Today Assessment Tools Bank Report Card Break Caren Cameron Next Assignments For Tuesday

1. Today • Assessment Tools Bank • Report Card • Break • Caren Cameron • Next Assignments • For Tuesday

2. Report Cards – Pre-Writing • Gather the data you have collected on the child including: • Your teacher’s notebook. • All samples or collections of work the child has done – • portfolios • writing folders • math journals • reading logs, etc. All samples should be dated. • Observations and anecdotal notes. • Checklists you may have used. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

3. Report Cards – Pre-Writing • Classroom based assessments you have used. • Self-evaluations or logs the child may have kept or completed • Any supplemental material • resource teachers • teaching assistants • others involved with the child • You may need to schedule meetings with support people who work with particular children to gather information they may have collected. • Check to see that you have information on all areas of development that are on the report card. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

4. Report Cards – Pre-Writing • Some teachers like to develop a master checklist to record if they have information in all necessary areas. • Talk with the child about his/her learning. • Use a sheet like the “Child-Teacher Conference Sheet” from the BC Primary Program. You can often find out useful information that will inform your report-writing. • Report cards should not contain surprises for children or parents. Any learning challenges (a strategies to deal with them) should have previously been communicated and discussed. • Information on a report card should reflect the individual child’s development and the progress he/she is making. However, in order to provide parents with realistic information it is often necessary to frame the child’s progress within a bigger picture. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

5. Report CardsWriting the Report • Begin with student successes • Write about • something the child has done that has gone well this term. • a student’s special achievements • student’s areas of improvement • the whole child • Include as many areas of development as possible. • Include information about student behaviours as well as skills in curriculum areas. • Use specific examples whenever possible to highlight what a child is able to do. • Use your observational data to provide examples. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

6. Report CardsWriting the Report • Name the books the child is reading, refer to specific pieces of writing or art work, or actions the child has taken, provide anecdotes of behaviour, etc. • Be careful about the language you use. • Avoid vague and generalized comments – such as generally doing good work, doing very well, having difficulty. Support comments with examples. Remember that evidence should be something you can see or hear. • Avoid negative judgmental comments – such as lazy, rude, dishonest, as they will create negative reactions in the reader. Phrase things in ways that describe what the child has done. D has done her Home Reading only three times this term. When E does not complete his Math assignments at school he has been asked to do it for homework. This has not been done. • When learning needs are indicated, state what you plan to do to help the child and suggest possibilities for the parent and the child. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

7. Report CardsWriting the Report • When learning needs are indicated, state what you plan to do to help the child and suggest possibilities for the parent and the child. • Make sure you don’t state the problem and then leave the parent (and child) hanging – trying to figure out what should be done. The teacher should provide suggestions or possibilities. If you plan to discuss it at the conference have some suggestions ready. Talk to the support staff in the school if necessary. • Don’t forget to provide suggestions for children who are performing above grade expectations. That is a learning need too. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

8. Report CardsWriting the Report • Include learning goals for the next term. • Write comments that you would feel were informative and respectful if this were your child. • Think about how you would feel upon receiving this report – does it provide you with all the information you need? • Tips for efficient writing: • If you are using the computer to write the reports it can be helpful to write program summaries or outlines of areas to be included. The outline can be used as a guide for writing and then personalized for each child. BE VERY CAREFUL to proofread all reports written using this strategy to ensure that names and pronouns are correct. Cookie-cutter reports are not helpful. • Keep copies of all reports written. It can be helpful to see how you phrased a particular difficulty on a previous report. You want to avoid using exactly the same phrases repeatedly. (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

9. Report CardsReflecting on the Report • Read the report over and ask yourself the following questions: • Is the overall tone positive? • Does this report show the uniqueness of this child – does it show the parent that you really know this child. Or is it so generalized that it could be a report of two or three others in the class? • Will the parents find the report helpful? • Check the language • Have you provided specific description? • Have you avoided “loaded’ words that a reader may feel indicate bias or negativity (or sometimes are overly positive). • Does the report give information about: • What the child can do; • The child’s learning needs; • Future plans to support the child’s learning – either assistance or challenge? (From: Gayle Karen Robertson A Process for Writing Anecdotal Reports & School District #62 (Sooke) Report Guidelines; BCTF Website)

10. Resources • Davies, Anne & Caren Cameron, Together is Better: Collaborative Assessment, Colleen Politano, Kathleen Gregory, Evaluation And Reporting, 1992, Peguis Publishers, (Now Portage and Main Press)Winnipeg, ISBN 1-895411-54-8 • Practical information about 3-way reporting and 3-way conferences and writing reports • Brualdi, Amy (1998). Teacher comments on report cards: Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 6(5). Retrieved from http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=6&n=5 • Power, Brenda Miller, Well-Chosen Words: Narrative Assessments and Kelly Chandler, Report Card Comments, 1998, Stenhouse Publishers, Maine, ISBN 1-57110-080-6 • BCTF Website: FAQ on Report Cards • Teacher’s Network: http://www.teachersnetwork.org/ntol/howto/align/reportsam/

11. Guidelines for writing narrative assessments • Schafer, Susan Quick Tips: Writing Effective Report Card Comments (Grades 1 – 6) sample link: http://bit.ly/uLozM7 • Strategies, tips, and lists of useful phrases that encourage children and lists words to avoid, concise advice on how to prompt parents to support learning at home. • BC Ministry of Education Primary Program: Foundation Document, Primary Program: Resource Document • Good process for writing reports is described. It was used as a reference for the process described in this handout.

12. Caren Cameron • Tuesday Visit

13. Next Assignments • Report Card Critique • Assessment Tool Kit • Written Report Card

14. For Tuesday: • Examine: • Grade 5 written report sample • Assignment #2,3,4 Criteria/Evaluation Drafts