tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465071542491016903.post17702050086461942..comments2023-02-15T06:03:48.955-06:00Comments on James Hosler: on Education: My Foreign Language Standards, Friendly to Comprehensible InputJames Hoslerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13799150832287960680noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465071542491016903.post-2273816225774287822013-08-26T15:35:09.350-05:002013-08-26T15:35:09.350-05:00Sweet, Max. It sounds like you are in a good situa...Sweet, Max. It sounds like you are in a good situation. Please let me know if you have any questions! Are you on Twitter? I am @jameshoslerJames Hoslerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13305950241946956572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465071542491016903.post-52817205570397286102013-08-26T15:34:26.332-05:002013-08-26T15:34:26.332-05:00Awesome. It sounds like you and I are on a very si...Awesome. It sounds like you and I are on a very similar page. :-)James Hoslerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13305950241946956572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465071542491016903.post-50760596492644015292013-08-23T19:51:23.500-05:002013-08-23T19:51:23.500-05:00Hi James! I'm a new Spanish teacher at a inqui...Hi James! I'm a new Spanish teacher at a inquiry- and project-based school. I just learned about SBG from a colleague and I'm pumped to put it in action this year. Thanks for all your great ideas and reflections, it's extremely helpful for a new teacher like me trying to pull together all the different great ideas that are out there. <br /><br />Mil gracias,<br />max.Maxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07181435867134435551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465071542491016903.post-25622954350954992692013-03-30T11:03:42.098-05:002013-03-30T11:03:42.098-05:00Thanks for your response James.
- I do not give ho...Thanks for your response James.<br />- I do not give homework assignments often. It is worth 4% of their grade, which falls into the "formative" category in PowerSchool.<br />- absolutely NO points for things like bringing in tissues - "not on my watch" :)<br />- I do not announce quizzes because I don't want to know what the student studied or memorized the previous night or in the last few minutes of the previous class before coming to my class. Quizzes help ME learn what they have acquired and what I need to recycle in upcoming lessons to move the students forward in their acquisition process of the language.<br />- I allow students to re-quiz 2x a marking period. I always have two or more versions of quizzes so I give them the quiz they didn't have the first time. <br /><br />Thanks again for your posts on this subject. Anything that moves AWAY from memorization (including memorized "skits" and rote presentations), quizzing on verb charts, and fill-in-the-blank questions and MOVES TOWARD accurately assessing a student's proficiency is a step in the right direction.Señora Hitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07909827381087226676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465071542491016903.post-13925344955305190962013-03-30T10:06:06.233-05:002013-03-30T10:06:06.233-05:00I like the idea of keeping skills separate as much...I like the idea of keeping skills separate as much as possible. In foreign language this is actually impossible, but we can still try. Writing is one thing: Can I understand what you wrote? Grammar is something else: Is what you wrote grammatically accurate. Looking at it like that I can see how you could get a high rank for writing but a low one for grammar. But of course that low grammar ranking can go up if the student shows improved proficiency.<br /><br />Level 3 of my grammar rubric currently reads, "students are able to select the correct form of a word based on grammar." So how do we get that to be an assessment based on actual student work and not just a another "fill-in-the-blank" exercise? Imagine that the students have recently completed a writing assessment. Some (let's be optimistic and say "most") have received those 4s. Now let's do some grammar editing. Put a student's work. Read it through and demonstrate how, despite the grammar errors, we can all understand what it says. Now look at a few of the grammar errors you think your students have or should have acquired by now. Underline them. Give students a few options of what could have been said instead. Let them choose based on grammar. Boom. You're doing level 3 of grammar. This could be done as a whole group at first to practice a little and then individually as an actual grammar assessment.<br /><br />Level 4 says, "students are able to identify and correct grammar mistakes." The same procedure can be used as above, except now the STUDENTS are the ones who call out what they would change--or, for an official grammar assessment, the individual student gives it a shot on her own.<br /><br />I also think that the procedure you describe of going over what was written with the student individually. In this way the student could start out trying for level 4, in which the student himself attempts to locate the errors. After a while if that isn't going well and the student doesn't know what to say, the teacher could then switch the student to level 3 and begin pointing out a few errors that need to be fixed. (Not every error should be noticed, only the ones which the students have or should have acquired.) The teacher could also have an individual conference with a student in this way using the work of another student, in order to give the student something fresh to analyze. The teacher should keep all this anonymous, of course.