Answer: There are a number of ways to do this:
Question 6: What if I decide to assess something else that seems important?
Answer: Be sure to target the reading skill/s that you wish to assess
before the lesson. Then tell the students. Don’t change the target as
students are trying to give you what you asked for!
PLP-R (KS1) 9. Making an Assessment Plan
9. MAKING AN ASSESSMENT PLAN FOR OBSERVING, COLLECTING AND RECORDING
Plan how you will create maximum opportunities in your lessons to observe students and gather and record information about their learning. Use this package for ideas about classroom management and teacher roles, and theTeacher Placement Grid in the Units of Work.
Unit of Work: ………..… Year Level: ………..
Term: ……….. Year: ………
What to assess
Assessment technique
How Who (NET,
LET, CA)
When / Where
Letter names and sounds:
High Frequency words:
Reading behaviours
&
terminology:
Read a simple text (e.g. a sentence or more):
Record keeping:
Where will you keep the checklists?
Find in the Unit of Work
PLP-R (KS1) 9. Making an Assessment Plan
PLP-R (KS1) 10a. What To Do With Assessment Information
10. WHAT TO DO WITH ASSESSMENT INFORMATION 10a. Using assessment data to inform planning
★ Identify weaknesses shown by most of the class → plan to improve
★ Identify weaknesses shown in a small group →
plan to improve
★ Identify strengths shown by most of the class → plan to extend
★ Identify strengths shown in a small group → plan to extend
★ Design diagnosis activities, if needed → see exactly what the problem is for an
individual, small group or whole class.
Modify lessons so that some activities target reading skills in need of more teaching and practice
Modify resources e.g.
flashcards, word wall, reading books,
worksheets, to meet the needs of learners
Differentiate activities for students according to their needs (see Section 10c).
! Modify group size e.g. 2/3 class with teacher on intended lesson and 1/3 with classroom
assistant doing focus or modified work
! Re-arrange student groups
so able learners can model to less able learners
! Re-arrange students into ability groups for focus activities e.g. less able students work intensively with classroom assistant; able students do more challenging activities (see Section 10c)
! Use ECA to support specific learner needs e.g. P5 or P6 buddies to read with students.
Identifying learning patterns
Planning groups
Modifying lessons
PLP-R (KS1) 10a. What To Do With Assessment Information
PLP-R (KS1) 10b. What To Do With Assessment Information
10. WHAT TO DO WITH ASSESSMENT INFORMATION 10b. Sample planning meeting record (PMI)
Plus
+
Minus–
InterestingI
e.g. What are we doing well? e.g. Which students are not achieving and in what
reading skills? e.g. What are some interesting
things that are happening?
•
Looking at the Profile / checklists, it seems most of the children know the initial sounds we have been teaching.
There’s a little confusion with the letters ‘b’ and ‘d’ in P1.
•
Observed: They are imitating the teachers now as we read because they are settled on the mat and used to the routine.
•
Observed: Everyone knows the basic terminology: cover, title, author, illustrator when teachers use the terms.
•
Profile / checklists: All students know/practise the conventions of a book (i.e.
holding up right way, reading text in right direction, turning pages).
•
When we did one-on-one testing of the high frequency words (HFW), we found many children did not know them. We thought they did because they call them out in whole class practice. Have you noticed how we have removed HFW practice in the lessons when we are running out of time?
•
Observed some students still not imitating teacher, but some students definitely reading and need some more challenging text to engage with in part of the lesson.
•
When doing the one-on-one
reading, some of us found students did not understand terms like
‘word’, ‘illustrator’ and ‘author’.
•
Did you notice that Fanny is very quiet and never puts her hand up?
But she is really
involved in group work.
•
When the groups do the sequencing activity, some groups remembered the exact text from the big book. Others had a different order but the text still made sense. Is the activity for memory or to create text that makes sense?
Focus problem/s: 1.
High frequency words not well known
2.
Some students ready for reading (not imitating reading)
3.
Some book terminology not understood
Solutions / suggestions:
1. Do high frequency words in EVERY English lesson. Every teacher will have a set of flash cards and maybe put the words on classroom walls. Don’t leave out HFWs in Reading Lessons. For a few lessons, class forms into smaller groups, each with an adult, to practise HFWs. Teachers note who is struggling during this practice. Form a group with these ‘strugglers’ and do serious practice each lesson for a few weeks.
2. Have some higher level books on each table for early finishers to read. Start Guided Reading groups.
Students with less ability do intensive pre-reading activities with teacher. Higher level reading group has more challenging post-reading tasks.
3.
Teach reading terminology explicitly: make attachable labels for the big book (title, author, illustrator, word, picture, sentence, page, cover). Start reading with students coming out to attach these to parts of the book. Try with an unknown book. Make a worksheet with picture of a book and
Always start with
Plus.
PLP-R (KS1) 10b. What To Do With Assessment Information
PLP-R (KS1) 10c. What To Do With Assessment Information
10. WHAT TO DO WITH ASSESSMENT INFORMATION 10c. Planning for different learning needs
The more teachers use formative assessment, the more teachers can identify students’ different learning needs. As listed in Section 10a, there are many ways to respond to information gathered from assessment.
Below is a worksheet used after a storytelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Typically, every student in a class would do the worksheet. However, as teachers become aware of the learning needs of students, the worksheet task can be modified to support learners who need assistance with learning and/or challenge more able students.
In this way, teachers are responding to assessment information by (a) modifying a resource, and (b) grouping students according to need.
Original student worksheet:
An assessment code for Level I reading skills could be placed at the
bottom (see overpage for details).
Modified worksheet for students with higher reading ability:
An assessment code for Level II reading skills could be placed at the
bottom (see overpage for details).
PLP-R (KS1) 10c. What To Do With Assessment Information
7c. Planning for different learning needs continued
PLP-R (KS1) 10c. Planning for different learning needs 9c.
PLP-R (KS1) 11. Archiving Assessment Information
11. ARCHIVING ASSESSMENT INFORMATION
Keep track of student progress by storing files in an organised way e.g. file Portfolios in order of classes.
Decide which work samples you want to collect and store them in student / class drawers or files.
There’s no right way to archive. Use the resources you have to make a system that works for you.