Assessment for learning tools
- 1. Assessment FOR learning 1. RIVERS & LAKES. Activity 4: Making an amazing facts leaflet by using info collected from previous activities. Traffic lights: Students put the traffic lights on their desks showing the colour according to their level of understanding. In this way, the teacher can see in one view who needs more help, even the students who understood or the fast finishers can help the ones who show the colour red or amber. Two stars and a wish: We can use this assessment tool to give a positive assessment, to say the things that they did well and something they could improve. I think this tool is very useful and increases students’ self- esteem since they usually associate the assessment with a negative fact. In this activity, we can use this tool for peer-assessment. In pairs, they can give the two stars and the wish to their partner. Besides, they can share their assessment with the rest of the class in order to give the others some ideas for improvement. 2. MOUNTAINS. Activity 2: Locating Nepal on a map. Explain that the tallest mountains in the world (The Himalayas) are in Nepal. Show them pictures of people living in the mountains of Nepal. Ask students to describe what they can see and write similarities and differences about their lifestyles. Open vs closed questions: The teacher can use open and closed questions in order to help students to describe the pictures and compare them. The goal of using this tool is to guide students in order to
- 2. make an organized and coherent description, as well as to develop a higher level of thinking through comparing and contrasting. KWL: Students can complete a KWL chart about “living in the mountains of Nepal”. They can write at the beginning what they already know about that way of life; next, they write what more they want to know; and finally, after having seen the pictures, having analysed and compared their way of life with ours, they can write what they have learnt. 3. EARTHQUAKES. Activity 4: Tell students to create an earthquake preparedness brochure based on their earthquake research. Students should use a combination of text and illustrations to explain different ways people can minimize their impact before and during a quake. Lesson target setting: Setting the target at the beginning of this activity will be very powerful and engaging since students have to elaborate a brochure for a real purpose. We can suggest a competition, and the winner brochure can be hung in different places of the school for everybody knows what to do in case of earthquake. Talk partners: This tool can be used at the end of the activity or at the beginning of the next lesson to review what they learnt about what to do in case of earthquake and make it easier to remember.