ASSESSMENT
Ontario Teachers: have you ever read the Growing Success Document? REALLY read it? Not just looked as a section in a workshop or staff meeting, or skimmed it as you sort through your bookshelf, but REALLY READ it? No? Fair. Totally understandable. It is LONG! It is a 168 page unwieldily, wordy, book of prescriptive jargon. BORING! AND for new teachers, they really don't teach you how to use it in teacher's college!
However, it is actually really good, and really important! Assessment IS instruction! Assessment is the WHY of what and how we teach. Assessment is more than marking and reporting - it is every decision we make as we look at learning in action. There are some VERY common practices we do that we should let go of, and more practice we should adopt!
I was lucky to go to several 3 part workshops over the next couple of years, with some fantastic Instructional Leaders who provided a context to use Growing Success and all sorts of other Best Practices. It inspired me to truly sit down and read Growing Success from cover to cover (several times!). On the fifth read, I started taking notes.
Below is a slide deck of the key elements that shape our practice in Assessment & Evaluation.
GROWING SUCCESS CHEAT SHEET
Similar to the GROWING SUCCESS IN 12 TAKEAWAYS, this annotated, abridged version of Growing Success is a great resource to get the key points of a lengthy document. I cut and pasted the most pertinent parts and cut all of the meandering or self-evident explanations, and provided some simple notes about different concepts. I share it with new teachers and have been asked to post it online for them to share as well. I hope teachers can use this document as a quick guide to help them.
LEVELS ANCHOR CHARTS (LES NIVEAUX)
Bonjour teachers!
These anchor charts for a big upward arrow and help us discuss levels for feedback, rubrics, and self-assessment!
STUDENT-LED LEARNING CONFERENCES
I switched to Student-Led Conferences in 2016 and I will never go back to teacher conferences! We make it an event! We set out an activity station for siblings to colour and play in the corner, we bake apple and peach cakes, and make juice. Students arrive with their parents, offer refreshments, invite everyone to sit at the conference table, get their organizing box, and get out their booklet. They read the welcome page, and reflect on their progress along each page of the guide. Parents listen in awe, hearing their children sound so insightful, using full sentences instead of the usual 2 syllable grunts they often hear at home. Afterwards, students ask if there are any questions or comments, and I may ask one and the parents may. If parents are determined to ask the teacher a question, I redirect to the student; they almost always know the answer as well or better than I, since it IS about THEIR learning! We all sign the booklet to signify the meeting, and it is over! It takes between 10-15 minutes beginning to end. No horse-voice, no interrogation, not parent monologues. BLISSFUL! Actually ENJOYABLE! :) I have seen two parents cry they were so proud of their child!
*** For the digital versions, I am providing the editable versions. Once you make your changes, I would recommend fixing the background so they are unclickable. To do this, take a screenshot of the elements you want fixed, then set that image as the background on a new slide. Return the text boxes on top of the locked background.
PROGRESS REPORTS
PROGRESS REPORT STUDENT LED CONFERENCES (EDITABLE)
PR CORE FRENCH STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES
PR ROTARY STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES
TERM 1 REPORT CARDS
TERM 1 STUDENT LED CONFERENCES (EDITABLE)
PRIMARY TERM 1 STUDENT LED CONFERENCES (EDITABLE)
REPORT CARD SUBJECT COMMENTS
Bonjour teachers!
After several requests to share my comments, I decided to post them online. They are always a work in progress. I am never satisfied, and am always looking to describe what we do specifically, formally, clearly, and professionally in the small space provided. I do not bother with comments for each level; just one for level 1 & 2, and one for 3 & 4. I have only 1 student in 160 this year who is failing any strand, and will write a custom comment with my admin.
I am starting a bit of an "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" so I would love to see you comments! Email me at angela.berry@tdsb.on.ca or tag me in an online forum.
EXTENDED & CORE FRENCH SUBJECT COMMENTS: PROGRESS REPORT 2016
CORE FRENCH SUBJECT COMMENTS : 2015
**** MORE TO COME! UNDER CONSTRUCTION!***