Concurrent Session A

Presentation A1

Beyond Traditional Moderation: A Case for Using Comparative Judgement

Zoom Passcode: TBC

Strand 1: Technology Counts: Innovate and Inspire.

Presenter: Mr James Koh, Master Teacher, Raffles Institution

As part of the moderation process for open-ended assessments, teachers need to place the sample scripts in rank order and to assign a mark to each script. During traditional moderation meetings, the focus tends to be on placing the scripts in rank order as teachers often disagree on whether one script is better than the other. Meanwhile, insufficient time is spent on reaching a common understanding as to why a particular script should be awarded a particular mark. As a result, the entire moderation process becomes time-consuming and highly unreliable. An alternative to this is comparative judgement - a process where judges compare two assessments and decide which is better. Following repeated comparisons, the resulting data is statistically modelled and responses placed on a scale of relative quality. Research has shown that comparative judgement is not only more reliable than traditional moderation, it also is a more efficient process (Pollitt, 2012).

This presentation will introduce participants to the use of comparative judgement for moderation meetings, especially for the grading of student essays, via the use of an online platform called nomoremarking.com. Student essays are scanned and uploaded to this platform. Teachers are then provided with a link to start their comparisons so that the rank order is collectively decided prior to the meeting. At the start of the meeting, the rank order is shared with everyone and the focus of the moderation session is thus on deciding the grade to be awarded to each script. The online system will also identify essays that have a high disagreement score, i.e. teachers in the team do not agree about the quality of these essays. Such essays are thus highlighted for discussion during the meeting. Having adopted this approach for three years, the use of comparative judgement for moderation meetings has been highly effective in the following ways:

1. The entire process has become more reliable.

2. The process has also become more collaborative.

3. The process is more efficient as the moderation meetings take less time.

Presentation A2

Questioning to Foster Inquiry-Oriented Classrooms

Zoom Passcode: TBC

Strand 2: High-Yield Instructions: Ideas-driven, Evidence-based

Presenters: Ms Edna Tay, Lead Teacher, Naval Base Secondary School

Mdm Norlita Marsuki, Senior Teacher, Naval Base Secondary School

Mdm Siti Anis Amat, Senior Teacher, Naval Base Secondary School

The use of questions is a key competency in the Singapore Teaching Practice, in particular, in the Teaching Processes of Lesson Preparation, Lesson Enactment and Assessment and Feedback. Naval Base Secondary School embarked on staff professional development (PD) journey that focused on questioning techniques, with the following aims – a) to encourage thinking and cultivate inquiry dispositions in the classroom through questioning b) to leverage questioning for assessment for learning, and c) to strengthen the subject disciplinarity of teachers.

Relevant questioning techniques were identified based on consideration of student profile, readiness and needs, and b) with reference to relevant literature that included the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, Socratic Questioning and Visible Thinking Routines. Efforts were made to customise the techniques and types of questions according to the needs of the various departments. To support staff learning, school-based mass sessions were conducted and learning was further fleshed out during department-based PLCs. In addition, the staff participated in formal and informal lesson observations, including peer observations, with the aim of reviewing the effectiveness of the questioning techniques in enhancing student engagement and assessment outcomes.

The purpose of this presentation is to share our approach to leveraging deep questioning more meaningfully in our teaching practice, including the staff PD strategies, the implementation in lessons, and reflections on the effectiveness of the questioning techniques in increasing student engagement and assessing learning. Questioning is often ‘understated’, despite its importance to foster inquiry, enhance student engagement and enable joyful learning. Through this project, we have also learned that the questioning habit and disposition can be developed in a structured manner within the classroom, and this can become an important step for students to question meaningfully in life.

Presentation A3

Error Analysis - A Tool for Formative Assessment

Zoom Passcode: TBC

Strand 2: High-Yield Instructions: Ideas-driven, Evidence-based

Presenters: Mrs Chew Meek Lin, Lead Teacher, Raffles Girls’ School

Ms Sharon Tan, Mathematics Teacher, Raffles Girls’ School

Mdm Ng Peck Wee, Mathematics Teacher, Raffles Girls’ School

This study seeks to reframe the role of mathematical errors and develop error analysis tasks as a tool for assessment and instruction. More specifically, it explored the impact of student-conducted error analysis on their acquisition of self-regulated habits useful for learning Mathematics. This study involved three teacher researchers as well as Year 1 and Year 3 students - all focusing on key concepts in Algebra and Trigonometry. In the process of facilitating student-conducted error analysis, the following components were emphasised: (1) the Think-Aloud approach in teacher-modelling, (2) cognitive conflicts presented in the students’ learning experiences, and (3) students analysing errors by constructing clear and specific arguments to explain, justify and support their thinking. Preliminary analyses and findings about the quality of student-conducted error analyses suggest:

1. students could present the correct solution to a problem with ease;

2. students could face challenges in identifying learning gaps when communicating their contextual and conceptual knowledge.

