UNIT 6 of portfolio

Unit 6

• Self-assessment, Sequence

Advantages and Disadvantages on using self-assessment

Cristhian Cadena

Advantages

Ss will know their progress in learning and can assess it.

Ss become independent

Ss will know their strengths and weaknesses; they will focus on it to improve it.

Ss can assess other classmates’ progress.

Ss will be able to be responsible in learning a language and gain confidence in the speaking area.

Ss will be more self motivated.

Disadvantages

Ss will get confuse because don’t know what self assessment is or don’t have the right information about it.

Ss don’t know if what they are doing it’s the right thing to do or not.

Ss will not know which skills will have to assess.

Ss will be asking the Teacher and It will consume a lot of time from their regular classes.

Ss will not know anything about the strategies or which method will have to use.

Mariana Gutierrez:

Advantages

Some students assess their own progress in learning and their classmates’ progress too.

Students find their mistakes

Students can be monitoring their learning, self motivation.

Students become independent.

Students become aware of their weaknesses and work on them in order to improve.

Students know in which areas they have better abilities.

Students know their strengths.

Disadvantages

Students will realize how much they have improved in class.

Students will be able to detect problems in language learning

Students will identify their own mistakes

Students are not able to know if they are doing well in class

Students do not know what self assessment is about.

Students do not know anything about methods.

Students do not know which strategies to use and what works best for them.

• Techniques for self-assessment

Which technique would we use for self-assessment? Why?

My partner and I liked the technique of progress questionnaires because we thought that is very important to give a feedback to our students of their previous classes from the past few weeks or months. Of course that this involves the student’s responsibilities, taking in consideration that they have to read and use their diaries and listening records. Students can also feel free to use their own notes and maybe check their results with activities and tests (self-check). With the use of this technique we can give our students a complete view of what they have learned.

We decided to create a format of self assessment in order to give our students the opportunity of express what they have learned in class. (Students must suggest a percentage of their grade)

What I learned last week:

*Vocabulary (Grammar):

( ___%)

*Speaking and pronunciation:

(____%) (___%)

*Listening:

(___%)

*Reading:

(___%)

*Writing:

(___%)

*How would you evaluate your performance in the course?

* How did you feel in your group? Was the interaction part of your learning process?

*What would you use in order to improve your skills?

• Activity 3

Cristhian Cadena:

Self assessment of the course

Instructions: underline the answer in which you identify the most.

1. Did you do all the assignments of the course?

Yes, I did all the assignments or most of them. (2 points)

I did less then half of the assignments. (1 point)

No I did not do any of the assignments. (0 points)

2. Did you attend all the time to your classes?

100% (2 points)

50% (1 point)

0% (0 points)

3. Did you make comments on the posts your classmates made?

Always (2 points)

Sometimes (1 point)

Never (0 points)

4. Did you have interaction with the class?

Yes, always (2 points)

Sometimes (1 point)

Not at all (0 points)

5. Was it easy to use blackboard?

Yes (2 points)

Sometimes was complicated but I work it out. (1 point)

I was never able to upload a work on the blog (0 points)

Self-assessment of the course

Regarding Assignments

3- Did all the assignments.

2- Did between 75 & 50 % of all the assignments.

1- Did less than half of the assignments.

Regarding Classroom sessions

2- Always there.

1- Only missed one or two classroom sessions.

0- Missed more than two sessions.

Regarding Classmates comments

2- Did you respond to your classmates when ask to?

1- Did you respond most of the times when ask to?

0- Did you respond very little or none at all?

I made some comments when they ask me, but not all the time

2- Did you respond cordially?

1- Did you respond cordially?

Yes, I did.

0- Did you respond in a rude way?

1- Did you respond by giving good comments, defending your/the classmate point of view, or by giving insight?

0- Did you respond just because you needed to respond something?

Yes I try to respond all the time, always trying to defend my or his answers(opinions about any of the topic we saw.)

Total: 10 points

Mariana Gutierrez:

Activity 3 UNIT 6 Self-assessment of the course

Assignments

Did you complete all the assignments asked by the teacher?

Yes: 10% No: 5%

Yes I did all of them, even when some of them were not sent on time.

Did you find useful to share your documents with your partners? Why?

Yes: 10% No: 5%

Yes, because if something was not clear you had the opportunity to read more than one of the opinions.

