Classroom Tools for Writing Lessons

The following are some tools that can be used during our writing lessons to enable our students to assess their own and peers' compositions before handing them in to the teacher. These rubrics have been designed in a way to make our students check for simple errors before submitting their work. 

Self - Assessment Rubric 

The self - assessment rubrics are designed to help students to check their own essays before submitting them. The rubrics here have listed a set of 'to-do' things that guides students to check their work. The lists are simple and understandable. Students can easily figure out what they have done and what they need to improvise before submitting the final work. As for the teacher, it would be easier for them as they would only need to work on the technical parts. The three editing checklist that I have shared here are different in their own ways. We can always alter and make minor changes to them so that the rubrics are well - aligned to the task given to the students. 

Self - Assessment Rubric 1 

Self - Assessment Rubric 2 

Self - Assessment Rubric 3 

Peer Assessment Rubric

The following are different types of peer assessment rubrics. These are different types of tools for different types of writing tasks and involves one or two peers as assessors depending on the task given. I have constructed these rubrics as simple as possible so that my students would understand what is stated in the rubrics. However, if you find them to be too difficult for your students you can always simplify these rubrics to suit your students learning needs.  

Peer Assessment Rubric for Descriptive Writing 

Peer Assessment Rubric for Paragraph Writing

Peer Editing Checklist

Peer Assessment Rubric 

Peer Grading Rubric

Teacher Assessment Rubric 

The teacher assessment rubric is designed for teachers to assess their students' work and give them scores for six different criteria and each criterion has three scores to show students what they have achieved and what they have to work on. This is in a way replicating the medal and mission model. 

Teacher Assessment Rubric - First Page 

Teacher Assessment Rubric - Second Page

You may download the rubric here. 

Happy Teaching! 

Classroom Tools for Reading Lessons

As a teacher, I have always believed in making my lessons interesting by creating meaningful classroom activities for my students. The worksheets and tools that I design are to help me to achieve the objectives of my lessons. The following are some classroom tools that can be used for reading lessons. These tools are designed to help students to understand their responsibilities as learners while doing a reading activity. I find these tools help to create a sense of purpose among students. 

The self - assessment rubric for reading is designed to help learners understand what they need to do while reading as to develop their skills. By referring to this rubric they will be able to understand what they need to do in order to display understanding while reading a text. At times,  students may not understand the rubric, so we teachers can actually demonstrate how to use the rubric. We also need to help students to explore the reading skills so that they know what to do. We as teachers have to remember that reading task is not about reading a text and answering questions. There are more to it, and this is one of the rubrics that may help students to understand what they need to know.  

The Reading Grid is a set of tasks that can help our learners to be actively engaged in reading. There are 16 tasks altogether and students can be given a choice on picking 5 tasks they would like to do. This reading activity can also be done in groups of four where students can pick activities of their choice and work individually, then they can share the outcome with the rest of the group members. As teachers, we have to ensure that the text they are working on will allow them to do all the tasks. If any of the tasks is not do-able, it is important to inform the students not to select the task.

The self - assessment reading chart shown above has listed 10 can do statements that are related to reading activities. Learners can be asked to complete the assessment for reading after a reading lesson so that they would know what they have achieved and what they need to work on. This chart can also help learners to understand what is expected of them during a reading lesson and develop a sense of purpose for reading. Probably after the first assessment, we will get more 'yes' for the second time as students will be more aware of things that the should do.

This is just another version of self - assessment tool, to help learners to understand what they have achieved and what they need to work on while reading to understand a text better. 

The assessment tool shown above is slightly different as the can do statements have been put into four categories. This assessment tool is more suitable to be used when we are dealing with higher intermediate or advanced groups.

The is used for wrap - up activities after a reading lesson. This is quite a commonly used tool for post-reading activities. I have used this quite a number of times and it worked really well in my classes.

As a teacher, I think the tools alone will not help us to develop our students' reading fluency. These are just tools that may help to make our teaching better. We, teachers, have to think of ways and activities on how to develop our students reading fluency with the aid of the tools. So do not solely rely on the tools that I have shared, make sure the reading activities are interesting. I will share interesting reading activities soon enough.

 Please click here to download the PDF version of the tools for reading lessons.   

Self and Peer Assessment Tools for Speaking Lessons

Self and peer assessments are broad ideas where students give feedback or evaluate their own work and the work of their peers. It can be formative where most of the times students' give feedback to their peers or work on their own progress so that they can improve in whichever that is lacking. self and peers assessments are commonly used as a strategy for students to assess their own contributions and of their group mates to group work and assignments. 

After doing some research, I have learnt that self and peer assessments can benefit students in improving their learning and help them to be responsible for their own learning. However, despite being in use for a long time we are not familiar with the use of self and peer assessment tools in our classrooms and I think it is high time for us to start off with some sort of peer and self - assessments that are relevant to our lessons. 

