Cambridge International Diploma for
Teachers and Trainers
Module 5293
Assessment: Assessing progress and achievement
Assignment Template for examination in 2011
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assessment by CIE I confirm that the assignment is all my own work.
I have appropriately referenced and acknowledged any work taken
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Candidate Name
Abigail clare ferrari
Assignment template for 5293 Assessment: assessing progress and
achievement
For examination 2011
Assignment template for 5293 Assessment: assessing progress and
achievement. For examination 2011.
2
Assignment Template for 5293 Assessment: Assessing progress and
achievement. For examination 2011.
2
© CIE 2010
Your context
(approximately 300 words)
Please give brief information about your context:
Your professional background
I graduated from the University of Kent in 2009 with a 2.i in
English and American Literature. During this time I started working
with students on the UK government’s ‘Step-Up’ scheme; initiating
students to make applications to University, and to consider Higher
Education in general. I enjoyed working with young people and
helping them to realise their potential and, therefore, for the
past two years (pre-Fairview) I worked as a Pastoral Tutor at an FE
college. My role was centred around students with learning and
developmental difficulties, and I carried out a lot of training in
this area. My particular area of interest is learners with Autism
and Asperger Syndrome.
During my last year as a PT, I embarked on a teacher training
course and taught one class a week for the year. However, the
opportunity at Fairview presented itself to me with the
opportunities of gaining additional qualifications as well as
enhancing my cultural and travelling experiences.
Your role and responsibilities
I am the Language A English teacher for 96 students aged 12-17;
all of which are in Grade 9. Therefore, I have the responsibility
to teach English Literature and Language skills, as well as
identifying skills gaps and upskilling students from a variety of
cultures. In addition, I am a Homeroom teacher and the Head of
Venus Sports House. These roles demand a high set of organisation
and communication skills, including many meetings with parents.
Your institution
Fairview International School, Kuala Lumpur, is a qualified and
recognised IB school in Malaysia. The school currently has 120
staff with approximately 2000 students. The Fairview School has
been expanding since 2009 and is continuing to grow; following the
IB principles and schemes.
Your learners
I have 4 groups of Grade 9 students who range from 12-17 years
of age. Each group approximately consists of 24 students and is a
mix of male and female. Two of the four classes seem to have an
equal gender mix, however, the third class is dominated by males
(19:6), whilst the fourth is dominated by females, (16:8). Being an
international school, my learners are varied in culture, language
proficiency, and more importantly in their language learning
aptitude. Despite the obvious language barrier for some, many of my
students struggle with forming their own opinions and being
creative. I have been facilitating their ability to connect
literature to other common concepts/themes that they experience in
their own lives.
I have a particular group of Korean boys who are unable to
understand the themes, concepts and texts they are studying for
Language A. It is very challenging to engage them in class,
especially as three of them do not understand English, and
therefore do not understand me as the teacher. In addition, I have
several students who have mild Dyslexia and one student who
manifests behaviour that is in keeping with ASD.
Your professional development during the Diploma
(approximately 100 words)
What do you expect to learn from this Module about assessment
which will help you in the next Module, which focuses on
evaluation?
I have now successfully achieved experience of implementing my
programme plan along with feedback from observers and learners.
However, despite knowing that my students have enjoyed the unit, I
also need to know that learning is definitely taking place. I hope
to achieve beneficial and in-depth knowledge on implementing
assessment properly and purposefully in my lessons and units. I
also want to make sure that I am standardising my marking and
understanding my rubrics. My summative assessments are quite
successful because of the formatives that happen in class,
therefore, I want to be able to demonstrate the scope of formative
assessments that lead to the standard of the summative.
Furthermore, I often feel that some of my formatives are
summative because of the importance placed on them at the school. I
hope this module will help me put a definitive line between
formative and summative assessments.
Overall, this will help me in the evaluation module to map my
progress as a teacher. I want to know that I am developing and
providing the best possible programme plan for my learners, and
this is done by evaluating myself and what I have provided for
them.
