OER4Schools/Review of AfL and lesson pacing: Difference between revisions

{{OER4S}}

= Review of homework =

{{activity| Whole Group Discussion}}

* What peer- or self-assessment strategy did you try out this week and what topic was it on?

* Do you think that peer and self-assessment may only work for teaching certain topics? Why?

* Did you find that it has worked well for you and for your students? Did some students respond better to peer or self-assessment than others? Why?

* How will you prepare yourself further to introduce peer and self-assessment in future lessons?

= Objectives for this lesson =

The objectives for this session are to

* review what has been learnt and tried out for AfL,

* and to try out AfL during an ICT-supported activity.

{{activity| Individual work}} You have learnt quite a lot about how assessment can support students’ learning (AfL) and some activities that you can carry out in lessons.

You should have been updating your assessment inventory regularly, and you should have at least five rows of entries in your inventory by now, to remind yourself of what you have understood of an aspect of AfL each week and how you have tried to carry out AfL measures in your lessons.

{{activity| Pair work}} Share your responses with another partner teacher and reflect on whether there are any similarities or differences in the entries. Each pair of teachers will report to the whole group on the similarities and differences of your responses. Try to explain to the whole group why there could be these similarities or differences.  

{{activity|Whole Group Discussion}} As a group, review the responses of each pair of teachers and identify if there are any conclusions that are common to the other pairs of teachers. Identify in particular if there are any particular topics of assessment that will require more follow-up.  What are some specific ways that you may require more support and assistance? Can your peers help you?

 

{{activity|Individual work}}  

{{activity|Pair work and whole group work}} Compare your responses with another partner teacher and report to the group on your responses. Write down three strategies that you would like to try in your classroom and keep this safely in your ring binder. Choose one or two of these to commit to trying out this week to maintain the pace of your lesson and ensure that all students are actively engaged throughout.

* unrealistic estimation of what children know / do not know,

In this session we are watching video that was produced in a school near Cape Town in South Africa. The school is located in a township, and the class is a Grade 7 class, with about 40 students. The teacher (Noxolo) planned a mathematics activity day on making three-dimensional shapes out of paper, so that the learners could get hands-on experience of building and understanding those shapes. We will return to this lesson in the unit on enquiry and project-based learning.

{{activity|Video watching}} Watch the two clips below, showing  

# how the teacher, Noxolo, tries to find out what students know about polygon '''prior''' to her teaching the topic (see first video) and  

# Noxolo responding to the students '''after''' she observes them working in groups on naming polyhedron (see second video).

* Do you think the majority of the students know what is a polygon and naming of the polyhedron?  

* Imagine if Noxolo had directly told the class at the beginning of the lesson the definition of a polygon and naming of the polyhedron, how different would the learning for the students be? Would she know whether her students are learning?

* Do you think that an effective pacing of lesson will always result in avoiding over-running or under-running of lesson? Why?

{{video|name=Noxolo_3D_shapes_1.3_AfL4_acting_on_obs.m4v|src=RZPlK1l_2hQ}}

It may not be possible for the teacher participants to comment on the pacing of Noxolo’s lessons without seeing the entire footage of the lesson. The facilitator can highlight to the participants that Noxolo used a combination of teaching strategies in this lesson to ensure that the lesson pacing is accordance to the learning pace of the majority of the students- finding out what the majority of students understand through a series of inquiry questions, group work and direct teaching.  

You have learnt about what good pacing is about, which is to help as many of your students as possible to understand and keep up with your teaching in the classroom. No matter how good your initial lesson plan is, it is highly likely you will have to adjust your pacing or even totally change your teaching strategy, especially if you have been checking what students have learnt. For example, if Noxolo knows that most students know what is a polygon and naming of the polyhedron, she will have to teach her lesson in a different way. There could be different ways to know whether to adjust the pacing of a lesson while you are in the classroom.

Write down your main take-aways about lesson pacing, group work and AfL in your assessment inventory.

 

# First, for you to learn more about an application, with a view to using it in class.

#* Do you think the issues typically arising with lesson pacing will be the same or different in a lesson using ICT? Why?

{{ednote|text=

During this activity, ask participants to use traffic lights to indicate their progress  of completion of the activities. The traffic light cards can just be placed in front of each participant, with the relevant color visible on top. Explain to the participants that the red light should be shown if they need immediate and urgent help from the facilitator. Use the orange light if they are unsure about some issues with the activities which they can consult their partner teachers about. Use the green light to indicate that everything is going smoothly for them so far. They are encouraged to use the traffic lights at all times while they are engaging with the activities while you go around assisting them.  There is no need for the participants to “vote” by all using the traffic lights simultaneously at specific times.

= ICT activity: Picture sequencing =

[[Image:Monarch Life Cycle - 12 of 20.jpg|300px|thumb]]

You could also consider asking the participants to do an assessment of their progress so far, by producing a portfolio, as detailed below.

{{Activity|Work in your own time}} To reflect on your progress so far, produce a portfolio. This portfolio should include your 5 “best” pieces of work (e.g. completed activity template or lesson template, concept map, etc) from what you’ve done so far this year. These should be quality items that illustrate what you have learnt, and what you feel you have implemented successfully.

You may already have material in your workshop materials that you can dig out or draw on. It can be one technique (eg traffic lights or no hands up) or a whole lesson.  

We encourage you to include your progress on developing new computer skills, but please do this through showcasing your new knowledge about interactive teaching techniques rather than just including computer skills by themselves – so your chosen activities or examples of learning about interactive teaching may or may not involve computer use!

* Try out the sequencing activity in class. Bear in mind AfL measures, and try them out during the lesson

* Prepare / complete your assessment portfolio