| Speed Reading ppt |
| Found at ebookbrowse.com |
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
A Process for Designing Performance Assessment Tasks
1. Identifying Outcomes and Indicators
• What learner outcome(s)/content standard(s) will be assessed through this task?
• What are observable and measurable indicators or each?
What are outcomes and indicators and how do they relate to Scope and Sequence?
Learner outcomes or expectancies are long-range goals that a teacher would assess on a longitudinal or summative basis. For example, one of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) expectancies for Social Studies is that students will be able to demonstrate an ability to gather information, think critically, and solve problems. This expectancy can only be measured over a period of time in which students are instructed and assessed on a variety of methods for demonstrating this set of skills and processes.
Learning indicators, on the other hand, are more activity and task specific, that is, they an be assessed through the performance task. An indicator under the umbrella of the skills and processes expectancy described above is that students will be able to use print and non-print sources of information to acquire and use information necessary to make decisions. A student's competency and level of mastery of this indicator is more specific to the set of skills that would be measured by this task.
Expectancies and indicators are articulated within a Scope and Sequence of skills and competencies as articulated by the school system. The Scope and Sequence specifies the indicators that students must master at a particular grade level and by subject area. When planning lessons, units, and performance tasks, the Scope and Sequence serves as a road map for teachers to determine from which indicators they may select to plan.
What is the difference between indicators and objectives?
While indicators describe what students will be able to know and do in a performance task, they may not necessarily be specific enough for a teacher or student to be able to assess a given lesson or activity within the broader task. Therefore, as part of the planning process, teachers may have to articulate more specific learning objectives do help students understand how they will be assessed both formatively and summatively on a daily basis. A daily objective is observable, measurable, and specific. For example, a daily objective from the above indicator might be that students will be able to use the internet to find at least three reasons Northern United States citizens in the mid 19th century were opposed to the slavery.
How are outcomes and indicators used in developing tasks?
As stated in the answers above, outcomes/expectancies are used to determine the overall knowledge and skill targets for students over a long period of time while indicators set the learning targets to be accomplished within a given task. These indicators help teachers to specifically identify the necessary skills and competencies before the task is developed. By framing task activities around these indicators, teachers can be sure to align these activities appropriately with that which is measured by the task. Additionally, as activities are constructed, the indicators give teachers targets toward which activities all build. In the example above, where students are will be assessed on their ability to gather information to make decisions, activities and lessons would build these skills. Specifically, students might be involved in the following activities:
• instruction and practice in using the internet to gather information;
• analysis of historical documents, with accompanying instruction on how to analyze text to distinguish point of view and biases; and
• writing a letter to the editor of the Gettysburg Gazette from the point of view of a northern sympathizer during the Civil War.
Just as these indicators are used to develop the task activities, they are the backbone of the assessments used throughout the task. Formative assessments for the task activities might therefore measure students' understanding of key concepts related to the task's indicators. These assessments may also measure key skills and processes needed in order to master the indicators. For example, for the indicator described above, skills and understandings measured formatively might include: (1) an understanding of how the internet can be used to locate information; (2) ability to use a search engine on the internet; (3) ability to locate key information from text that denoted biases within the work; or (4) an understanding of how opinions, facts, and events contribute to the decision-making process.
2. Creating a Meaningful Task Context
• What is a meaningful context for engaging students in this task?
• What real issues, problems, themes, and student interests can help determine this context?
To capture students' attention and to engage them in the learning process, their learning must have meaning beyond the activity or task. Task activities and assessments must be geared around authentic, real-world experiences. Meaningful themes established throughout the task will help students to build a greater understanding of the content and skills developed through the task.
How is a meaningful context established?
Think about the students in your classroom. Think of their interests, goals, experiences, and hobbies. Think of the skills they will need to develop in progression toward the stated outcomes and indicators. Now, connect the two thoughts. A meaningful context helps to bridge students' prior knowledge and interests with essential skills and competencies. For example, students may have an interest in basketball and in socializing with friends at a local park that is targeted for destruction in order to build a new parking lot. Essential skills may include developing a persuasive argument and presenting it in written and oral form. These two ideas can be bridged into a meaningful context where students would develop the skills needed to present an argument for saving the local park.
What are some options in determining a meaningful context?
3. Identifying Products and Performances
• What student product(s) and/or performances will provide evidence of student attainment of outcomes?
• Will students have a choice regarding products and/or performances?
The activities within a performance assessment task serve as instructional exercises and as assessments of student progresses toward the stated outcome/indicators.
What considerations should be made in determining the products and performances of task activities?
Once the theme or meaningful context has been established (see Step 2), teachers should begin to develop the task activities. Within these activities students will complete a product or performance based upon the task's learning indicator(s). While these activities may include products and performances, teachers should be sure to plan for additional instruction as necessary to assist students in completing the activity satisfactorily. For example, if students were asked to make a presentation on the amount of rainfall over the past ten months, and as part of that presentation students would need to include a graph and illustrations of rainfall measurements for different regions, instruction would need to include, but not be limited to: (1) use, analysis, and construction of graphs for displaying data; (2) gathering information on rainfall and other weather data; and (3) understandings of geographic regions, biomes, and weather patterns.
