evaluating practice
5A. ASSESSING THE LEARNING
Student A's learning outcomes
Improved written pieces: To assess Student A’s learning I compared written pieces and activities completed in class. When looking at Student A’s recount piece from the beginning of the year it was evident the student knew about using capital letters and full stops but was not using the correct placing. He completed simple sentences but often used the wrong tense (Appendix 3). When comparing Student A’s first piece with his most recent narrative piece I could see an improvement in his sentence structure, using more complex sentences. It was also clear that he understood and could now use the correct tense consistently throughout his story. He used adjectives such ‘bad’ and ‘evil’ to make his writing more interesting. Student A attempted to use paragraphs and this shows his understanding of the text structure. He was also able to put capital letters and full stops in the correct places (Appendix 23,25).
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Improved recognition of nouns, verbs and adjectives: At the beginning of the unit Student A was asked to mark verbs and adjective in a simple piece of writing (Appendix 10-10.2, 26). Student A had difficulty identifying the verbs and nouns. Student A worked hard during group discussions and activities and as a result at the end of the inquiry, Student A was able to independently identify noun, verbs and adjectives (Appendix 24, 27, 34-37). He was also able to verbally explain what he had learnt and give examples.
Make your own 3D setting: I would use this activity with Indigenous students as it is engaging & hands on.
what did you learn?
PRESS PLAY
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The next step for Student A: Student A: Student A needs to continue to focus on using a variety of adjectives in his writing. He is beginning to add some new words but can be extended by using prompts such as an adjective chart or personal dictionary to add less common words.
Recording of student a at the conclusion of the unit
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Descriptors 1.2, 1.4, 2.3, 2.5, 3.1, 5.1 & 5.4
Student B's learning outcomes
Improved written pieces: When comparing Student B’s original pieces of writing completed at the beginning of the year (Appendix 6) to pieces more recently completed (Appendix 28) it can be seen that his sentence development has gone from simple to complex to make his writing more interesting. Student B is still working on knowing and using adjectives to make his writing more descriptive.
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Improved recognition of nouns, verbs and adjectives: Evaluating the data shows Student B has made some improvement of recognition but he still needs prompts to support him when writing (Appendix 11-11.4, 29-33). Student B is still working on consciously adding adjectives to make his writing more descriptive.
Make your own 3D setting: I would use this activity with Indigenous students as it is engaging & hands on.
what did you learn?
PRESS PLAY
Recording of student B at the conclusion of the unit
The next step for Student B: Student B will need consistent reminding of why we need to know the difference between verbs, nouns and adjectives. I will provide Student B with an adjectives chart, which can be used to help prompt him when writing and editing his work to help make his pieces more descriptive.
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Descriptors 1.2, 1.4, 2.3, 2.5, 3.1, 5.1 & 5.4
Student C's learning outcomes
Improved written pieces: Student C has shown improvement in her writing pieces from when she first came to KPS (Appendix 7) to her most recent stories (Appendix 9, 9.1, 39, 46-48). She understands different structures of different text types and is completing more complex sentences (Appendix 39). She uses words such as ‘fluttering’ to enhance her story and can give the reader a clear picture of characters and setting.
Improved recognition of nouns, verbs and adjectives: Student C has shown her ability to recognise nouns, verbs and adjectives (Appendix 37-38). She was given tasks during the inquiry to help develop her use of adjectives and begin to understand adverbs. The data indicates Student C can confidently use and identify adverbs within her own writing. She uses adjectives to make her writing more descriptive and is beginning to make her own list of new adjectives (Appendix 40-43).
Make your own 3D setting: I would use this activity with Indigenous students as it is engaging & hands on.
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what did you learn?
PRESS PLAY
Recording of student c at the conclusion of the unit
The next step for Student C: The next step for Student C is to self-edit, adding adverbs and adjectives to enhance her writing. Student C will, with assistance, need to reflect on her word choice making sure that she extends herself using new words to describe and depict. This will allow her to continue to improve the sentence structure in her text.
Descriptors 1.2, 1.4, 2.3, 2.5, 3.1, 5.1 & 5.4
5B. EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
IDENTIFYING
Evaluating Assessment: Using a rubric based on the Six Plus One writing traits allowed me to see where students were lacking and where students were excelling (Appendix 9-11). This assisted me in teaching the needs of the focus students and gave me a starting point to work on with the students. I really liked using the rubric as it was clear and pointed out exactly what the students needed help with.
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Using a proficiency scale for the first time was a great learning experience for me. With support from my mentor I was able to assess students using the proficiency scale as a pre and post benchmark. The proficiency scale helped to inform me about where students A, B and C were at with a specific skill (using and identifying noun, verbs and adjectives in writing pieces) and what was the next level for each individual student. The proficiency scale was a very specific assessment of one area and would need to be supported by other proficiency scales and assessments to gain a whole picture of individual ability. After professional development with Joanne Casey I would use the proficiency scale slightly different and not in isolation. I would like to implement learning goals and success criteria so that the students can see where they are at and how to progress.
