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Procedures we have completed and saved on S Drive:

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Procedures we have completed and saved on S Drive:

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1. Moderation Processes
2. Course Coordinator Role
3. Short Answer Scope and Sequence

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1. Forward Planning for CATs (Candice)
2. Cognitive Strategies for use in your classroom (Emma)
3. What is Analytical writing (Annie)

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This could be fun for Year 7 teachers - who wants to give it a go in their class?

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Reading takes kids on incredible journeys of discovery-it awakens their imagination and builds their confidence. Kids love the MS Readathon and it is a great way to get your class excited about reading! The MS Readathon can be run right along the Premiers Reading Challenge, and children can log all of the books they've read online.

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Any budding writers in your classes? Comp closes 6th December

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Novella Writing Competition | Somerset Storyfest

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The Somerset National Novella Writing Competition is open to all Australian high school students. It is a wonderful opportunity for serious student writers

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Check out these links for Book Week Activities

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by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com

Children's Book Week in Australia is August 17 - 23, 2019. The theme this year is Reading is My Secret Power.

Here are some prompts to start discussions with kids:

🔆 How can reading be a power?
🔆 How can reading be a secret power?
🔆 What is the difference between a secret power and a super power? Could reading be both?
🔆 Why would somebody want to keep a power secret?

Here are some ideas for educational and creative activities for kids, based on the theme:

💥 Tell someone about your favourite book. What makes it so good? Write several sentences/paragraphs about your book so others can discover it too. You might like to read the tips in my article, How Do Kids Write a Book Review?

💥 Imagine a day when you must cover up the fact that reading is your secret power. How do you dress? How do you act? Create a costume that would help someone whose secret power is reading to disguise themselves.

💥 Think up a situation where a character solves a big problem by being able to read. What is the problem? What is the resolution? Tell the story.

💥Lots of stories have secrets in them. Explore your library and try to discover books that are about secrets, or that have "secret" in the title. How many secret" books will you read?

💥Write an advertising jingle that sells reading as a secret power. Get together with some friends and perform your jingle for an audience. How will you know if your communication is effective?

💥Reading truly is amazingly powerful. Design a poster that communicates the power of reading to change people's lives.

💥 Because you have reading as your secret power, you have a great imagination. Let's put that imagination to work! Imagine that one day you stumble across a hidden valley, a place so secret that you are the first person to find it. What does it look like, smell like, sound like? What kinds of creatures live here? Make up some interesting names for all these different creatures. Perhaps there are some really strange ones like Galoppalegs or Lubadups. Draw a picture about your secret valley, and don't forget to draw and label your creatures!

➽ Teachers and librarians, if you're new to Children's Book Week celebrations, check out the Book Week for Beginners site for display and celebration ideas, character parades and more!

Here are some resources I have made this year for teachers/librarians/parents to use with students:

NB: All of my Children's Book Week resources are free to use for teachers, librarians and parents who work with kids.

1. This first group of resources is three quizzes designed as a way for students to become familiar with the books chosen as Notables by the CBCA. Children should look carefully at the book covers on the long list page to solve the clues in the PDFs. How many of these books have they read, or plan to read?

Quiz based on CBCA Notables - Find the Book (Older Readers) PDF
Quiz based on CBCA Notables - Find the Book (Younger Readers) PDF
Quiz based on CBCA Notables - Find the Book (Picture Book of the Year) PDF

2. The next group of resources is brightly coloured posters you might like to use to keep Book Week front and centre in people's minds, or for Children's Book Week displays.

3. The next resource is a PDF where kids can work out their secret agent code name.

4. The final 2019 resource is a "top secret" PDF document explaining to kids that they must become secret agents, develop skills and defeat MMAR (Mischief Makers Against Reading.) Students complete the activities in the booklet.

Download the PDF TOP SECRET Activity Booklet here.

You might also be interested in my other Children's Book Week articles from earlier years, embedded in the list below.

NB: After ten years, sometime in the next few months will be my final time of publishing both The Book Chook, and my own website, so please download any other useful resources from my Free PDFs while they are still available.

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Children's Book Week 2019, Activities and Resources

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by Susan Stephenson, www.thebookchook.com Here are some prompts to start discussions with kids: 🔆 How can reading be a power? 🔆 How can reading be a secret power? 🔆 What is the difference between a secret power and a super power? Could reading be both? 🔆 Why would somebody want to keep a power secret?