Activities and performances within a task may lead to a culminating activity or meaningful use task. This final task activity serves as a summative measure of students' understandings, abilities, and competencies as they relate to the task outcomes and indicators. The final task is specifically related to the theme or meaningful context for the task and may be a way to tie together the separate skills from various activities within the performance task.
In designing the task activities, teachers should consider the following:
What is the purpose for the task/activity? What will students need to do?
• persuade
• make decisions
• defend a position
• entertain
• design
• conduct an experiment
• explain
• solve a problem
Who is the audience for their performance?
• other students
• elected officials
• a newspaper editor
• school board members
• parents/relatives
What kinds of authentic products and performances will students be asked to do?
Written Performance Visual
• book review
• editorial
• letter
• magazine article
• poem
• play
• research report
• information web page
• interview
• oral report
• play
• song/rap
• teach a lesson
• cartoon
• display
• model
• poster
• videotape
• web page
4. Considering Options in Task Design
• To what extent will the task allow for student choice?
• To what extent will students need to acquire outside resources
• Will students work on the task individually and/or in pairs/groups?
• To whom will students present their products and performances?
• How long will students be involved in this task?
• Who will be involved in evaluating student products and performances?
• How will assessment results be reported?
Performance assessment tasks serve to supplement and reinforce existing curriculum. The questions articulated above provide teachers with several questions to consider as tasks are designed. In addition, the following may be considered:
For how long should students be involved in a performance task?
While there is no specified time limit or minimal time specifications, teachers should examine their curriculum to see where and how long would be appropriate to engage students in a performance tasks. Some tasks may be more limited in scope and last for one class period, while others may have interdisciplinary connections or extended projects which may last for weeks.
As constructing and implementing performance tasks takes time, particularly in the beginning, teachers may want to start small, i.e., start by developing s short task focusing on a limited number of indicators that can be completed in a day or two. As more tasks are developed, the teacher's proficiency and comfort level will be increased and the teacher may wish to extend the time and scope of the next task.
When and how should tasks be designed with interdisciplinary connections?
There are times when two or more curricular areas lend themselves well to integrated tasks. When a social studies unit can be enhanced by involving students with a piece of literature or when problem solving involves both mathematics and science, for example, then teachers would serve their students well by drawing the critical connections between the content areas. However, when teachers force connections in order to involve as many teachers as possible, they may do more harm than good by delivering inconsistent instruction.
Just as curriculum guides and Scope and Sequence guides are used to help plan instructional and assessment tasks, so too must they be used to see where appropriate interdisciplinary connections may be made. If connections will help to strengthen, reinforce, or extend students' understandings and abilities, then an interdisciplinary connection may be warranted. If however, there is uncertainty or if you have to search beyond the scope of the curriculum, then perhaps there is no connection.
Once the decision is made to connect two content areas within the scope of a single task, the teachers involved would establish some guidelines for constructing the task. These guidelines may include: defining the theme or meaningful context; determining the connections and how they are evidenced in the culminating task; and deciding how activities would be completed within each content area/discipline. In addition, teachers involved would make assessment decisions, including how results would be reported and by whom would tasks be reviewed or assessed.
Another connection that teachers of other disciplines/content areas may wish to explore beyond content connections is that of skill reinforcement. Tasks may be designed to teach and assess a set of skills, such as comparison or abstract reasoning. Teachers may agree on the skill(s) to be addressed in the task and address the skills as appropriate for their content area. The graphic organizers and general process may be similar for all areas, yet the content and how the skills are used in conjunction with the content will vary.
5. Planning Task Activities
• What activities will be included in the task?
• Which of these activities will be scored?
• Which indicator(s) will be assessed through each activity?
• In designing the task activities, be sure he scored components elicit student responses that correspond to the identified indicators. Additionally, non-scored components should be supportive of those that are scored. The following template may be helpful for designing task activities:
Theme/Meaningful Context:
Activity # Time: Scored? ___YES __NO
Indicator(s):
Purpose: Audience:
Activity Description: Materials and Other Considerations:
6. Identifying Evaluative Criteria
• What criteria, related to identified outcomes/standards and indicators, will be used to evaluate student products and performances?
• Do these criteria reflect the most valued elements of student performance?
Criteria for evaluating performance tasks are established using the indicators for the assessed activity(ies).
How are criteria established?
Using these indicators, proficiency levels can be established to determine the extent to which students have mastered the skills or understandings. For each set of skills or understandings, scoring tools can be developed to measure the degree of proficiency for each area. Differences in these degrees are described below.
These degrees can be used in scoring tools to assess the achievement of students on a given task.
7. Generating an Exemplary Response
• What would an exemplary response(s) to this activity/task be? What are the key characteristics of such a response(s)?
• Does your exemplary response clearly relate to the outcome(s) and indicator(s) that you wish to assess?
Providing students with models of excellence will help them to see what is expected of them. What follows is a list of suggestions for preparing exemplary responses:
• Be sure the responses you provide measure up to the criteria set in the scoring tools.
• Present exemplars along side the accompanying scoring tools to show students how the two align
• Present exemplars and scoring tools when the task is first assigned.
• In addition to exemplary responses you may have written or constructed, present exemplary student work as well.
• Be sure to provide a variety of responses to the same activity. Let students know there is more than one correct way to respond.
• What learner outcome(s)/content standard(s) will be assessed through this task?
• What are observable and measurable indicators or each?
What are outcomes and indicators and how do they relate to Scope and Sequence?
