1. Student Assessment
Of ultimate importance is to test the way you teach.
Use assessment as a means by which to gather information about your students’ progress.
Assessment is necessary in order to gauge the extent to which your students are attaining the objectives that you set forth for them.

2. Designing Performance Assessment
Contextualize the task.
Design “meaningful” tasks.
If you are teaching about food, have students pretend to shop for food in a market or grocery store.
Design performances, not drills.
Performance involves the
students’ ability to create with
language.
Skits
Roleplaying, etc.
Real-life scenarios
At the upper elementary and middle school levels, inform your students in advance of your goals of assessment and your scoring criteria. Provide them with rubrics ahead of time.

3. Evaluation of Student Performance
Checklist: A listing of the qualities expected or required in a quality product or performance. Provide checklist in advance so students know the criteria.
Home Assessment System: Establishes a partnership between parents, teachers, and students. Students complete performance activity cards.
Rubrics: Most appropriate for summative evaluation; they summarize the overall success of a product or a performance, based on previously specified criteria.

4. Evaluation of Student Performance
Observation and Anecdotal Recordkeeping: Record of actual student performance.
Strategies for Recording Observed Performance
Clipboard
Sticky notes
The “Boxes” Strategy
Teacher can determine which students are responsive and verbal.
Teacher can determine which students are able to understand but not yet speak very much.
Teacher is not able to evaluate every objective with each student, but she can gauge their language ability as a whole.

5. Evaluation of Student Performance
Peer Assessment: Can be valuable both to the student being assessed and to the students completing the assessments.
Can be a valuable step toward recognition of quality and honest self-assessment.
Clear guidelines, such as
those in a rubric, are a
must in peer assessment.

6. Evaluation of Student Performance: Portfolios
Portfolios have become one of the most popular and widespread of the non-traditional means of assessment.
They involve the collaboration of teacher and student in compiling and reflecting on the information in the portfolio.
They can be hard copy 3-ring binders or pocket folders, or they may be e-Portfolios

7. Evaluation of Student Performance: Portfolios
Samples of students’ work in all four skills, culture, and all three communication modes can be included.
They can showcase the students’ best work or they can demonstrate the students’ progress.
Audio and video clips of students’ interactions with others can be included in the portfolios.

8. Bear in mind…
The best source of ideas for assessment are the activities and contexts used in daily class sessions, since these are the settings within which meanings and understandings have been developed.
Actual classroom activities may serve as THE assessment of mastery of a concept.

9. Dealing with student-teacher mismatches
Familiarize self with students’ and teachers’ styles and utilize this information in order to understand group dynamics.
Vary your teaching mode.
Modify students’ behavior through positive reinforcement.
Vary the way group work is completed in the classroom.
Change the curriculum.
View different learning styles as a contribution to diversity, not as inconveniences that have to be addressed.
ALWAYS – as much as possible – make every effort to consider students’ needs and interests when planning your lessons.

10. What to do? Have a set classroom routine.
Stress meaning rather than analysis of structures.
Review and repeat often; present smaller bits of information.
Give fewer directions at one time; have pre-listening and pre-reading activities.
Provide directions both orally and in writing.
Address more than one modality (learning style).

11. What to do?
Have realistic expectations of the capabilities of students.
Use group work.
Allow extra time, if necessary, for the accomplishment of tasks.
Use different modes of assessment.
Provide more individualized instruction.

12. Highly recommended book
Faber, A., & Mazlish, E. (1995). How to Talk So Kids Can Learn at Home and in School. New York: Fireside.

13. Stocking the Language Classroom
Materials play a huge role in elementary and middle school language programs.
Because of the hands-on nature of
instruction, it is helpful to have a
variety of objects and materials
available. As many as possible
should be from the L2.
This need can be problematic
for the floating or traveling teacher.

14. Visual Reinforcement
Labels: Label objects in the classroom and school.
Name tags
Signal indicating the
language being spoken.
Calendar in L2
Day, Date, and Weather Chart
Birthday chart

15. Sources of Materials Internet Embassies Garage sales Thrift shops
Your students
Teachers who are retiring
Travel agencies/agents

16. Sources of Materials Elementary and/or ESL teachers Media center
School supply houses
Second language catalogs
Teachersdiscovery.com
Applauselearning.com
Orientaltrading.com
Realia from the target culture
Establish a relationship with a teacher from the target country and exchange materials.

17. Checking for Understanding: 3-2-1
On the index card, write the following things about class today:
3 things you learned
2 things you found to be interesting
1 question you still have

18. Cognitive Processing Strategy: Affinity Process/Diagram
You will be given a topic, such as “What makes a good teacher?”
On a small post-it note, write a word phrase (such as “has
with-it-ness”) that comes to mind
when you think of that topic.
Place the post-it note on the chart paper. Keep doing this until you run out of ideas. One phrase/post-it note.

19. Affinity Process/Diagram
Then start organizing all of the post-its into categories. On the larger post-its, write the name of each category (such as “Teaching Style,” “Personality Traits,” etc.).
Arrange the post-it notes under the categories.
THIS ACTIVITY IS TO BE DONE SILENTLY AND WITHOUT GESTURES, PANTOMIMING, SIGN LANGUAGE, ETC.

20. Reviewing the Steps: You will be given a topic.
On a small post-it note, write a 1-3 word phrase that comes to mind when you think of that topic.
Place the post-it note on the chart paper. Keep doing this until you run out of ideas. One phrase/post-it note.
Then start organizing all of the post-its into categories. On the larger post-its, write the name of each category.
Arrange the post-it notes under the categories.
THIS ACTIVITY IS TO BE DONE SILENTLY AND WITHOUT GESTURES, PANTOMIMING, SIGN LANGUAGE, ETC.

21. Affinity Process Topic
What have you learned in FLE 4314 Foreign Language Teaching in the Elementary School?