Classroom assessment by Lora P. Petrović by Lora Petronić Petrović

Continuing Professional Development

Classroom assessment (based on rubrics and peer- & self-evaluation)

online seminar

by Lora PetroniÄ&#x2021; PetroviÄ&#x2021;

Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/geralt-9301/?utm_source=linkattribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=3530353">Gerd Altmann</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=linkattribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=3530353">Pixabay</a>

TESOL: Training for Trainers Fall 2020 November 3rd 2020

Introduction:

This seminar was born out of a personal need to improve my knowledge regarding how to assess students, since in my undergraduate studies I did not have a subject through which I would acquire the appropriate skills. When I started working at the newly established faculty, where I had no predecessors to emulate them and follow their example, I realized that I needed to acquire certain knowledge in order to be able to properly conduct student assessment. Hence I started attending trainigs, seminars, workshops regarding assessment. I also began paying more attention to how students are assessed in schools, observing how my colleagues in public schools do it, what it looks like from the parents' perspective, since my children and children of my family members and friends experienced and are still experiencing primary and secondary school education. Then I compared assessment (of EFL) in those schools to the way it is conducted in the private school of foreign languages where I work, which serves me as a benchmark for quality work due to the responsible way of working based on CPD. I opted for the seminar on classroom assessment for one more reason. The transition to online teaching caused by COVID 19 pandemic posed a new challenge for teachers - since students were mostly graded based on how they did the test, the question arose as to how to grade a student when you could not see if he/she was doing the test on his/her own. Also, method of assessment presented here would be suitable for assessing students' projects, and thus would gradually introduce project-based teaching and learning, which would include more subjects (at least three according to Ministry of Education) and further expand to CLIL or bilingual teaching that provides very good and favorable results in terms of student progress. It is important to note that, no matter how incredible it may sound, at the faculties in Serbia that educate future teachers (in general, and therefore foreign language teachers), very little attention is paid to assessment. According to the statements of colleagues who had that subject in their studies (teachers who work with children aged 6/7 to 10/11), they dealt exclusively with the theory and theoretical ideas of assessment and did nothing regarding practical work, so I feel free to state that assessment DOES NOT EXIST as a subject in general, educational programs (perhaps it is TESOL: Training for Trainers Fall 2020 November 3rd 2020

now a little clearer why I talk so much about it, as well as the webinar topics I offered in the CPD program!) The description of the seminar that follows will be intended for colleagues who teach English as a foreign language, but with small modifications it can be adapted for teachers who teach other foreign languages, as well as teachers of other subjects. The language in which the training would be held would be English, but if it were an accredited program by the Ministry of Education, it would probably have to be conducted in Serbian. The course would be conducted on the MOODLE platform, with a mentor who would give input, instructions, as well as feedback.

The target audience will be both pre-service and in-service teachers, with pre-service doing tasks based on their experiences from classroom as students.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/kLblkNx1dPnaYq2DSbYED-rWXBsv9SdT-cbYawip06PpjyFD5xIKsAoPuogoyXCc1hSgoo-fJPPBrxf50AU_xf2rkXevp2hZ3DeCV_9UIV3TDFGPRLPd2BBH4D59tTA

TESOL: Training for Trainers Fall 2020 November 3rd 2020

Topic:

The topic of the seminar is classroom assessment, in fact the way in which the final grade (grade at the end of the school year) can be formed, in order to reflect the success of students in the most realistic way. The emphasis of this course is placed on acquainting teachers with situations in which they should use different types of rubrics. Assessment would be conducted with the aim of teachers evaluating student work, students evaluating their peers and themselves. Course participants would be introduced to ways to create rubrics with clear criteria for assessment, peer assessment and self-assessment for various activities, based on educational, pedagogical and functional outcomes. These rubrics would be the base for formative assessment grades, which further would be presented to students as an indicator in which direction they should improve/develop, but also to their parents in order to be able to monitor the progress of their children.

Materials: When it comes to materials, we should consider the next issue - first, if the training were conducted in the Serbian language, it would be difficult to find appropriate literature because this issue has so far been rarely addressed. As for the literature in English, we would be based on the available online materials, which are free and for which no special permission from the author would be required.

Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/wokandapix-614097/?utm_source=linkattribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=2372181">Wokandapix</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=linkattribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=2372181">Pixabay</a>

TESOL: Training for Trainers Fall 2020 November 3rd 2020

Outline of the training: week 1st

topic - Who we are - My grades

- My grades - Standards

participants' activities

- Introducing and getting to know participants - Teachers give a description of their grades. The instruction reads: "You need to explain to your student's parents (choose the class yourself) what his / her child needs to do / know in order to get the appropriate grade for the end of the school year. Describe what grades from 1 to 5 mean." (in the case of pre-service teachers, their task would be the same, with the difference that they would imagine a situation of working in a school) - After posting their descriptions, they would have the task to compare their grades with two other colleagues and to comment on the similarities and differences. - Participants compare and comment how much their grades reflect the learning standards/outcomes prescribed by the Ministry of Education, which are linked to the platform (standards are in Serbian) 1. https://ceo.edu.rs/wp-content/uploads/opsti_standardi/Strani%20jezik.pdf 2. https://www.pravno-informacionisistem.rs/SlGlasnikPortal/eli/rep/sgrs/ministarstva/pravilnik/2017/78/1/reg

2nd

- Task 1

- Participants align their grades with standards by creating appropriate holistic rubrics.

- I as an assessor

- Effects of student assessment - discussion based on chapters from Psychology in Education1 that would be adapted by the mentor and presented for reading. Answering the question:"Does my assessment motivate or demotivate students?"

- Types of activities

- Participants have the task to list/number the types of activities they assess and to describe methods of assessment. They answer the question:"Do students know how/on what basis they will be assessed?"

- Rubrics

- Participants read the section concerning rubrics from The TESOL guidelines for developing EFL professional teaching standards 2. They comment on what they know, what is new to them and in which situations / activities they would apply presented rubrics.

- Task 2

- Select one activity from a textbook you prefer and design an analytical / holistic / primary trait (single point) rubrics (all three). Comment on your peers rubrics.

Woolfolk, A. E., Hughes, M., & Walkup, V. (2013). Psychology in education. Pearson Higher Ed, pp. 262-267 Retrieved from https://www.tesol.org/docs/default-source/papers-and-briefs/tesol-guidelines-for-developing-eflprofessional-teaching-standards.pdf?sfvrsn=6, p.9 2

TESOL: Training for Trainers Fall 2020 November 3rd 2020

mentor's activities

- Doing a needs analysis, with what ages each teacher/participant works - Mentor assigns the task described in the "participants' activities" column, without giving any detailed instructions, with the intention of determining whether there are and if yes, what are the â&#x20AC;&#x153;weak pointsâ&#x20AC;? of the described assessment.

- Mentor comments on common places if there any. (Any further comments would depend on participants' answers). - Assigns to participants a task to compare how much their descriptions of grades are in line with the standards prescribed by the Ministry. Posts the links for standards. 1. https://ceo.edu.rs/wp-content/uploads/opsti_standardi/Strani%20jezik.pdf 2. https://www.pravno-informacionisistem.rs/SlGlasnikPortal/eli/rep/sgrs/ministarstva/pravilnik/2017/78/1/reg

- Assigns to participants a task to align the grades with standards. - Assigns to participants to read adapted chapter Effects of student assessment from the Psychology in Education and prompts reflection:"Does my assessment motivate or demotivate students?" - Assigns to participants a task to list/number the types of activities participants assess and to describe methods of assessment. Asks the question:"Do students know how/on what basis they will be assessed?" - Assigns to participants to read the section concerning rubrics from The TESOL guidelines for developing EFL professional teaching standards. They comment on what they know, what is new to them and in which situations / activities they would apply presented rubrics. - Assigns to participants select one activity from a textbook they prefer and design an analytical / holistic / primary trait (single point) rubrics. Comment on their rubrics - strong and weak points.

TESOL: Training for Trainers Fall 2020 November 3rd 2020

week 3rd

topic - Peer- & selfassessment

- Peer- & selfassessment

- Peer- & selfassessment - Task 3 4th

- Rubrics portfolio (group work) - Literature

- Task 4

participants' activities - Discussion - do students participate in assessment? Are there situations when they evaluate their peers, and themselves. - Participants read about peer and self-assessment and discuss about benefits of these two types of assessment. 1. https://www.nfer.ac.uk/media/3113/self_and_peer_assessment.pdf 2. https://www.plymouth.k12.in.us/formative/peer-self-assessments 3. Atapted chapter Involving students in assessment3 from Psychology in Education - Ideas exchange - how to create the three types of rubrics together with students (discussion) - Formulate criteria that you would share with your students on how to create peer and self-assessment rubrics for the activities you created rubrics in the previous week. - In groups, participants design rubrics for the types of activities that would be assessed during the school year, as well as instructions for students for peer and self assessment.