*Did you attend the classrooms sessions? Did you miss one or two sessions?

Always: 20%Often: 5%

Yes, I was there. I did not miss any class.

Was the feedback given by teacher useful?

Always: 10% Often: 5%

*Did you respond most of the times when ask to?

Always: 10% Often: 5%

yes

*Did you respond cordially?

Yes: 10% No: 5%

YES, I DID IT IN A CORDIAL MANNER

Did you have any problem with the use of blackboard?

Always: 5%

Often: 5%

Never:10%

Not all the times

*Did you like the way the class was given? What would you suggest?

Yes: 10 %

Not at all: 5%

Comments: Yes, but sometimes was difficult not to receive the explanations direct from the teacher.

Were the objectives of the course easy to cover?

The majority: 10%

Not at all: 5%

TOTAL: 100%

• Reflection of the Unit:

In this final unit, we liked very much the activity related to the techniques because of the feedback that students require after each class. When we were working on the advantages and disadvantages we thought that it was a great idea for them to -self assess- but at the same time, we think that sometimes it is not appropriate for them because they may not have the techniques required so, they would be asking to the teacher what to use and that would be a waste of time. So, self assessment can be used only when the teacher is about to finish the class, showing students a big picture of all their previous knowledge.

UNIT 5 of the portfolio

Unit 5

• Designing a Test

a) The learning objectives and contents to be assessed with the test.

The aim of this English test is to see how well the students developed their previous knowledge. If they are able to conjugate the verbs (simple present-present continuous), work with capital letters and reading comprehension.

b) Specifications (specs) of the test (follow the format provided by Bunting in slide 20 of the presentation “designing test”)

The test consists in 3 sections: writing, reading/writing.

The test should be completed in 1 hour so the students should divide their time considering the exercises.

We suggest that the first two exercises might take 10/15 min. approx. and the last activity 15/20 min. so the students may use their last minutes to check the answers.

c) The test items: for beginners (first level 10-12). Use of verbs/simple and present continuous tense, identifying capital letters and answering some questions according to the text.

Name:____________________________________________ Grade:_______

Group:_____________

Date:______________

*Read the instructions before answering the exercises (using pencil).

1. Fill in the blank with the correct verb, changing the simple present to present continuous tense.

Example: (run) The kid is running in the park.

• (eat) Annie is ______ an ice cream.
• (buy) My aunt and Sarah are _______ a new car.
• (wash) Robert is _________ the dishes.
• (cook) She is _________ for her husband.
• (scratch) The cat is ________ the new couch.

2. Underline the word that should have a capital letter.

Example: miss.

· robert pattinson

· mickey

· cellphone

· car

· teacher

· mr.

· sunshine

· december

· beautiful

· san diego

· computer

· cat

· taylor lautner

· pc

· mcdonald’s

3. Read the following text and answer according to the reading.

The Polar bear.

The King of the Polar Bears lived among the icebergs in the far North Country. The polar bear looked like an old and big monster; his body was covered with long and white hair.

The king of the polar bears used to eat fishes and seals that were swimming around him.

In the six months of summer he only wanted to sleep by nights in his cave. The king left his icy cavern only to fish or catch seals for food. He felt no shame at his feathery covering, but it was still strange to him, and he avoided meeting any of his brother bears.

· What was the name of the story?

· Where did they use to live?

· How did the bear look like?

· What did the bear use to eat?

· How many months did the bear use to sleep and where?

d) Answer key

1. Fill in the blank with the correct verb, changing the simple present to present continuous tense.

· (eat) Annie is eating an ice cream.

· (buy) My aunt and Sarah are buying a new car.

· (wash) Robert is washing the dishes.

· (cook) She is cooking for her husband.

· (scratch) The cat is scratching the new couch.

4. Underline the letter that should be capitalized.

· robert pattinson

· mickey mouse

· cell phone

· car

· teacher

· mr.

· sunshine

· december

· beautiful

· san diego

· computer

· cat

· taylor lautner

· pc

· mcdonald’s

5. Read the following text and answer according to the reading.

The Polar bear.

The King of the Polar Bears lived among the icebergs in the far North Country. The polar bear looked like an old and big monster; his body was covered with long and white hair.

The king of the polar bears used to eat fishes and seals that were swimming around him.

