My favourite assessment tool is the sight passage.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the best way\u2014and I\u2019m more-than-a-little tempted to say the only<\/em> way\u2014to assess an English student\u2019s proficiency with our discipline\u2019s skills. That\u2019s why I recently had my students write for eighty minutes on stories they hadn\u2019t read before. And that\u2019s why they\u2019ll be doing it again this week.<\/p>\n But this isn\u2019t an apologia for sight passages; it\u2019s an ode to the dress rehearsal, the practice exam, the mock assessment.<\/p>\n Actually, that\u2019s not entirely true. Although I think we can all serve to be reminded at times that our students need to practise how to take tests, my ode is more targeted at what to do with the mock assessment once it\u2019s finished. And the answer to that is easy: Have your students mark them.<\/p>\n So I guess my piece should be titled\u00a0\u201cIn praise of peer-evaluated<\/em> mock in-class assessments\u201d. (But I\u2019m sure you can see why I\u2019m not changing it now\u2026)<\/p>\n So I guess my piece should be titled I must give credit to my wife, who\u2019s been teaching much longer than I, for suggesting that my students mark each other\u2019s work. That simple change\u00a0takes what would otherwise be a great formative activity and transfers into what just may be the best assessment as<\/em> and for<\/em> learning I\u2019ve come across so far. (And leave it to a veteran teacher to suggest a change that not only saves my marking 60 tests but makes it more valuable for the students, as well.)<\/p>\n Here are some things to keep in mind.<\/p>\n And, of course, the meta-cognitive<\/strong> benefits are plenty. Students will be able to gauge where they stand, what they need to improve upon, if they need to work on time management, and even if they need to write more legibly\u2014all in a low-pressure environment.<\/p>\n Students see the benefits in this approach, and you needn\u2019t worry about how to answer that dreaded question, \u201cIs this for marks?\u201d It\u2019s well worth dedicating the extra period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My favourite assessment tool is the sight passage. It\u2019s the best way\u2014and I\u2019m more-than-a-little tempted to say the only way\u2014to assess an English student\u2019s proficiency with our discipline\u2019s skills. That\u2019s why I recently had my students write for eighty minutes on stories they hadn\u2019t read before. And that\u2019s why they\u2019ll be doing it again this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[15,13,14],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-assessment","tag-as-learning","tag-assessments","tag-for-learning","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/alanmacinnis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/alanmacinnis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/alanmacinnis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/alanmacinnis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/alanmacinnis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/alanmacinnis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/alanmacinnis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/alanmacinnis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/alanmacinnis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cIn praise of\u00a0peer-evaluated<\/em>\u00a0mock in-class assessments\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
\nI know I\u2019ve been guilty at times of following the athletic mantra of \u201cYou don\u2019t train for 100s by running 100s\u201d, but do you think Usain Bolt prepared for the Olympics by never<\/em> running 100 metres?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\n<\/strong>Obviously\u2026 But it\u2019s a great way of seeing the utility of your rubric. If they can\u2019t use it to mark someone else\u2019s work, it won\u2019t help them with their own. You should also be prepared to provide guidance as to what various level 4 answers would include.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\nDoing so will not only expose students to more examples, it will also allow you as the facilitator to tag on to groups in a less-threatening manner. And it\u2019s way more time efficient than one-on-one conferencing. I\u2019d suggest the students moderate their marking, as opposed to a divide-and-conquer approach.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\n\u201cTwo to glow on, and one to grow on\u201d sounds a little cheesy, but it\u2019s great way of reminding students to empathize. And if two isn\u2019t possible, then insist they find one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\nYou have the last word. Look especially for groups that are either too hard or too soft. Record as a formative mark. You may also want to copy or hold on to exemplars for various levels, and return to the students before the one that counts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n