Front Cover upper - Blake Education

Front Cover upper

12/12/2001

11:30 PM

Page 1

TA R G E T I N G

ENGLISH A SS ES SMEN T

Lynne SUNG

Helen RICHARDS

OVER

70

BLACKLI NE

MASTERS

UPPER PRIMARY

© Blake Publishing 2002 ISBN 1 86509 764 0 Targeting English Assessment Middle Primary Blake Publishing PO Box 250 Glebe NSW 2037 www.askblake.com.au

Publisher: Sharon Dalgleish Managing Editor:Tricia Dearborn Edited by Michelle Patane Designed by Trish Hayes and Stephen King Illustrated by Stephen King Printed by McPherson’s Printing Group Extract on pages 8 and 9 from English–A Curriculum Profile for Australian Schools. Permission has been given by the publisher Curriculum Corporation, PO Box 177, Carlton South,Victoria 3053.Web address: www.curriculum.edu.au email: [email protected] ph: (03) 9207 9600 fax: (03) 9639 1616. Copying for educational purposes The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10% of this book, whichever is the greater, to be copied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that that educational institution (or the body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. For details of the CAL licence for educational institutions contact: Copyright Agency Limited Level 19, 157 Liverpool Street Sydney NSW 2000 Telephone: (02) 9394 7600 Facsimile: (02) 9394 7601 Email: [email protected] Copying for other purposes Except as permitted under the Act (for example, any fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review) no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above. Copying of the blackline master pages The purchasing educational institution and its staff are permitted to make copies of the pages marked as blackline master pages, beyond their rights under the Act, provided that: 1. the number of copies does not exceed the number reasonably required by the educational institution to satisfy its teaching purposes; 2. copies are made only by reprographic means (photocopying), not by electronic/digital means, and not stored or transmitted; 3. copies are not sold or lent; 4. every copy made clearly shows the footnote (eg ‘Blake Publishing—Targeting English Assessment, Middle Primary.This page may be reproduced by the original purchaser for non-commercial classroom use.’) For those pages not marked as blackline master pages the normal copying limits in the Act, as described above, apply. All efforts have been made to gain permission for the copyright material reproduced in this book but we have not been successful in contacting all copyright holders.The publisher welcomes any information that will enable rectification of any reference or credit in any subsequent edition.

TA R G E T I N G

ENGLISH

ASSE SSME NT

Contents Introduction

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

What is Assessment, and How Can This Book Help You Do It? . . . . 4 The Structure of this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 General Assessment Strategies for English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Whole Class Recording Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Outcomes Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Resource Sheets

..............................

Speaking and Listening

.....................

11 23

Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Contextual Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Linguistic Structures and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Student Self-Assessment Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Reading and Viewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Contextual Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Linguistic Structures and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Student Self-Assessment Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Contextual Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Linguistic Structures and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Student Self-Assessment Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Introduction What is assessment, and how can this book help you do it? Is it possible to make assessment, that crucial element in the teaching and learning process, easy, and an indivisible part of the classroom routine? Targeting English Assessment has been designed to achieve just that: to make assessment a painless and integrated process, and to help you use classroom assessment to your own and your students’ greatest advantage. Assessment involves the on-going gathering and interpreting of information about students’ learning, then using this information to plan for further learning and teaching.These books contain activities linked to every Outcome in the National English Syllabus, in addition to teaching notes, suggestions for future teaching directions depending on whether or not a student has achieved an Outcome, and sheets that can be used to record individual and whole class progress. This book will help you create portfolios; observe and monitor specific skills and behaviours; make judgements about student performance; reflect on student journals; encourage self-assessment; discuss student progress with parents; and generally make assessment an integral part of your working day.

The structure of this book Targeting English Assessment covers all areas of English—Speaking and Listening, Reading and Viewing, and Writing. Each book in the series contains a set of activities which addresses every Outcome of the National Profiles and Outcomes for Australian Schools in English. Targeting English Assessment Middle Primary addresses Level 3 Outcomes.Teachers who are uncertain of a particular student’s achievement level may wish to use activities from the other books in this series designed for Lower and Upper primary students.These will provide a guide for the construction of further activities to meet the student’s needs.

BLMs to address each Outcome There are four activity BLMs to address each Outcome.The table on pages 8 and 9 shows the correspondence between the BLMs, Outcomes and the focus for each lesson. Before beginning any activity, it is recommended that you check both the ‘Activity’ notes on the teacher’s page and the instructions on the BLM to gauge how much instruction is needed.

