Unit 5 Reflection

 This unit’s focus was self-assessment. We gathered that self-assessment doesn’t just give the teacher a good insight, but also gives the students a chance to reflect on their work. It is also immediate feedback. The student will be able to easily understand what they have missed and what are the errors that they have made. This will also help students develop their judgment skills making them be honest with themselves when doing their self-assessment. We also learned that creating a self-assessment sheet really has to question the students’ work and if they believe they are worthy of the grade they wish to give themselves. Self assessment has both its perks and disadvantages, but that is why we as teachers should explore the different kinds of self assessment we can bring to our classes and the results they bring to our students and our assessment plan.

Goal 5.2 To Design a self-assessment instrument

 

Self-Evaluation  10%          (0% in our unit, non-existent, we didn’t add one) 

 

Name:_________________________________________

 

For each criterion, mark the box with your answer. Write your total on the bottom of the chart.

 

Criteria	Scores
	Always  (2)	Frequently (1.5)	Sometimes (1)	Hardly Ever (.5)	Never (0)
I turned in all my work on time.
I went to all my classes.
Was respectful and worked with others.
I participated in class.
Learned what I needed to learn.
Total:

Goal 5.1 Identify advantages and disadvantages in language learning

 

Using self-assessment in the classroom
Advantages	Disadvantages
Self-assessmen makes you consider aspects of your performance that you probably wouldn’t reflect on otherwise	Students might not be completely honest with their answers
Makes the students think of ways to improve in the future	Students could feel demoralized if they realize their progress doesn’t meet their expectations
Has the students reflect on how they are doing (they might not be fair on themselves)	Time consuming
They may lie to themselves (thinking they are doing well) and this might encourage them to keep trying and motivate them to get better.	They might think they are going worse or better than they really are, this can cause them to become discouraged to try.
There are multiple techniques to employ for a variety of situations that can prove very helpful in a myriad of scenarios we and our students may find ourselves in.	Their assessments of themselves may be overly critical and not objective enough for them to truly understand how they are doing.
Gives the teacher insight on what aspects the students themselves think they are struggling with, this giving us another angle to help them improve.	They need to have a good understanding of what they are supposed to be doing and how they are supposed to be doing to give any kind of meaningful, useful feedback.
Helping them improve on aspects they think they are weak in can cause positive rapport and maybe encourage them to continue and improve.	Can cause anxiety towards the language, needing to think about how they are doing instead of being given an “objective” grade on which they have no sway in.
Positive rapport will cause a positive attitude towards the teacher and a more comprehensive view on the learning experience and improve overall learning.	Some students may not feel qualified to correctly assess their performance and may feel like this responsibility should fall upon the teacher, since they are the ones who should know how we are doing and they are the “experts” in this.

Unit 4 Reflection

 Unit 4 was on test design where we needed to learn to create questions, organize material, and create evaluation for a whole test. We learned the different types of test items that can appear on a test. Learning the structure of a test, it’s specifications, and how we can tell if a test we created is valid and ready to be used. We reflected on our work and learned that creating at least is somewhat easy but creating an evaluation sheet for the test is even harder. We also had trouble understanding how to design out our test but in the end after a hard discussion we came out ahead and came up with  the most appropriate test to our standards. Thanks to this unit we have a better understanding of how a testshould be developed and in the future, we should have an easier time creating tests and their respective assessment rubrics once we are teachers.

Goal 4.3 To design a language test

 

Unit 8 test “My Clothes”

Type: Achievement / progressive

Purpose: Assess their skills in regards to unit 8 “my clothes”. Verify that they have reached the competencies for the unit.

Abilities to be tested: Correct use of the possessive adjectives, appropriate utilization of the vocabulary seen to describe one’s or other’s clothing.

Content: Test based on Unit 8 “My clothes” from English Adventures 2

Grammar: Possessive adjectives and descriptions of clothing items.
Vocabulary: Hat, Dress, Coat, Pants, Shoes, Wearing, Glasses, Pink, Green, Purple, Blue, Long, Big, Small, He, She, Ship, Shell, Shirt, Skirt.

