Feedback & Judgement
AITSL Graduate Standards: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.1, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4
My pre-service class focused on the Year 6 HASS curriculum area of History throughout the duration of my placement. The term 2 and 3 History unit was planned with my mentor teacher and in conjunction with the other Year 6 Teachers. Three summative assessment pieces were created to target the main Australian Curriculum Year 6 HASS inquiry questions: Why and how did Australia become a nation? How did Australian society change throughout the twentieth century? Who were the people who came to Australia? Why did they come? and What contribution have significant individuals and groups made to the development of Australian society? The three pieces (Appendix 2) of student evidence for my three focus students; Shannon, Stephen and Kasia, discussed in this section were from the first summative assessment: Interview with a key Australian Icon involved in the process of federation.
For the assessment, students had to research a key icon involved in Australian Federation and conduct an interview with that person. They were required to answer the given interview questions in the way that they thought that the Australian Federation Icon would have answered. Students were required to create a draft in their books before creating a final copy using Microsoft Word. Creating final copies on the computer allowed the students to broaden and practise their presentation skills for the future. Formative feedback was conducted throughout each lesson, either in a final draft conference or student teacher discussions about where the student was at and a quick analysis of their work. This allowed me to target students who were struggling and assist them in the development of their assessment piece. The rubric catered for these students by categorizing them as Developing in the areas that they were assisted. By using this strategy, I was able to allow these students to grow and practise their skills and help scaffold future learning.
The marking rubric for this assessment was created for use by all three classes and designed to meet the end of year, Year 6 HASS achievement standards of the Australian Curriculum. There were three grading categories for this assessment; Developing, Satisfactory and Expert, translating into a letter grade of either A, B, C, D or E. The letter grade the student received was dependant on teacher discretion and analysis of the criteria on the rubric and how well the student met this criteria. Moderation between the three classes was undertaken to determine a consistent grading approach. ‘Moderation is the means by which a school can ensure that teachers across classes make consistent and defensible judgements about learner achievement.’ (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority). I found the process of moderation very interesting. Moderation was an informative way for me to observe and gain feedback from another teacher other than my mentor about assessment, as well as the ability to compare capabilities of students and gain insight about where the ‘gaps in their prior learning’ are in the Year 6 classes. The grading criteria was designed to provide a snap shot of each student’s capabilities and what are the next steps required within their learning to grow and successfully navigate the next assessment. Appendix 1 shows a copy of the created rubric used to create the grades based on the annotated notes of each student’s summative assessment piece.
Providing feedback to students about their assessment performance is important for them to improve upon their learning. I have previously always focused on providing written feedback to students however my mentor teacher provides feedback back to students via small groups in a student conference. She advised me that this strategy allows them to show they understand what they need to improve on, what their next steps are and that this also allows students to learn from each other. DECD also suggest that teachers keep summative assessment items and accompanying annotated notes etc. in a student portfolio. This is for the purposes of moderation and evidence for middle of the year and end of the year report cards. I can see the benefits of my mentor teacher’s methods and I am keen to provide feedback in a similar manner.
My three focus students, Shannon, Stephen and Kasia had mixed results in this summative task. For the duration of the assessment, consistent formative feedback was given when required. Kasia, was able to work independently throughout the assessment task and was one of the first finished. Kasia achieved a C (satisfactory) for her Interview. She was able to demonstrate an ability to independently achieve the objectives (For more detail see Appendix B). Stephen achieved an E for an incomplete assignment and lack of any detail in the answers that he gave. The reasons could be that he does get easily distracted and it could be a cause for the lack of effort or he struggled to comprehend in context historical texts and language features, as well as an inability to use key words and rewrite factual information into his own words. Student 3; Shannon Achieved a D. she showed an ability to achieve some of the objectives of the task independently but required some support to complete the remaining objectives. She is a keen learner and writer but is still developing in key areas that don’t allow her to independently complete the assessment on her own.
Next steps for teaching and learning based on this summative assessment include a focus on the differences between facts and opinions, writing facts in their own words, summarising text, scanning for key words in primary and secondary resources and language features of historical based information texts for example; neutral adjectives, tense, prepositions and verbs. This focus on learning will be conducted through;
Overall, as my placement increased in time, I have become increasingly reliant on both formative and summative assessment to inform my future planning as well as my own reflections as a teacher.