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So let me get you sorted for Book Week in August!
The perfect secret power... Who would ever suspect the kid with a book? Ways reading can be my secret power- literally!

Throwing books at bad guys

Giving a book to the enemy so they get paper cuts

Setting up bookshelves to fall on the bad guys heads

Giving the enemy such a good book that they can't put it down and they are trapped forever

Give the bad guys a library of good books and poor lighting so they are blinded

Lay some secret middle of the night book traps so they trip over them or stub their toes

The best thing about your secret reading power? People under-estimate your power. Nobody would every guess that a kid or teen like you could: What other ways can books be your secret power? Add your ideas in our comments section below! We've even got your costume ideas sorted. Did you notice that 13 of the 36 books on the CBCA shortlist 2019 had birds on their cover? And 6 of those were about birds, or had birds as characters. Even the poster for CBCA Book Week has a bird on it! Sooooooo... this Book Week why not go with it?

infiltrate other cultures (books about language, customs or culture anyone? Black Cockatoo would give you a head start if you visited or moved to a remote Aboriginal town for example... and shameless plug)

time travel and change our future (read books about the mistakes of people and cultures of the past to change our future now- Rabbit Proof Fence, Shaun Tan's Rabbits, Dark Emu)

travel to different worlds and change ours (stop mining companies like Pocahontus or Avatar? Avoid politics gone too far like in 1984, Animal Farm or The Handmade's Tale (should Trump voters have read these books before their last election?), avoid nuclear disaster or survive after like in Obernewtyn Chronicles or Taronga)

amaze people with your new karate, or knot tying, or bush tucker finding skills (non-fiction books can be deadly!)

be confident and cool like how your favourite book characters got their popularity or fame

Free bird masks to download and make http://www.supercoloring.com/coloring-pages/cockatoo-mask and https://cdn0.woolworths.media/content/banners/masks.pdf

Check out some of these bird themed beaks that you can buy from Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/au/market/bird_beak_mask

Pinterest has some cool ideas for you mob who can sew or have family who can help you make your costumes: https://www.pinterest.com.au/backyardchirper/bird-costumes/?lp=true

Discussion points:

Why is reading an easy super power to get?

Why is reading a good super power to have?

What is your favourite book and how has reading it made you more powerful?

Art and craft ideas:

Origami ninja stars- label with your reading powers

Design the 'Super Reader' logo, chest plate, uniform, powers and enemy

Use a page of an old book to

Make a superhero outfit from old newspapers

Draw a self portrait with secret powers you have got from books

Cut and paste things from books/magazines/newspapers/brochures etc to make your secret super hero

Class activities:

Practice a new reading superpower each week- super knowledge, super 'how to' power, super problem solving, super time travel, super world travels etc.

Design a reading superpower boardgame/card game where players have to read stuff to win

Brainstorm ways reading makes you powerful

Race to list as many books that have characters with powers (secret or not).

#CBCA2019 #CBCABookAwards #BookWeek #BlackCockatoo

PS- While you are here... our novella Black Cockatoo is on the shortlist! Check out our FREE differentiated, comprehensive teaching pack here.

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CBCA Book Week Ideas 2019 · Hakea Hustler and Carl Merrison

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The 2019 Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book Week theme is 'Reading is my Secret Power'. So let me get you sorted for Book Week in August! FOR KIDS AND TEENS The perfect secret power... Who would ever suspect the kid with a book? Ways reading can be my secret power- literally!

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Something to ponder

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Schlecty BELIEFS UNDERLYING WORKING ON THE WORK

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For discussion

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Hey lovely people! I'm still looking for some book recommendations. Can you please tell me any YA novels you adore and wish kids would just read already!?

Thanks!

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Lots to love about Tim Ferguson but even more with his Fake take on news

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BORIS BY-ELECTION COULD FORCE A BYE-BYE-ELECTION

British PM Boris ' Take A Look At My ' Johnson has lost his first byelection as leader, giving his parliamentary majority a ludicrous haircut. His one-seat majority is barely credible, which was how he got the job on the first place.

Johnson has saved Britons from wondering if they should elect him PM by stealing the Prime Ministership 'Aussie-style'. But he may have to call a general election. What he will call it is unknown.

