إعداد

التـوجيـه الفني العــام للغــة الانجليـزيـة

Prepared by

ELT GENERAL SUPERVISION

العام الدراسي 2006 – 2007 م

الجدول الزمني و المادة العلمية

للدورة التدريبية

للوظائف الإشرافية ( رؤساء الأقسام )

م	الموضـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــوع	عـدد الساعات
1	الأهداف التربوية : تصنيفها و صياغتها و قياسها	3
2	التخطيط التربوي للعمل المدرسي	3
3	تحليل نتائج الاختبارات للمتعلمين ( للمتعثرين و المتفوقين )	3
4	مهارات إعداد تقرير زيارة المعلم و سجلات القسم و الملاحظات الصفية	3
5	أساليب التنمية المهنية للمعلمين و تقويم الأداء	3
6	مهارات الاتصال مع الآخرين و إدارة الاجتماعات القيادة(معناها – أنواعها – مهاراتها – صفات القيادي الناجح)	3
7	التقويم و الاختبارات الصفية	3

الموجه الفني العام للغة الانجليزية

أ/ سكينة علي

( الموضوع الأول )

تصنيفها و صياغتها و قياسها

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

A)-Aims / Purposes :

· These represent the final results aimed at in the educational process.

· They are the most comprehensive and abstract.

· They indicate the rationale behind an educational programme.

· They constitute the framework of an educational programme.

· They represent the philosophy adopted by educationists in a society.

· They are derived from the society, learners and subject.

Examples :

"Education aims at giving the students the opportunities to develop comprehensively, spiritually, mentally and physically to the utmost of their potentialities according to the principles of Islam, Arab heritage, contemporary cultures, the nature of the Kuwaiti society, its customs, traditions and implement the spirit of citizenship and loyalty to the state and the Emir."

II-Goals :

· These stand half way between aims/purposes and learning objectives.

· They are less abstract and general.

· They describe the final educational outcome of a certain stage and its curricula.

· They represent the framework for teachers.

Primary Stage Goals

They are categorized as four categories:

I-Proficiency goals:

Upon completion of the course, pupils are expected to…..

· recognize the English phonemes respectively

· form simple sentences orally

· distinguish between different shapes and sizes

· use capital and small letters properly

II-Cognitive Goals:

Upon completion of the course, pupils are expected to know…..

· basic words and phrases to the course topics

· how to respond to basic instructions and directions

III-Affective Goals:

Upon completion of the course, pupils are expected to show…..

· pride in Islam and Islamic values

· interest in learning

IV-Transfer Goals:

Upon completion of the course, pupils are expected to be able to...

· practice language skills in other school subjects

III-LEARNING OBJECTIVES

· They may also be termed as behavioural /instructional or performance objectives.

· They are phrases that describe the performance of students after a given lesson.

· They are direct and immediate

· They should be instructional, observable, specific and can be evaluated.

The Cognitive Domain:

This domain is concerned with the achievement of linguistic knowledge and mastery of cultural knowledge. Bloom categorized it into six thinking levels:

No.	Level of thinking	Verbs used
1.	Knowledge	list, define, tell, describe, identify, show, label, collect, examine, tabulate, quote, name, select, match, choose, omit, discover, arrange, recognize, repeat, recall
2.	Comprehension	summarize, describe, interpret, contrast, predict, associate, distinguish, estimate, differentiate, discuss, extend, classify, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate
3.	Application	apply, demonstrate, calculate, complete, illustrate, show, solve, examine, modify, relate, change, classify, experiment, discover, apply, choose, dramatize, employ, interpret, operate, practise, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write
4.	Analysis	analyze, separate, order, explain, connect, classify, arrange, divide, compare, select, explain, infer, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test
5.	Synthesis	combine, integrate, modify, re-arrange, substitute, plan, create, design, invent, compose, formulate, prepare, generalize, rewrite, assemble, collect, construct, invent, develop, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write
6.	Evaluation	assess, decide, rank, grade, test, measure, recommend, convince, select, judge, explain, discriminate, support, conclude, compare, appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose, compare, defend, estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, support, value, evaluate

1.The Affective Domain

This domain is demonstrated by the behaviours indicating attitudes of awareness, interest, attention, concern, and responsibility, ability, to listen and respond, in interactions with others, and ability to demonstrate those attitudinal characteristics or values, which are appropriate to the test situation and the field of study. This domain relates to emotions, attitudes, appreciations, and values, such as enjoying, conserving, respecting, and supporting. Verbs applicable to the affective domain include: accept, attempt, challenge, defend, dispute, join, judge, praise, question, share, support, and volunteer.

2.Proficiency Domain

This domain is demonstrated by physical skills; co-ordination, manipulation, grace, strength, speed, actions which demonstrate the fine motor skills such as use of precision instruments or tools, or actions which evidence gross motor skills such as the use of the body in dance or athletic performance. Verbs applicable to the psychomotor domain include: bend, grasp, handle, operate, reach, relax, shorten, stretch, write, differentiate (by touch), express (facially), perform ( skillfully ).

