Short, interesting article on assessing students. I found this particularly interesting -- didn't know that about Saudi students. "Oral exams - common in some courses - may present a challenge to both students and instructors. Wait time after the question may be longer than expected for Asian students, who are showing respect, while Saudi students may give a quick answer, which is a sign of strength."
This is focused on K-12 so assessment timelines would definitely need to be adjusted, but there are some very good ideas in here about how to identify individual student problems through carefully designed assessments and how to provide support for struggling students.
Learning from failure..interesting assessment ideas in here
Popularized from the book of the same name, the idea behind failing forward is to see failing as a part of success rather than its opposite.
Not much revolutionary here, but points 3 & 4 are good reminders of the importance of connecting English to real world uses and of the value of fomulative assessments like exit slips, etc.
Free reading excepts on a variety of topics, organized by lexical level and accompanied by questions, discussions, and teacher activities. Probably best for Level 5 / Level 6 / advanced students
Free reading excepts on a variety of topics, organized by lexical level and accompanied by questions, discussions, and teacher activities. Probably best for Level 5 / Level 6 / advanced students
This part of the article was so disheartening... "Evaluations are to make us look good-they affect or rating and certification. Coaching and development-should be done among friends."
PD is about learning, and the goal of any assessment should be recognition of what's already done well and identification of areas that can be strengthened. That's what we expect from students...why should it be any different for us as professionals? PD should be a chance to learn, grow, and share as professionals, not a punitive process or a dog-and-pony show. It's so disheartening that bad PD practices continue to reinforce these concepts.
Some of these would have to be modified for ESL students and some are totally out there (I'm going to try #4, "if you're bored, tell me why" , but rephrased "Are you bored? Tell my why and what would make it more interesting" -- can't wait to see the answers)