Part A: Assessment of progress and achievement
3.1.1Preparing formative assessments
(approximately 500 words)
For one of the methods of formative assessment you have used in
your programme plan for Module 1, how was the assessment material
linked to the content of your programme plan?
One of the formative assessments I gave was for the students to
recreate the Ten Commandments. This linked to their lesson in
module two under the concept of Belief and the objective of
understanding change. One of the key programme aims was to become
familiar with the concept of ‘Human Ingenuity’ and to understand
the role belief plays in society. By connecting this to the story
of Moses and The Ten Commandments, I am fulfilling the objective of
connecting belief to literary/non-literary texts and challenging
belief to see how creative we can be. Therefore, the students have
to create their own governance, and in turn their own Ten
Commandments in the same way Moses had to. This advances and
strengthens their creativity and communication skills, as well as
realising that belief also includes people’s values. This is shown
in the task because the students have to develop their governing
rules based on their own set of beliefs. Therefore, it is an
entirely subjective task with room for creativity and opinions
based on their own outlook and experience.
For the formative assessment you have devised, how have you
designed the tasks and the marking scheme?
The assessment has been devised as a two-part task. Part one is
to create a set of governing rules for a body of people. The
students were to create these rules based solely on their own
belief, as well as displaying their use of English and attempting
to write them in the style of Old English. Part two required the
students to write a reflective summary on how well they feel they
did and how successful they were in using Old English etc. In the
summary I also asked them to explain who their governance were and
what had led to the need for governing rules.
The summative for this assessment was going to be a short story,
therefore as an add-on to help them practice in a formative way, I
allowed the students to provide me a background story to their
governance. This was optional because some students are very strong
and need challenging, whilst others would have been overloaded with
work. The marking scheme was an adapted version of the normal
rubrics we use in English. Some of the criterion were edited to
suit creative work.
How have you ensured that the formative assessment you have
designed is valid, realistic and workable?
The formative assessment is valid because the students are
looking at Human Ingenuity, which can be seen as change, evolution,
adaptation, creation etc. Our significant concept for our unit was
Belief, therefore the adaptation or creation of belief needs to be
studied. The story of Moses is a perfect example of the creation
and basis of rules in religion that have become part of humanity
today. The aim of the curriculum is to develop open-minded
learners, and studying the path of religions and beliefs is
extremely valid for society today. Creating Ten Commandments is
realistic and achievable as it is not a very long-scale task and
does not require any reading materials etc. as it is based on the
students’ opinions and beliefs. Therefore, I was expecting many
different rules and outcomes. The students were given 7 days to
work on their commandements and were given the freedom to design
them as a scroll, poster, or a simple word document; whatever they
desired.
3.1.2Interpreting and using formative assessment data
(approx 500 words)
How have you interpreted the data from the formative assessment
task you have discussed in 3.1.1?
The data of the task kept to the standard trend seen at this
stage of the year in English. Those who perform consistently well,
again submitted work of a high standard. Those who have
difficulties maintaining a high standard, or students with ESL
issues kept within the grade bands they are currently working at.
The Ten Commandments was a great success in that every student was
able to develop their own set of rules. Despite several language
barriers, every student interpreted the task in the correct way and
gave in at least 10 rules that showed thinking skills in action. I
was very intrigued by some of the outlooks and rules created, and
there was some fantastic creativity and autonomy of thinking
present. It is clear to me that the students are understanding
their criteria and the objectives. They all have a very good idea
of belief and what it means for them, as well as realising how
governing rules have become a part of society. All in all, the
progress of the learners at this stage of the unit was satisfactory
and helped me identify areas to help them in order to achieve the
necessary standards at the end of the unit.
How have you provided feedback about the formative assessment
results to the learners and other interested parties?