Verbs used: write, perform, role-play, express, create, mime, design, interpret

3.Transfer Domain

In this domain we are concerned with:

· Achieving positive attitudes and feelings

· Developing self confidence

· Appreciation of other sources of knowledge.

These involve long term expectations and cross-curricular links.

Verbs used: appreciate, show interest in, transfer

Writing Behavioural Objectives

Behavioural Objectives Defined:

A Behavioural objective is a clear and unambiguous description of your educational expectations for students. When written in behavioural terms, an objective will include three components:

· student behaviour

· conditions of performance

· performance criteria.

Why is stating a learning objective accurately important?

Stating behavioural objectives allows the instructor or coach to:

· select appropriate teaching methods, skills and strategies.

· choose needed equipment and suitable materials.

· select an appropriate time schedule for programme presentation.

Guidelines for writing learning objectives:

· Begin each objective with an "action verb" which depicts definite, observable behaviour and describes what the learner will be doing: identify, formulate, list, describe, recall.

· State each objective in terms of student performance rather than teacher performance.

· State each objective as a learning product ( outcome or terminal behaviour ) rather than in terms of the learning process.

· State only one outcome or behaviour in each objective.

· Make objectives clear, brief, and unambiguous.

· Start a set of behavioural objectives for a lesson with a phrase such as: "At the end of the lesson, the student will be able to:"

· Describe the important conditions under which the learner will be learning

· Indicate how the learner will be evaluated.

Behavioural Objects to Avoid:

· I will present the sight words.

· Students will orally read previously taught words.

· Students will read words from lesson 12.

· I will teach the present simple tense.

( الموضوع الثاني )

PLANNING

Planning:

It is a process of finding the best solutions for a problem in the light of the available resources. This process should be purposeful and done carefully to achieve the aims.

Why planning?

Wherever a person works and whatever he does, his activity can be productive or effective only if it has a scientific basis. In industry, agriculture, and every other field we aim at scientific organization of labour and wish to work with knowledge of what we are doing.

Pedagogical Labour:

The work of teaching and education conducted by teachers at school – also needs a scientific basis. For this reason the teaching of foreign languages must have its scientifically based technique. Language teachers should constantly strive to improve their techniques and work unremittingly or ceaselessly to improve both their linguistic and teaching qualifications.

There are two kinds of plans:

1- Long-term plan

2- Short-term plan

In setting a plan we have to put priorities into our consideration. We start with urgent needs.

Elements of successful planning: (Also planning stages)

1- Think about a problem and its implementation

2- Collect data

3- Specify the aims

4- Specify the resources

5- Publicize the project

6- Implement, follow up and evaluate

Elements of successful administration:

1- Planning

2- Organization

3- Implementation

4- Supervision

5- Follow up and evaluation

Educational Planning

Kinds of planning:

1- Educational Planning

2- School Planning

Educational Planning is the rational orientation towards the future of education.

It is the regulations that have been settled and agreed upon in the field of education to achieve the desired aims.

School planning is the use of thinking in orienting the educational process at school.

Significant works of the school planning ( types of plans ):

1- General school plan

2- Timetable plan

3- A plan for developing teachers' technical abilities

4- A plan for the slow learners

5- A plan for class visits

6- A plan for analyzing and developing a curriculum

7- A plan for extra curricular activities

The importance / value of educational planning in points:

1- It is necessary if organizational excellence is to be achieved.

2- It is the roadmap of the whole process.

3- It focuses the attention.

4- It helps identify where the pitfalls are over the short-term.

5- It helps achieve the overall objectives and goals.

6- It helps avoid confusion.

7- It saves time and effort.

8- It minimizes the cost.

9- It achieves coordination and cooperation among different administrations.

The basics (strategies) of educational planning:

1- Collecting data necessary for planning.

2- Studying and analyzing such data to benefit from.

3- Setting the plan depending on the data collected and the available resources.

4- Implementation staff should participate in setting the plan up.

5- Putting an alternative plan in case of failure of the main one.

6- Flexibility and continuity of the plan.

7- Putting into consideration future fluctuations.

8- Implementation accompanied by follow-up and a step-by-step evaluation.

Planning stages:

1- Thinking of the problem and all its dimensions.

2- Collecting all data related to the problem.

3- Specifying the aims that the planner seeks to achieve.

4- Specifying the resources and the manpower needed to accomplish the plan.

5- Publicize the project to stimulate others to take part and give opinions.

6- Setting up implementation procedures.

7- Implementation with on going follow-up and evaluation.

The main ELEMENTS of any educational plan:

1- Clear objectives/Aims: Specify the final aims that the plan will achieve.

