| Planning & Assessing |
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In tasks such as the Holiday portfolio I used with my Year 9 Indonesian class (see also discussion in How Students Learn),
the boundaries between different 'types' of assessment blurs, which I
believe is beneficial for student learning outcomes. Students get the
most from each, rather than only one. I designed the Holiday unit
around this portfolio task, so that my learning goals, classroom
activities and assessment practices became a coherent whole. Particularly in Indonesian, variety of activity and assessment becomes easier due to the four skills of language learning, that is reading, speaking, listening and writing. While mathematics is often left to the textbook, I have begun to explore other options, from simple things like collecting class data to use in statistics or probability, to lengthier investigation tasks and groupwork aimed at the discovery of deeper connections and understandings. In order to get to know my students quickly in the short practicum time-frame, I have used more informal, formative assessments including mini-tests, having students complete a problem on the board, and questioning techniques. As well as helping me to evaluate the effectiveness of my own teaching practice, my Year 11 Mathematical Methods class for example used the constant revision of these mini-test and the group support during the boardwork to develop their understanding of limits and differentiation, and to improve their test scores. I try to use a variety of assessment practices, to give students many different avenues for showing their learning, creativity and higher-order thinking skills. As well as including formative practices such as those described above, I also use summative assessments such as tests and assignments to assess and record student learning. I have also been improving my spreadsheet skills (Report Writing PD) to better utilise the data I am storing, enabling more effective report writing and more accountability, and helping me record the progress of the unit. |