Each submission is edited with feedback on the hardcopy. I also
leave comments on the front sheet of a rubrics that I print out for
them. The moment I have finished looking through the work, I spend
one lesson given 1:1 feedback to the learners to explain how it
could have been better, or where they went wrong. For those who
created a story, I gave them extensive feedback and advice on what
to avoid, or to do more of when it comes to their summative. In
addition, have an exercise book where I record all feedback and
grades, and I use an electronic programme known as Managebac where
all other teachers and parents can access the English page for the
student and look at their comments, grades, and tasks for the whole
year.
How did the outcomes of formative assessment enable you to help
learners develop their learning?
The outcomes clearly demonstrated that the students had grasped
the concept of belief and change. This was shown in the creativity
of governing rules, as well as their summaries/reflections. For
those who had perhaps mimicked Moses’ Commandments too much, it
helped me to teach them why being independent in thought is
important, as well as adhering to academic honesty. However, it
also told me that they had read Moses and researched his rules, and
in their summaries they had to explain their reason for choosing
such rules. Therefore, there was evidence of connecting ideas to
their beliefs and digging deeper to explain why we choose rules as
a code to live by. I was also able to develop the learning of the
students who chose to also create a short story. I was able to give
them guidance and feedback for when the main task is given to them.
Overall, it was a good indicator that they were on track and ready
to look into the idea of belief and religion co-existing.
Sample formative assessment task and marking schemeInsert
samples
AIM
The aim of this task is to seek how students use their own
beliefs to govern a group of people in a similar situation. This
task also seeks to test a student’s understanding towards his/her
own beliefs and how would they use their own beliefs to make a
change to a society.
Content Objectives:
· To develop the skills of linking and applying information and
knowledge
ATL/Skills Objectives:
· Demonstrate a critical awareness of issues
Development of the task:
· Students are taught the background
· Students reflect upon the history and come up with their own
original piece of work
· Students explore the time frame and history behind the Ten
Commandments
Students use their own beliefs to create a governance order of
their own for a society of their choice
TASK
Assessed on Criterion A, B & C
MYP UNIT Question: Belief, Or No Belief, That Is The
Question
Task: Creating a governance
Based on The Man To Send Rain Clouds & The Story of
Moses
Throughout this story we see a certain conviction of a belief
that governs a group of people.Your task is to imagine that you are
the head of a certain group of people. In your imagination, these
people have different beliefs and you are to form order amongst
them. To do this you are to come up with 10 governing rules
(similar to the 10 Commandments) to govern your people. These
governing rules must be solely from your own beliefs and not the
beliefs of others. You are also asked to write a short analysis of
the governing rules that you have just created.
Instruction of Task
· Your governing rules can be displayed in the most creative
form (scroll, tablet etc….)
· Your rules must be towards a certain community or people.
· Work must be original.
· Work should be written in Old English to mimic that of its
time.
· Analysis to contain reflections on how successful you think
your rules are, how successful you were in applying Old English,
background information on your governing people, what led you to
create these rules.
Task Specific Criterion for Formative Assessment
Task Specific Criterion A
Task Specific Criterion B
Task Specific Criterion C
0
Student did not satisfy criterion
Student did not satisfy criterion
Student did not satisfy criterion
1 – 2
· Student demonstrated very simple understanding of the topic
with very few supporting details
· Student shows some or no connection of personal beliefs to
rules
· The Commandments were not structured or laid out as a
sequence
· Paragraphs and ideas are at the beginning of development but
lack coherence
· The flow of the analysis and grammar and sentence structures
are used with limited success
· Has limited range of vocabulary and usage of the language
· Very frequent errors and ideas distorted with persistent
hindrance of communication
· Very frequent punctuation mistakes, spelling where meaning of
answers are distorted
3 – 4
· Student demonstrates basic understanding of topic with
infrequent supporting details and sometimes inappropriate
supporting details
· Student shows limited thoughts on governing rules
· use of language is often appropriate with the context of the
commandments
· Less than usual organisational structures
· Paragraphs and ideas are at the beginning of development but
lack coherence
· The flow of the analysis and sentence structures are used with
limited success
· The student’s use of vocabulary is sometimes inappropriate and
only somewhat varied.
