1. The Why and How of Effective Teaching, Learning, and Assessment in the CLIL Classroom Diana Foran Storer November 21, 2012

2. Discuss the following statements:
A good definition of “effective” would be……..
Effective teachers are born that way. Agree/disagree?
If a new approach or activity works for Teacher A, it will obviously work for Teacher B. Agree/disagree?
Teaching can/can’t be learned. Agree/disagree?
Being a teacher is an on-going process requiring critical reflection and self-evaluation. Agree/disagree?

3. Effective Teachers are:
Lifelong learners who are willing to explore new teaching strategies and methods as well as act on current research in the classroom.
Effective teachers are not born, they are made after an enormous amount of hard work and dedication.
A flexible and patient attitude is important not only for a teacher’s stress level but also for his/her students who expect him/her to be in charge and take control of any situation.

4. Effective CLIL Teaching is just Good Teaching
Effective teaching
Effective learning
Formative
Assessment
In this process, there has to be a plan, a “method in your madness” as Shakespeare tells us. Nothing is isolated; everything is related. Speaking, reading, writing, listening skills are not separate`areas, nor is content material separate from context: and this is all tied together with cognitive engagement. One doesn’t learn if one doesn’t think, make connections, relate experiences, ask questions, wonder why…..
And how do we know if we as teachers/instructors are being effective , how do we know if the students are learning, progressing, thinking, wondering…?

5. GROUP WORK Match the statements with their corresponding explanations
Discuss, and choose the 4 most important qualities for “Effecting Teaching”.

6. Three key instructional processes for effective teaching:
A Method in your Madness
Establishing where learners are in their learning
Establishing where they are going
Establishing how to get there

7. How do we know they are learning?
Testing: sets of questions or situations designed to get an idea of what a student knows or can do Assessment: a systematic approach for collecting information on student learning or performance Evaluation: interpretation of assessment data regarding quality, value, or worth of some response, product, or performance; usually based on multiple sources of information
We can’t just talk about exams. The whole class is an “exam”. Our role as teachers is getting the message across so that the message becomes the fuel to drive our students to want to learn more, fire up their curiosity……make them think. If we can achieve this, we are effective.

8. We use different APPROACHES /KINDS of Assessment
Summative: Evaluation at the end of a learning period to measure what a student has learned.
Progressive/Continual: Running log of student’s production
Performance: Assessment of performance on constructing a response, creating a product, or demonstrating applications of knowledge (research reports, oral presentations, posters, plays, experiments, recitals, art work; written work)

9. We use different APPROACHES /KINDS of Assessment
Peer: Evaluation of students’ work done by classmates
Self-assessment:
Reflective process in which
learners evaluate their
own work, progress,
attitudes, production.

10. Peer, Group, and Self- Assessment Prompts:
Did we finish up quickly today?
Did we keep our voices down today?
Did we pay attention and listen to each other?
Did we concentrate on our tasks?
Did we each have a chance to speak to the whole group today?
Did I encourage another person today?
Did I contribute an idea today?
Did I listen well today?
Did I sit still and work quietly today?
Did I ask a useful question today?
Can I explain what I learned today to someone else?

11. Traditional formats for testing learning: thinking process?
Fill-in the blanks True/false Listening Comp. Oral interviews Multiple-choice Reading Comp. Yes/no questions Matching Writing (essays, compositions) Open-ended questions

12. OBJECTIVE: LITTLE COGNITIVE ENGAGEMENT. Easy to mark for the instructor
SUBJECTIVE:REQUIRES DEEPER THOUGHT PROCESS. Increased difficulty for the instructor
Fill-in the blanks True/False Multiple choice Yes/no questions Matching
Listening Comp: (inference) Oral Interviews Reading Comp: (synthesis, deduction) Writing essays Open-questions

13. Buzz word: Alternative Assessment
Directly evaluates learners’ language skills and content knowledge through written and spoken production -peer, self, journals, portfolios, conferences, interviews- show a learner’s ability to use the language while talking/writing about the content: transmission of knowledge
Authentic tasks to demonstrate learner ability
Communication/ can-do rather than right/ wrong (CEF)
Criteria set by teacher and learners (Rubrics)
Offers students the opportunity to assess themselves; be responsible for their actions

14. In class feedback: Stoplight cards
Green: I can explain this to someone else; no problem Yellow: I am confused; it would help me to talk about it Red: I do not understand and can not explain this yet

15. Are you following me? STOPLIGHT CARDS explain to your partner the difference between traditional and alternative assessment formats

16. Complete the sentence stems: Why do we test?
We give tests so that….
Tests provide teachers with…
Tests help students…..
All tests must…
My opinion on tests is….
I usually test my students by…..
An example of one kind of good test is…

17. So, testing (from a teacher’s point of view)…
Provides feedback to the student, identifying the strengths and weaknesses
Provides feedback to the instructor on how well the message is getting across
Conducive to creating learning activities
Enables judgment of performance (grade/degree classification) and promotion
Quality assurance for the institution—external and internal
A necessary evil!!