4

Teaching notes for each BLM On the page facing each activity BLM, there are detailed teaching notes.These notes include:

descriptive tags that allow you to quickly identify which Outcomes are being assessed the skills and prior experiences students will need to have as a starting point instructions for preparation and suggestions for presenting the activity ideas for future directions for students experiencing difficulties, and for students who have achieved the Outcome ideas for reporting to parents suggestions for, and spaces to record, observations indication of the National Outcome with links to NSW and Victorian syllabus documents. The student record section of the teaching notes page can be used in any way that works for your classroom.We have listed some observations as a starting point, and suggest that you cross out any that do not suit your purposes and add your own as appropriate.The ‘Where to next?’ section allows you to plan future activities and assessments for each student.

Self-Assessment BLMs For each set of activities addressing an Outcome, there is also a student self-assessment sheet. Be sure that students understand what is expected of them when filling these out, and that they understand all instructions.

Resource pages The book also includes resource pages containing texts for use in different activities. Some texts have been directly referred to in the teaching notes, but it is also possible to relate the activities to other texts which may be relevant, for example, to a current class theme.

Record-keeping A whole class recording sheet (BLM 1) has been included to help make assessment record-keeping more manageable.The whole class recording sheet allows the recording of the whole class’s achievements measured against a particular Outcome. The teaching notes page for each activity also includes a section that you can use to record individual student observations, and these pages can also be kept on file.

General assessment strategies for English Portfolios A portfolio should contain evidence of student work gathered over a period of time, purposefully linked to syllabus Outcomes.The collection in the portfolio may contain such things as samples of student writing, work sheets, or artwork related to a narrative text read or heard; photographs from an excursion accompanied by a recount text; and student self-assessments and journal records.

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You may wish to focus on specific Outcomes for a particular area of study. For example, when undertaking a short unit of work on a topic, you might select only student work samples which reflect research skills related to extraction of information from diagrams and pictures. Over time you will need to collect enough samples of each student’s work to be able to make a considered judgement on their progress and achievements.The activities in this book will form a good starting point for such a portfolio.

Everyday observation Observe students as they go about everyday activities in the classroom. Note how they perform in specific tasks such as preparing speeches and participating in group interactions, which can be recorded against specific Outcomes. Home-prepared projects should also be considered.

Listening to reading Timetable opportunities to listen to students read.There is a variety of systems for recording information about students’ reading.There are software programs which allow teachers to systematically record student attainment, while several planned reading programs provide ideas for keeping running records and an ongoing overview of student progress.Additionally, teachers who have set up a regular home-reading program, or who use parents in their class-reading program, could plan discussions with these parents, and use the information gained to assist in tracking and recording achievement.

Student journals Ask students to record in their journals information about a particular subject area, and their view of what they have learned. Encourage them to use their journals on a regular basis. Student journals can include opportunities for self-assessment. Nearly all material that students include in their journals can have brief comment sheets attached on which students remark on the strengths of their work, or areas they believe need improvement.At set periods (for example, once a term) students could be asked to select an example of good writing from their journal, and to give reasons for their choice.

Student self-assessment Self-assessment helps students to understand their own strengths and weaknesses. It encourages them to set goals and take responsibility for their own learning. Specific opportunities for self-assessment have been included in this book.These are linked to the activities, and to the Outcomes these address.

Parent-teacher conferences Many schools have adopted an assessment process which involves students, teachers and parents in a three-way conference about students’ work.The activities in this book could form the basis for such a discussion.To assist you with this process, a section entitled ‘Reporting to parents’ has been included on each page.This section describes achievements of students in language free of jargon.

Whole school approach Assessment should always be viewed as a whole school process in which teachers can compare and evaluate the effectiveness of class programs.This allows a school to determine how effective its teaching programs are, and whether there is any need for adjustment.

6

Resource Sheet

BLM 5

(for use with BLM 36)

Fact or opinion? SNOWY MOUNTAINS Today in the Snowy Mountains the search continues for four snowboarders who have been missing since last Thursday. The young men set out in poor conditions

on Wednesday and when they did not return, fr iends and family informed Emergency Services. Police and volunteers have spent two days will broaden the search searching the region and tomorrow.

Beautiful Balloon I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it take off. It was so beautiful. The ballon balloon was all different colours. I ’m not sure how they know when to let the ropes go. But the balloon was full of hot air and I think it has somthing something to do with how much pressure is on the ropes. This was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

The Nile Crocodile The Nile crocodile lays its eggs in the warm sand or mud well away from the river. When the time for hatching arrives, the mother listens for the sounds of the young crocodile within the shells. She then uncovers the eggs and waits for her young to hatch. When the young have broken out of their

shells she carries them in her mouth down to the river where they learn to swim and look after themselves.

© Blake Publishing —Targeting English Assessment, Middle Primary. This page may be reproduced by the original purchaser for non-commercial classroom use.