· Regular errors in spelling, pronunciation, punctuation and
syntax hinder communication.
5 – 6
· Appropriate understanding of topic with a good deal of
supporting details
· Student uses some imagination and creativity that may reflect
the use of the rules
· Language in the commandments is generally accurate and shows
appropriate understanding
· Usual organisational structures and language that explains the
essence of the rules
· Paragraphs and ideas clear and coherent
· The flow of the analysis and sentence structure is
organised
· Has appropriate vocabulary and usage of the language
· Generally accurate grammar and ideas are delivered with
occasional errors
· Has generally accurate style and register of writing and
punctuation
· Ideas delivered with occasional errors that sometimes distorts
meaning of work
7 - 8
· Satisfactory understanding of topic with a good deal of
supporting details
· Student uses some imagination and creativity that serve the
context and intention of the rules
· Satisfactory understanding of the topic of belief and
governance
· Constant specific language conventions that is found in the
rules
· Paragraphs and ideas are coherent and ideas of the story and
rules is well expressed
· Acceptable flow in the anlaysis and sentence structure is
organised
· Has a range of appropriate vocabulary and usage of the
language
· Accurate grammar and ideas are delivered with very rare
hinderers
· Accurate style and register of writing
· Ideas are delivered with very rare mistakes
9 - 10
· Student understands and can explain in detail using enough
support from their own beliefs
· Student is able to have very good imagination in the
contextual and hidden meaning of the story and commandments that
serve the context and intention
· Good understanding of terminology
· Sophisticated organisational structures and specific language
conventions found in the rules
· Paragraphs and ideas are well organised. Good flow in the
essay and sentence structure is
organised
· Has wide and extensive vocabulary and usage of the
language
· Accurate grammar and ideas are delivered very clearly
· Has very good style and register of writing
· Ideas are very clear and accurate
Examples of work in response to this formative assessment task,
which you have assessed and which show your feedback to the
learners.Insert examples (of high, mid and low performance)
HIGH
3.2.1Preparing and using summative assessments
MEDIUM
A = 6
B = 6
C = 5
LOW
Example of student who also included their story in their
assessment
(approximately 500 words)
How have you designed the summative assessment tasks and marking
scheme, and why?
The literature genre and component for this unit was the short
story. The students had to read 3 in total that spanned many areas
of belief and change etc. During the course of the 8 week unit, we
covered religion, belief systems, murder and the psyche, and serial
killers with the focus on belief and obsession. Therefore, the
short stories studied were connected to these main areas. The
summative assessment was set as the final task of creating a short
story. In this task, students had to write an original short story
that showed their understanding of the 3 texts studied. The aim was
for students to attach creativity to the knowledge they had gained.
Their story had to feature some of the skills acquired in any one
of the three stories taught; for example, climax, open-ending,
first person or second person narrative, dialogue, character
interaction etc. It also had to be connected to belief in their own
subjective way. The marking scheme was an extended version of the
formative. In the formative rubrics, only the task specific
criterions are used, whereas the summative features more extensive
rubrics on creativity, use of content, and language style. The
task-specific criterions are also edited in-line with the features
of a short story.
How have you ensured that these summative assessment tasks are
valid, realistic and workable?
Throughout the unit, learners have focused on the topics and
read the short stories with individual emphasis on each story.