In the six months of summer he only wanted to sleep by nights in his cave. The king left his icy cavern only to fish or catch seals for food. He felt no shame at his feathery covering, but it was still strange to him, and he avoided meeting any of his brother bears.

· What was the name of the story?

The Polar bear

· Where did they use to live?

In the icebergs in the far North Country

· How did the bear look like?

He looks like an old and big monster; his body was covered with long and white hair.

· What did the bear use to eat?

Fishes and seals

· How many months did the bear use to sleep and where?

6 months and he sleeps in the cave.

e) Scoring/ rating guide

The test worth’s is 50% of the final grade.

18-20: 50

15-17: 45

12-14: 40

10-11: 35

NOTE: 09 and LESS points (only will take into consideration 10% for their final grade)

f) “Full Checklist for Moderators”

Is the English grammatical correct? Yes

Is the natural and acceptable? Yes

Is the English in accordance with the specs? Yes

Does the item test what it is supposed to test? Yes

The correct response cannot be obtained without the appropriate grammar knowledge? Yes

Gap filling-are there just one or two correct responses? No

Is the key complete and correct? Yes

Are the instructions complete? Not too long? Yes

Is there an example? Yes

Moderated by: Yamile Marquez Navarro

g) Narrative of the process and your own evaluation of the test:

We consider that the test that we are about to apply is indirect because we will test the students knowledge, in order to know how the students are going in their development, making activities with the use of verbs. They are only going to review because the topic presented in the test does not require a hard effort; they only need to complete the verb with the correct ending. At the end of the test we decided to use open questions according to a short text that they need to read. The text includes an easy vocabulary for the students, so the answers they will put are simple and short. Its important to take into consideration that sometimes a lesson plan may not work with all your students, a teacher must be able to deal with different situation and be prepare to work and handle all the student’s needs.

Reflection of the unit:

We think that this unit was very complete and interesting, because we were able to develop and apply our previous knowledge about evaluation and asssessment into a test. The tests that we did were kind of difficult to build because it is not only to write activities, it has to be well formulated according to the student’s abilities, so we had to find the appropriate exercises for them

UNIT 4 of portfolio

Unit 4

• Which assessment skills do you prefer?

Cristhian Cadena:

As teachers we know that assessing our students is part of our job, according to the students learning improvement.

One of the most important tools to assess our students is by testing once at the end of the month or unit, with this we can get all the problems or improvements they have according to the 4 skills or what, we are assessing in the unit. But we must be really careful with the evaluations of our students according through the formal tests, because it has some disadvantages, for example someone who has worked all year and presenting all his activities correctly, could failed the test, that might be for reasons of frustration or maybe he couldn’t study one day before the test.

But we can assess our students with other techniques like role plays and this will assess pronunciation, pair work and they can share writings like cards or notes and that could help in writing skill and fluency on writing.

So once at the end of the month a regular or short test, and some activities like the some that I mentioned before could help assessing our students.

Mariana Gutierrez:
As teachers, we have to be dealing with the process of our students, checking how they are going in the target language and where they have some troubles. That’s why we have to assess them, checking their progress in the four skills needed for the second language. For that, we can use different ways of testing them, so the students won’t feel frustrated or worried about their results; they need to feel that they can consult their teachers whenever they feel they need to do it. The tests applied for students need to be elaborated according to the level of knowledge that they have so they could answer them without a problem. Also before the test, teachers may want to spend extra time with students to clarify some topics, or just to give a feedback of their previous classes. Testing is not the only way to assess students; we can find different types of activities that also can show you the progress of each student. According to the reading of chapter 2, the skills that I prefer or I think would be very useful for students are reading and writing. They need to learn how to do it in the correct form. But of course the four skills are very important and students need to work equally with the four skills, giving a designated time to each one.

• Designing two items to assess two skills. test 4 (activity 2)

• Reflection
  
  We think that the most important aspect to be evaluated in this unit is Assessment skills when talking about language teaching. Basically what us as teachears really have to assess is our student’s progress in order to know and deal with their needs.

UNIT 3 of portfolio

Unit 3

• Types of testing** (activiy 1)

• Analysis of a test

• TEST TO BE EVALUATED

Free placement test: English grammar

Warning: please do NOT use any contracted forms ('s / 've...). Please do NOT use any punctuation signs.