Johnson's Brexit strategy remains in place. He said: "If at first you don't secede, try, try again."

Boris has promised to make Trafalgar Square great again. He has also decided to up the ante in British politics ... he's moving in to Number 11.

RELIGIOUS BELIEF CONDEMNS OTHER RELIGIOUS BELIEF

A cousin of sacked rugby star Israel Folau has been removed from his tutoring role at a Catholic high school.

All 20-year-old Josiah Folau did is call the Church's sacred Mass a "paganistic ritual rooted in heresy, evil and devil worship".

For some finicky reason, the Church finds this comment at variance with its teachings.

A Vatican spokesman, lashing his back with a riding crop, said: "We have a track record of combating heresy and devil worship. Just ask Joan of Arc. I don't see Episcopalians burning witches for having a third nipple. We go the extra mile - two nipples good, three nipples is just greedy."

A believer supported Mr Folau's stance. "The Church has no right to tell us what God said he said he said," he said.

LIVING BELOW THE BARNABY JOYCE LINE

Too many Australians live below 'The Barnaby Joyce Line' ($200k + extras + more extras + Business Class flights + 15% Super + a cardboard box to sleep in while your townhouse is renovated).

But PM Scott Morrison has ruled out lifting Newstart to the point where it could provide a new start.

Morrison said "the quiet Australians" want the welfare system to work for taxpayers too. It's not clear how he heard the quiet Australians.

"The [quiet Australians] believe the best form of welfare is a job."Employers immediately lowered wages to match Newstart.

Barnaby ' Boost ' Joyce said, "I've worked hard all my life to earn your money. I could afford a BMW... but what have I got to chauffeur it?"

In other news...
SINGLE MAN'S 'ORIGINAL SIN' NOT VERY ORIGINAL ASSANGE REFUSING TO LEAK RUSSIAN COLLUSION BY ASSANGE AUSSIE SWIMMER'S DENIALS UNNATURALLY QUICK WOODSTOCK CONCERT CANCELLED DUE TO TOO MUCH STOMACH ACID MILLENNIAL INHUMANELY FORCED TO WASH THEIR OWN CLOTHES

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The Ferguson Report: Mop-top Boris gets a byelection haircut Tim Ferguson Report: Mop-top Boris gets a byelection haircut

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British PM Boris ' Take A Look At My ' Johnson has lost his first byelection as leader, giving his parliamentary majority a ludicrous haircut. His one-seat majority is barely credible, which was how he got the job on the first place.

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Something to be said for all English teachers having a Drama background ...

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In pursuit of that romance, Teller's first order of business in his classroom at Lawrence High School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, was to throw away the curriculum and text and create his own. "I taught [Latin] with a set of Latin readers I composed myself, complete with illustrations, called Lingua Latina Pictorius."

I did my best to hide my glee, calmly replying that I'd really like to see a few pages, if he still had them. This was, of course, a gross understatement; I was dying to see the books. Teller wouldn't make any promises, as the books were in storage somewhere, but a few hours later, scanned excerpts from his readers appeared in my inbox.

He paired his handmade books with supplemental readings, also selected for their potential to engage his students. He chose Book Two of The Aeneid, because it contained the story of the Trojan Horse, and selections from the poetry of Catullus. "Not the absolutely pornographic stuff like, pedicabo et irrumabo, which is that very, very naughty poem, but material I liked and could get excited about. Everything had either humor or sex or blood or romance in it, because that's what you're thinking about when you're in middle and high school."

Once a teacher has sparked romance in students, Teller argued, the rest can follow. It's easy to disregard the entertainment of your students as pandering, but it's not, Teller stressed, citing Frances Ferguson's The Idea of a Theater: The Art of Drama in Changing Perspective. "In the art that lasts, there's always a balance: purpose that is action, passion that is feelings, and perception that is intellectual content. In Shakespeare, for example, there is always a level that is just action, showbiz. There is always a level that's strongly passionate, and there's always a level that's got intellectual content."

Some subjects can't be taught without the showbiz, Teller asserted. Teaching Shakespeare as a text, before students have a seen a production, is the surest route to kill off any enthusiasm for The Bard. Students must watch Shakespeare before they read it, he said. "Until you've seen what the idea [of Shakespeare's work] is, it's really like handing a child an orchestral score and saying, 'Imagine this music.' Well, you can't; you have to be Mozart to do that."

