School case I The Use of Writing Portfolios to Help Students Write Fables Po Leung Kuk 1983 Board of Directors’ College

School background All students follow the same curriculum in which weaker students may not get enough support Students have not tried out portfolio assessment and process writing before Teachers would like to have more opportunities for collaboration and communication in the Project

Focus of the project: The use of writing portfolios to help students write fables Classes involved: All classes (an in-depth study was conducted in S1C) No. of lessons involved: 13 (not including students doing the final draft and acting out their own fables in the Drama Competition) Theme: The Chinese Zodiac

Rationale for the use of writing portfolios To give weaker students more support in writing and help them develop basic self-management skills using writing portfolios To inform students, teachers & parents of students’ learning progress, strengths and weaknesses in writing.

Content: personifying an animal to illustrate personality flaw and how it is overcome Organisation: developing conflict, offering resolution and including a moral Language: Using simple past tense to describe past events Project objective 1 - To improve students’ writing interest and skills

Project objective 2 – To help students develop basic self-management skills such as setting learning goals and reflecting upon their own strengths and weaknesses Project objective 3 – To enhance students’ creativity and critical thinking and nurture positive values Setting learning goals StrengthsWeaknesses

Special features of the writing portfolios 1.Students need to think about moral values and use problem- solving skills 2. There is intensive support for weaker students through much teacher-student conferencing, self-reflection and peer review 3.The portfolio task provides students with continuous feedback and ample opportunities to manage their own writing processes at different stages Whole-person development Manageable and achievable Focused support

An overview of the entries of the writing portfolio  My profile  Story map  Self-reviewing checklist1  First draft  Self-reviewing checklist 2  Second draft  Editing worksheet  Third draft  Rating scale  Final draft  Peer –reviewing checklist  Self-reflection log Constant feedback Taking increasing charge of one’s own learning

Work plan and implementation I. Motivating students and giving input (3 lessons) -identifying oneself with the animals in the Chinese Zodiac -reading the Chinese Zodiac fables and discussed the moral in them -exploring the features of fables by using a story map (grammar was taught in context at different implementation stages)

Story Map

Work plan and implementation II. Designing a personal profile for the writing portfolio (3 lessons) - reflecting on one’s strengths and weaknesses through making analogies with the animals for the profiles -making New Year resolutions to overcome one’s weaknesses (grammar was taught in context at different implementation stages)

My strengths Hard-working, honest, loyal, intelligent, friendly My weaknesses Arrogant, fun- loving, stubborn, moody, critical and quick-tempered I am like a dragon

Work plan and implementation III. Goal-setting and task-setting for the writing portfolio (2 lessons) -getting to know the writing task and processes as well as the concept of portfolio -negotiating and setting the goals to develop self- management skills -discussing assessment criteria (grammar was taught in context at different implementation stages)

Writing task Students reflect on their own weaknesses and have to choose an animal to represent themselves. Write a Fable about how the animal competed to be at the top of the zodiac chart

My learning goals:  I will be able to create a fable of my own that includes elements of fables.  I will be able to use the main character of the fable to illustrate my weakness and how I can overcome the weakness.  I will be able to write dialogues according to the content of the fable.  I will be able to correctly use simple past tense in my writing.  I will be able to evaluate my own writing as well as other ’ s writing according to the assessment criteria.

IV. Exploring the writing processes for the writing portfolio (5 lessons) -planning and drafting the new fable (brainstorming, roving conference and writing workshop) -reviewing and editing the new fable (self-reviewing, peer writing conference, roving conference, teacher-student conference) -conducting teacher-student conference with weaker students and writing clinic -producing different drafts and doing publishing Work plan and implementation (grammar was taught in context at different implementation stages)

Teacher’s comments: 1.What were the weaknesses of the main character? 2.How did it overcome its weakness? 3.What good deed did it do? Student’s Work

Because it’s funny

Don’t be uncompassionate. To be compassionate. Is not interesting. Use the correct past tense or present tense and correct the grammar. Student’s comments

Drafts 2 & 3

Impact of writing portfolios on learning 1. Students’ confidence in writing fables was significantly increased Class C 20%  2. Students believed they had more ideas to write their fables using writing portfolios Class C 70%  3. Students found that discussing learning goals and assessment criteria with teachers was very useful or useful Class C 50%  (Survey results based on pre-project and post-project questionnaires)

Impact of writing portfolios on learning 4. Students were able to improve their own writing by evaluating their peers’ work Class C 95% 5. Students enjoyed sharing their English writing with others Class C 30%  6. Overall comment on the lessons I had Very useful - Class C 95% Very interesting - Class C 85% (Survey results based on pre-project and post-project questionnaires)

The part I most enjoyed “Other people sharing my fables” “Plan & organise the story” “Think about the animal that can represent me and then talk about my strengths and weaknesses” Students’ reflections I have improved a lot in..... “Story ending” “My grammar” “Correcting my own errors” “Story may” “Writing stores” The most useful strategy I have learnt is: “How to write stories” “How to write fables” “How to write dialogues in stories” “Thinking about positive and negative personality traits”

Impact on teaching More sharing among English teachers Increased understanding of students’ needs, progress, strengths and weaknesses in writing Increased confidence in using of writing portfolios -Manageable -Achievable

Impact on the school-based English curriculum Extending students’ learning experience in the writing portfolios through performance-based tasks Infusing language arts into the Writing portfolios with the reading and Writing of fables in the L/T processes Including positive values and attitudes in the writing portfolios for achieving students’ whole-person development

As a teacher, which animal do you think you want to identify with in the Chinese Zodiac? Chinese Zodiac?

Thank You!