1) Complete with AM/IS/ARE (BE: present)
I happy. She happy.

2) Complete with A / An:
I've just seen mouse and elephant.

3) Use the genitive case:
This is the Simpsons house. Here is Peter car.

4) Use the correct possessive adjective (my/his/your...):
This car belongs to me. It's car.
My brother has just bought this motorbike. It's motorbike.

5) Write the plural form:
church -> study ->

6) Complete with THERE IS or THERE ARE
At home, a big computer and two huge armchairs.

7) Use the correct relative pronoun (WHO or WHICH):
Do you know the girl is sitting there?
Our dog, is over there, is very strong.

8) Use the present simple:
She (catch). He (try).


09) What time is it? (example du format accepté: it's three past six):
10.20 = It's .
07.50 = It's .

11) Write down these numbers:
253 =
2,300 =

12) Write down these cardinal numbers:
9th = THE | 12th = THE

13) Write down these dates:
In 1993 = IN | In the 80s = IN

14) Write down these fractions:
2/3 = | 3/4 =

15) Use the present continuous:
she (write) | they (stop)

16) Use the present simple OR the present continuous:
Listen! Peter (play) music!
On Sundays, he (play) football.

17) Choose the correct modal: CAN or MUST.
I speak English.
I do my homework.

18) Choose the correct pronoun: me/him/her/them...
Please send your essay. I will phone you as soon as I receive it.
Where is your brother? I can't see .

19) Use the past tense (preterite): BE
She . They .

20) Use the past tense (preterite): other verbs
I (dance). He (study).

21) Irregular verbs (example: DO. Write: DID DONE):
to write
to sleep

22) Use comparatives: (+) OR (-):
Tom is (+ big) than Sandra.
Tom is (- intelligent) than Peter.

23) Use the pluperfect.
I (to take) an umbrella.
She (sleep) a lot.

24) Use the preterite continuous: BE + ING:
I (to sleep) when the phone rang.
They (to listen) to music when they heard a big noise.

25) Complete with SOME or ANY.
I want fruit. Is there left?

26) Use superlatives:
I'm (intelligent) man in the town.
Sandra is (rich) woman.

27) What is the passive voice?:
Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. > .
That man is stealing my car! > !

28) Use the present perfect (do not use contracted forms):
We (to finish)
She (to eat)

29) Ask a question about the underlined words:
I have been living in Paris for 5 years. -> ?
Peter went to London 5 days ago. -> ?

30) Countable or Uncountable? Write C if the word is a countable noun. Write U if the word is an Uncountable noun:
table ->
water ->

Questions about the test.

1. What’s the purpose of the test?
To see if students have the required knowlede of the language to develop the course, according to their level.

2. Does it represent direct or indirect testing (or a mixture of both)?
The test includes both, direct and indirect because even when they have a designated space to write the answers and most of them are short, they have to think the order of the words and the correct tense that they will use.

3. Are the items discrete point or integrative (or a mixture of both)?
The test requires only to write a few words, so it’s discrete point because altought they write only few words the syntax must be correct

4. Which items are objective and which subjective? Can you order the subjective items according to degree of subjectivity?

The answers are open, so students need to answer them at least using key words, so they can be evaluated in a subjective way according with the teacher’s criteria

5. Is the test norm-referenced or criterion-referenced?
The test it’s norm-referenced because is to be evaluated by numbers of correct responses that the student make and not for general knowledge or feedback of the target language.

6. Does the test measure communicative abilities? Would you describe it as a communicative test?
This test is not a communicative test because it does not include anything about reading or listening ( only when they have to read the questions in order to answer them). The test focuses mostly on grammatical aspects of the target language.

7. What relationship is there between the answers to question six and the answers to the other questions?

The previous answers emphasize the characteristics of the test. and the last one focuses on the importance, practicality of the test.

• Four principles of testing (activity 3)

Validity:

Reliability:

Practicality:

Backwash effect :

• Reflection:

We think that testing is really necesary for the students and for the teacher, it is a practical tool to assesses our work and the previous knoweldge of our Ss. It is important to know all the types of testings and how they going to work and influence in our Ss. we have to know our classroom situation to know which test will be the best for us or for them. We need to at least apply some test in our class at leat one at the begginin and one at the end.