2- Content of the plan and the implementation procedures.

3- Manpower: The staff members who are going to execute the plan.

4- Tools and equipment with which we execute the plan.

5- Time: Specify enough time for implementing the plan to achieve its aims.

6- The required educational technology ( resources ) to implement the plan.

7- Cost.

8- On going evaluation.

The main COMPONENTS of any educational plan:

1- The Pupil

2- The Teacher

3- The Syllabus

4- The Teaching Aids and Extra-Curricular Activities

How to set an educational plan?

1- Specify the general aims.

2- Study the status quo.

3- Specify the means with which you implement the plan.

4- Prepare a brochure for aims, policies and implementation procedures.

5- Estimate the cost.

6- Prepare a draft plan ( aims – time - procedures – responsibilities )

7- Follow-up and evaluation.

E.L.T Supervisor

Reda Sheha

In general we have a daily plan, a weekly plan, a monthly plan and a term plan.

Suggested Daily and Weekly Plan:

Day	Period 1	Period 2	Period 3	Period 4	Period 5
Sat.	Checking preparation notes and preparing for the day's plan	My class	Getting ready for the meeting	Staff meeting	Extended discussion of the staff meeting topics with free colleagues
Sun.	Revising the items for the day's plan and collecting related work	Written work follow-up	My class	A class visit in class so and so	Writing the report of the class visit and discussing it with the colleague
Mon.	Revising the items for the day's plan and collecting related work	Sub-Meeting with fourth year classes teachers	My class	Administration Board Meeting	Writing the minutes of the administration board meeting in the specified register
Tues.	Revising the items for the day's plan and collecting related work	A class visit in class so and so	My class	Writing the report of the class visit and discussing it with the colleague	Preparing extra material and activities for brilliant students
Wed.	Revising the items for the day's plan and collecting related work	Written work follow-up	setting a new plan for the following week	Sub-Meeting with first year classes teachers	My class

Suggested Plan for the First Term:

1- Checking and finalizing the second session exam.

2- Distributing classes according to the number of classes and teachers' proficiency and needs.

3- Checking the available media.

4- Distributing syllabus sheets.

5- Assigning tasks and distributing extra curricular activities among staff members.

6- Giving the diagnostic test.

7- Preparing remedial exercises according to the feedback of the diagnostic test.

8- Preparing and following up written work exercises.

9- Preparing the first period test.

10- Analyzing tests results.

11- Low achievers and brilliant students follow up.

12- Class visits and inter-visitations.

13- Staff meeting topics according to the feedback from class visits, inter-

visitations and the latest educational issues.

14- Preparing workshops, seminars and demo lessons.

15- Following up reinforcement classes.

16- Preparing the second period test and analyzing their results.

17- Following up of newly recruited teachers or teachers who are old hand but

rusty.

18- Preparing end of term exam.

منطقة ......... التعليمية

مدرسة .........................

قسم اللغة الإنجليزية 200 / 200

نموذج الخطة الأسبوعية / الشهرية لعمل رئيس القسم

شهر ................

الأسبوع الأول من يوم .../.../....2 إلى يوم .../.../....2		الأسبوع الثاني من يوم .../.../....2 إلى يوم .../.../....2








الأسبوع الثالث من يوم .../.../.....2 إلى يوم .../.../....2		الأسبوع الرابع من يوم .../.../....2 إلى يوم .../.../....2

( √ ) ما تم إنجازه ( X ) ما لم يتم إنجازه ( ؟ ) ما تم تأجيله

يعتمد، يعتمد،

رئيس القسم مديرالمدرسة

( الموضوع الثالث )

( للمتعثرين و المتفوقين )

( Brilliant students & Low achievers )

Practical Assessment

Research and Evaluation

Purposes Of Tests

The major reason for using tests is to classify students. Tests are designed to highlight achievement differences between and among students to produce a dependable rank order of students across a continuum of achievement from high achievers to low achievers (Stiggins, 1994). School systems might want to classify students in this way so that they can be properly placed in remedial or gifted programs. Tests are also used to help teachers select students for different ability level reading or mathematics instructional groups.

Educators or policy makers may choose to use a CRT when they wish to see how well students have learned the knowledge and skills which they are expected to have mastered. This information may be used as one piece of information to determine how well the student is learning the desired curriculum and how well the school is teaching that curriculum.

Any kind of test - from multiple choice to essays to oral examinations - can be standardized if uniform scoring and administration are used (p. 165). This means that the comparison of student scores is possible. Thus, it can be assumed that two students who receive the identical scores on the same standardized test demonstrate corresponding levels of performance. Most national, state and district tests are for all students and schools.

SELECTION OF TEST CONTENT

Test content is an important factor a test is selected according to how well it ranks students from high achievers to low.

