How to Plan a Successful Lesson Series: Formal Assessments

Today is the last post for the series “How to plan a successful lesson plan”.  Today we will finish up with formal assessments.  We are finishing up with formal assessments because it is usually the last thing we do in a lesson and/or unit. 

We have:

1.    written a lesson plan backwards (to teach to our objective)

2.    learned the difference between the different assessments (because assessing is part of teaching)

3.    learned about the different types of informal lesson plans and when to use

and now we are going to talk about the different types of formal assessments and when to use them. 

Formal assessments can be defined as structured tests with a standardized measure or defined criteria, summarized from Scholastic website.  

Formal assessments tend to be the end of the chapter/unit test or the standardized tests normally given at the end of the school year by the state (US) or national department of education (Costa Rica). 

Types of formal assessments are:

• *Essay: Students write about a certain question, topic, or statement
• You can let the students know of the essay options before they take the test so they can prepare beforehand.  
• *Multiple-choice test: it can include the A, B, C, D choices as well as true or false and matching. 
• *Short answer exam: Short answer is one or two sentences
• Presentations (with rubric): In an English learning classroom, students give a variety of presentations-from oral reports to student created commercials.  
• The best way to measure these presentations is with rubrics.  Rubrics are set expectations of a task.  Rubrics are great for oral presentations, skits, book reports, art assignments, dialogues, etc. 
• RubiStar is a great website that provides you with a template to create your own rubric as well as a large database of teacher created rubrics. (I used it all the time while teaching in the States, and they do not know that I am promoting them here).
• Always allow the students to see the rubric before hand!
• Research (with a rubric): same as above

*All these types of formal assessments can be included on the same end of chapter/unit test as well as standardized tests. 

*Remember* when creating your formal test, grade the objectives you have taught in that unit. And grade according to the skill of that objective.  If it is a speaking objective, the student must speak as part of their final grade.  

Check back soon for more posts on classroom management and teaching English as a foreign language!  

How to Plan a Successful Lesson Series: Informal Assessments

 Last week, I did an overview of assessments.  What they are and when to use some of them.  You can check it out here.  This week we are going to talk about the types of informal assessments that can be used in an English as a second language (or any other class for that matter) class. 

Informal assessments are "observing the learners' performance as they learn".  I like the above definition from here because it is simple and straightforward.  

Below are listed some different types of informal assessments along with their description, possible examples, and when they can be used.  
Types of informal assessment:

• Checklists: Checklists are where a teacher writes down the objectives in the unit and the students' name.  When a student has accomplished the objective, all the teacher has to do is write a check mark under the specific objective next to the student's name.  
• A checklist can be one sheet for the whole class like here or one sheet a paper per student (for a more detailed account).  
• The teacher can make a check mark on the sheet as they see students understanding the objective during practice and production of the lesson.  

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• Portfolios: A portfolio is a collection of student’s work to chart progress and achievements. 
• For teaching English as a second language, a portfolio can include a recording of student’s reading, a writing assignment, a reading assignment with comprehension questions, self evaluation, and student selected pieces.
• Teacher puts in turned in homework or projects in the portfolios
• Self evaluations: Self evaluations are documents that allow students to "grade" their own progress.  
• Teachers can make self evaluations using the objectives of a unit, just put them in “I” statements.  For example: I can describe the parts of the body.  I can identify prefixes.  And then having columns labeled in various ways so students can mark if they understand the objective(s), need more help, or don’t understand. 
• This can be used as an Exit Ticket to be handed in at the end of the day or as a warm up the day after learning a certain objective. 

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• Exit  Ticket: Students take about 5 minutes to write down what they learned from the lesson or unit or answer 1 or 2 questions about the objective.  
• The students give it to the teacher (who is standing at the door) as they leave the classroom.  
• Enter Ticket: Students take about 5 minutes to write down what they learned from the lesson or unit or answer 1 or 2 questions about the objective.
• The students do this as a warm up the day after the objective was taught
• Peer teaching: Students teach their classmates what was learned.
• This can be after the first few students have completed the practice OR in pairs.  
• Participation: Students fluency and understanding can be graded with participation.  In a class that requires students to talk, the teacher can state a certain amount of times a student must talk in order to receive full credit for that part of the grade.  
• For example in a 40-minute class, a teacher can state that students must talk a minimum of 5 times.  
• Teachers can monitor this with a checklist or simply by keeping tally on the board each class.

Tallying Up how many times a student talks

Parts of the Body (beginner language learner)

Being able to identify your body in your second language can be crucial for many learners.  This can help them explain to someone what is hurting in a case of an emergency.  Being able to identify parts of your body is also another small step towards becoming fluent in a language.