- Participants should research school/public library and internet about the topics we covered in the training and share their findings in order to expand materials that can be used and consulted. - Create rubrics for this course - they need to make an analytical rubrics, on the basis of which they would evaluate their participation in this course and the participation of their colleagues. They have to formulate grades.

Woolfolk, A. E., Hughes, M., & Walkup, V. (2013). Psychology in education. Pearson Higher Ed, pp. 259-262

TESOL: Training for Trainers Fall 2020 November 3rd 2020

mentor's activities

- Posts question for discussion - if their students participate in assessment? Are there situations when they evaluate their peers, and themselves? Takes part in discussion. - Assigns to participants to read about peer and self-assessment and prompts discussion about benefits of these two types of assessment. Comments on participants posts. 1. https://www.nfer.ac.uk/media/3113/self_and_peer_assessment.pdf 2. https://www.plymouth.k12.in.us/formative/peer-self-assessments 3. Atapted chapter Involving students in assessment from Psychology in Education - Prompts ideas exchange - how to create the three types of rubrics together with students and shows her example of speaking rubrics created together with her students 4. - Assigns to participants to formulate instructions that they would give to their students on how to create peer and self-assessment rubrics for the activities they created rubrics in the previous week. - Divides participants in groups, and assigns the task to design rubrics for the types of activities that would be assessed during the school year, as well as instructions for students for peer and self assessment. Comments on their solutions. - Assign the task to participants to research school/public library and internet about the topics covered in the training and share their findings in order to expand materials that can be used and consulted. - Assigns to participants to create rubrics for this course - they need to make an analytical rubrics, on the basis of which they would evaluate their participation in this course and the participation of their colleagues.

Speaking rubrics created by Lora P. PetroviÄ&#x2021; & her students, age 9 in 2015

TESOL: Training for Trainers Fall 2020 November 3rd 2020

Evaluation: Participants would be assessed and evaluted based on the next criteria: 1) Discussions: each week's discussion bares 5 points / total 20 2) - Tasks Task 1 Excellent (5) Very good (4) Good (3) Satisfactory (2) Unsatisfactory (1)

Provides and applies all applicable the caracteristics of holistic rubrics and their content Provides and applies the caracteristics of the holistic rubrics partially Provides and applies basic characteristics of the holistic rubrics Doesn't provide proper holistic rubrics /

Task 2Excellent (5) Very good (4) Good (3) Satisfactory (2) Unsatisfactory (1)

Provides and applies all applicable caracteristics of analytic rubrics and their content Provides and applies the caracteristics of the analytic rubrics partially Provides and applies basic characteristics of the analytic rubrics, without proper explanation of criteria Doesn't provide proper analytic rubrics /

Task 3 Excellent (5) Very good (4) Good (3) Satisfactory (2) Unsatisfactory (1)

Provides all applicable criteria for a peer and self evaluation rubrics Provides applicable criteria for a peer and self evaluation rubrics partially Provides some of criteria for a peer and self evaluation rubrics Doesn't provide proper criteria /

Task 4 Excellent (5) Very good (4) Good (3) Satisfactory (2) Unsatisfactory (1)

Tasks total - 20 points 3) - Group work - 10 points Total for the course : 50 points In order to pass participants have to score minimum 30 points.

TESOL: Training for Trainers Fall 2020 November 3rd 2020

Literature: 1. General achievement standards for a foreign language retrived from https://ceo.edu.rs/wp-content/uploads/opsti_standardi/Strani%20jezik.pdf 2. RULE BOOK on general standards of achievement for the end of primary education for a foreign language retrived from https://www.pravno-informacionisistem.rs/SlGlasnikPortal/eli/rep/sgrs/ministarstva/pravilnik/2017/78/1/reg 3. Woolfolk, A. E., Hughes, M., & Walkup, V. (2013). Psychology in education. Pearson Higher Ed 4. The TESOL guidelines for developing EFL professional teaching standards retrieved from https://www.tesol.org/docs/default-source/papers-and-briefs/tesol-guidelines-fordeveloping-efl-professional-teaching-standards.pdf?sfvrsn=6 5. Key principles for successful teacher development | WoBL. (2018, March 7). Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2018/03/06/principles-teacherdevelopment/

TESOL: Training for Trainers Fall 2020 November 3rd 2020