18. From the Four C’s of CLIL:
Content, Communication, Cognition, and Culture
COGNITIVE ENGAGEMENT:
* Sustained attention to a task that requires a mental effort
* Making meaning, controlling one’s own thought processes: self-regulation
* Learners make decisions, analyze, interpret, deduce, negotiate, discuss, organize coherently, research, collaborate on a team, debate, explain, defend and justify opinions and beliefs

19. Bloom’s Taxonomy: Cognitive Engagement
Bloom’s for PE
Bloom’s for
Chemistry,
Physics,
Biology
Bloom’s for Digital Tech

20. How we test in CLIL: Traditional +Authentic - Performance
Summative and Formative Assessment: traditional formats in combination with “can-do” tasks
Progressive Evaluation: A running log of participation, production, progress and quality performance of activities, tasks, projects…
CLIL Assessment enhances learning by integrating foreign language + content areas and with students’ own lives, requires higher-order thinking skills, is performance based and criterion referenced (rubrics)

21. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!!!
Potential Development
Current Development
Beyond reach at present
CONTENT and LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING

22. Some ways to accommodate assessment in the CLIL classroom:
Reducing response materials for content area testing
Providing tests with adjusted (simplified) language (at first)
Choosing key/main ideas for assessment
Simplifying directions
Supply word banks for tests, class work
Extending time to complete tests
Allowing students to respond orally (at younger ages) rather than in writing

23. Some ways…(cont.)
Using portfolios to authentically assess student progress
At times, double grading students work; content (correct responses) and L2 grammar correctness (especially in compositions, narratives etc.)
For writing, using Personal Error Correction Charts
Using “I learned” Statements
Cooperative Learning Activities

24. STOPLIGHT CARDS How do we test in CLIL? Can you explain?

25. Cooperative Learning Activities (Johnson and Johnson)
Students promote each other’s learning by helping, sharing, encouraging efforts to learn.
Individual accountability, developed in group/team work skills
Promotes listening to others, negotiating, asking for clarification, following directions, giving reasons for you opinions, argumentation skills, paraphrasing what others have said…

26. Think-Pair-Share Involves a three-step cooperative structure.
First step, think silently about a question.
Second step, pair up and exchange thoughts.
Third step, the pairs share their responses with other pairs, other teams, or the entire group.

27. THINK: Name some reasons why studying foreign languages is important Pair: Compare your reasons with your partner’s. SHARE: turn around and see what the pair behind you thinks. Tell the class the reasons you agree on

28. Jigsaw RESEARCH/STUDY GROUPS ( MY VERSION)
Groups with five students are set up.
Each group is assigned unique material (content subject area).
These “expert” groups decide what is most important, interesting, necessary to know/learn from what they have read.
Then, one member from each expert group joins other “experts” to form new groups of 5 experts each.
A final report, graph, table is written up with the data gathered from the 5 experts.
The original groups meet again and compare what they learned while being “away”.

30. Pair Orals It is NOT a dictation..
Select short, informative articles students read for homework, prepare an oral summary of the main points;
In the next class they “tell the story” of their article to their partner
The partner takes notes while questioning, asking for clarification, negotiating meaning
Students switch roles;
They write up a short summary (main points, most interesting fact..) of what their partner has said.
It is NOT a dictation..
Eye contact is encouraged to reduce the urge to read the text.

31. PAIR ORALS: student feedback sheet
My name is ________________ and I listened to ____________________ She/he told me about/that…….
I thought that………
I was surprised that……
I found the fact that …….very interesting.
I didn’t know ……….and now I do!
  (Four skills are practiced/vocabulary acquisition/content knowledge increased….students challenged)
Foran, D. “Teaching Technical English at the Tertiary and Professional Level: Content-Based Cooperative Learning under the CLIL Umbrella” p Diverse Contexts—Converging Goals: CLIL in Europe, eds.David Marsh/Dieter Wolff Peter Lang 2007, Frankfurt, Germany

32. Minute Paper/Exit Cards/3-2-1 Cards
What was the most useful or meaningful thing you learned today?
What questions remain in your mind as we end this session?
What was the “muddiest point” for you today?
Give an example…
Explain in your own words….
3 Things they learned from today’s lesson
2 Questions they still have
1 Thing they would like to learn more about
Teachers compile the information, using this “pre- assessment” to prepare for the students’ next lesson
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