Learners were required to extensively annotate their stories with
guidance from me on how to do so. We spent one lesson (40 minutes)
viewing examples of annotated work, the different ways to annotate,
and the purpose for it. After this, each story required a different
focus of annotation; annotate character development and
interaction, annotate and search for adjectives that enhance the
plot or setting. With this in mind, the students were learning how
to read a short story as a student, not a reader. This was leading
them nicely into their summative and made it valid and workable
because of the amount of preparation these students had already
done without realising it at some points. In addition, we studied
climax, open and closed endings, cliffhangers, and various literary
skills in writing, such as pathetic fallacy and metaphorical
imagery; mapping their presence in the 3 stories so students could
connect them tangibly rather than theoretically. To make it
realistic and workable, students who may have struggled were given
the idea to choose their favourite story, author, or approach to
‘Belief’ that they have studied to help them plot a storyline that
conveyed their own ideas. Students were given 3 weeks before
submission and one week of lessons in order to sit with me and
discuss their plot, narrative, setting, and characters. All
students had to show me their brainstorms so I could map their
progress. Reflecting on the realistic and workable components, the
original word count was 1,500 however, I decreased it to 1,000
words so that the students had a better chance of fulfilling
this.
How are the tasks related to the aims and objectives of the
programme plan?
The main objective of the programme plan was for students to
connect belief to literary texts and learn about what humans have
introduced to challenge belief systems and thought processes: why
books and authors can bring about change. Studying 3 texts that are
short stories connected to belief aided the summative task
perfectly, and in turn met the objective. Students also had to
advance and strengthen their research and communication skills, as
well as realising that belief also includes peoples’ values. In
this way, students’ abilities were tested. They had to research
continually for ideas on characters and content. They also created
a short story that could be based on a subjective form of belief,
therefore delving into different ideas on values and beliefs.
Additionally, students met the objective of learning the importance
of characters and suspense, as well as research skills for
creativity. The final product of a short story emphasises the aim
of students using language as a vehicle for thought, creativity,
reflection, learning, self-expression, and social interaction.
After their story was produced, students swapped and shared,
thereby developing critical, creative and personal approaches to
studying and analysing literary and works.
3.2.2Interpreting and using summative assessment data
(approx 500 words)
How have you analysed and interpreted the data gathered from the
summative assessment in 3.2.1?
Like all assessments, there is a significant correlation between
weak students and low scores. However, although some students were
weaker in their Criteria C (Style and Language) they were able to
become stronger in their A and B (Content, and Organisation). I
interpreted this as a success in the core teaching of the themes
and layout of a short story. Even though some of the stories were
rather far-fetched, unrealistic, or ridden with poor grammar, the
outcome showed an obvious attempt at the short story genre with a
link to the concept of ‘Belief’. Overall, there were far less low
scorers than previous assessments. However, we are over halfway
through the year and so progress is expected to be seen at this
point.
How have you provided feedback about the results to the learners
and other interested parties?
As shown in the sampling of the formative assessments attached,
a lot of editing and written feedback is given to my students. On
top of this, I then go through the work and the comments in a
face-to-face meeting with the students. They have an extensive
amount of feedback from me, and English renders this compulsory
otherwise students are not able to improve. In some cases, where
certain errors were made, I gave the students the possibility of
re-doing some of their story after the initial marking and
feedback. As we know, even students who have the best of skills can
become too ambitious, or stressed, and do not produce work of their
normal standard. I do not feel it is fair to mark them under such
pressure, therefore a resubmission is allowed. The assessments must
also be submitted with a front cover; on which there is a box for 3
signatures, student, teacher, and parent. Once the assessment is
given back the students can take it home, show their parents, they
sign and return it. This ensures that parents are part of the
learning process and can also monitor their own children. It also
means should they have any issues or questions, they can contact
me. All grades and comments are also put onto our e-Learning site
called ManageBac which parents, HoDs, and management can
access.
What issues did you experience in communicating this
information, and how did you deal with them?
This summative was the third major assessment they have
completed so far. At this point in the year, students have adapted
to how I give feedback and actually like that I sit down with them
in a feedback session. No issues were experienced with the
communication; we have spent a great deal of time working together
as a class and they are fantastic at taking on feedback and
reviewing their own work.
Assignment Template for 5293 Assessment: Assessing progress and
achievement. For examination 2011.
28