However, the parts of the body can be daunting if taught all at once.  This topic is best done when broken down into smaller sections.

Vocabulary

• Face
• Hands
• Head
• Leg
• Foot/feet
• Ears
• Eyes
• Nose
• Mouth
• Elbow
• Knees
• Wrist
• Neck
• Shoulder
• Stomach/abdomen
• Back
• Ankle

Grammar Structure

• What is this?
• This is my _________________?
• Where does it hurt?
• My ___________________ hurts.

Warm Up

Label the Body

• Procedure: In students first language, have them label a body (a student, a poster, a drawing, etc.).

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

• Procedure: Teach students the song, “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”.  “Head, shoulder, knees, and toes, Knees and toes. (x2) Eyes, and ears, and mouth, and nose. Head, shoulder, knees, and toes.”

Practice

Draw the Monster’s Face

• Procedure: Each student has a pencil and blank sheet of paper.  The teacher reads a description of a monster’s face (for example: 3 eyes, huge nose, sharp, pointed teeth, etc.).  Students draw the face and then show it at the end.
• Management tip: Draw first and if you want them to color, have them do it at the end for like 5 minutes (set a time!).
• Modifications:
• Students draw the whole body of the monster, famous person, picture, animal, etc.
• Work in partners instead of whole class doing the same drawing.

Simon Says

• Procedure: Teacher lead the class in Simon Says (for example: Simon says touch your nose, touch your ear, etc.).  Simon Says is a game where a leader tells participants to do something, BUT participants must only do the action that starts with “Simon says…”.  If participants do an action that does NOT start with “Simon says…” then they are out.
• Management tip: Once students are out, have the do an independent activity (such as a worksheet) at their desk or help monitor the Simon Says game.

Concentration

• Procedure: Students are put into small groups with a set of cards with the terms and pictures of the terms on it.  The cards are shuffled (mixed up) and placed face down.  Each player takes a turn turning over two cards at a time.  They get a point if one of the cards has a term that matches the picture of the other card.  This continues until there are no more cards.  The player with the most matches wins.

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Trace Me

• Procedure: One student lays down on a piece of paper bigger than their body.  Another student traces the student who is laying down.  Then students draw and label the parts of the body.
• Management tip: Have students do this in pairs or small groups.

Label a Classmate

• Procedure:  One student is chosen to stand in front of the class.  The other students are given a small piece of paper with a part of the body on it and tape on the back.  The students tape the label to the correct body part of the student in front of the class.
• Management tip: Have students take turns checking to make sure the labels are placed correctly throughout the activity.  For example, have the first student check the next two, then change the “checker”. 

Production

Follow Directions

• Procedure: Students read or listen to a description and they draw what they hear.
• Modification:
• Students must label, match, or color what is described. (These modifications are all for if you have a worksheet)
• Students are shown a picture and they must write a description of what they see.  (The boy has two eyes, one nose, and one mouth.  Etc.)

Label the Body

• Procedure: Students are given a worksheet that has the body on it with blank lines next to what needs to be labeled.  Students label the body parts.
• Management tip: Provide students with a word bank to choose words from on the worksheet.

Listen to me

• Procedure: Teacher interviews each student or small groups of students and asks them to point to a specific body part on their own body.
• Management tip: If interviewing small groups of students have them stand in a circle facing out and/or close their eyes so they can not cheat off of each other.

How to Plan a Successful Lesson Series: Assessments Overview

Before I even begin this post.  I want to loudly declare that I AM NOT AN EXPERT!  I am writing about this topic because of what I have seen in the classrooms in the States as well as here in Costa Rica; not because I believe I have vast amounts of knowledge on this topic.  This post has come after hours of research, discussions with mentor teachers, and countless rewrites. 

What I have decided to do in this series is define assessment, list the various types of assessments with examples, and explain what all good assessments should include.  Then the following two parts of this series will talk about two specific examples of assessments and how both can be used in your lesson plan. 

The purpose of an assessment is to document students’ learning of the objective(s). 

The types and when to use them (as I have been taught and believe them to be):

• Pre-assessment: The assessment before a new unit is started to gain information about students’ prior knowledge and areas of weakness are
• Formative assessment: Assessment that happens during the teachings.  These are to gauge students learning, to know what needs to be emphasized more and what they have accomplished.   This is not necessarily for a grade, and it can be formal or informal.
• Post assessment: This assessment is done at the end of a unit and for a grade.  It evaluates the students understanding of all objectives taught over the course.
• Informal assessment: This type of assessment tends to be checklists, a portfolio, peer/self evaluations, presentations (with rubric), and participation.   These are great formative assessments to gauge students’ learning throughout the unit. 
• Formal assessment: This type of assessment tends to be a paper test, quiz, or written report (using a rubric).  These tend to be post assessments. 
• *Objective: Objective assessment of either a formative or post assessment is where there is only one correct answer as seen with multiple choice, true/false, and matching.
• *Subjective: Subjective assessment of either a formative or post assessment tends to be more open ended like short answer or essay questions.