Any national, state or district test communicates to the public the skills that students should have acquired as well as the levels of student performance that are considered satisfactory. Therefore, education officials at any level should carefully consider content of the test which is selected or developed. Because of the importance placed upon high scores, the content of a standardized test can be very influential in the development of a school's curriculum and standards of excellence.

In order to best prepare their students for the standardized achievement tests, teachers usually devote much time to teaching the information which is found on the standardized tests. This is particularly true if the standardized tests are also used to measure an educator's teaching ability. The result of this pressure placed upon teachers for their students to perform well on these tests has resulted in an emphasis on low level skills in the classroom (Corbett & Wilson, 1991). With curriculum specialists and educational policy makers alike calling for more attention to higher level skills.

SUMMARY :

Before a teacher tests his pupils, he must consider if that test meets three standards. These criteria are whether the tests and assessment strategy(ies) matches the state's educational goals, addresses the content he wishes to assess, and allows the kinds of interpretations he wishes to make about student performance.

Students learn from assessments :

I have read that very important research. The key is to understand the relationship between assessment and student motivation. In the past, we built assessment systems to help us dole out rewards and punishment. And while that can work sometimes, it causes a lot of students to see themselves as failures. If that goes on long enough, they lose confidence and stop trying.

When students are involved in the assessment process, though, they can come to see themselves as competent learners. We need to involve students by making the targets clear to them and having them help design assessments that reflect those targets. Then we involve them again in the process of keeping track over time of their learning so they can watch themselves improving. That's where motivation comes from.

We can also involve students in communicating what they learned, for example, through student-led conferences, which is probably one of the biggest breakthroughs in communicating about student achievement in the last century. Grant Wiggins says he wants classrooms in which there are no surprises and no excuses. Involve students deeply in the assessment process and that's what you get.

Kids who have given up on learning are at the low end. If we can involve them in the assessment process to give them renewed confidence and motivation, they're likely to try harder and to succeed. The kids who had previously given up on themselves have rekindled interest and get renewed confidence when involved in high quality formative assessment.

Assessments motivate teachers

Stiggins: I have a strong faith in teachers. They are for the most part in this profession because they care about kids. I believe that if, on a day-to-day basis, they accurately assess whether kids are becoming good readers, writers, and math problem solvers and if those teachers are using classroom assessment smartly, then the once-a-year test scores will take care of themselves.

Good formative assessment processes gives teachers evidence that students are progressing, and that’s what will keep them going. Formative assessment gives teachers confidence that they’re getting better and better. Students and teachers feel in control. They don't feel victimized. The assessment environment we have in the United States today is one in which everyone feels victimized. And that's got to change.

Model new practices

JSD: What are the implications of all of this for staff development?

Stiggins: Teachers are not being given the tools they need to help students succeed, and classroom assessment tools are at the head of the list of what teachers need. We have to allocate staff development resources to help teachers in this area.

It's important to model in staff development the kind of classroom learning environments and the internal sense of control that we'd like to have teachers develop for students. If we place a premium in the classroom on students taking a lead in their own learning, we need to model that same thing in professional development. In the area of assessment, teachers need the opportunity to manage their own development and to monitor their increasing competence in classroom assessment and its impact on kids. If teachers experience that kind of responsibility, they’re more likely to transfer their professional learning into practices that help kids develop those same qualities.

Adults and students can hit any target they can see and that holds still for them. If teachers can see the key characteristics of an assessment-literate educator, they can monitor how they are progressing toward them. Once they get there, they can look back and say, "That's where I was and here's where I am now. And who's responsible for that? I am."

Teachers must experience in their professional learning the same type of formative assessment processes we'd like them to use with kids, such as building a portfolio of their increasing classroom assessment competence and confidence. Teachers are then responsible for telling the story of their own learning, and there's a sense of efficacy that comes first.

Testing, in education and psychology, is an attempt to measure a person's knowledge, intelligence, or other characteristics in a systematic way. There are many types of tests. Teachers give tests to discover the learning abilities of their students. They also give tests to see how well students have learned a particular subject. Some tests help people choose a vocation, and other tests help them understand their own personality.

Standardized Tests

Most printed tests taken by students and others are standardized. A test has been standardized after it has been used, revised, and used again until it shows consistent results and average levels of performance have been established. Firms that prepare standardized tests include information with them on how to give and score each test. The results of one person's performance may be compared with those of many others who have taken the same test. Most teachers also use nonstandardized tests that they make up themselves. The quality of a test is judged by three major standards:

(1) validity, (2) reliability, and (3) practicality.

Validity reflects how well a test measures what it is intended to measure. For example, a test of reading comprehension could lose validity if it allows too little time for taking the test. It might actually measure reading speed rather than comprehension.

Reliability refers to the consistency of results achieved by the test. To establish reliability, a test may be given to the same group several times. If very similar results are obtained each time, the test may be considered highly reliable.