And if Shakespeare (or Catullus or Vergil) makes students uncomfortable? That's a good thing, Teller said. Learning, like magic, should make people uncomfortable, because neither are passive acts. Elaborating on the analogy, he continued, "Magic doesn't wash over you like a gentle, reassuring lullaby. In magic, what you see comes into conflict with what you know, and that discomfort creates a kind of energy and a spark that is extremely exciting. That level of participation that magic brings from you by making you uncomfortable is a very good thing."

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In pursuit of that romance, Teller's first order of business in his classroom at Lawrence High School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, was to throw away the curriculum and text and create his own. "I taught [Latin] with a set of Latin readers I composed myself, complete with illustrations, called Lingua Latina Pictorius."

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Check it out:

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What Is The 5E Model? A Definition For Teachers
contributed by Lesley University Online

When choosing an instructional model, teachers seek strategies that help students gain a complete understanding of new concepts. They aim to engage students, motivate them to learn, and guide them toward skill development. One of the ways to do that is by incorporating inquiry-based approaches like the 5E Model, which is grounded in active learning.

Research suggests that there is a set order of events that facilitates learning, known as a learning cycle. Educators J. Myron Atkin and Robert Karplus argued in 1962 that effective learning cycles involve three key elements: exploration, term introduction, and concept application.

"In their scheme, exploration allowed the learners to become interested in the subject at hand, raise questions, and identify points of dissatisfaction with their current understanding. Introduction of new ideas and terms, primarily by the instructor, but negotiated by both instructor and students, followed. Finally, concept application provided learners with opportunities within the classroom to apply their new ideas, try out their new understandings in novel contexts, and evaluate the completeness of their understanding," according to Kimberly D. Tanner in the article "Order Matters: Using the 5E Model to Align Teaching With How People Learn."

What Is The 5E Model?

The 5E Model, developed in 1987 by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, promotes collaborative, active learning in which students work together to solve problems and investigate new concepts by asking questions, observing, analyzing, and drawing conclusions.

Theoretical Foundations

The findings of Atkin and Karplus directly informed the creation of the 5E Model, which focuses on allowing students to understand a concept over time through a series of established steps, or phases. These phases include Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate.

The 5E Model

The 5E Model, developed in 1987 by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, promotes collaborative, active learning in which students work together to solve problems and investigate new concepts by asking questions, observing, analyzing, and drawing conclusions.

The 5E Model is based on the constructivist theory to learning, which suggests that people construct knowledge and meaning from experiences. By understanding and reflecting on activities, students are able to reconcile new knowledge with previous ideas. According to subject matter expert Beverlee Jobrack, "Educational movements, such as inquiry-based learning, active learning, experiential learning, discovery learning, and knowledge building, are variations of constructivism."

In the classroom, constructivism requires educators to build inquiry, exploration, and assessment into their instructional approach. In many ways, this means the teacher plays the role of a facilitator, guiding students as they learn new concepts.

The 5E Model Explained

The following is an overview of the five phases of the 5E Model.

Engage

In the first phase of the learning cycle, the teacher works to gain an understanding of the students' prior knowledge and identify any knowledge gaps. It is also important to foster an interest in the upcoming concepts so students will be ready to learn. Teachers might task students with asking opening questions or writing down what they already know about the topic.

This is also when the concept is introduced to students for the first time.

Explore

During the exploration phase, students actively explore the new concept through concrete learning experiences. They might be asked to go through the scientific method and communicate with their peers to make observations. This phase allows students to learn in a hands-on way.

Explain

This is a teacher-led phase that helps students synthesize new knowledge and ask questions if they need further clarification. For the Explain phase to be effective, teachers should ask students to share what they learned during the Explore phase before introducing technical information in a more direct manner, according to "The 5E Instructional Model: A Learning Cycle Approach for Inquiry-Based Science Teaching." This is also when teachers utilize video, computer software, or other aides to boost understanding.

Elaborate

The elaboration phase of the 5E Model focuses on giving students space to apply what they've learned. This helps them to develop a deeper understanding. Teachers may ask students to create presentations or conduct additional investigations to reinforce new skills. This phase allows students to cement their knowledge before evaluation.