33. Combine all forms with Formative Assessment
On-going process to elicit evidence about student learning
To provide feedback to teachers and students about learning
To use feedback and reinforcement to adjust instruction and learning strategies in real time
Close the gap between the learners’ current state and desired goals (ZPD): From where they are now to where YOU want them to be
Prompt reinforcement
Prompt feedback
Task

34. Effective Formative Assessment:
Feedback and Re-inforcement

35. The Four Levels of feedback
Answers were right or wrong; directions to get more information Strategies used or could be used About student self confidence, self assessment “Good girl” “smart guy” “good job” “way to go”
Feedback about the task Feedback about processing the task Feedback about self- regulation Feed back about the student as a person

36. Not just “GOOD!”, but why, and how it could be better
General praise such as "Good job!" is not formative feedback; it is like a pat on the back: makes the learner smile, keeps up interest. It does not try to improve students’ performance nor move them along the learning pathway

37. The best feedback
Focuses on the qualities of the work and process or strategies to do the work
Relates to the learning goal(s) and what might be useful next
Describes the existing quality and/or needed improvement; not judgmental
Is positive and specific
Draws attention to a student’s self-regulation or effort and level of attention

38. Three-pronged feedback commentary
What was done well?
What needs improvement?
Specific suggestions for how to improve
A reminder prompt draws attention to the learning goal
A scaffolded prompt helps to focus on specific aspects of the learning
An example prompt gives suggestions or provides examples of possible improvements

39. Feedback from the students’ point of view
☺ Formative feedback addresses both the cognitve factor, understanding where they are and what to do next ☺ And helps develop a feeling of control over their learning, the motivational factor
☺Tells me how my work corresponds to the criteria ☺ Tells me how I can improve ☺ Tells me the teacher cares (and has read my work)

40. HANDOUT: In what way can feedback be - Motivational (support, encourage) - Evaluative (measure achievment) - Descriptive-Formative (indicate how to improve)
This kind of “descriptive” feedback is very different from “evaluative feedback”.

41. ☺ MOTIVATIONAL EVALUATIVE DESCRIPTIVE FORMATIVE 7.5/75%
The goal is to make the learner feel good.
Goal is to measure student achievement with a score or a grade.
Goal is to improve student achievement by telling what steps to take in order to move forward in the learning process.
Encourages and supports the learner.
Feedback that is intended to summarize student achievement.
Feedback that is intended to tell the learner what needs to be improved
Does NOT give feedback specific to the learning goal.
Does not give guidance on how to improve the learner’s reasoning
Gives specific guidance as to how to improve.
“I really like how you completed the assignment.”
Judgmental about the learning
Is anecdotal ☺
7.5/75%
“You described the digestive system nicely. Now go back and draw each organ as you explain the process from beginning to end.”

42. Stop Light cards:
Can you explain the difference between descriptive feedback and evaluative feedback?
Descriptive feedback is anecdotal, and provides students detailed, precise information about their progress toward the learning goal, and suggestions for next steps in learning.
Evaluative feedback consists of a judgment about the learning, and is communicated as a grade, a mark or symbol.

43. FORMATIVE Feedback Strategies
TIMING AMOUNT MODE AUDIENCE
Feedback while they are still mindful of the learning target and still time for them to act on it Enough to know what to do, but not so much that it is done for them Commmunicate feedback message in the most appropriate way Reach appropriate students in groups, pairs; give specific feedback to whole class. But let them know that their learning is important to you

44. Handout: Group Activity on Timing, Amount, Mode, and Audience.

45. Sample Feedback comments: good or not so good
Try harder! Explain better Your introduction really makes me want to read the rest. Your report is the best one in the class! Your report is better than the last one. You made it clear what you think about…..It would be even better if you included….
Vague, try to do more of what? Explain what? Knows it was good and why Judgemental; does not tell st what is good Positive, plus constructive; small steps to improve…

46. Examples (cont.):
The good stories we have been reading have a beginning, a middle, and an end. I see that your story has a beginning and a middle, just like those good stories do. Can you draw and write an ending? You have described the similarities between _____ and _____ clearly in this paper, and you have identified key differences. Work on illustrating those differences with concrete examples from the text. The ending of your story really bothered me because I felt like you had built up a completely different mood. (instead of “your ending is poor”)

47. Question prompts
Aim to ask more open-ended questions. Are you pleased with your work? Vs. How well have you worked? What do you think ...? How do you know ...? Is there another way/reason/idea ...? What do you think happens next ...? Why do you think that ...? Do you have a reason ...? How can you be sure ...? Where is there another example of this?

50. Close the gap between the learner’s “you are here” and the “final destination”
Assessment is formative only if the information fed back to the learner is used by the learner in making improvements.
To be formative, assessment must include a recipe for future action

51. Thank you and smile!