was a composition that they will find in the English 12 government exam. I was so happy to see dramatic improvement in their compositions. The assessment strategies that we employed seemed to have improved many of the students' recurring problems. I saw evidence of real learning. I was so relieved.
Some of the improvements that were noticeable involved:
-topic sentences: T.A.G. (title, author, genre) indicated; rephrasing/responding to the question
-minimum of 3 examples/brief quotes for evidence
-integration of quotes to flow smoothly in their sentences
-organization of ideas
-concluding sentences
From comparing my two terms of attempting brand new AFL strategies, I have found one that fits my teaching style and my students' style of learning. I certainly do not want to lose those students that are already high achievers but I hope to help pull up those learners with academic challenges. I will not give up hope for portfolios, but I have found a better use for them. Instead of maintaining a portfolio of "works in progress" (which doesn't necessarily promote excellence but seems to be a collection of mediocre work), I have them post their best work on their personal blogs, which are all linked on my class wikispace. They will have a wonderful paperless e-portfolio that they can add to over the years and they can share it with their friends and family if they wish. It is the best of both worlds.
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