For the assessment, students had to research a key icon involved in Australian Federation and conduct an interview with that person. They were required to answer the given interview questions in the way that they thought that the Australian Federation Icon would have answered. Students were required to create a draft in their books before creating a final copy using Microsoft Word. Creating final copies on the computer allowed the students to broaden and practise their presentation skills for the future. Formative feedback was conducted throughout each lesson, either in a final draft conference or student teacher discussions about where the student was at and a quick analysis of their work. This allowed me to target students who were struggling and assist them in the development of their assessment piece. The rubric catered for these students by categorizing them as Developing in the areas that they were assisted. By using this strategy, I was able to allow these students to grow and practise their skills and help scaffold future learning.
The marking rubric for this assessment was created for use by all three classes and designed to meet the end of year, Year 6 HASS achievement standards of the Australian Curriculum. There were three grading categories for this assessment; Developing, Satisfactory and Expert, translating into a letter grade of either A, B, C, D or E. The letter grade the student received was dependant on teacher discretion and analysis of the criteria on the rubric and how well the student met this criteria. Moderation between the three classes was undertaken to determine a consistent grading approach. ‘Moderation is the means by which a school can ensure that teachers across classes make consistent and defensible judgements about learner achievement.’ (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority). I found the process of moderation very interesting. Moderation was an informative way for me to observe and gain feedback from another teacher other than my mentor about assessment, as well as the ability to compare capabilities of students and gain insight about where the ‘gaps in their prior learning’ are in the Year 6 classes. The grading criteria was designed to provide a snap shot of each student’s capabilities and what are the next steps required within their learning to grow and successfully navigate the next assessment. Appendix 1 shows a copy of the created rubric used to create the grades based on the annotated notes of each student’s summative assessment piece.
Providing feedback to students about their assessment performance is important for them to improve upon their learning. I have previously always focused on providing written feedback to students however my mentor teacher provides feedback back to students via small groups in a student conference. She advised me that this strategy allows them to show they understand what they need to improve on, what their next steps are and that this also allows students to learn from each other. DECD also suggest that teachers keep summative assessment items and accompanying annotated notes etc. in a student portfolio. This is for the purposes of moderation and evidence for middle of the year and end of the year report cards. I can see the benefits of my mentor teacher’s methods and I am keen to provide feedback in a similar manner.
My three focus students, Shannon, Stephen and Kasia had mixed results in this summative task. For the duration of the assessment, consistent formative feedback was given when required. Kasia, was able to work independently throughout the assessment task and was one of the first finished. Kasia achieved a C (satisfactory) for her Interview. She was able to demonstrate an ability to independently achieve the objectives (For more detail see Appendix B). Stephen achieved an E for an incomplete assignment and lack of any detail in the answers that he gave. The reasons could be that he does get easily distracted and it could be a cause for the lack of effort or he struggled to comprehend in context historical texts and language features, as well as an inability to use key words and rewrite factual information into his own words. Student 3; Shannon Achieved a D. she showed an ability to achieve some of the objectives of the task independently but required some support to complete the remaining objectives. She is a keen learner and writer but is still developing in key areas that don’t allow her to independently complete the assessment on her own.
Next steps for teaching and learning based on this summative assessment include a focus on the differences between facts and opinions, writing facts in their own words, summarising text, scanning for key words in primary and secondary resources and language features of historical based information texts for example; neutral adjectives, tense, prepositions and verbs. This focus on learning will be conducted through;
- Guided reading: Scanning/summarizing text, locating key words, scanning for language features in historical text.
- Writers workshop – Guided writing; focusing on historical information reports, language features e.g. neutral adjectives, technical language, key words, writing in own voice etc., writing factual information in their own words, examining how to create rich ‘Open Enquiry Questions’
Overall, as my placement increased in time, I have become increasingly reliant on both formative and summative assessment to inform my future planning as well as my own reflections as a teacher.
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Cognitive Commentary; She was able to research relevant information from several sources, demonstrated an ability to use important key words, attempted to rewrite researched factual information into their own words, was able to respond to the interview questions in first person voice and was able to highlight why the researched individual was important in the Australian Federation process.
|
Cognitive Commentary; Stephen unfortunately submitted an incomplete assignment. His answers also lacked any detail. He is a capable writer though, however the results could indicate an inability to comprehend in context historical texts and language features, as well as an inability to use key words and rewrite factual information into his own words.
|
Cognitive Commentary; Showed a satisfactory level ability to; research relevant information from multiple primary and secondary sources, write researched factual information into her own words and write the answers to the interview questions in first person voice and highlight why they were important in the Federation process. Shannon required support however to organise information and key words as well as sequencing events in a chronological order.
|
References