Standard 5 – Assess provide feedback and report on student learning

Evidence:

1) Student Work Samples

2) Sample IEP

3) Email about extra support class

4) Mentor Teacher Comments

Reflective Commentary:

There are many purposes of assessment, however, I believe that effective assessment enables the teacher to support student learning which can occur during or after the instruction. Assessment will not only provide information regards to student progress but also provide ideas in regards to whether or not my lessons need to be adjusted.

I believe that languages are one of the subjects that can conduct formative assessment easily in the class. For example, having an informal conversation with a student in Japanese allows me to acknowledge how much they understand or have progressed in their learning. Observing group work activities such as; a hiragana card game (used for memorising Japanese scripts), or pair work activities such as conversation role-play provide me with ample information to adjust my instruction or future lesson plans.

I admit that I have to provide summative assessments that may cause students stress due to this being part of the school process. But I hope that all students will view my classroom assessments in a positive way and as an integral part of their learning. I do not believe that the content of an assessment should ever be a surprise to a student. Rather an assessment should always provide students with important information in relation what they do know in relation to the core learning objectives. It is for this reason that I have made a tremendous effort this year in creating, delivering and then marking and often remarking formative assessments so that students have confidence in their ability to succeed in summative assessments.

Situation: My Year 8 Japanese Extension class requires me to maintain a high level of academic rigor to ensure that students are pushed to achieve their potential.

Action: This year I have created a range of formative and summative assessments designed to engage students and develop high levels of language proficiency. I have also encouraged my students to self-correct and develop their metacognitive abilities to take responsibility for their own learning.

Outcome: Please see some of the work samples below that demonstrate the high level of proficiency achieved by my Year 8 students. The class average is 90% and I no doubt that these all of these students will all continue their Japanese studies for many years to come.

Future Action Plan: I plan to rework many of the assessment rubrics for lower school Japanese classes to include sections that reward students more for effort and reflection on learning processes.