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Unit 4 Self-evaluation

I have had two aha moments during this unit; one positive and one partly negative though the negative aha moment could be turned in to a positive with work and more practical experience. At the beginning of this unit I wrote about wanting to find better ways to evaluate and assess the student I tutor. My general method has been to point out her mistakes, for instance in spelling and grammar. Because I teach her one on one I have the time to take her through whatever issues she has, showing her tricks or rules or exceptions etc. I try to focus on things that would be hard for her to learn in a larger classroom situation. My hope was to develop ways to help make this learning more evident to both her and myself. Holistically I know she has improved while I have been helping her. I am confident that it is, in part, because of this focused one on one teaching she receives and I too have learnt a lot a long the way, maybe more than her. But I also realise that this style of teaching w...
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Needs Assessments and the Need for Assessments

Assessments keep students on course. Assessments provide a structure to the students learning without which a student might feel that they are meandering along without purpose. A lack of purpose often leads to reduced motivation and learning slows down. The teacher who does minimal assessment both formal and informal would be allowing their students to miss out on valuable learning opportunities. For new Canadians trying to master their new language, learning time is precious. But it is important that a teacher allows students to make mistakes. Not every utterance has to be in perfect English. Learning needs time and a student should not feel the need to be perfect or they may feel afraid to participate. Setting learning goals, self-assessment and taking responsibility for one's own learning are the keys to learning and it is important that a teacher re-iterates this fact. Learning a new language as an adult can be a scary experience. You think you have nothing to work with and f...
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Needs Assessment Plan for CBL  2-4 1. This assessment plan involves class discussion/brainstorming to create a list of topics for study. The teacher writes the list on the board. 2. The teacher forms groups of four or five students and each group picks a certain number of topics that they are most interested in studying. 3. The groups present their findings and the class decides which topics are the most popular. Part two of the assessment will require the students to take home a questionnaire. They will be required to rewrite this questionnaire into their journals. The questionnaire will deal with self assessment and goal setting. Questionnaire 1. Which skill is your best? Tick one. Reading              Writing               Speaking            2. Which skill needs most work? Reading             Writing      ...
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My Learning Plan

My Goal for this Course How Will I Learn It? How Will I Know If I Achieve It? How Will I Demonstrate That I learned It Notes I want to be able to develop simple but effective formal assessment tasks or tests. I would like to learn about techniques that encourage student self assessment and self learning. I will learn by reading course material, doing extra research, asking my PLN, and then thinking deeply on the topic and reflecting on my learning as I go. I will know I have achieved my goal if I feel comfortable imagining myself using this learning in a practical way and if I feel that I have a reasonable grasp of the processes.   I would like to take my learning into my volunteering experience and be more precise about how I assess and evaluate my student. At the moment, I say “You are definitely improving” but I don’t have any concrete way of showing my student, and myself, her improvement.   Even now as I think more on the imp...
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