TESL 140, Assignment 3

Self-Evaluation -TESL 0140

It is now the end of the course and it is time to evaluate whether I achieved the goal I set at the beginning of the course.

This is my goal setting for the TESL 140 Course

My goal for this course:	My goal by April 4 is to learn how to create a summative needs assessment.
My plan for learning it:	Over the next few weeks, I will complete the assigned readings and course assignments to help me understand assessments and how to create them.
How I know I have achieved it:	I will have achieved my goal when I am comfortable in creating a summative needs assessment.
Demonstration that I have learned it:	I will create a summative needs assessment for the final assignment for the course by April 4.

I did create a summative assessment and rubric for the final assignment. So success.

However, I was not comfortable creating the summative assessment and I am not sure it was done well. So it needs work.

As for my plan to learn how to create a summative assessment by completing the readings and the various course activities, this is how it went.

I was intrigued by the idea of having separate definitions for assessment and evaluation. I have always equated them as the same thing. However, once you distinguish the two terms as assessment is a measure of progress while evaluation is a score and a judgement, you open yourself to more possibilities. Assessments allow you to measure students progress on a continuing basis which allows the teacher to help or assist the student in their learning process. Evaluation enables the teacher to quantify the extent of the student's learning, but also leads to ranking and comparing students against one another. Assessments allow for better feedback of the student's strengths and weaknesses to allow the student to grow not just in knowledge, but also in 'self'.

Learning the specifics of creating assessments left me intimidated. Having never taught an ESL course before and therefore never using assessments, I found the information helpful yet overwhelming. It was difficult to determine what I would need to do when I had no background. Attempting to create a valid assessment for the teaching material while I am still struggling to understand how to create the teaching material left me unnerved. 

Then rubrics were introduced as a tool for assessments and evaluations. Essentially providing students with a check list of what is required to perform a specific task is a fascinating concept. Throughout the other TESL courses I have been using them myself as a student, but the explanation was not clear in the earlier courses. Now I understand that rubrics can help me guide students, and myself, toward understanding their own learning process.

So, as for understanding the readings and activities throughout the course, I have to admit that it needs work.

Overall score - I need to do more work!

Stay tuned.

TESL 0140 Assignment 4: Applied Exercise

 Assignment 4

TESL 140, Unit 4, Activity 3

I adapted the Conestoga College LINC Program PBLA Assessment Tool as a rubric for the Aboriginal Art LISTN Lesson Plan Email Activity.

Trent's Activity 3

TESL 140, Unit 3, Activity 1b

 My Task

Look at these two documents and complete the table below:

Activity 1: Speaking CLB 8.1

Activity 1: Writing CLB 1.4

	Speaking CLB 8.1	Writing CLB 1.4
What suggestions are offered to assess this skill?	Real-World activities involve: Expressing or responding to sympathy and comfort. Resolving conflict. Expressing appreciation to a child’s teacher. Conducting professional phone calls and interacting with customers.	Real-World activities involve: Answer simple questions about immediate needs. Create a Lost and Found notice. Write a postcard with 2 details about the trip. Respond to a colleague's text message.
What criteria will be used?	Students will be evaluated using 1-18 various criteria based on the actual task, such as: Introducing guests or speakers. Expressing or responding to sympathy. Asking follow up questions to keep the conversation going. Professional manners on the phone.	Students will be evaluated on 1-7 criteria based on the actual task, such as: Writes a few personal and familiar details. Demonstrates limited knowledge of language. Uses extremely limited vocabulary.
How will performance be measured?	Performance will be measured on a scale of 1-4 for each criteria with room for additional comments.	Performance will be measured on a scale of 1-4 for each criteria with room for additional comments.
After reading these documents, how would you define success for this skill?	Success for this skill using this rubric, is defined by performing all, or most, of the criteria for the specific task.	Success for this skill using this rubric, is defined by performing all, or most, of the criteria for the specific task.

TESL 140: Unit 2, Activity 2

 Activity 2 asks us to: "Reflect on the differences between traditional tests and alternatives in assessments [from Brown and Lee, 2015]. What are the benefits and challenges in using both of them?"

Traditional Tests/Assessments

• Benefits
• Easy for the teacher to use and score.
• Less time commitment for the teacher.
• Standardized.
• Summative.
• Challenges
• Often stressful on students.
• A one-shot chance.
• One right answer.
• Summative.

Alternatives in Assessments

• Benefits
• Less stressful on students.
• It is a continuous process.
• Multiple and/or creative answers.
• Interactive.
• Challenges
• More challenging for the teacher to use and score.
• Large time commitment for the teacher.
• Difficult to assess fairly.
• Continuous process of assessing is labor intensive.

There we have some benefits and challenges to Traditional Tests and Alternatives in Assessments.

TESL 140: Unit 2, Activity 1

Activity 1 askes us to:

Read pages 516-517 in your Brown & Lee text.  Consider the grammar and communication skills listed. Answer the question in the classroom connections box:

The target grammar points listed are not stated in the form of performance (what the student is expected to do). How would you incorporate some of those grammatical items into statements about what students are expected to do (to perform) in the communication skills?

 Brown and Lee (2015) talk about "Test Toward Clear, Unambiguous Objectives" when creating summative tests. Incorporating this objective into the Grammar objectives listed in the reading, I come up with the following hopefully clearer, more unambiguous objectives:

1. Students will be able to ask about who did something using who as a subject.
• Example: Who made the coffee?
2. Students will be able to use irregular past tense verbs when discussing various people and events.
• Example: He ran the race very fast.
3. Students will be able to give reasons for something using the conjunctions so and because.
• Example: I had a shower because I wanted to get clean.
4. Students will be able to ask for confirmation using simple past tense verbs in negative statements and information questions.
• You didn't make the coffee, did you?
5. Students will use anyone, someone, and no-one to discuss family and friends.
• Someone in my family likes figure skating.
6. Students will be able to state guesses about what happened using tag questions.
• You didn't know that, did you?

This is my take on creating clear, unambiguous objectives.