Evaluate

The 5E Model allows for both formal and informal assessment. During this phase, teachers can observe their students and see whether they have a complete grasp of the core concepts. It is also helpful to note whether students approach problems in a different way based on what they learned. Other helpful elements of the Evaluate phase include self-assessment, peer-assessment, writing assignments, and exams.

Application & Effectiveness

The 5E Model is most effective when students are encountering new concepts for the very first time because there is opportunity for a complete learning cycle.

According to co-creator Rodger W. Bybee, the 5E Model is best used in a unit of two to three weeks in which each phase is the basis for one or more distinct lessons. "Using the 5Es model as the basis for a single lesson decreases the effectiveness of the individual phases due to shortening the time and opportunities for challenging and restructuring of concepts and abilities-for learning," Bybee explains. And if too much time is spent on each phase, the structure isn't as effective and students may forget what they've learned.

The following research findings illustrate the positive impact of the 5E Model in classrooms:

One study showed that the 5E Model caused "a significantly better acquisition of scientific conceptions...than traditional instruction," according to Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education.

One study found that the 5E Instructional Model significantly increased learning and retention of science lessons.

The International Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications found the 5E learning cycle model positively affects student achievement and the permanence of knowledge.

The 5E Model allows educators to create a unique learning experience for students. Teachers who can incorporate instructional models like the 5E Model into their classrooms help students build a strong foundation of knowledge through active participation.

Lesley University's online Master of Education programs equip teachers with the knowledge and tools to effectively educate students in the modern classroom. With specialized degrees in mathematics education, science in education, and more, Lesley offers opportunities for educators to deepen their understanding of current approaches and hone their teaching skills and assessment strategies.

Learn more about Lesley's online education programs.

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What Is The 5E Model? A Definition For Teachers -

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What Is The 5E Model? A Definition For Teachers contributed by Lesley University Online When choosing an instructional model, teachers seek strategies that help students gain a complete understanding of new concepts. They aim to engage students, motivate them to learn, and guide them toward skill development.

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Reminding us how easily we can incorporate differentiation:

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A teacher works to see the upsides in students' learning difficulties-and uses them to help all students succeed.

Nineteen years ago, I taught two Latina girls in one of my eighth-grade English classes. Julia and Lourdes (these aren't their real names) always talked to each other in the back of the classroom. I used proximity and the dad stare, and frequently asked them to pay attention, but nothing worked. I was at my wits' end. Finally, I pulled them aside after class and tersely said, "I'm constantly at you about talking. Would you please tell me what's going on?"

Julia said, "You talk really fast." Lourdes added, "We're making sure we understand."

The girls told me they were trying to translate everything that was said in class into Spanish in order to comprehend it, and then formulate their responses. Julia actually drafted her writing assignments in Spanish to get her thoughts out and then translated them into English to submit to me. I was amazed and astonished by their grit and ingenuity.

Zaretta Hammond, the author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, describes culturally responsive teaching as knowing your kids well and being able to leverage whatever they come to you with as a strength in the classroom to help them learn. Instead, I had fallen back on stereotypes and biases, which led me to deficit thinking. Before I talked to Julia and Lourdes, I viewed English language learners as having a problem that needed fixing. Instead, those girls' use of Spanish was a strength I could capitalize on to help them learn English.

Find Ways to Create Time to Think

I realized that instead of discouraging conversations between these two students, I needed to create opportunities for them to engage in discourse so that they could check their understanding.

I restructured the class to create more discourse opportunities for all students. During lectures, I built in time for think-pair-share, where students first think of a response, discuss it with a partner or small group, and then share out to the whole class. This gives students time to activate prior knowledge and to think about their responses. It also deepens their comprehension by exposing them to their peers' ideas. And when I incorporated think-pair-share into the regular class routine, Julia and Lourdes's talking went from being a problem to a strength.

Be Open to Listening to Your Students' Needs

After talking to Julia and Lourdes, I realized that English language learners-who made up 15 to 30 percent of my class on any given year-often could not understand me. I began paying attention to the cadence of my voice and slowed down so my students could better understand me. I used wait time -giving students time to think before I called on them to answer a question-so they could process their thoughts. And I began asking students to explain my instructions to the class to ensure that everyone understood them.

I also worked out a system with Julia and Lourdes so that they could let me know when they needed help. They could raise their hand at any point during a lesson and say, "Slow down, please."