<br /><br />Now, about the summative/formative thing. I really don't understand why we need that separation, to be honest. If you say an assessment is NOT formative, it's like you're saying the results don't matter for the purposes of learning. If you say an assessment is NOT summative, it's like you're saying the results don't really matter. All of my assessments are both formative (i.e., the results guide leaning and changes of instruction) AND summative (i.e., the results matter in the gradebook--and of course the results in the gradebook are easy to improve by means of liberal, =infinite, reassessments).<br /><br />Can you think of ways to spin your assessments as either "formative" or "summative" based on what they need to be? Is the policy that EXACTLY 80% be based on summative, or AT LEAST 80%? If it's AT LEAST 80%, then you can just say that everything is summative and offer reassessments. Oh, I notice that you've said the policy is "80% or more" needs to be summative. Can you just say everything is summative and offer reassessments?<br /><br />Keep in mind that the spirit of that law is to make sure teachers aren't counting homework too heavily in the letter grade (do you?) and that they aren't giving points for bring in tissues, etc. (do you?). You might pitch the reassessment dynamic and see what they say. Is your whole school using SBG?James Hoslerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13305950241946956572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465071542491016903.post-79696309925286885012013-03-30T10:05:32.300-05:002013-03-30T10:05:32.300-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.James Hoslerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13305950241946956572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465071542491016903.post-3599861386237968902013-03-30T09:37:16.756-05:002013-03-30T09:37:16.756-05:00For a combined writing/grammar assessment a level ...For a combined writing/grammar assessment a level 3 or 4 student could receive a 4.0 in writing, because you understood what they wrote, but not necessarily a 4.0 on the grammar part of the assessment? <br />The part I'm still unclear about is how you arrive at the grammar grade. Will you go over the writing with each student individually and have them explain to you how to correct the problems in the writing and then have them rewrite it? I do that at times with my upper levels and I'd love to know if that is beneficial or if there is a better way to address the grammar problems.<br />I wholeheartedly agree with you - "enough already" with the "fill-in-the-blank" style grammar assessments. :)<br /><br />Could I press you to answer another question? My school has a requirement that 80% or more of a student's grade is a summative assessment. Do you make any differentiation between formative assessments and summative assessments?Señora Hitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07909827381087226676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465071542491016903.post-30776243112824957402013-03-30T09:11:14.785-05:002013-03-30T09:11:14.785-05:00Awesome question. For lower levels (like year 1 an...Awesome question. For lower levels (like year 1 and 2), as long as I understand what they write they get that 4. Note that there is no grammar standard for lower levels, because grammatical accuracy is not a focus there.<br /><br />In years 3 and 4--and this is somewhat hypothetical because I have not yet had a year 3 or 4 class that has had an adequate foundation in CI (but I should next year)--I would probably combine a level 4 writing assessment with a grammar assessment. So students would first write a rough draft, and if I understand it they get to level 4 of writing. Then we go could through and correct all our papers for grammatical accuracy. This could be done as groupwork or whatever, but the results would be 1) a polished piece of writing and 2) a grammar assessment that wasn't a "fill-in-the-blank" style quiz.<br /><br />Does that make sense? I am still working through how it will all play out in the upper levels.James Hoslerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13305950241946956572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465071542491016903.post-6599794402731237682013-03-30T08:44:45.645-05:002013-03-30T08:44:45.645-05:00Thanks for sharing these James. These standards ar...Thanks for sharing these James. These standards are straightforward and much easier to understand than many I've seen in the past.<br />Will you be attending NTPRS13 in Dallas? <br /> For the writing standard when students complete the standard at 4.0 level, does how well they write play any part in reaching the 4.0 or do they receive 4.0 as long as you understand what they write? <br /> Señora Hitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07909827381087226676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465071542491016903.post-9827815946085167672013-03-26T19:40:40.963-05:002013-03-26T19:40:40.963-05:00Well thanks! I've posted them here:
http://mjt...Well thanks! I've posted them here:<br />http://mjtprs.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/standards-from-james/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465071542491016903.post-37370838926093207712013-03-26T13:04:35.924-05:002013-03-26T13:04:35.924-05:00You are free to use whatever you find helpful. Tha...You are free to use whatever you find helpful. That's the whole point, after all! We're here to help each other.James Hoslerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13305950241946956572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5465071542491016903.post-44821267207286275852013-03-26T10:28:46.176-05:002013-03-26T10:28:46.176-05:00I love how clear these are. Mine tend to be much t...I love how clear these are. Mine tend to be much too wordy! If it's all right with you, I will not only send a link to this page from my site, but copy brazenly for my own students. I already do standards-based grading, and these categories make the standards clear and fair.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com