Practicality involves the cost and convenience of the test. If a test requires too much expense or effort, it may be impractical. It also may be impractical if the results are too difficult to interpret.

                                                        Kinds of Tests

        Most tests are designed to measure one of several characteristics: (1) learning ability, (2) learning achievement, (3) aptitude and interest, or (4) personality.

      Tests of learning ability attempt to predict how well an individual will perform in a situation requiring intellectual ability. These tests are sometimes called intelligence tests, mental ability tests, academic aptitude tests, or scholastic aptitude tests.

      A learning ability test consists of a standard set of tasks or questions. It enables a student to demonstrate the skills learned throughout the individual's life, both in and out of school. Tests of learning ability do not measure how "bright" a person is. Educators use the terms intelligence and mental ability simply to describe a person's ability to solve certain kinds of problems typically involved in schoolwork. These terms do not reflect a person's ability in all areas. .

        Achievement tests try to measure how much an individual has learned about a particular subject, rather than the general ability for learning. Schools use achievement tests more than any other kind of test. Throughout primary school, secondary school, and college, most teachers rely on such tests when rating a student's progress. Special achievement tests are used to licence people in such professions as law, medicine, and accounting.

        Many teachers prepare achievement tests that closely follow their own method of instruction. They also use standardized achievement tests. Some schools ask students to take standardized achievement tests, as well as scholastic ability tests, for admission or placement.

         There are two types of achievement tests--norm-referenced and criterion-referenced. In norm-referenced tests, each person's performance is compared with those of others who took the test. A student who answers some questions incorrectly would still rank highly if most other students answered a larger number of questions incorrectly. But in criterion-referenced tests, each person's performance is compared with a predetermined standard or criterion. For example, a teacher might decide that 90 per cent of the questions on a test must be answered correctly for a student to earn a passing grade.

Aptitude and interest tests reveal an individual's talents or preferences for certain activities. A person who likes to tinker with machinery would probably score highly on a test of mechanical aptitude. Such a person has an aptitude for mechanical work--and at least a fairly good chance of succeeding at it.

Interest tests are also known as interest inventories. In them, a person indicates his or her preferences among large groups of activities, ideas, and circumstances. One of these tests might ask, "Would you rather fix a broken clock, keep a set of accounts, or paint a picture?" Most individuals prefer certain types of activities over others. The pattern of answers reveals the strength of a person's interest in various fields.

Personality tests attempt to measure an individual's personal traits scientifically. Some standardized personality tests consist of lists of personal questions requiring yes or no answers. The answers can be analyzed for various characteristics. For example, a person might score high in social introversion, which would indicate a strong preference for being alone. Such a person might find scientific research more satisfying as a career than teaching science in a classroom.

Another type of personality test, the projective test, requires individuals to tell what certain images mean to them. In a Rorschach test, for example, a person describes what he or she sees in a number of standardized inkblots. A trained counsellor can often recognize behavioural tendencies in these descriptions. Psychologists use personality tests as clues for further study of an individual. They do not regard them as conclusive evidence about the individual's personality.

Most personality tests are less reliable and less valid than the other kinds of tests discussed here. Some people criticize their use as an invasion of privacy.

How to take a test

Knowing how to take tests does not increase anyone's learning ability or achievement. But it does help a person avoid losing points unnecessarily. Experts in testing offer the following suggestions:

1. Get all the experience you can in taking tests. The ability to take tests improves with practice.

2. Cramming before a test is better than no study at all. But a careful review spread over several days is better than cramming.

3. Be sure you understand the directions at the beginning of a test. Otherwise, you may get a lower score than you deserve because you failed to follow certain instructions.

4. Answer the questions that are easy for you, and then go back to the hard ones.

5. If there is no penalty for guessing, answer every question. If there is a penalty, you may still gain points by guessing some answers. On a multiple-choice question, for example, you may know enough about the subject to eliminate some answers. If so, your chance of guessing the correct answer improves considerably.

Interpreting test scores

There are several points to keep in mind about test scores.

First, a test reflects only a sample of a person's skill or knowledge, not everything about an individual. A test score can tell only how well the person performed on one particular test on one particular day.

Second, a score on a standardized test compares one person's performance with the performance of others. Such a comparison may provide useful information if all the people taking the test are alike in some important way. Most standardized tests give scores for persons of the same age or in the same class.

Importance of testing in Psychology and Education

Third, every test score is an estimate rather than a precise measurement. To remind people of this, some scores are reported as bands rather than as a single number. The bands show the range in which a person's actual ability probably lies.

Testing often has far-reaching effects, and so it receives much attention from educators and social scientists. Criticism has been directed both at the limitations of tests and at their influence.