After going through several online resources, I have developed some tools for self and peer assessments that I am planning to use in my lessons next year. I have gone through the new form four textbook and based on the speaking activities, I have designed some assessment tools for the speaking lessons.

These tools were designed after taking into considerations what may work in my classroom. I am sharing them here so that we can try them out in our classrooms and further improvise them. 

These tools are designed for speaking lessons for form 4 and form 5 levels. 

I will share more assessment tools for other skills once I have done the compilation. 

To download the self and peer assessment tools, please click here. 

Below are examples of self and peer assessment tools that I built for my lessons : 

A simple assessment tool for students to work in their small group
 to assess their progress as a group

Peer evaluation form for students to assess their friends'
performance while doing a group speaking task.
This form is ideal for small groups of four. 

This is a self - assessment tool for learners to assess their own progress.
This tool can be used for both speaking and listening tasks. 

This is another self- assessment tool where students place themselves
from 1 to 9. 1 being very poor and 9 being excellent based on the
12 statements. The statements are on the things they can do in
 a speaking activity.

This is a very simple self - assessment tool. Learners only need
to circle the things they have done after completing a speaking task. 

Peer assessment tool for pair work. A simple tick will do.

A simple version of the self - assessment tool.

This one can be used if a group consists of five members.
Each member can be given an evaluation form, they will
assess their group members as the discussion progresses.

That's all and hopefully what works for me will work for you too.  

The Do's of Differentiation

It is not easy to deal with students of different abilities when they are in one large class. Teachers often face challenges in dealing with situations like this, especially when they genuinely want to deliver an effective lesson that will ensure students’ progress.

In such situations, delivering an effective lesson will not be possible without the differentiation of tasks and the outcomes that the children are expected to achieve. Differentiation is a balancing act to match work to ability, in order to ensure that the children are working at a level that they can cope with, but that also stretches them. Nevertheless, teachers need to do the following to ensure that learning takes place in a way that no students are left behind :

Be realistic on how much differentiation is manageable

In most classrooms situations, it is always manageable to develop differentiation strategies for three groups – high, average and low achievers. This is doable and we as teachers will be able to monitor the progress of students throughout the lesson. This idea may not be perfect, but it will help us to avoid getting bound up too often in the needs of small groups or even individuals.

Differentiate the activity; not the outcome

It is important to take note that when we differentiate, it is not differentiating our learning outcome, but we should actually work towards achieving one learning outcome by differentiating the activity. We should not create three learning outcomes according to the number of groups we have. It may not be easy but it is achievable. We can actually work on one task but differentiate it according to different groups. By doing this we can discuss concepts as a class but tailor the tasks to meet our students’ learning needs. This helps to keep our planning simple and at the same time, no students will be left behind feeling marginalised.

Keep your assessment tasks differentiated

If we set differentiated work it makes sense to use differentiated assessments too. Making assessment tasks fit the ways the children are able to work independently may make us to have more work, but it will create a room for a more effective assessment for the students.

Be prepared to change groupings

Rates of progress differ and it may become apparent that some children are either facing ahead or getting left behind. Changing their groups will help them cope better. It may also be prudent to change groupings if behaviour gets out of hand, or if you’re concerned about the effect that one child is having on another.

Challenge children

It is very important to challenge our students to prevent them from getting bored. Knowing how many challenges they can take is very difficult, but setting them a challenge, one that you think only the ablest will achieve, can be a good way of finding out how well individual children can cope and persevere. We can try it as a class activity and share ideas and possible solutions.

Do not let a lack of basic skills hold children in other ways

A child may have a poor pencil control, or be unable to read without support, but these things do not indicate a lack of ability in other areas, therefore, as teachers we need to provide support for students like this where they need help the most so that they will overcome their weakness and be able to develop themselves.

When putting children into groups, draw up a set of criteria for group formation

It may be difficult to decide who is going to be in which group as students tend to sit with friends who they are comfortable with and at the same time we should not label them openly as high, average and weak learners as this may cause some of the students to be feeling uncomfortable. Therefore, we can always create a set of criteria to decide which group they belong to by listing down on aspects they are to achieve and what they have achieved, this will give them more confident and will keep the class in control. However, it is advised not to stick on to the criteria rigidly and we may change the grouping from time to time based on students’ performance.

Differentiate whole-class teaching

One of the appealing things about whole-class teaching for some is that everyone is doing the same thing at the same time. This style of teaching can still incorporate differentiated elements. Even if it’s simply the expected outcome that’s differentiated, as long as these expectations are recorded, it’s still a valuable way of enabling children to work at levels at which they can succeed.

 Differentiate the support offered

Another way of using similar activities, but still ensuring that they’re tailored to meet different learner’s needs is to differentiate the level of support that they will have in order to complete the task.

The aforementioned techniques are just the tip of the iceberg, there are actually many differentiation strategies that can be used in classrooms. 

