School case I The Use of Writing Portfolios to Help Students Write Fables Po Leung Kuk 1983 Board of...
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Transcript of School case I The Use of Writing Portfolios to Help Students Write Fables Po Leung Kuk 1983 Board of...
School case I
The Use of Writing Portfolios to Help Students
Write Fables
Po Leung Kuk 1983 Board of Directors’ College
School background
All students follow the same curriculum in which weaker students may not get enough support
Students have not tried out portfolio assessment and process writing before
Teachers would like to have more opportunities for collaboration and communication in the Project
Focus of the project: The use of writing portfolios to help
students write fables
Classes involved: All classes (an in-depth study was
conducted in S1C) No. of lessons involved: 13 (not including students doing the final
draft and acting out their own fables in the Drama Competition)
Theme: The Chinese Zodiac
Rationale for the use of writing portfolios
To give weaker students more support
in writing and help them develop basic self-management skillsusing writing portfolios
To inform students, teachers & parents
of students’ learning progress,
strengths and weaknesses in writing.
Content: personifying an animal
to illustrate personality flaw
and how it is overcome
Organisation:developing
conflict, offering resolution and
including a moral
Language:Using simple past tense to describe
past events
Project objective 1 - To improve students’ writing interest and skills
Project objective 2 – To help students develop basic self-management skills such as setting learning goals and reflecting upon their own strengths and weaknesses
Project objective 3 – To enhance students’ creativity and critical thinking and nurture positive values
Settinglearning
goals
Strengths Weaknesses
Special features of the writing portfolios
1. Students need to think about
moral values and use problem-solving skills
2. There is intensive support for weaker students through
much teacher-student conferencing,
self-reflection and peer review
3.The portfolio task provides students with continuous
feedback and ample opportunities to manage
their own writing processes at
different stages
Whole-persondevelopment
Manageableand achievable
Focused support
An overview of the entries of the writing
portfolio My profileStory map Self-reviewing checklist1 First draft Self-reviewing checklist 2 Second draft Editing worksheet Third draft Rating scale Final draft Peer –reviewing checklist Self-reflection log
Constantfeedback
Taking increasing
chargeof one’s own
learning
Work plan and implementation
I. Motivating students and giving input (3 lessons)
-identifying oneself with the animals in the Chinese Zodiac
-reading the Chinese Zodiac fables and discussed the moral in them
-exploring the features of fables by using a story map
(grammar was taught in context at different implementation stages)
Work plan and implementation
II. Designing a personal profile for the writing portfolio (3 lessons)
- reflecting on one’s strengths and weaknesses through making analogies with the animals for the profiles
-making New Year resolutions to overcome one’s weaknesses
(grammar was taught in context at different implementation stages)
My strengths Hard-working,
honest, loyal, intelligent, friendly
My weaknesses Arrogant, fun-
loving, stubborn, moody, critical and quick-tempered
I am like a dragon
Work plan and implementation
III. Goal-setting and task-setting for the writing portfolio (2 lessons)
-getting to know the writing task and processes as well as the concept of portfolio
-negotiating and setting the goals to develop self-management skills
-discussing assessment criteria
(grammar was taught in context at different implementation stages)
Writing taskStudents reflect on their
own weaknesses and have to choose an animal
to represent themselves. Write aFable about how the animal
competed to be at thetop of the zodiac chart
My learning goals:
I will be able to create a fable of my own that includes elements of fables.
I will be able to use the main character of the fable to illustrate my weakness and how I can overcome the weakness.
I will be able to write dialogues according to the content of the fable.
I will be able to correctly use simple past tense in my writing.
I will be able to evaluate my own writing as well as other’s writing according to the assessment criteria.
IV. Exploring the writing processes for the writing portfolio (5 lessons)
-planning and drafting the new fable (brainstorming, roving conference and writing workshop)
-reviewing and editing the new fable (self-reviewing, peer writing conference, roving conference, teacher-student conference)
-conducting teacher-student conference with weaker students and writing clinic
-producing different drafts and doing publishing
Work plan and implementation
(grammar was taught in context at different implementation stages)
Teacher’scomments:
1.What were the weaknesses of the main character?
2.How did it overcome its weakness?
3.What good deed did it do?
Student’s Work
Don’t be uncompassionate.To be compassionate.
Is not interesting.
Use the correct past tenseor present tense and correct
the grammar.
Student’s comments
Impact of writing portfolios on learning
1. Students’ confidence in writing fables was significantly increased
Class C 20%
2. Students believed they had more ideas to write their fables using writing portfolios
Class C 70%
3. Students found that discussing learning goals and assessment criteria with teachers was very useful or useful
Class C 50%
(Survey results based on pre-project and post-project questionnaires)
Impact of writing portfolios on learning
4. Students were able to improve their own writing by evaluating their peers’ work
Class C 95%
5. Students enjoyed sharing their English writing with others
Class C 30%
6. Overall comment on the lessons I had
Very useful - Class C 95%
Very interesting - Class C 85%
(Survey results based on pre-project and post-project questionnaires)
The part I most enjoyed
“Other people sharing my fables”
“Plan & organise the story”
“Think about the animal that can represent me and then talk about my strengths and weaknesses”
Students’ reflectionsI have improved a lot in.....
“Story ending”
“My grammar”
“Correcting my own errors”
“Story may”
“Writing stores”
The most useful strategy I have learnt is:
“How to write stories”
“How to write fables”
“How to write dialogues in stories”
“Thinking about positive and negativepersonality traits”
Impact on teaching
More sharing amongEnglish teachers
Increased understanding of students’ needs, progress, strengths
and weaknesses in writing
Increased confidence in using of writing portfolios
-Manageable -Achievable
Impact on the school-based English curriculum
Extending students’ learning experience
in the writing portfolios through performance-based tasks
Infusing language arts into theWriting portfolios with the reading andWriting of fables in the L/T processes
Including positive values and attitudes
in the writing portfolios for achieving students’
whole-person development
As a teacher, which animal As a teacher, which animal do you think you want to do you think you want to
identify with in theidentify with in the Chinese Zodiac?Chinese Zodiac?