I extended this practice to the entire class; students not only had permission to interrupt me if they needed clarification but were expected to. Students who felt uncomfortable speaking up in class came up with personal signals they could use with me, including a finger wave, a raised eyebrow, and a traffic system with colored index cards-red to let me know I needed to stop, yellow to ask me to slow down, and green to indicate I could move on. One student who preferred not to speak texted me during class when she had a question.

Leverage Your Students' Identities to Support Learning

Many years later, as a veteran teacher, I had a high-functioning autistic boy in my English 10 class. Because of his limited social skills, students didn't want to work with him, and he didn't like presenting in front of his peers. At first, it was challenging, but eventually he became someone his peers requested for collaborative projects because he had the ability to recall details from research. His academic ability helped bridge social divides between him and his classmates, and I also approached a popular football player to invite the autistic student to contribute his ideas during discussions and help give him a voice.

My autistic student was also great at coaching other students in collaborative learning because of his ability to read closely and point out details that others missed. By capitalizing on his strengths, he was able to show his worth and create situations where he could best show his understanding. Instead of having him present to the class, I measured his speaking standard and knowledge by listening to him coach other students. By the end of the year, he did deliver a speech, but I modified the assignment-he chose five people he felt comfortable with and delivered the speech to them during his lunch period.

Seeing Your Students' Strengths

Students don't need to be fixed. They need teachers who make data-informed instructional decisions to match best practices to students' needs. They need teachers who offer high support while holding them to high expectations by implementing appropriate scaffolds and rolling them back as the students demonstrate greater proficiency. And they need teachers who acknowledge their mistakes and engage in ongoing professional learning.

Instead of thinking of my students' diverse identities as problems to fix, through professional development I have come to understand their differences are strengths. My English language learners speak two languages, and my autistic student may have an incredibly analytical mind. All of my students possess various seen and unseen abilities. After years of practice and self-reflection, I have come to realize that if anything needs to be fixed, it is my bias.

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Learning to See Students' Deficits as Strengths

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A teacher works to see the upsides in students' learning difficulties-and uses them to help all students succeed. Nineteen years ago, I taught two Latina girls in one of my eighth-grade English classes. Julia and Lourdes (these aren't their real names) always talked to each other in the back of the classroom.

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Just a thought for some of the upcoming Panel Discussions in Year 7. I would like to try and challenge my students to think beyond the school, and with all the Climate Strike action, I think these links could be quite useful!

https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/climate-activist-greta-thunbergs-un-climate-action-summit-speech-in-full/news-story/4719429f22de432249b0a962493b812f  - Greta Thunberg's full speech to the UN. Would be great to compare to Severn Suzuki!

https://www.abc.net.au/qanda/2019-26-08/11428398 - Q and A student special 2019

https://www.abc.net.au/qanda/high-school-special-3/10648324 - Q and A student special 2018

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While supportive of COMOSC doctrine, also a reminder that programming needs to be fluid, organic and responsive:

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In the debate of formative vs. summative assessment, educators have been divided for many years. So the ultimate question is, which is better? The following text is from the book Mindful Assessment: The 6 Essential Fluencies of Innovative Learning by Lee Watanabe-Crockett and Andrew Churches. It discusses the differences between formative and summative assessments, what each accomplishes, and how they specifically relate to student outcomes.
Often we refer to teaching and learning as though they consist of simply applying teaching to learners, with learning happening as a direct result. Our thinking about what it means to teach must be framed as a response to learning, with assessment as the method through which the learner understands how to improve. We should not see learning as the outcome of teaching but rather allow teaching to become a mindful response to learning.

Teachers do not create learning; only learners create learning. Teachers should respond to student performance to guide the learning process. This happens through mindful assessment, being conscious and in the moment, seeing the situation clearly, and using assessment to confirm or create this clarity. In short, what we are advocating for is a formative approach to feedback rather than the summative approach that is so pervasive in the standardized testing culture in our schools.

Assessment Best Practices

A number or percentage means little and accomplishes even less. This type of summative feedback in the classroom only serves to give the student a sense of finality, as if to say, "This number is the best measure of your capabilities-this is all you've got in you." A percentage does not define the specific areas in which the student needs to improve, and it fails to acknowledge what the student has done well, providing little constructive feedback or meaning.