Learner outcomes or expectancies are long-range goals that a teacher would assess on a longitudinal or summative basis. For example, one of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) expectancies for Social Studies is that students will be able to demonstrate an ability to gather information, think critically, and solve problems. This expectancy can only be measured over a period of time in which students are instructed and assessed on a variety of methods for demonstrating this set of skills and processes.
Learning indicators, on the other hand, are more activity and task specific, that is, they an be assessed through the performance task. An indicator under the umbrella of the skills and processes expectancy described above is that students will be able to use print and non-print sources of information to acquire and use information necessary to make decisions. A student's competency and level of mastery of this indicator is more specific to the set of skills that would be measured by this task.
Expectancies and indicators are articulated within a Scope and Sequence of skills and competencies as articulated by the school system. The Scope and Sequence specifies the indicators that students must master at a particular grade level and by subject area. When planning lessons, units, and performance tasks, the Scope and Sequence serves as a road map for teachers to determine from which indicators they may select to plan.
What is the difference between indicators and objectives?
While indicators describe what students will be able to know and do in a performance task, they may not necessarily be specific enough for a teacher or student to be able to assess a given lesson or activity within the broader task. Therefore, as part of the planning process, teachers may have to articulate more specific learning objectives do help students understand how they will be assessed both formatively and summatively on a daily basis. A daily objective is observable, measurable, and specific. For example, a daily objective from the above indicator might be that students will be able to use the internet to find at least three reasons Northern United States citizens in the mid 19th century were opposed to the slavery.
How are outcomes and indicators used in developing tasks?
As stated in the answers above, outcomes/expectancies are used to determine the overall knowledge and skill targets for students over a long period of time while indicators set the learning targets to be accomplished within a given task. These indicators help teachers to specifically identify the necessary skills and competencies before the task is developed. By framing task activities around these indicators, teachers can be sure to align these activities appropriately with that which is measured by the task. Additionally, as activities are constructed, the indicators give teachers targets toward which activities all build. In the example above, where students are will be assessed on their ability to gather information to make decisions, activities and lessons would build these skills. Specifically, students might be involved in the following activities:
• instruction and practice in using the internet to gather information;
• analysis of historical documents, with accompanying instruction on how to analyze text to distinguish point of view and biases; and
• writing a letter to the editor of the Gettysburg Gazette from the point of view of a northern sympathizer during the Civil War.
Just as these indicators are used to develop the task activities, they are the backbone of the assessments used throughout the task. Formative assessments for the task activities might therefore measure students' understanding of key concepts related to the task's indicators. These assessments may also measure key skills and processes needed in order to master the indicators. For example, for the indicator described above, skills and understandings measured formatively might include: (1) an understanding of how the internet can be used to locate information; (2) ability to use a search engine on the internet; (3) ability to locate key information from text that denoted biases within the work; or (4) an understanding of how opinions, facts, and events contribute to the decision-making process.
2. Creating a Meaningful Task Context
• What is a meaningful context for engaging students in this task?
• What real issues, problems, themes, and student interests can help determine this context?
To capture students' attention and to engage them in the learning process, their learning must have meaning beyond the activity or task. Task activities and assessments must be geared around authentic, real-world experiences. Meaningful themes established throughout the task will help students to build a greater understanding of the content and skills developed through the task.
How is a meaningful context established?
Think about the students in your classroom. Think of their interests, goals, experiences, and hobbies. Think of the skills they will need to develop in progression toward the stated outcomes and indicators. Now, connect the two thoughts. A meaningful context helps to bridge students' prior knowledge and interests with essential skills and competencies. For example, students may have an interest in basketball and in socializing with friends at a local park that is targeted for destruction in order to build a new parking lot. Essential skills may include developing a persuasive argument and presenting it in written and oral form. These two ideas can be bridged into a meaningful context where students would develop the skills needed to present an argument for saving the local park.
What are some options in determining a meaningful context?
3. Identifying Products and Performances
• What student product(s) and/or performances will provide evidence of student attainment of outcomes?
• Will students have a choice regarding products and/or performances?
The activities within a performance assessment task serve as instructional exercises and as assessments of student progresses toward the stated outcome/indicators.
What considerations should be made in determining the products and performances of task activities?
Once the theme or meaningful context has been established (see Step 2), teachers should begin to develop the task activities. Within these activities students will complete a product or performance based upon the task's learning indicator(s). While these activities may include products and performances, teachers should be sure to plan for additional instruction as necessary to assist students in completing the activity satisfactorily. For example, if students were asked to make a presentation on the amount of rainfall over the past ten months, and as part of that presentation students would need to include a graph and illustrations of rainfall measurements for different regions, instruction would need to include, but not be limited to: (1) use, analysis, and construction of graphs for displaying data; (2) gathering information on rainfall and other weather data; and (3) understandings of geographic regions, biomes, and weather patterns.
Activities and performances within a task may lead to a culminating activity or meaningful use task. This final task activity serves as a summative measure of students' understandings, abilities, and competencies as they relate to the task outcomes and indicators. The final task is specifically related to the theme or meaningful context for the task and may be a way to tie together the separate skills from various activities within the performance task.
In designing the task activities, teachers should consider the following:
What is the purpose for the task/activity? What will students need to do?