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The tasks given to assess student’s ability to identify noun, verb and adjective were very effective. I provided students with a simple piece of text and using different coloured highlighters, students were to identify verbs and adjectives (Appendix 11.3, 26 & 48). From this piece I could then assess which students knew the difference and if they knew what a noun was as it most often follows an adjective. After the 4-6 week program I then reassessed students on the same area using a similar method. Rather than a piece of text, this time I used different statements and questions. The student shaded words using different colours to identify all three (Appendix 31, 35 & 40). This worked well as it gave a clear indication if they could now recognise nouns, verbs and adjectives or if they still needed consolidating.
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Along with this I assessed their progression using pieces of writing from the start of the year and their narrative pieces completed during the inquiry. From this I was able to see if students used a capital for proper nouns, adjectives to describe their nouns and the correct tense in their writing.
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Upon reflection my assessment provided me with specific points of need for each focus student and gave me a starting point. It also provided me with the progression of students whether great or small. Overall I was happy with the effectiveness of the assessment and the data it provided me with.
DEVELOPING
Professional knowledge and conversations: Throughout the course of my inquiry I was able to have insightful conversations and participate in professional development sessions.
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The conversations with both my mentor and year level team helped guide and develop my strategies for time and classroom management, moderating student work, assessing using proficiency scales, clarify curriculum standards and dealing with difficult behaviours.
Participating in the differentiated learning for EAL students professional development session with Nune Jordaan provided me with some new and engaging activities to implement and help to build language for students.
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Attending the initial Victorian of Institute Standards session helped to clarify requirements needed to become a fully registered teacher. I was able to use the descriptor chart throughout the process to become more familiar with each section and what I need to be doing to show that I am a proficient teacher (Appendix 49).
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Work program: throughout the term I was able to adapt and edit my work program to be more specific and clear after having a conversation with a colleague. I was given advice and examples on how to improve my work program so that if anyone walked into my class they would be able to read and understand the learning that was taking place and teach from it (Appendix 44 & 45).
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Instructional approach and activities: Upon reflecting on my instructional approach throughout the course of the inquiry I have noticed a big change. My planning was more thought out and followed clear learning steps and this allowed for my approach to become targeted. During my introductions I was able to use videos, pictures, displays and books to help support the new learning. I had a clear focus for each lesson that was targeted at the needs of the students and I was able to adapt throughout the unit of work. Adaption was critical during the activities as the understanding of the task for some students was clear and for others it was not. This meant that focus groups were made and students who needed scaffolding were provided appropriate support.
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Reflecting on what I could improve for the future lessons would be allowing more time to share with their classmates and/or fellow learners. I found that during each session I would get distracted with helping students or give students the maximum time to do the activities that I didn’t leave enough time to share. Sharing time at the end of lessons is so important to help link the learning taken place and build students independence. I know that as they are provided with more opportunities to share, their confidence will increase and even the shyest students will participate and explain their learning.
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SUPPORTING
Conferences: During the inquiry I began conferencing with students about their progress and how they think their learning is going. This helped me gauge where students were and whether they understood new concepts. Students were able to articulate what they had learnt and what they enjoyed about the learning rather than the activities done. It also allowed me to have focused explicit 5-10 minute session with students who needed consolidation of concepts. This method worked well with Student B as he would sometimes be confused when covering concepts during whole group introduction and needed one on one time to consolidated his understanding.
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Social and emotional wellbeing: Throughout this year and specifically throughout the inquiry process I have noticed the importance of each student’s social and emotional wellbeing. Through observing K.R I was able to see the power that positive feedback can have on student’s emotional wellbeing in the classroom. Reflecting on my own practice I have noticed that I am much more aware of what I say to students and making sure I always give positive feedback. Throughout this year when there has been an issue in the playground or at home this has had a great impact on the learning that takes place in the classroom. Being able to adapt the learning is essential and time needs to be taken to resolve or communicate these issues. When planning I did not take this into consideration. Upon reflection I noticed that many of my lessons were not getting completed in the time allocated. I had either put too much content in the lesson or didn’t foresee that students would need longer on specific topics. In one case Student B was having a difficult day and because of this I adapted his work so that he wouldn’t feel overwhelmed with what he needed to do and instead he just focused on small pieces of learning.
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Monitoring learning: each lesson through observations and discussions I was able to monitor the learning. The learning for each student happened at different rates and it was a very individual process, therefore the work set was open, allowing for students to work on it in at their own pace. I really enjoyed having a task where students could keep progressing at their own rate and they could put individuality into their work. I found the only difficult part apart the task was when students wanted to publish their work. Some needed computers and some were still working on their drafts. This made it difficult as students at this level are just beginning to learn about using Microsoft Word, typing and saving their work. After reflecting on ways to improve this for the future I would get all students together when the first student was ready to type and teach an explicit mini lesson on saving work. This would eliminate students becoming frustrated after they had typed much of their writing.
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The intentions of my inquiry were to personalise the learning for students through three different aspects, identify, develop and support. The outcomes of my inquiry helped inform my teaching and improve my practice. It gave me opportunities to critically reflect on my strengths and helped to address limitations. Most importantly this inquiry provided students with personalised learning and activities to help their progression. Students became more independent in the classroom through the activities and their confidence increased as they could see and verbalise their development. I am very pleased that through this process I have been able to meet all professional practice standards for full registration. I have learnt much along the way and know this is only the beginning of my teaching journey as I strive to make learning a positive and rewarding experience for all students.
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