Focus Area 5.1 Assess student learning
Demonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess student learning.
Focus Area 5.2 Provide feedback to students on their learning
Demonstrate an understanding of the purpose of providing timely and appropriate feedback to students about their learning.
On my second professional experience placement at a co-educational independent school I planned and delivered a complete unit on essay writing to a Year 9 class. This included conducting formative assessment during lessons (5.1) and summative assessment when students submitted their drafts (5.2) and sat their final essay exam (5.1).
Throughout the unit I undertook a range of informal and formal assessment to monitor learning, diagnose problems and provide qualitative and quantitative feedback to students on their writing. Over five lessons I progressed through each element of a worked essay example which was a highly scaffolded structure based on the PEE model. At each step, students wrote draft elements (thesis statement, topic sentence, draft paragraphs) and I provided detailed feedback on each of these during class time (5.2). Explicit instruction and modelled examples are key to effective writing instruction, in addition to teaching students planning, reviewing, and editing skills (Graham & Perin, 2007). My observations and discussions with students guided my teaching and I revised several previously taught components as it was clear that some students required more time to understand the content. In addition to being highly effective for learners, formative assessment provides feedback to teachers, allowing for the evaluation and adaptation of teaching strategies (5.1) (AITSL, n.d.).
I spoke to students about their writing as I circulated around the room; we discussed improvement strategies as a class and I offered students the opportunity for individual conferencing during quiet writing time to discuss any issues they were having (5.2). This sort of detailed, timely, improvement-focused feedback is a powerful way of improving writing skills (De La Paz & Graham, 2002). At the end of the unit students submitted a draft for written feedback, which I provided using the task sheet and rubric as reference for student progress toward the identified learning goals (AITSL, n.d.). For written feedback to be effective it must be detailed in identifying specific strengths and weaknesses, identify concrete guidance on how to improve and focused on only a few important items so that it is meaningful (Hattie, 2019).
Prior to individual draft feedback being provided back to students, I dedicated an entire lesson to classroom feedback which focused on the most common areas for improvement that I observed when marking (Artefact 5.1). This lesson was designed using the principles of high impact teaching strategy 8 (Feedback) to help students understand what they need to improve, feel encouraged and supported to achieve the learning goal, and to take responsibility for their learning (Hattie, 2019). To plan an effective revision lesson prior to the exam, I surveyed my class to understand their knowledge and confidence in relation to essay writing (Artefact 5.2). This helped me understand how students were feeling about their progress and directed my focus on the essay elements that students felt they needed to revise (5.2).
My professional experience period finished before the students sat their exam, however I returned to mark the essays so that I could experience the full feedback cycle and evaluate my teaching in relation to the students’ results (5.4). I was impressed with the overall achievement of the class and could identify aspects of my teaching where I could have spent more time, had my professional experience continued for longer. For example, I would have spent more time teaching and modelling conclusion writing, as I felt this was somewhat rushed and was subsequently not as well done by students in their exam (5.4). As a graduate teacher I can learn from more experienced colleagues and improve my skills in marking and moderation (5.3), interpreting student data (5.4) and reporting (5.5). My professional background as a public service manager has given me strong skills in this area and I have extensive experience using data to measure performance in a different context. I look forward to transferring these skills to my professional teaching role.
