Here are four different ways of explaining with visuals the marks on students' assessments and why those ways work for these teachers.
Using a set of three images to depict beginning, some growth, and more growth is an important strategy tool in an ELL teacher’s repertoire. Why? Because we want students to reflect about their learning. The moon is a symbol of change. A growing plant is an even better symbol of growth because it is more nuanced. Not all plants grow in the same way or at the same speed. However, both images remind us that learning takes time. Moving away from the happy and sad face may assist students in considering their own learning journey rather than waiting for the teacher’s judgement about their progress.
Rose Elliot, teacher in the Sacred Heart daytime program
For regular assessments, I’ve tried out a few picture themes and have decided to use the traffic lights to convey if a test is a pass or not. I feel they (students) deal with lights everyday to get to school, whether driving or as pedestrians taking the bus. For 1 literacy, I show them a real picture of traffic lights and get them to explain how they work. I focus on each color (red, yellow, green) and we discuss how red means stop, yellow means wait, and green means go. So basically the idea is yes, no or so-so.
Shawna McLeod, teacher in the One World One Centre daytime program
When it comes to help learners understand their assessments’ results, a soccer idea of scoring a goal has been useful. The learner’s results, based on instructor’s feedback, are represented by using the soccer graphics bellow,
The first image shows a kick which represents that it is a good start. The middle image shows a ball flying in the right direction, but it hasn’t made it yet. The last image shows the ball inside the net and represents they (students) have scored and they were successful.
For the section about how much help they’ve needed, it is presented with soccer balls. It is easy for them (students) to understand that they got more balls if they worked on their own. When it was first used, one ball represented “on my own.” It was just by thinking “I got one ball and I scored.” However, they idea of them getting more balls, when they work on their own, makes more sense to the students.
Indira Cevallos, teacher in the One World One Centre daytime program and Sacred Heart evening program.
I am teaching CLB 2L High and I am using just numerals 1, 2, 3 to evaluate students’ assessments. It might look more complicated for students so I use oral analogies to help them understand. I compare the concept of an assessment with the process of cooking a chicken!
I use images, pictures or just draw on the board. The key words are not ready, half way and ready. 1 corresponds to the image of a nice and alive chicken (raw); if the student's mark is 1, it is because the student is not ready for this assessment. The next image is the chicken in the pot and it is being cooked; when the student's mark is 2, it is because the student didn’t complete the assessment (70%), the student is half way to complete the assessment. The last image is a chicken ready for a meal which is served on the plate. If the mark is 3, it means that the student completed the assessment or that the chicken is cooked!
The cooked chicken concept could be substituted or added with cooked rice. Why rice? We already have the image of a plant. That plant is abstract, rice is the essential part of most of our students’ cuisines. The images that can be used are a rice plant, rice cooking in a pot, and a meal served on a plate.
Olga Maximova, teachers in the One World One Centre daytime program
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