• persuade
• make decisions
• defend a position
• entertain
• design
• conduct an experiment
• explain
• solve a problem
Who is the audience for their performance?
• other students
• elected officials
• a newspaper editor
• school board members
• parents/relatives
What kinds of authentic products and performances will students be asked to do?
Written Performance Visual
• book review
• editorial
• letter
• magazine article
• poem
• play
• research report
• information web page
• interview
• oral report
• play
• song/rap
• teach a lesson
• cartoon
• display
• model
• poster
• videotape
• web page
4. Considering Options in Task Design
• To what extent will the task allow for student choice?
• To what extent will students need to acquire outside resources
• Will students work on the task individually and/or in pairs/groups?
• To whom will students present their products and performances?
• How long will students be involved in this task?
• Who will be involved in evaluating student products and performances?
• How will assessment results be reported?
Performance assessment tasks serve to supplement and reinforce existing curriculum. The questions articulated above provide teachers with several questions to consider as tasks are designed. In addition, the following may be considered:
For how long should students be involved in a performance task?
While there is no specified time limit or minimal time specifications, teachers should examine their curriculum to see where and how long would be appropriate to engage students in a performance tasks. Some tasks may be more limited in scope and last for one class period, while others may have interdisciplinary connections or extended projects which may last for weeks.
As constructing and implementing performance tasks takes time, particularly in the beginning, teachers may want to start small, i.e., start by developing s short task focusing on a limited number of indicators that can be completed in a day or two. As more tasks are developed, the teacher's proficiency and comfort level will be increased and the teacher may wish to extend the time and scope of the next task.
When and how should tasks be designed with interdisciplinary connections?
There are times when two or more curricular areas lend themselves well to integrated tasks. When a social studies unit can be enhanced by involving students with a piece of literature or when problem solving involves both mathematics and science, for example, then teachers would serve their students well by drawing the critical connections between the content areas. However, when teachers force connections in order to involve as many teachers as possible, they may do more harm than good by delivering inconsistent instruction.
Just as curriculum guides and Scope and Sequence guides are used to help plan instructional and assessment tasks, so too must they be used to see where appropriate interdisciplinary connections may be made. If connections will help to strengthen, reinforce, or extend students' understandings and abilities, then an interdisciplinary connection may be warranted. If however, there is uncertainty or if you have to search beyond the scope of the curriculum, then perhaps there is no connection.
Once the decision is made to connect two content areas within the scope of a single task, the teachers involved would establish some guidelines for constructing the task. These guidelines may include: defining the theme or meaningful context; determining the connections and how they are evidenced in the culminating task; and deciding how activities would be completed within each content area/discipline. In addition, teachers involved would make assessment decisions, including how results would be reported and by whom would tasks be reviewed or assessed.
Another connection that teachers of other disciplines/content areas may wish to explore beyond content connections is that of skill reinforcement. Tasks may be designed to teach and assess a set of skills, such as comparison or abstract reasoning. Teachers may agree on the skill(s) to be addressed in the task and address the skills as appropriate for their content area. The graphic organizers and general process may be similar for all areas, yet the content and how the skills are used in conjunction with the content will vary.
5. Planning Task Activities
• What activities will be included in the task?
• Which of these activities will be scored?
• Which indicator(s) will be assessed through each activity?
• In designing the task activities, be sure he scored components elicit student responses that correspond to the identified indicators. Additionally, non-scored components should be supportive of those that are scored. The following template may be helpful for designing task activities:
Theme/Meaningful Context:
Activity # Time: Scored? ___YES __NO
Indicator(s):
Purpose: Audience:
Activity Description: Materials and Other Considerations:
6. Identifying Evaluative Criteria
• What criteria, related to identified outcomes/standards and indicators, will be used to evaluate student products and performances?
• Do these criteria reflect the most valued elements of student performance?
Criteria for evaluating performance tasks are established using the indicators for the assessed activity(ies).
How are criteria established?
Using these indicators, proficiency levels can be established to determine the extent to which students have mastered the skills or understandings. For each set of skills or understandings, scoring tools can be developed to measure the degree of proficiency for each area. Differences in these degrees are described below.
These degrees can be used in scoring tools to assess the achievement of students on a given task.
7. Generating an Exemplary Response
• What would an exemplary response(s) to this activity/task be? What are the key characteristics of such a response(s)?
• Does your exemplary response clearly relate to the outcome(s) and indicator(s) that you wish to assess?
Providing students with models of excellence will help them to see what is expected of them. What follows is a list of suggestions for preparing exemplary responses:
• Be sure the responses you provide measure up to the criteria set in the scoring tools.
• Present exemplars along side the accompanying scoring tools to show students how the two align
• Present exemplars and scoring tools when the task is first assigned.
• In addition to exemplary responses you may have written or constructed, present exemplary student work as well.
• Be sure to provide a variety of responses to the same activity. Let students know there is more than one correct way to respond.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Article Published in The News
English Language Teaching: Need to Think Outside the Box
Following traditional methods of English language teaching for decades has not yielded adequate benefits for the students as well as for the policy makers in the Ministry of Education. Contrarily, student participation and the two way flow of ideas between teacher and students is discouraged and suppressed unfairly in the traditional face-to-face classroom interaction where teachers do not stop from being authority figures for their students. Teachers usually ask students to read out loud and respond and to single-answer information questions about course texts. The constant quelling over a period of time surely had negative repercussions. It spoiled the faculties of critical thinking and autonomy in students, and promoted rote learning, passivity and lack of creativity and confidence.
