Distance Learning Foundation and US Embassy RELO Office Session #3 Unlocking Learners’ Voices 3 February 2011

Review of Sessions #1 and #2 Unlocking learners’ voices Helping learners develop their voice in written English Helping learners develop their voice in spoken English Assignments for Shei Sanchez (February 17, March 2, March 16)

Overview of Session #3 Blogs with text and audio A review of rubrics for writing and speaking How to create your own rubric Critique of rubrics

Let’s look at some Blogs id=6325&do=blog&view=me A thread about “how to learn to write in English”.

Another blog A blog for English language teachers from Oxford University Press.

A look at the DLF Blog Password: t How can we use this space?

Create your own rubric for writing or speaking ObjectiveExcellentGoodUnacceptable Objective #1Criteria for excellent Criteria for goodWhy it is unacceptable Objective #2 Objective #3 Objective #4

4 common areas for rubric assessment Content / ideas Organization Style / voice Conventions

Content / Ideas Are the ideas original? Does the writer or speaker make their perspective clear? Does the writer or speaker refer to other’s ideas?

Organization Is there an introduction, body and conclusion to the text? Does the text have coherence?

Style / Voice Is there a good use of vocabulary and other features to make the piece interesting? Do we have a sense of the writer’s own perspective and their opinion? Are they taking in to account the audience?

Conventions Grammar Word choice Punctuation Sentence structure

Create your own rubric for writing or speaking ObjectiveExcellentGoodUnacceptable Objective #1Criteria for excellent Criteria for goodWhy it is unacceptable Objective #2 Objective #3 Objective #4

Fill in the rubric The assignment is a short persuasive essay on how Thailand should better prepare for flooding. Think of the students you teach. What rubric would you create for this assignment and your students?

Sharing and comparing Now get in to groups of 4 and share the 2 rubrics your group has created. How are they similar? How do they differ?

Creating a rubric for a blog Use the same template If your students are participating in a blog (oral and written) what will be on your rubric?

Critique of rubrics What do the critics say? Rubrics were created to make sure that different teachers agreed upon assessment. But individual teachers SHOULD have individual responses. There is no way to “lock-step” assessment.

Assignments For February 17: Send a sample of student persuasive writing to Shei by February 13. For March 2: Let Shei know that you will bring (or send) a sample of student persuasive speaking. For March 16: Have at least one student post some kind of writing or speech on the DLF Blog Spot. Shei’s address:

Thank you! Until next time... Thank you. me or Shei with any