Most assessment that occurs in schools, though, is summative. This is how success (or failure) in the school system is judged-the school judges whether the student is ready for the next grade, universities judge whether the student is eligible for admission, and governments and citizens judge the school and even the teacher. These summative exams are, in fact, many schools' primary assessment. If it has marks or grades that cannot be altered through further learning, it is summative-regardless of when it appears in the term.

Summative assessment is what parents are familiar with, it is what politicians know, and it is what employers understand. It is a summation of how "effective" and "successful" students are during a specific period in time. It is for this reason that there has been intense focus on standardized summative assessment in many countries.

A number or percentage means little and accomplishes even less.

There is nothing wrong with this type of assessment as long as we take it in the context of a snapshot-a brief moment frozen in time. It is, however, a poor reflection of a student's total learning experience. How can you condense a student's learning career into one three-hour examination? How can we reduce the human experience to a number? Is it really possible for this approach to clearly and accurately determine how well a student truly learns, absorbs, and uses knowledge?

And yet, this is a traditional, standard approach to assessment that schools employ globally. Policymakers consider it in many cases the proof and rationale they need to take severe actions on major issues including performance-based pay, job retention, and school funding. Summative assessment provides no opportunity or responsibility for the learner's improvement. It is a judgment, and it is final.

Changing Methods for a Changing World

Students are living in a world where the only constant is change. It is a world of adaptation, continuous adjustments, and incremental improvements. It follows that the ways in which we teach and assess them should mirror this reality.

When teachers are mindful of a student's state, they can identify what learning needs to shift throughout the process in order to improve rather than assigning a summative value to the student's learning after it has completed. Just as with the old software-development method, such summative assessment runs the risk of realizing that key factors are missing after it is too late to address them.

How can we reduce the human experience to a number?

For the modern learner, or for any learner, summative assessment is not ideal. Formative assessment fits much better with student needs, and also with the teaching and learning outcomes schools have in place. Happily, there is a wonderful transformation happening inside education to make the shift to the same mindful assessment that is already present in all other natural learning experiences in our lives.

While in many education systems, formative assessment has not yet caught on to reflect evolving curricula and standards, it is mandated in others. For instance, New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education and Training (2008b) in Australia states in its publication Principles of Assessment and Reporting in NSW Public Schools:

Assessment should be integrated into the teaching and learning cycle.

Assessment needs to be an ongoing, integral part of the teaching and learning cycle. It must allow teachers and students themselves to monitor learning.

From the teacher perspective, it provides the evidence to guide the next steps in teaching and learning.

From the student perspective, it provides the opportunity to reflect on and review progress, and can provide the motivation and direction or further learning.

Formative assessment can be formal or informal, spontaneous or scheduled. It can be as simple as an impromptu question and answer between student and teacher as the teacher moves around the classroom, or it can be a more structured and formalized event. For example, students could offer examples of their work for critique to both teachers and peers to provide evaluation and feedback, which they could maintain within a portfolio. Similarly, teachers can implement it as an assessment against a criterion, with the teacher providing indications of how to improve against this descriptor.

No matter how teachers implement formative assessment, it provides the learner with an opportunity to engage with feedback and make corrections as learning progresses. While teachers often facilitate formative assessment opportunities, feedback is not exclusively their domain. The learners themselves and their peers often provide the most frequent formative feedback.

More on Feedback

Feedback is a crucial component of mindful assessment and is the heart of formative assessment. For an assessment to be formative, students must be receptive to the feedback and use it to adjust their learning. In order to ensure this receptiveness, there must be a relationship between the recipient and the assessor based on trust, mutual goals and objectives, and shared purpose.

Feedback, whether from the teacher or instructor or from peers, must be all the following:

Timely: Students cannot learn, change, and develop if the unit has ended when they receive their feedback. We must provide feedback often and in detail during the process.

Appropriate and reflective: Different learners mature at different rates, so feedback should be an individualized process based on each student's social and intellectual maturity.

Honest and supportive: We must provide feedback that is both honest and supportive. The feedback must provide encouragement to continue and guidance on how to achieve the desired goals.

Focused on learning and linked to the task's purpose: The feedback needs to be descriptive. It should also link to the big picture as well as the specific aspects being assessed.

Enabling: Students must be able to learn from the formative assessments and apply the feedback and corrections.