Some educators believe multiple-choice tests penalize a student who has an expert knowledge of a subject. Such a student may see flaws in the answer generally accepted as correct. Other critics say that standardized tests discriminate against disadvantaged and minority groups. These students may be unfamiliar with words, terms, and concepts used in the tests. To give these students an equal chance, educators have tried to prepare culture-fair or culture-free tests. Such tests might consist of pictures, symbols, and nonsense syllables that are equally unfamiliar to everyone taking the test. This type of test reduces the influence of cultural background on performance. Tests that use no words at all are called nonverbal tests.

The general effect of testing on education has also caused concern. Standardized tests sometimes lag behind educational thought and practice. If tests do not measure the content of new syllabuses, they may fail to encourage educational progress.

Many educators believe there is at least some truth in criticisms of tests. But they also know that testing is necessary in teaching. Tests can determine whether one method of teaching works better than another. Tests can also tell a teacher what help a student needs most. No better way has been found to determine how much students have learned, what they seem able to learn, and how quickly they might learn it.

Creating a Plan to Raise Test Scores

Teachers must analyze their students' test results. The goal of that exercise is twofold: to identify areas of the curriculum that need to be improved and to identify the strong and weak students in each class. "We are trying to move away from the smile-and-file mode of testing -- the mode in which we get back test results, smile as we share the results with parents, then file away the results and never look at them again. We are also trying to get away from the perception that we're evaluating teachers based on student scores. As we all know, there are many variables in the testing equation. While we want scores to improve from year to year, we're more interested in what they tell us about our curriculum and teaching."

REFERENCES:

1-Anastasi, A. (1988). Psychological Testing. New York, New York: MacMillan

Publishing Company.

2- Corbett, H.D. & Wilson, B.L. (1991). Testing, Reform and Rebellion. Norwood, New

Jersey: Ablex Publishing Company. )

3- Stiggins, R.J. (1994). Student-Centered Classroom Assessment. New York: Merrill

U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment (1992).

4- Descriptors: *Achievement Tests; *Criterion Referenced Tests; Elementary Secondary Education; National Norms; *Norm Referenced Tests; Selection; *Standardized Tests; *State Programs; Test Content; Test Norms; *Test Use; Testing Programs Testing in America's Schools: Asking the Right Questions. OTA-SET-519 (Washington, D.C.: U.S.

Compiled By:

ELT Supervisor Aisha Alsager

2006\2007

( الموضوع الرابع )

CLASSROOM OBSERVATION

AND INSTRUCTION

The purpose of assigned classroom observation is to see the various interpersonal interactions between the instructor, instructional aides if any, classroom volunteers and themselves; and those interactions occurring AMONG students in the classroom; and BETWEEN these students and the above named adults. Over time patterns of interaction that are complex in nature will emerge. Being in the classroom as an observer opens up a range of experiences and processes which can become part of the raw material of a teacher's professional growth. Observation is a skill that can be learned and can improve with practice. Developing the skill of observing serves a dual purpose: it helps teachers gain a better understanding of their teaching, while at the same time refines their ability to observe, analyze and interpret, an ability which can also be used to improve their own teaching.

Depending on how the lesson and discussions with the supervisor proceed, the observation experience is bound to have a considerable uplifting or

demoralizing impact in terms of the teacher’s self-image and his or her professional standing within that teaching community. A good performance can boost a teacher’s self image and confidence level, so he or she feels a valued, respected member of staff with all the motivational benefits that flow from such a feeling.

Those who observe are (or should be!) teachers themselves, even though they may currently enjoy a more prestigious title! They need therefore to recall the damage that can be caused by the extremes of being overly critical of a teacher’s classroom performance, or an inability to focus on areas which might help a teacher grow and overcome difficulties.

Some guiding principles for observing:

The presence of a visitor inevitably affects the classroom dynamics. Observers should take every care to minimize the intrusion. Observers need to realize that the samples of data brought from the classroom are inevitably limited, and that sweeping generalizations should be avoided.

Steps in observation:

Keep a log of your observations. Use a mental "brainstorming technique" when doing so: at first, write down everything, without screening what you see, hear, intuit: it is all food for learning.

1.Become aware that your prior experiences, the novelty of your being in the observer role, your personal style, and your personal world view and biases will be reflected in your perceptions and log record. Get assistance in TPSS class with

increased awareness of how you impose your own personal agenda on what you perceive. Try to step back and observe again, with an almost "empty" mind, i.e., "empty of your prejudgments." This may be difficult for you. It is for most of us. Group support by your peers is likely to help.