Age range: 7-9

Level: Advanced Beginner

Grade: 3rd grade elementary

Medium: Paper, printed tests.   

Sections: 4

Reading: 30%

                        Items: 6 (5% ea.)

Listening: 20%

                        Items: 4 (5% ea.)

Writing: 20%

                        Items: 4 (5% ea.)

Speaking: 30%

                        Items: 5 (6% ea.)

 

Specifications of the test:

Reading:
Objective: Assess the students reading comprehension, specifically, for relationships (utilizing possessive adjectives) between people and items.

Time: 10

Format: Match the items.

Task: the students will need to match the item / object to the appropriate person based on the information in the text.

Listening:

Objective: Assess the students' Listening Comprehension in regards to possessives and clothing vocabulary seen. Seeking for specific information.

Time: 15 minutes

Format: Multiple choice.

Task: The students will listen to an audio recording of a text. Based on this audio, they will need to answer the questions accordingly.

Writing:

Objective: Assess the students' usage of grammar, paragraph building, punctuation, capitalization and spelling. 

Time: 15 minutes

Format: Image description

Task: They will need to provide a short description for each image—example is given to them. They will have multiple clothing items they need to describe, as long as they describe 2 things, they will get the full points.

Speaking:

Objective: Assess the students grasp on the vocabulary and grammar seen in the unit, their pronunciation and how they use said grammar structures and vocabulary seen.

Time: 5 minutes

Format: One on one conversation.

Task: During the test, the teacher will ask one student at a time to step outside with them for the speaking portion of the test. Once that is done the teacher will ask 5 questions related to the test. Students will be told to answer in full sentences. Example: I am wearing a red hat. He is wearing a red hat.  The questions the teacher will ask are as follows: I am wearing a ____? (While the teacher points at their own shirt). I am wearing ____? (While pointing at pants). You are wearing a what colored shirt? You are wearing what colored pants? What do I have on my feet and what color are they? Once they have answered all the questions they will be sent back into the classroom to finish their test or to patiently wait for everyone else to finish if they are done for themselves.

 Justification for tasks:

Reading: Since they are for young children and they will probably don’t remember everything, we decided to provide visual aids for them to coordinate their thoughts a little better. The visual aids may also help in attention retention. This visual stimulus may be helpful for those who are visual learners, while also reinforcing their previous knowledge by linking images with words and meaning. This can also provide insight on assessing their ability to comprehend texts. By using images and predetermined answer, they might have a better chance to get a higher score and a higher grade than if they needed to write down the answers themselves, and while we miss the opportunity to correct grammar mistakes and spelling, we can focus on the comprehension and hopefully have them stress a little less by not needing to think about those previously mentioned things at the time of answering this section.

Listening: We will need to assess their listening comprehension by utilizing the recording of a text from a native English speaker. Looking for those closer to our location for dialect (California, Arizona) to “standardize” the English input they receive. We will then ask them to answer multiple choice questions with one right answer and 3 wrong ones. We will be able to assess how much they understood by the answers, but this does not avoid the possibility of them guessing it right. While the audio may need to be played more than once, in some cases we may think the amount of repetitions is excessive, some students may need this to be repeated more than the amount of times we provide. We will initiate with this section to make sure everyone is in the same page at the right time. Ideally this can be done on a computer where each student can individually listen to the audio as many times as needed, or give them a set amount of times they are can play it, but at their own pace. This can also be done online and this will ensure we can randomly ask a student to participate without needing to disrupt other test takers (works best if students are isolated). Multiple choice ensures we avoid them stressing over them misspelling something, forgetting a word or not knowing how to use the information provided in the specific manner we ask them to do it in.