I will share more ideas on differentiation very soon. Meanwhile, feel free to share more ideas in the comment section. 

References 

Heydon, R. (2003). Literature circles as a differentiated instructional strategy for including ESL students in mainstream classrooms. Canadian Modern Language Review, 59(3), 463-475.

Baecher, L., Artigliere, M., Patterson, D. K., & Spatzer, A. (2012). Differentiated instruction for English language learners as “variations on a theme” teachers can differentiate instruction to support English language learners. Middle School Journal, 43(3), 14-21.

Baecher, L. H. (2011). Differentiated instruction for English language learners: Strategies for the secondary English teacher. The Wisconsin English Journal, 53(2), 64-73.

https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/differentiated-instruction-english-language-learners

https://esol.britishcouncil.org/content/teachers/staff-room/teaching-articles/differentiation-esol-classroom

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/educator-english/esl-differentiation/

Sing to the Dawn - Incident and Character

The following is a sample answer for the novel Sing to the Dawn. I have often noticed that when students are required to write about events/incidents and characters, they often end up writing the synopsis of the entire story by weaving it with the characters. 

It is important for students to understand that an event/incident is not about writing the entire synopsis but to pick one part of the story and relating it to the answer. I hope the following sample answer would give students a picture of how to describe an event and relating it to the character in the novel. I have put the answer in an organised way to help students write better. 

The question below requires students to describe an incident that brings a change in a character and why the change is important to the character. It is also important to relate your answer to the statement.

Before you answer the question, think carefully which incident or event you would like to write about and focus only on that incident and the characters involved in the incident. As for this question, I picked the fight at the market place as it brought a twist in the story and a BIG change in Kwai. 

You have to elaborate on the event as vividly as possible focussing on the character you are going to write about.

Since the question requires you to write about an event that brought changes to a character, you have to clearly write which character has changed. It is important to have signposts such as ' the incident at the market place had brought about changes in Kwai'

The last part of the question requires you to provide reasons for your answer. So, try to write at least three, you can write more or less depends on how much you can relate them to the character and incident. However, I prefer only three to make things simple. I advise my students to work well by giving a vivid description and examples from the novel to strengthen your answer. 

You may also write your 'reasons' in separate paragraphs by starting your paragraph with a specific signpost, such as 'the change was important because', 'The first reason is...' and so on.

to make you answer interesting, you can also state what could have happened or have not happened if the change in the character did not occur, just to stress on how important the change was to the story.

You do not need to make your conclusion lengthy, summarise the whole idea in one or two sentences will do. 

Good Luck!

Descriptive Essay about Teenagers.....

Since SPM is just around the corner and I have been receiving emails requesting sample essays. So, I decided to share one today. 

The following is an essay adapted from an ancient old SPM workbook. I used that book for my SPM in 1997. I modified the essay so that can suit the current needs of the SPM students. The language used in this essay is very high ( CEFR C2) and will guarantee students with an A+ if they can actually write essays like this. 

Dear teachers, please remember that this essay is not suitable for low proficiency students who are struggling to write. If you ask them to read essays like this they will give up and may not even want to try. 

Also to be cautioned that teenagers are portrayed in a negative light in this essay so no offence to any teenagers who are reading this essay.

The rubric for the following essay is : 

In about 350 words, write your opinion about teenagers today. 

Happy Teaching Teachers!!

Happy Studying Students!!

Global Teacher Award 2019, New Delhi India

16 September 2019 - While Malaysians were celebrating Malaysia, I made my country proud in my own way.......

Me Receiving Award from The Russian Ambassador. 

My journey as a teacher started on this very day 16 years ago. Never had I imagined that I would come this far and it would have never been possible without my family, and all the like-minded positive friends and colleagues whom I keep close to my heart....and of course, along the way there were stormy and rough times, but, I have always kept my faith strong which helped me to brave through all the difficulties..... After 16 years, today was a proud day for me to be among 500 teachers from India and 100 International teachers from 72 countries to receive The Alert Knowledge Services(AKS) Global Teacher Award...What a great way to celebrate my 16th year work anniversary.....

The Global Teacher Award 2019 is an event organised by Alert Knowledge Services (AKS) an organisation working on uplifting the teaching profession around the world by recognising teachers. The AKS Foundation has its own way the reward these teachers. It was the biggest conglomeration of teachers and I got to meet with teachers from different teaching environment. I had the privilege to get to know their teaching environment and the challenges they face in their everyday lives as teachers.  

Among other teachers from Malaysia who had received the award were : 

a) Mr. Parthiban Govindasamy from SJKT Ladang Shum Yip Leong, Cameron Highlands.

and 

b) Madam Pn. Lei Sai Im from SMK Seri Bintang Utara Kuala Lumpur. 

It was a proud moment for us to once again make Malaysia proud in the global arena. 

Mr.Parthiban Receiving Award

Teachers from Russia 

A teacher from Brazil