2.Develop a system for your observations. You might do the following:

o focus one day's observation on the class as a whole. You might want to record every interaction (or every-other if it moves too fast) between the teacher and the class, e.g., what is being asked, what general reaction occurs and what sub patterns seem to take place.
Do this a number of times later on other days, too, to capture how the tone is set at the beginning of class. This will help you assess what the class climate is, and for whom. [Noting the tone at the opening of class will be helpful in recalling the experience when discussing classroom management in a class.]

o focus on specific teacher activities: giving assignments, asking quizzes;

o focus also on the nonverbal behavior of the teacher: does he/she move around, make contact by proximity [nearness], with individual students and groups of students? How does the teacher enact his/her relationships with students? Is there time for personal contact/ interaction? Is all instruction oriented to the "whole class," do some pupils obtain more attention than others, etc?

o focus on specific student activities while holding back any tendency to problem-solve how YOU would deal with such behaviors. You are observing to PERCEIVE what is going on. Such perceiving precedes BEHAVING in a certain (hopefully appropriate) way; and behaving over time precedes becoming the kind of teacher who is effective in his/her teaching in a way which engages students in their own learning.

o only after obtaining an awareness of the whole class, begin to focus on individual students. Track how they deal with BEING in class; and with defining themselves as a student in THIS class; remember that students are in school as INVOLUNTARY CLIENTS by state law: they have to attend school. The trick is to help them become voluntary clients, WHO WANT TO BE THERE AND WANT TO LEARN. This process is heavily influenced by the group process between students, and the external context which labels this class as "college prep," and that class as "basic/remedial". These labels tend to influence expectations and behaviors of students. [It makes little difference how the grouping is labeled, the kids soon discover the code.]

o we tend to be shaped by "critical incidents" which engage our emotions as well as our minds. Pay particular attention to such incidents that touch you deeply. Write them down. Find a buddy, a trusted colleague with whom to discuss them. Don't repress them; you will be setting yourself

o on the path of denial which will impair your later functioning and living as a teacher. [But keep the information CONFIDENTIAL; professionals do not "gossip" about students or colleagues.]

You decide, with your master teacher, how much or how little of extra activities you wish to take on. During your observation phase, it is simply useful to learn the basics of school-wide policies and practices, formal and informal. They will affect you as well as the students.

GOOD LUCK! This is an unusual opportunity to observe the world in which you will be spending a great deal of your life. In the process of observing, you can learn much about yourself. That is a gift which will help you keep growing, if you nurture it.

Professional Behaviour :

As with all work within the education profession, you will be expected to keep information about individuals within professional circles and confidential. Only those with a need to know should be given information about an individual. It is easy to carry personal information outside of the professional circle--at which point it becomes gossip. And gossip can injure individuals: the children in your charge, other teachers, etc., and can destroy your career.

Your supervisor will be more able to assist you if you have systematically recorded your observations. Recording reinforces memory.

[Make an objective, non-critical record; master teachers and other professionals may ask to see what you have written.]

Some additional things to look for during the observation semester:

1. List beginning school activities observed.

2. Briefly list, analyze, and discuss various room arrangements seen. (How did they support or interfere with learning?)

3. Identify all areas of school environments which require pupils to learn/use specific procedures.

4. Make a list of procedures (including safety and procedural rules) that the master teacher/student teacher will use with pupils. [You will have an opportunity to consider rules and their implementation in detail

5. List master teacher's rules for student behavior (in addition to procedures).

6. List positive consequences and reinforcers used.

7. List negative consequences and reinforcers used.

8. Note how teacher's behavioral expectations/rules are presented.

9. Record how teachers deal with inappropriate behavior.

10. Record how teachers reinforce appropriate behavior.

Some key factors in learning in a class:

High Academic Learning Time

Allocated learning time: intended, budgeted [but what is the learner doing?]
Time on task: engaged in the scheduled activity [But how much of the time is the learner actually learning?]
Academic Learning Time: the amount of time that the pupil spends at task while achieving at a 90% effective rate or better.

Effective classrooms have higher academic learning time ratios than less effective classrooms.
Frequent monitoring of student progress/feedback.
Coherently organized curriculum with a tight relationship between curriculum and objectives.
A variety of teaching strategies so that the teacher can implement more appropriate approaches when the pupil isn't learning.
Opportunities for engaging in responsible behaviors, e.g., involvement as a monitor/ helper, peer and cross-age tutoring, planning and carrying out projects, etc.

These are the things that make for more effective teaching and they are the things that the good teachers will spend the rest of their careers perfecting.

The Central Goal:

To prepare beginning teachers with enough skills and knowledge to improve their teaching continuously through analysis and reflection.

Every teacher must teach for participation in a pluralistic society. It doesn't make any difference whether the children in their class are of the same culture as themselves or not, they must teach for the future and the future is multiracial and pluralistic.

You can't legislate attitudes. But you can legislate behavior.
We can't change your attitude by force--nor will you be able to change the attitudes of your pupils entirely by the force of your dynamic personality. But by skillful teaching and setting an appropriate example and standard for behavior, you can bring about change in their behavior and make it possible for your pupils to succeed in a multicultural, pluralistic society.
Only when their attitudes become more positive and inclusive of all humankind will they become a positive force in Kuwaiti society to the end that this country and its people continue to flourish.