Presentation A4

Using Synectics as a Pre-writing Heuristic

Zoom Passcode: TBC

Strand 2: High-Yield Instructions: Ideas-driven, Evidence-based

Presenters: Ms Khoo Lilin, Senior Teacher (English Literature), St Andrew's Junior College

Ms Sakunthalai Surian, Lead Teacher, Queenstown Secondary School

Ms Shanti Marion Prakash, Lead Teacher, Tao Nan School

This study, a collaboration between three schools that started in 2015, looks at how to encourage greater student voice and cognition in writing classes. Research Literature, specifically the work of Don Murray and the National Writing Project (U.S.), propose that writing is a complex affective, social and cognitive endeavour, and should be taught as such.

Writing being such a complex process, this study narrowed its focus to the use of pre-writing heuristics. Over the years (2015 - 2019), teacher-participants trialled and modified the use of synectics with primary, secondary and JC students. Data was collected to show how the strategy worked in encouraging student voice, student talk, and how it could be adapted to suit a variety of classrooms. The findings are that there was greater student engagement, confidence, cognition and voice, and teachers were better able to assess the prior knowledge of students and to help students make thinking visible. The strategy has also been implemented in CCE lessons to help students put difficult emotions into words.

Presentation A5

Amplifying Voices: Harnessing the power of perspective-taking

to help students navigate the complex world

Zoom Passcode: TBC

Strand 2: High-Yield Instructions: Ideas-driven, Evidence-based

Presenters: Ms Ms Wong Xiu Yan, Senior Teacher (Social Studies), Maris Stella High School

Ms Shariffa Aminah, Head of Department (Year Head), Maris Stella High School

Ms Ang Hui Min, Teacher, Maris Stella High School

Ms Kimberly Teh, Teacher, Maris Stella High School

In line with the aims of the Social Studies curriculum to develop students who are informed, concerned and participative citizens, we leverage the power of perspective-taking to design a meaningful learning experience. This requires learners to move beyond personal perception and use both their minds and hearts to construct their conceptual understanding of ‘diversity’ and ‘harmony’ in Issue 2: Living in a Diverse Society.

To facilitate a more informed and deeper analysis of the complex societal issue, dynamic learning interactions (student-content, student-student and teacher-student), with the support of digital tools such as Padlet, were built in to enhance instruction and deepen students’ understanding. The qualitative and quantitative data from students’ responses collected at the end demonstrated achievement of lesson outcomes and visible learning.

Presentation A6

Cultivating thinking dispositions and collaboration in a secondary classroom

Zoom Passcode: TBC

Strand 2: High-Yield Instructions: Ideas-driven, Evidence-based

Presenters: Mrs Rathna Raghesh, Lead Teacher, Naval Base Secondary School

Mrs Leong Koon Wah, Senior Teacher, Naval Base Secondary School

Mrs Irene Ong, Senior Teacher, Naval Base Secondary School

Mr Eugene Lee Chun Yang, Teacher, Naval Base Secondary School

Experts in the area of thinking posit that thinking moves are integral to developing understanding of ideas and concepts. Whether they are used to observe closely and describe, build explanations and interpret, reason with evidence, make connections, consider different viewpoints and perspectives, capture the heart and form conclusions, wonder and ask questions and uncover complexity, these dispositions can be developed through thinking routines ((Ritchhart, Church, Morrison, 2011, p13). Using thinking routines in the classrooms serves as a scaffold for students’ thoughts to be valued and shaped as rich learning takes place. One way in which that can be done is through collaborative group structures where group roles and ground rules are set. This will inculcate active clarification, meaningful participation and constructive feedback given to students, both by peers and teachers. Hence, knowledge co-construction and thinking cultures will develop in the classroom through collaboration over time.

The aim of this presentation is to examine how thinking dispositions and collaboration are cultivated in the classrooms across the three subjects. The participants in this study were Naval Base Secondary School students. The study was carried out from February to April in 2019 for English and in 2020 for Maths and Science. The teachers introduced at least three visual thinking routines from the Making Thinking Visible (MTV) Routines to their classes during the months of February to April. The students’ responses were documented in several formats like videos, post-it responses, worksheet responses and reflection journals for the three different subjects. Reflections by the students and teachers involved in this project will be shared as part of qualitative data.

The MTV journey has been an insightful and enriching one as the students’ voices were heard more than the usual classroom talk that ‘continues to be dominated by the teacher’ (Lee, 2016; Teo, 2016). For the students, the routines have become ‘shared scripts’ to use with increasing independence and for self-regulation of their thinking processes.