*These two types of assessment *can* be seen on the same pre-, formative, and post assessments. 

All good assessment should start with the objectives.  Write down the objectives you will be assessing.  Then decide how and when you will measure them.  A great teacher continuously assesses their students’ learning whether formally or informally. 

The next two weeks of this series will be diving into formal and informal assessments more so CHECK back NEXT WEEK! 

Learning how to use the dictionary

Let’s face it, teaching how to use the dictionary can be a daunting and even a boring subject.  But it must be done.  Here are a few ideas to make teaching and learning about the dictionary more dynamic and fun. 

Vocabulary:

• Guide words
• Part of speech
• Pronunciation
• Definition or translation (depends on if you are teaching how to use a Spanish to English dictionary or a regular dictionary)
• Title page
• Table of contents

Grammar Structure

• What is the meaning of __________________________?
• Look it up in the dictionary. 

Warm Up:

Letter Line Up

• Procedure: Students are in small groups, and each group is given the letters of the alphabet (each on their own piece of paper).  The students race to be the letters in alphabetical order.
• Modification: Students spell words that teacher says with the letter cards (*hint* may need to have extra copies of some letters for the words)

Alphabetical Order Race

• Procedure: Students are given a list of words, in their 2^nd language, which must be put in alphabetical order. 
• Modification:
• Students work in pairs.
• Words are written on individual papers so the students arrange the papers in alphabetical order.
• Students race to write the words on the board in order.

Get in a Line

• Procedure: Students must line up in alphabetically order according to their first name or last name. 

Practice:

Dictionary Look Up Race

• Procedure: Using an actual dictionary or a copy of two pages from the dictionary, students race individually to find the word that is either said by the teacher or written on the board. 
• Modification:
• Once all students find the word, then they must identify the part of speech, pronunciation, or definition/translation. 
• Students must race to find the title page, table of contents, and guide words (on any page). 

Make Up Your Own Definition/Translation

• Procedure: Students are given a word (or short list of words) to write the part of speech, pronunciation, and/or definition/translation for.  Then they look up the word to see how accurate they were.

Production:

Identify the Parts

• Procedure: Students are given a word with its pronunciation, part of speech, and definition/translation.  They must then identify what each part is.
• Modification: Students are given the different parts of the dictionary (title page, table of contents, and guide words) and they must correctly label them.

Find the Word

• Procedure: Students will find words in a dictionary and either show the teacher or write down its definition(s). 

Identify the Parts of a Dictionary

• Procedure: Students will label, highlight, or circle the following:
• Guide words
• Title page
• Table of content
• A part of speech
• A pronunciation
• A definition/translation

Make Up Your Own Definition

• Procedure: Students are given a word and they must write their own definition.  They *must* include all the parts (word, pronunciation, part of speech, and definition/translation) to be considered correct.

Check back next week for more ideas as well as the Lesson Planning Series!

How to Plan a Successful Lesson Series: Backward Planning

Writing a lesson plan can be a daunting task for many, whether you are a new teacher or a teacher teaching in their second language.  This series will present different aspects about planning a lesson once a week during the month of June. 

A lesson plan can take many different forms but they all tend to include the same information.  For the sake of where I work, I will use specific language in regards to lesson planning.  While I want to keep this as general as possible for all my readers, I will use the following vocabulary today: warm up, presentation, practice, and production.  Because I work in a country that has specific guidelines for lesson plan, I will note that through out the lesson, but when I do I will use blue font.

English Lesson Plans

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This is specifically for the teachers in Costa Rica, erase the blue to fill your information

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When planning a lesson, what is the first thing you do?  Hopefully you say write the objective.  The objective molds the rest of the lesson.  When writing the lesson plan ask yourself, “What should my students be able to do by the end of this lesson?” and “How will I measure their learning?”

If you have a syllabus that breaks down things into units, then don’t forget to prepare your lesson within that topic. 

In the case of some, the syllabus includes not only the topic but also objectives to be covered within that unit.  If this is the case, look in the unit you are teaching and choose an objective to complete in that one lesson. 

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Once the objective is written, you need to think of the students’ production, where students demonstrate their understanding of the objective and how you will assess this learning.  This is the last part of the lesson plan, after the new material has been presented and students have practiced.  Ask your self, “How will the students show their understanding of the objective?”

The production must be where students show their learning without the teacher’s assistance and individually if possible. 