A much-heralded alternative is to change the focus of the classroom from teacher dominated to student-centered using a constructivist approach. Constructivist approach to learning describes learning as a constructive process in which the learning builds an internal representation and interpretation of knowledge by internalizing and transforming new information. Based on this underlying theory, pedagogical approaches in second language teaching and learning have also shifted emphasis from acquiring skills or learning content (product-based process) to interaction of the learners with the content and with the environment (process-based approaches).
Constructivism's perspectives on the role of the individual, on the importance of meaning-making, and on the active role of the learner are the very elements that make the theory appealing to educators. Teachers are typically acutely aware of the role of prior knowledge in students' learning, recognizing that students are not blank slates or empty vessels waiting to be filled with knowledge. Instead, students bring with them a rich array of prior experiences, knowledge, and beliefs that they use in constructing new understandings. These preconceived structures are either valid, invalid or incomplete. The learner will reformulate his/her existing structures only if new information or experiences are connected to knowledge already in memory. Inferences, elaborations and relationships between old perceptions and new ideas must be personally drawn by the student in order for the new idea to become an integrated, useful part of his/her memory. Memorized facts or information that has not been connected with the learner's prior experiences will be quickly forgotten. Teachers should assist the students in developing new insights and connecting them with their previous learning. Ideas are presented holistically as broad concepts and then broken down into parts.
Learning is a social activity: our learning is intimately associated with our connection with other human beings, our teachers, our peers, our family as well as casual acquaintances, including the people before us or next to us at the exhibit. We are more likely to be successful in our efforts to educate if we recognize this principle rather than try to avoid it. Much of traditional education, as Dewey pointed out, is directed towards isolating the learner from all social interaction, and towards seeing education as a one-on-one relationship between the learner and the objective material to be learned. In contrast, progressive education recognizes the social aspect of learning and uses conversation, interaction with others, and the application of knowledge as an integral aspect of learning.
Social constructivist applications can easily be implemented in our schools through the widespread use of cooperative and collaborative teaching strategies such as: Teams-Games-Tournament, Student Teams Achievement Division, Jigsaw, Numbered Heads Together, and Peer-Peer Tutoring. One of the most obvious places where the impact of social constructivist theories can be seen is in the design and organization of classrooms. Gone are the individual study carrells that appeared with behaviorism. Teachers should recognize the power of peer-peer interactions and the greater classroom community in learning. Many elitist classrooms can accommodate spaces for small group work, as well as for whole class discussions. Elementary classrooms may often include small group reading areas, mathematics centers, and science stations. Middle and high schools should move away from unmovable desks to seating arrangements that are flexible and allow for small group work.
These principles of language instruction based on a constructivist approach can then be integrated with principles of synchronous computer-mediated communication in which meaning can be negotiated in written text. The interactions among learners, as well as the interaction of the learner with authentic material in the Web environment, enhance the ‘learning-as-knowledge-construction’ process.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The writer is MA English from Pakistan and MA TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from the University of Leeds (UK). He teaches MA (ELTL) in University of the Punjab, Lahore, as visiting faculty, conducts teacher training workshops for Punjab Education Foundation and is a permanent faculty member in Beaconhouse National University, School of Education, Lahore.
(ALI AHMAD ABIDI)
aliahmadabidi@yahoo.com
Lahore.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Teaching Writing Strategies
I recommend a four-step instructional process for teaching writing strategies.
The steps are these:
1. Identify a strategy worth teaching
Identifying strategies worth teaching means looking for strategies that will be genuinely helpful. In the case of struggling writers, strategies worth teaching are the ones which will help them overcome their writing difficulties. Research suggests that the best way to identify such strategies is by talking with struggling writers, asking them about how they write, what they think about while writing, and what they see as difficulties. Additional insight can be gained by studying student papers to infer where writers are having difficulty and by observing writers at work.
2. Introduce the strategy by modeling it
Introducing strategies by modeling them generally means some form of composing out loud in front of students. Many of the teachers in research studies prefer to do this for groups or whole classes by writing at an overhead projector. They speak their thoughts while writing, calling particular attention to the strategy they are recommending for students. Sometimes they ask students to contribute to the writing the teacher is doing, to copy the writing for themselves, or to compose a similar piece of writing in connection with the writing the teacher is doing. Teachers also frequently model writing strategies during individual conferences with students.
3. Scaffold students' learning of the strategy
Scaffolding the learning of a writing strategy means helping students to try the strategy with teacher assistance. This is best done in a writing workshop. The workshop setting is ideal for giving varying degrees of assistance according to individual needs. It is also ideal for conferring with individuals and for setting up partnerships and peer groups so that students can assist each other in the learning of strategies. Even when a writing workshop is not used, some amount of in-class writing with teacher assistance is necessary to make sure that writers practice using the strategy being taught.
4. Repeated practice and reinforcement
Helping students to work toward independent mastery of the strategy through repeated practice and reinforcement means giving them opportunities to use the strategy many times with decreasing amounts of assistance each time. The idea here is that it is better to teach a few key writing strategies well than it is to teach many of them insufficiently. Students value and master the things we have them do repeatedly. In a way, this gets back to identifying strategies worth teaching -- look for ones that are crucial to writing processes, such as strategies for planning particular types of writing, or for structuring texts certain ways. Then model, practice and repeat.