15

Resource Sheet

(for use with BLM 39)

Book characters Picture 1

Picture 2

16


BLM 6

Name

Date

BLM 36

Fact or opinion? 1. Read ‘Snowy Mountains’. Does this text present someone’s ideas (opinion) or are the facts simply stated? Underline words in the text that make you think this. 2. Write down the text’s main idea in your own words . 3. Where do you think you would find a text like this? 4. Read ‘Beautiful Balloon’. Does this text present someone’s ideas (opinion) or are the facts simply stated? Underline words that make you think this. 5. Write down the text’s main idea in your own words.

6. Where do you think you would find a text like this? 7. Read ‘The Nile Crocodile’ Does this text present someone’s ideas (opinion) or are the facts simply stated? Underline words that make you think this. 8. Write down the text’s main idea in your own words.

9. Where do you think you would find a text like this? © Blake Publishing —Targeting English Assessment, Middle Primary. This page may be reproduced by the original purchaser for non-commercial classroom use.

71

Strand: Contextual Understanding Focus: Evaluating stereotypes in text and images

Teaching Notes BLM 39

Prior Teaching

Where to next?

Students need experience in discussing visual texts, especially book illustrations.

Student is experiencing problems

Preparation Photocopy ‘Book characters’ (BLM 6) and BLM 39 so that each student has a copy of each.

Activity Have students look carefully at the pictures on BLM 6 and ask them to identify the differences. Have students complete BLM 39 and then discuss their ideas about the characters. Talk about the characters and books that the students know that contain characters like these. Discuss the fact that the characters portray exaggerated traits of some people in real life. Ask students to suggest why this might be.

This student will need to be exposed to a wide variety of visual texts. Draw their attention to the stereotypes created for different purposes, for example features of book characters are often exaggerated to create humour. Expose them to advertising material such as junk mail catalogues that are aimed at a particular market and present stereotypes. These might include catalogues for toys depicting girls playing with dolls and boys with cars and trucks.

Student has achieved the Outcome Ask this student to examine more complex visual texts in which messages may not be instantly obvious. This might include pictures from newspapers about current events that have a particular point of view or bias.

Reporting to parents This work sample shows that the student does/does not understand that pictures carry messages and that all texts need to be considered in context.

OBSERVATIONS

Student name

Date

recognises recurring types of characters discusses ways that different groups of people are represented in text identifies stereotypes in text

Where to next?

Focus: Evaluating stereotypes in text and images Not Apparent

76

❏

Emerging

❏

Achieved

❏

Working Beyond

❏

Nat 3.6 NSW 2.7 Vic 3.6

Name

Date

BLM 39

Book characters Look at the two pictures on BLM 6 and write what you think about each character in the space below.

Picture 1 This character might be called I think she likes She might be interested in

Picture 2 This character might be called I think she likes She might be interested in

★ How are these characters like people in real life?

★ How are they different?


77

Strand: Strategies Focus: Interpreting a diagram


Prior teaching

Where to next?

Students will need experience in finding information in diagrammatic form.


Preparation Photocopy the BLM and make certain each student has one.

Activity Have students look carefully at the diagram and then use the information to construct a short written description of the grasshopper. Have the students suggest what sort of book this picture may have come from and a title for the section that this diagram might appear in.

If the student is experiencing problems he or she will need more practice at extracting information from pictures, diagrams and flow charts. Practice in these areas could be incorporated into studies in Science, or SOSE/HSIE, since this skill is just as important as reading text for information. Use games such as Memory or Concentration which involve labelling, sorting and categorising.

Student has achieved the Outcome This student can be challenged with more complex diagrams and other visual texts such as instructions for origami paper folding or string patterning games. Studying simple flow charts and converting the information to text will also be useful.

Reporting to parents This work sample shows that the student was/was not able to translate information from a diagram into text.

OBSERVATIONS

Student name

Date

recognises that a factual text has particular content understands that information can be shown in different forms uses specific strategies to interpret written and visual text

Where to next?

Focus: Interpreting a diagram Not Apparent

90

❏

Emerging

❏

Achieved

❏

Working Beyond

❏

Nat 3.8 NSW 2.6 Vic 3.8

Name

Date

BLM 46

Diagram The Grasshopper

ABDOMEN HEAD

THORAX

Eye Antenna

Mouth

3 Pairs of jointed legs

First look carefully at the diagram.

1. Write a paragraph describing the grasshopper, using the information from the diagram.

2. What kind of a book would contain this kind of information? 3. Suggest a possible title for such a book. 4. Suggest some chapter headings that you might find in a book like this.


91

Strand: Texts Focus: Selecting important information for a text


Prior teaching

Where to next?