Production can be an oral report/presentation, a worksheet, a skit, a written report, a summarization, or many other things.  Teachers *must* note if the students’ accomplished the objective at this time.  This can be done through many assessments (evaluations), such as a rubric or checklist. 

Production example: Internal Organs "cereal"

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Once you have planned how you will measure the students’ learning, you need to plan a guided practice that will prepare the students to demonstrate their learning individually. As you prepare this section, ask yourself “What activities can the students do to help prepare them to show their understanding of the objective?”

A practice is where students work in pairs or small groups using the newly presented information while the teacher helps answer questions and *gently* corrects mistakes. 

Practice can be a game, pairs completing a task, and more.  As long as it uses the vocabulary and grammar taught *that day* and prepares them to complete the production successfully. The practice should be about half of the class period. 

Practice Example: labeling the organs of the body

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Once you have planned how you will measure the objective and the practice, you need to think of “What vocabulary, grammar, and sentence/question structure do the students need to know to complete the practice and production?”  This is the presentation. 

The presentation is where you give the students the vocabulary, grammar, and structure they need to be able to successfully and confidently complete the practice and production.

Presentation can be a PowerPoint slide show, notes on the board, a diagram, a graphic organizer, a video, etc. The presentation only needs to include the things students need *that day* to successfully accomplish the objective.  The presentation should be short, about 10 to 15 minutes. 

Presentation example: a graphic organizer students fill in

ESLprintables.com

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Only once the rest of the lesson is planned do you need to think of the warm up.  The warm up is at the beginning of the class to get the students ready for the day’s lesson.  As you plan this last part, ask yourself “What short activity can get the students ready to learn about today’s objective?”

The warm up is to activate students’ prior knowledge and get them thinking about what they will learn that day.

Warm up can be a song, short video, question that they must answer, survey, etc.  The warm up *must* be short, 3 to 5 minutes.  It is best to have this ready as soon as the students walk in your door. 

Warm Up Example: Race to label the organs in 1st language

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That was a short rundown of preparing a lesson plan.  While this blog is specifically focused on teaching English, this series can be for any type of teacher.  The items that are in italic will be addressed later on in the series. 

Check back next week of a new post in the “How to Plan a Successful Lesson” series!  And stick around for new teaching English ideas each week! 

Parts of the house (beginner learners)

Being able to identify parts of your own house is another step towards conquering your second language.  Today we will focus on parts of the house along with the furniture that occupies that space. 

As usual, example vocabulary and grammar structure will be included along with warm up, practice, and production activity ideas.

Vocabulary

• Parts of the house and its furniture
• Window
• Door
• Kitchen
• Stove 
• Refrigerator 
• Microwave 
• Oven 
• Sink
• Living room
• Sofa 
• Television
• Rug
• Lamp
• Dining room
• Table 
• Chairs 
• Plate 
• Knife 
• Fork 
• Spoon 
• Cup
• Bathroom
• Sink 
• Shower 
• Toilet
• Bedroom
• Bed 
• Dresser 
• Closet
• Laundry room
• Washer 
• Dryer 
• Clothesline
• Grammar Structure
• Where is the ______________?
• ________________ is in the ________________.
• There are _____________.

Warm Up

Draw your family and where you live

• Procedure: Instruct students to draw the family members that they live with (and label who they are to them) as well as draw their house. 
• Modification: Students draw the inside of their house with their family members in different rooms.

Dream House

• Procedure: Instruct students to draw what their dream house would look like. 

Different House

• Procedure: Compile pictures of the inside of different houses and show these to the students.  Ask what they all have in common (students can answer in first language).

Practice Ideas

Giant House

• Procedure: Pairs of students are given a blank sheet of paper and instructed to draw a certain room in the house.  They must draw the furniture and label them.  Then all pairs lay out their “rooms” on the floor.  Students take turns asking where a piece of furniture is or what is in a room.

Charades

• Procedure: Students are divided into two teams.  The teams elect the first person to go first for each team.  The first two representatives are shown a room of the house and told to act out (without saying anything) what they do in that room.  The rest of their team must guess what room they are in.  The first team to guess correctly gets a point.  Then the teams elect another player to act out a room next. 

Pictionary

• Procedure: Students are divided into two teams and elect on player to be the first artist.  The two artists are shown a room or piece of furniture.  The artists must draw it while their teammates guess.  The artist cannot act out the word or say anything.  The first team to guess correctly gets a point and both teams elect a new artist. 

Production Ideas

Draw what I describe

• Procedure: Students listen to or read a description of a room or house.  They must draw what is described. 

Describe what Seen

• Procedure: Students look at a picture of a room/house.  They must write or orally describe the room or the parts of the house, including the furniture.