The steps are these:
1. Identify a strategy worth teaching
Identifying strategies worth teaching means looking for strategies that will be genuinely helpful. In the case of struggling writers, strategies worth teaching are the ones which will help them overcome their writing difficulties. Research suggests that the best way to identify such strategies is by talking with struggling writers, asking them about how they write, what they think about while writing, and what they see as difficulties. Additional insight can be gained by studying student papers to infer where writers are having difficulty and by observing writers at work.
2. Introduce the strategy by modeling it
Introducing strategies by modeling them generally means some form of composing out loud in front of students. Many of the teachers in research studies prefer to do this for groups or whole classes by writing at an overhead projector. They speak their thoughts while writing, calling particular attention to the strategy they are recommending for students. Sometimes they ask students to contribute to the writing the teacher is doing, to copy the writing for themselves, or to compose a similar piece of writing in connection with the writing the teacher is doing. Teachers also frequently model writing strategies during individual conferences with students.
3. Scaffold students' learning of the strategy
Scaffolding the learning of a writing strategy means helping students to try the strategy with teacher assistance. This is best done in a writing workshop. The workshop setting is ideal for giving varying degrees of assistance according to individual needs. It is also ideal for conferring with individuals and for setting up partnerships and peer groups so that students can assist each other in the learning of strategies. Even when a writing workshop is not used, some amount of in-class writing with teacher assistance is necessary to make sure that writers practice using the strategy being taught.
4. Repeated practice and reinforcement
Helping students to work toward independent mastery of the strategy through repeated practice and reinforcement means giving them opportunities to use the strategy many times with decreasing amounts of assistance each time. The idea here is that it is better to teach a few key writing strategies well than it is to teach many of them insufficiently. Students value and master the things we have them do repeatedly. In a way, this gets back to identifying strategies worth teaching -- look for ones that are crucial to writing processes, such as strategies for planning particular types of writing, or for structuring texts certain ways. Then model, practice and repeat.
Teaching Writing
The tasks of teacher in writing
Teachers have a number of crucial tasks to perform, especially when students are doing 'writing-for-writing' activities, where they may be reluctant to express themselves or have difficulty finding ways and means of expressing themselves to their satisfaction. Among the tasks which teachers have to perform before, during, and after student writing are the following:
• Demonstrating – Since students need to be aware of writing conventions and genre constraints in specific types of writing, teachers have to be able to draw these features to their attention. For example, lay out issues or the language used to perform certain written functions.
• Motivating and provoking - student writers often find themselves 'lost for words', especially in creative writing tasks. This is where the teacher can help, provoking the students into having ideas, enthusing them with the value of the task, and persuading them what fun it can be. Sometimes teachers can give them the words they need to start a writing task as a way of getting them going.
• Supporting. Students need a lot of help and reassurance once they get going, both with ideas and with the means to carry them out
• Responding - the way we react to students' written work can be divided
into two main categories, that of responding and that of evaluating.
When responding, we react to the content and construction of a piece
supportively and often (but not always) make suggestions for its
improvement.
For example, when students write journals, we may respond by reacting to what they have said (e.g. 'your holiday sounds very interesting, Raza. I liked the bit about running out of petrol but I didn't understand exactly who went and got some petrol. Could you possibly write and tell me in your next journal entry?') rather than filling their journal entry full of correction symbols. Comments about their use of language and suggest ways of improving it (e.g. 'be careful with your past tenses, Hassan. Look at the verbs I've underlined and see if you can write them correctly.')
• Evaluating - We do want to evaluate students' work and know what standard we have reached (in the case of a progress/achievement test). We may also award grades.
Building the writing habit
1. Building confidence and enthusiasm
The unwillingness to write in English may derive from anxieties students have about their handwriting, their spelling, or their ability to construct sentences and paragraphs.
The students’ reluctance to write can also be because they rarely write even in their own language, and so the activity feels alien.
Another powerful disincentive is the fear that they have ‘nothing to say’.
Finally, writing just does not interest some students.
With such students, we need to spend some time building the writing habit – that is, making students feel comfortable as writers in English and gaining their willing participation in more creative or extended activities. This will involve:
1. Choosing the right kinds of activities
2. Providing them with enough language and information to allow them to complete writing tasks.
2. Choosing writing tasks and activities
It is important to choose writing activities that have a chance for appealing to our students and also have some relevance for them. For example, writing fairy tales might appeal children but could fail to inspire a group of university students.
We need to have a good idea of not only what students are likely to be doing in English in the future, but also what kind of subject and tasks they will enjoy – or have enjoyed in the past.
Teachers have a number of crucial tasks to perform, especially when students are doing 'writing-for-writing' activities, where they may be reluctant to express themselves or have difficulty finding ways and means of expressing themselves to their satisfaction. Among the tasks which teachers have to perform before, during, and after student writing are the following:
• Demonstrating – Since students need to be aware of writing conventions and genre constraints in specific types of writing, teachers have to be able to draw these features to their attention. For example, lay out issues or the language used to perform certain written functions.
• Motivating and provoking - student writers often find themselves 'lost for words', especially in creative writing tasks. This is where the teacher can help, provoking the students into having ideas, enthusing them with the value of the task, and persuading them what fun it can be. Sometimes teachers can give them the words they need to start a writing task as a way of getting them going.