Writing: We chose for them to describe an image so they can focus on writing a description of something they can see. Thus avoiding the need to have them “make up” a person or describe themselves in the test. This also helps us be more objective at the moment of writing since technically the answers are there for them to just “transcribe”. This may seem a little too easy at first but given the age and level of the students, this should provide to be an appropriate challenge for them. They will need to show a concrete grasp on vocabulary and grammar seen, as well as capitalization, spelling and punctuation that we have been practicing throughout the course. Since we are in the topic of descriptions and clothing, visual aids prove to be very helpful. These sentences will need to be answered as the example given, but changing the subject and objects to fit the appropriate image.

Speaking: The teacher will call out the students one on one, starting after the listening part of the test. They will need to answer the questions asked by the teacher. These questions will be based on the topics seen during this unit, relating mostly to clothing items and appropriate vocabulary. The teacher will ask very simple questions about the clothing items the teacher is currently wearing, the students will have to respond with intelligible pronunciation, appropriate grammar and correct vocabulary for them to pass. These answers do not have to be lengthy as long as they contain the answers the teacher is looking for, they will receive full points for that item. This will help us assess their speaking skills while avoiding the criticism of their peers and maybe put them somewhat at ease, and can also make them more nervous but we can’t do it all. Fluency while not be taken all that into consideration given their level and their age.

Overall: Most of these items have direct answers and not much room for interpretation, the ones with the most “wiggle” room would be the writing portion of the test since they are open answers. This would count as a mix of direct and indirect questioning with an objective focus on the item answers. The audio portion will need more time due to the fact that they may need to listen to the audio more than once. And still have time for them to answer. Writing needs more time for them to gather their thoughts and make sure that is what they want to write. Speaking is short since they will not need much time to answer such simple questions. Reading may not take as long either since they have visual items to match and this may be easier than reading questions, comprehending, rechecking and answering. We will grade with a point system in which all the sections will add up to 100% and each one has its own value based on the number of items to be answered and the perceived difficulty (by the teacher). Each section will have its overall score divided by the number of items on that section and the sum of those will equal the total value of the section. This test should be quite practical since we can do it on a computer, online or printed on paper and will most likely fit on one sheet of paper, if printed on both sides (black and white). The use of visual aids will most likely provide very helpful for students of this age and help retain their attention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 _________________________________________________________________________

Unit 8 Test

Teacher:________________________________________                       Date:__________

Name:_________________________________________             Grade:_________

 

 

1. Listen carefully to the audio and circle the correct answer

 

1. What color is the grandma’s hat?

a) Blue                        b) Yellow         c) Red             d) Green

2. What color is the Dad’s sweater?

 

a)Blue             b) Yellow         c) Red             d) Green

 

3. Who is wearing a long green dress?
   
   a) Mom           b) Grandma    c) Sister          b) Dad

 

4. Who dressed up as Christmas elves?
   
   a) Mom and Dad                      b) Grandma and Dad                      c) Mom and Sister

 

 

 

II. Look at the pictures and describe what they are wearing with two sentences.

 

Example:    He is wearing a pair of shoes
                   He is wearing a shirt

 

 

 

 

        1)    _________________________________________

 

 

        2)    _________________________________________

 

 

 

 

         1)    ________________________________________

 

 

        2)    ________________________________________

 

 

 

 

     

        1)    _______________________________________

 

 

        2)    _______________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

                        1)_____________________________________

                       

 

                        2)______________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

III. Reading. Read the text and match the Christmas gift to the right person on the left.

 

Sarah went Christmas shopping and got presents for her family. After a long day of shopping, she found the perfect gift for everyone. She bought a long coat and some pants for her husband Randy. She got a pair of black gloves and white shoes as a present for her son Timmy. And finally, her daughter Susan will be getting a pretty skirt and a hat. Sarah hopes the Christmas gifts make everyone happy.

 

 

                  

IV. Wait patiently to be called for the speaking part of the test. Teacher will be asking 5 questions in a one on one conversation.