Students should be familiar with the format of invitations and how they can vary depending on the event. They should have discussed the similarities and differences found in each.


Preparation Photocopy the BLM so that each student has one.

Activity Tell the students that the information on the BLM is all the things that Lee thought of when she was getting ready for her party. She brainstormed some ideas and wrote them on this page. Tell the students to read through the information on the BLM and decide what needs to be included on Lee’s party invitation. The people coming to the party will need to know: where the party is to be held; when (date/time); what they should bring and what kind of a party it is.Then have students write the invitation that Lee might send out to her friends.

This student may not be familiar with the conventions and language of party invitations. If this is not a cultural issue, then have them examine a range of invitations which conform to conventions and study these for detail. If the student is unfamiliar with invitations, have them select an activity from their culture that would require planning and organisation.

Student has achieved the Outcome Encourage this student to write more challenging texts from notes made by themselves or others.This might include writing information about school or class events or writing from notes after a family holiday.

Reporting to parents This sample shows that the student is/is not able to select appropriate information for a particular purpose, in this case the writing of a party invitation.

OBSERVATIONS

Student name

Date

writes a text to include relevant information in logical sequence adds detail that enhances the message expands writing from simple notes or headings

Where to next?

Focus: Selecting important information for a text Not Apparent

102

❏

Emerging

❏

Achieved

❏

Working Beyond

❏

Nat 3.9 NSW 2.9 Vic 3.9

Name

Date

BLM 53

drinks cakes DJ music

Saturday 2.00 p. m. 1.00 p. m. to 5.00 p. m. 11th March my house 22 Jones St, Pottersville Mum will take you home

disco party

decorations


103

Strand: Contextual Understanding Focus: Creating a text for a specific purpose


Prior teaching

Where to next?

Students should be exposed to the language used in a variety of posters, pamphlets and advertising material.


Preparation Photocopy the BLM so that each student has a copy. Students will also need coloured pencils and a clean sheet of paper.

Activity Discuss an event which may involve all students. This might be a school fair, an art show or an event such as the school’s sport day. Have the students design and write a poster to let others know about the event. Talk about the essential information that will need to appear on the poster and then discuss any additional information that should be included. Have students use the BLM to plan what they will write and what features they will include in their design. Once they have completed their plan, have the students publish their posters on a separate piece of paper.

OBSERVATIONS

Student name

This student will need more exposure to texts that attract attention and will need to understand the specific purpose for each. Reading of advertising material with the specific aim of expanding their knowledge of these text types will help. This student may also need assistance in understanding the language specific to advertising.

Student has achieved the Outcome The student now needs to read more challenging texts which present other constructs such as newspaper and magazine advertisements. Students could identify the likely audience for them and be able to reproduce similar advertising texts for real or imaginary items.

Reporting to parents This work sample shows that the student does/does not understand that texts are constructed to suit a specific purpose and has/has not been able to make use of expected order and construction.

Date

understands that texts are created for a purpose knows that a text’s purpose influences its language and structure identifies the structure of a particular text type, in this case a poster

Where to next?

Focus: Creating a text for a specific purpose Not Apparent

110

❏

Emerging

❏

Achieved

❏

Working Beyond

❏

Nat 3.10 NSW 2.13 Vic 3.10

Name

Date

BLM 57

Poster Think about an event that is happening at your school. Use this page to plan a poster to tell people about the event. What’s happening? When? Where? What will happen on the day?

Who will read your poster?

How will you make your poster attractive?

Where might it be put so that lots of people see it?

How will people who cannot read very well be able to get some ideas about the event?


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BACK Cover middle to print

12/12/2001

11:31 PM

Page 1

TA R G E T I N G

ENGLISH A SSESS M E N T

Targeting English Assessment has been designed to make ongoing English assessment easy. The books contain activities linked to every Outcome, in addition to teaching notes, suggestions for future teaching directions depending on whether or not a student has achieved an Outcome, and sheets that can be used to record individual and whole class progress. This book will help you create portfolios; observe and monitor specific skills and behaviours; make judgements about student performance; reflect on student journals; encourage self-assessment; discuss student progress with parents; and generally make assessment an integral part of your working day.

Targeting English Assessment

Lower Primary

On the page facing each activity blackline master, there are detailed teaching notes.These notes include:

Targeting English Assessment

0 the skills and experiences students will need to have

Upper Primary

as a starting point 0 instructions for preparation and suggestions for presenting

the activity 0 ideas for future directions for students experiencing difficulties,

and for students who have achieved the Outcome 0 ideas for reporting to parents 0 suggestions for, and spaces to record, observations.

ISBN 1-86509-764-0

9 781865 097640