Mindfulness should be at the root of assessment that addresses each stage of learning, from higher-order skills to lower-order skills. This means the inclusion of diagnostic assessments that provide teachers with information about students' prior knowledge and starting points and formative assessments that simultaneously reflect what students are learning and provide opportunities to extend that learning are essential for teaching and assessing the skills students need for success in the 21st century.

Your Mind on Assessment

You can learn more about the best ways to assess our students in the full book Mindful Assessment by Wabisabi. It provides scenarios, lessons, activities, assessment rubrics, and much more for every modern educator. And here's even better news-right now you can get this and all other books from Wabisabi Learning at 15% off the cover price. Head on over to the Wabisabi store and see what's on offer.

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Formative vs. Summative Assessment: Which is Better?

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In the debate of formative vs. summative assessment, educators have been divided for many years. So the ultimate question is, which is better? The following text is from the book Mindful Assessment: The 6 Essential Fluencies of Innovative Learning by Lee Watanabe-Crockett and Andrew Churches.

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If anyone gets the newspaper - today's would be a good one to get to show our students!

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Australians have woken this morning to find major news outlets censored with the front pages of newspapers across the country heavily redacted - a bleak warning of a future where laws continue to erode media freedom so governments can cover up information from the public.

Key public issues - whether it's about a government's potential for misuse of personal data, public funds spent on political campaigns or even the thousands of complaints against aged-care homes we can't reveal - has prompted the unprecedented united campaign for change.

For the first time ever, Australia's leading media organisations have come together to defend the growing threat to every Australians right to know information that impacts their lives.

This is not just about press freedom.

Australia's Right to Know coalition wants six pillars of change or reform related to laws that affect the public's rights.

While the Federal Government withholds information relating to aged-care abuse, proposed new powers to spy on ordinary citizens and the terms of land sales to foreign companies, Australians believe these are matters they absolutely have a right to know about.

Among the demanded changes are reforms to the Public Interest Disclosures Act to afford public servants greater protections including expanding the public's interest test that holds bias against external disclosure.

Australian Federal Police accessed journalist metadata 58 times in 2017-18.

This disturbing trend and the use of national security laws potentially impinging press freedom is the subject of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security.

The other pillars of change the coalition of media outlets want is the right to contest the application for warrants for journalists and media organisations, for journalists to be exempt from national security laws that affectively threaten them with jail for doing their job, a regime that limits which documents can be stamped "secret", a properly functioning freedom of information regime that currently allows governments to shut down reporting and reform to defamation laws.

At a parliamentary inquiry, former AFP commissioner Andrew Colvin said that in the past five years there had been 75 referrals of potential unauthorised disclosures of information and only two raids, including on the home of a journalist from News Corp Australia and the ABC's Sydney headquarters.

Media organisations believe it is two is too many. West Australian Newspapers senior editor Anthony De Ceglie said Monday's front page of lines of text blacked out was "illustrative of how journalists in this country are treated all too often when it comes to seeking information from the various arms of government".

"A functioning and free media is essential to ensuring our governments act in the public interest, not just in their interests," he said.

"Transparency and accountability are crucial to ensure our freedoms and the health of our democratic system of government.

"In the name of press freedom, The West Australian has joined other major metropolitan newspapers in presenting the front page you see today.

"We do it not just in our name. We do it in all our names. And in your name too."

News Corp policy executive Campbell Reid said no professional media outlet would knowingly endanger lives with disclosures and governments, police and military forces often take the media into their confidence.

"But on the other hand, the same people keep drafting new laws with the power to lock up the very people that they are prepared to trust when it suits them," he said.

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Australians have woken this morning to find major news outlets censored with the front pages of newspapers across the country heavily redacted - a bleak warning of a future where laws continue to erode media freedom so governments can cover up information from the public.

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I will be booking the Create kids in for an excursion during the week - but there's also a weekend schedule of events (May 2020)

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We launched our inaugural Scribblers Festival in May 2018 to nearly 10,000 wide-eyed kids, parents, and teachers. Learn more about who we are, why we're here, and how we celebrate the magic of storytelling.

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We launched our inaugural Scribblers Festival in May 2018 to nearly 10,000 wide-eyed kids, parents, and teachers. Learn more about who we are, why we're here, and how we celebrate the magic of storytelling.