_____________________________________________________________________

Unit 8 Test (answer sheet)

Teacher:________________________________________                       Date:__________

Name:_________________________________________             Grade:_________

 

 

                      I.        Listen carefully to the audio and circle the correct answer

 

5. What color is the grandma’s hat?

a) Blue                        b) Yellow         c) Red             d) Green

6. What color is the Dad’s sweater?

 

a)Blue             b) Yellow         c) Red             d) Green

 

7. Who is wearing a long green dress?
   
   a) Mom           b) Grandma    c) Sister          b) Dad

 

8. Who dressed up as Christmas elves?
   
   a) Mom and Dad                      b) Grandma and Dad                      c) Mom and Sister

 

Audio transcript:  I’m so happy because today is Christmas and everyone is here! That is my grandma. Do you see her? She’s the one with the red santa hat. The man with the blue Christmas sweater next to her is my dad. Over there, the woman wearing a long green dress is my mom and the girl wearing a long green skirt is my sister. They are dressed as Christmas elves.

 

 

 

 

II. Look at the pictures and describe what they are wearing with two sentences.

 

 

Example:  He is wearing a pair of shoes

                 He is wearing a shirt

 

1)    _________________________________________

 

 

    2)    ________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        1)    ________________________________________

 

 

    2)    ________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        1)    _______________________________________

 

 

        2)    _______________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                   1)_____________________________

 

 

                                   2)______________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III. Reading. Read the text and match the Christmas gift to the right person on the left.

 

Sarah went Christmas shopping and got presents for her family. After a long day of shopping, she found the perfect gift for everyone. She bought a long coat and some pants for her husband Randy. She got a pair of black gloves and white shoes as a present for her son Timmy. And finally, her daughter Susan will be getting a pretty skirt and a hat. Sarah hopes the Christmas gifts make everyone happy.

                   

 

IV. Wait patiently to be called for the speaking part of the test. Teacher will be asking 5 questions in a one on one conversation.

 

I am wearing a ____? (while the teacher is pointing at their own shirt). A: You are wearing a (color) shirt. You are wearing a (color) colored shirt. The teacher is wearing a (color) shirt. The teacher is wearing a (color) colored shirt.

I am wearing ____? (while pointing at pants). A: You are wearing (color) pants. You are wearing ____ colored pants. The teacher is wearing (color) pants. The teacher is wearing (color) colored pants.

You are wearing a, what colored shirt? A: I am wearing a (color) colored shirt. I am wearing a (color) shirt.

You are wearing what colored pants? A: I am wearing (color) colored pants. I am wearing (color) pants.

What do I have on my feet and what color are they? A: You have (color) shoes on your feet. You have (color) colored shoes on your feet. You are wearing (color) shoes on your feet. You are wearing (color) colored shoes on your feet.

(color) will depend on what the people are wearing on the day of the test.

 

 

 

Listening	4	3	2	1	0
	Answered everything correctly	Answered only 3 correctly	Answered only 2 correctly. So we give feedback to help improve in future.	Answered only one. So we give feedback to help improve in future.	Everything wrong on this section. Have one on one talk with the student to see what went wrong.
Grade %	20	15	15	5	0

 

Writing	4	3	2	1	0
	Answered everything correctly	Answered only 3 correctly	Answered only 2 correctly	Answered only one. So we give feedback to help improve in future.	Everything wrong on this section. Have one on one talk with the student to see what went wrong.
Grade %	20	15	15	5	0

 

 

Speaking	5	4	3	2	1	0
	Answered everything correctly	Answered 4 questions correctly.	Answered only 3 correctly	Answered only one. So we give feedback to help improve in future.	Answered only one. So we give feedback to help improve in future.	Everything wrong on this section. Have one on one talk with the student to see what went wrong.
Grade %	30	24	18	12	6	0

 

Reading	5	4	3	2	1	0
	Answered everything correctly	Answered 4 questions correctly.	Answered only 3 correctly	Answered only one. So we give feedback to help improve in future.	Answered only one. So we give feedback to help improve in future.	Everything wrong on this section. Have one on one talk with the student to see what went wrong.
Grade %	30	24	18	12	6	0