• Supporting. Students need a lot of help and reassurance once they get going, both with ideas and with the means to carry them out
• Responding - the way we react to students' written work can be divided
into two main categories, that of responding and that of evaluating.
When responding, we react to the content and construction of a piece
supportively and often (but not always) make suggestions for its
improvement.
For example, when students write journals, we may respond by reacting to what they have said (e.g. 'your holiday sounds very interesting, Raza. I liked the bit about running out of petrol but I didn't understand exactly who went and got some petrol. Could you possibly write and tell me in your next journal entry?') rather than filling their journal entry full of correction symbols. Comments about their use of language and suggest ways of improving it (e.g. 'be careful with your past tenses, Hassan. Look at the verbs I've underlined and see if you can write them correctly.')
• Evaluating - We do want to evaluate students' work and know what standard we have reached (in the case of a progress/achievement test). We may also award grades.
Building the writing habit
1. Building confidence and enthusiasm
The unwillingness to write in English may derive from anxieties students have about their handwriting, their spelling, or their ability to construct sentences and paragraphs.
The students’ reluctance to write can also be because they rarely write even in their own language, and so the activity feels alien.
Another powerful disincentive is the fear that they have ‘nothing to say’.
Finally, writing just does not interest some students.
With such students, we need to spend some time building the writing habit – that is, making students feel comfortable as writers in English and gaining their willing participation in more creative or extended activities. This will involve:
1. Choosing the right kinds of activities
2. Providing them with enough language and information to allow them to complete writing tasks.
2. Choosing writing tasks and activities
It is important to choose writing activities that have a chance for appealing to our students and also have some relevance for them. For example, writing fairy tales might appeal children but could fail to inspire a group of university students.
We need to have a good idea of not only what students are likely to be doing in English in the future, but also what kind of subject and tasks they will enjoy – or have enjoyed in the past.
Teaching the Conventions of Writing
General Tips
1. Post the mini-lesson you will conduct a week in advance. Expect children to experiment with these in advance of the lesson.
2. Keep the tone of each mini-lesson as one of discovery, rather than of preoccupation with accurate use of the convention.
3. Talk about conventions: So the first thing you'll do in this mini-lesson is help children to see what they already know about conventions.
4. Let children share the conventions they are using. Ask questions like: Did anyone use a new form of punctuation? Did anyone use quotation marks today? If you ask children to keep track of the conventions they use, they'll have much to share.
5. Post the names of children who effectively use certain conventions and can serve as helpers to other students.
STRATEGIES TO MASTER BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS
Our lives are marked by beginnings and endings. In the things we do every day, we look for starting and ending points. We hold those images — their sight, smell, taste, and feel close. It's no wonder, then, that writers take such care to develop strong introductions and conclusions — introductions that grab readers and conclusions that leave them feeling satisfied. The best leads and endings don't just happen; they are crafted. This can be a painstaking process that, as any experienced writer knows, becomes somewhat easier with practice.
1. CONDUCT READ-ALOUDS FROM FAVORITE BOOKS
Explore examples of leads and conclusions. Have students read the first sentence or paragraph to the whole class. As a group, discuss whether this opening makes you want to keep reading and why. Then read the whole story, paying special attention to the ending. How does it make students feel?
2. SHARE YOUR OWN WORK
Show three rough starts or finishes that you have written. Have the class decide which ones work best, and then talk about how you made your choices.
3. HAVE STUDENTS CHOOSE A FIRST DRAFT
Make sure students understand that the time to write best beginnings is after they've completed their first drafts. At that stage they can return to their original beginning and be merciless, hacking off as much as necessary to find a good lead. Tell them that even the most accomplished writers have to dig through a few bad sentences and paragraphs before they get to the good stuff.
There can be three kinds of beginnings that work well. Teaching these leads alleviates some of the anguish of making cuts, and puts students on the road to well-crafted writing.
1. The circular lead/close: Once a first draft is completed, a circular lead/close is easy to create. I have students look at their endings and ask them if they can begin with those closing words as well. This type of lead is a favorite of many students.
2. The dialogue lead: Indeed, dialogue can be the stuff of sweet beginnings. Teach students to scan their writing until they reach the first quote, and then consider moving it to the start of the piece. If the first quote doesn't lend itself to a strong lead, encourage students to look for others that might.
3. The climactic lead: It's a good idea to pick up your readers by the scruff of their necks and drop them into the heart of a conflict. Every piece of writing has a climax, which doesn't always come at the very end. Students can be asked to find the point of greatest tension in their writing, and then to move those words to the beginning. Putting the climax of the story first gives the lead immediate energy.
4. Take a look at endings that don't work
There are three kinds of horrible endings that raise their heads again and again in writing. If you teach students to recognize these blunders in their writing, they are more likely to avoid them and craft more original closings.
• Unnecessary repetition: The student repeats his main point over and over again not knowing or trusting that he has made that point earlier. Students who have this tendency often just need to be reassured that they've done a good job in conveying their ideas earlier in the piece.
• Uninspired chronology: Students also make the error of reverting to chronology, often ending their writing with the characters dying or falling asleep. If you ask students never to end their pieces with phrases such as "...and they all went to bed," you'll eliminate lots of abrupt conclusions.
•
• The "Dallas Syndrome": This catchall ending is used when the writing is implausible, or contains loose ends that the writer can't tie up. In these instances, it's typical for students to conclude with passages such as, "It was all just a dream," or anything that provides an easy return from fantasy to reality. ("Dallas Syndrome" is a nickname inspired by the night-time soap opera).
5. Encourage kids to use one others leads and conclusions
Have each student give a classmate just the first line of something he or she has been working on. The recipient has to write something starting or ending with that line. If the student likes what she writes, she deletes her classmate's line, and replaces it with something original. This activity reduces the struggle of finding leads or endings, or of being overly invested in them in the first draft.
6. Are your students ready to revise?
Fostering an awareness of good beginnings and endings may be developmentally more realistic, and therefore more effective, than demanding revision from primary students. Students generally cannot spot good leads, as well as extraneous words in their endings; they even oppose revising their work to bring them out. You can have students underline or put a star around strong potential leads and endings in their writing using bright colored markers.
1. Post the mini-lesson you will conduct a week in advance. Expect children to experiment with these in advance of the lesson.
2. Keep the tone of each mini-lesson as one of discovery, rather than of preoccupation with accurate use of the convention.
3. Talk about conventions: So the first thing you'll do in this mini-lesson is help children to see what they already know about conventions.
4. Let children share the conventions they are using. Ask questions like: Did anyone use a new form of punctuation? Did anyone use quotation marks today? If you ask children to keep track of the conventions they use, they'll have much to share.
5. Post the names of children who effectively use certain conventions and can serve as helpers to other students.
STRATEGIES TO MASTER BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS
Our lives are marked by beginnings and endings. In the things we do every day, we look for starting and ending points. We hold those images — their sight, smell, taste, and feel close. It's no wonder, then, that writers take such care to develop strong introductions and conclusions — introductions that grab readers and conclusions that leave them feeling satisfied. The best leads and endings don't just happen; they are crafted. This can be a painstaking process that, as any experienced writer knows, becomes somewhat easier with practice.
1. CONDUCT READ-ALOUDS FROM FAVORITE BOOKS
Explore examples of leads and conclusions. Have students read the first sentence or paragraph to the whole class. As a group, discuss whether this opening makes you want to keep reading and why. Then read the whole story, paying special attention to the ending. How does it make students feel?
2. SHARE YOUR OWN WORK
Show three rough starts or finishes that you have written. Have the class decide which ones work best, and then talk about how you made your choices.
3. HAVE STUDENTS CHOOSE A FIRST DRAFT
Make sure students understand that the time to write best beginnings is after they've completed their first drafts. At that stage they can return to their original beginning and be merciless, hacking off as much as necessary to find a good lead. Tell them that even the most accomplished writers have to dig through a few bad sentences and paragraphs before they get to the good stuff.
There can be three kinds of beginnings that work well. Teaching these leads alleviates some of the anguish of making cuts, and puts students on the road to well-crafted writing.
1. The circular lead/close: Once a first draft is completed, a circular lead/close is easy to create. I have students look at their endings and ask them if they can begin with those closing words as well. This type of lead is a favorite of many students.
2. The dialogue lead: Indeed, dialogue can be the stuff of sweet beginnings. Teach students to scan their writing until they reach the first quote, and then consider moving it to the start of the piece. If the first quote doesn't lend itself to a strong lead, encourage students to look for others that might.
3. The climactic lead: It's a good idea to pick up your readers by the scruff of their necks and drop them into the heart of a conflict. Every piece of writing has a climax, which doesn't always come at the very end. Students can be asked to find the point of greatest tension in their writing, and then to move those words to the beginning. Putting the climax of the story first gives the lead immediate energy.
4. Take a look at endings that don't work
There are three kinds of horrible endings that raise their heads again and again in writing. If you teach students to recognize these blunders in their writing, they are more likely to avoid them and craft more original closings.
• Unnecessary repetition: The student repeats his main point over and over again not knowing or trusting that he has made that point earlier. Students who have this tendency often just need to be reassured that they've done a good job in conveying their ideas earlier in the piece.
• Uninspired chronology: Students also make the error of reverting to chronology, often ending their writing with the characters dying or falling asleep. If you ask students never to end their pieces with phrases such as "...and they all went to bed," you'll eliminate lots of abrupt conclusions.
•
• The "Dallas Syndrome": This catchall ending is used when the writing is implausible, or contains loose ends that the writer can't tie up. In these instances, it's typical for students to conclude with passages such as, "It was all just a dream," or anything that provides an easy return from fantasy to reality. ("Dallas Syndrome" is a nickname inspired by the night-time soap opera).
5. Encourage kids to use one others leads and conclusions
Have each student give a classmate just the first line of something he or she has been working on. The recipient has to write something starting or ending with that line. If the student likes what she writes, she deletes her classmate's line, and replaces it with something original. This activity reduces the struggle of finding leads or endings, or of being overly invested in them in the first draft.
6. Are your students ready to revise?
Fostering an awareness of good beginnings and endings may be developmentally more realistic, and therefore more effective, than demanding revision from primary students. Students generally cannot spot good leads, as well as extraneous words in their endings; they even oppose revising their work to bring them out. You can have students underline or put a star around strong potential leads and endings in their writing using bright colored markers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)