Guidelines for Classroom Observation:

Classroom observation models emphasize a three-step consultation process which includes a pre-observation conference, classroom observation, and a post-observation conference.

Pre-Observation Conference:

In most classroom observation situations, the observer simply drops in–either announced or unannounced–watches the class, writes up a summative evaluation, and/or meets briefly with the teacher to discuss the class session. While this approach is by all means better than no observation at all, it has been found that adding a pre-observation discussion to this format enhances the observation process for both the teacher and observer.

In the pre-observation session, the colleague observer obtains information from the instructor concerning his or her class goals, students, and particular teaching style. An interview schedule provides a brief, structured way of obtaining such information and includes the following questions:

1. Briefly, what will be happening in the class I will observe?

2. What is your goal for the class? What do you hope students will gain from this session?

3. What do you expect students to be doing in class to reach stated goals?

4. What can I expect you to be doing in class? What role will you take? What teaching methods will you use? .

5. What have students been asked to do to prepare for this class?

6. What was done in earlier classes to lead up to this one?

7. Will this class be generally typical of your teaching? If not, what will be different?

8. Is there anything in particular that you would like me to focus on during the class?

Details such as the date for the classroom observation, use of a particular observation form or method, and seating arrangement for the colleague observer should also be decided by mutual agreement at this session.

Classroom Observation

Faculty and students have identified the following as characteristics of effective teaching: organization and clarity, command and communication of subject matter, teacher-student rapport, and enthusiasm. Questions listed below may help the observer identify particular skills or techniques in the classroom which illustrate the characteristics of good teaching.

Knowledge of Subject Matter

Does the instructor exhibit mastery of the content? Is the depth and breadth of material covered appropriate to the level of course and group of students? Does material covered in this class relate to the syllabus and overall goals of the course? Does the instructor emphasize a conceptual grasp of the material? Does the instructor incorporate recent developments in the discipline? Is the content presented considered important within the discipline and within related disciplines?

Organization and Clarity

Structure: Is the instructor well prepared for class? Does the instructor provide an overview of the class? Is the sequence of content covered logical? Is the instructor able to present and explain content clearly? Does the instructor provide transitions from topic to topic, make distinctions between major and minor points, periodically summarize important concepts or ideas in the lecture? Does the instructor use examples and illustrations to clarify difficult or abstract ideas?

Teaching Strategies: Are the instructor's teaching methods appropriate to the goals of the class? Is the instructor able to vary the pattern of instruction through movement gestures, voice level, tone and pace? Does or could the instructor use alternative methods such as media, discussion, lab, questioning? Is the boardwork legible and organized? If appropriate, does the instructor use students' work (writing assignments, homework problems, etc.)? [Is] the use of various teaching strategies (lecture, handouts, media) effectively integrated?

Closure: Does the instructor summarize and integrate major points of the lecture or discussion at the end of class? Are homework or reading assignments announced hurriedly?

Instructor-Student Interaction

Discussion: How is discussion initiated? Are the purpose and guidelines clear to students? Does the instructor encourage student questions?

Kinds of Questions: Are questions rhetorical or real? One at a time or multiple? Does the instructor use centering questions (to refocus students' attention), probing questions (to require students to go beyond a superficial or incomplete answer), or redirecting questions (to ask for clarification or agreement from others)?

Level of Questions: What level of questions does the instructor ask? Lower level questions generally have a "right" answer and require students to recall or list facts. Higher level questions ask students to generalize, compare, contrast or analyze information.

What is done with student questions: Are questions answered in a direct and understandable manner? Are questions received politely or enthusiastically?

What is done with student response: How long does the instructor pause for student responses (formulating answers to difficult questions takes a few minutes)? Does the instructor use verbal reinforcement? Is there a non-verbal response (smile, nod)? Is the instructor receptive to student suggestions or viewpoints contrary to his or her own?

Presentation and Enthusiasm

Does the instructor demonstrate enthusiasm for the subject? For teaching? Can the instructor's voice be easily heard? Does the teacher raise or lower voice for variety and emphasis? Is the rate of speech too fast or slow? Is the rate of speech appropriate for note taking? Does the teacher maintain eye contact with students? Does the instructor use facial expressions, posture, or motion to sustain student interest?

Student Behaviour

Survey the class on occasion and note what students are doing. What are note-taking patterns in class (do students take few notes, write down everything, write down what instructor puts on board, copy each other's notes in order to keep up with lecture)? Are students listening attentively, slumped back in desks, heads on hands? Are there behaviors that are outside of the mainstream of class activity (random conversations among students, reading of materials not relevant to class)?

Overall :

What did you like most about this particular class and/or the instructor's teaching effectiveness? What specific suggestions would you make to improve this particular class and/or the instructor's teaching effectiveness? Did you learn anything in the pre- or post-observation sessions that influenced or modified your responses? Overall, how would you rate this instructor?

Post-Observation Conference

The post-observation conference is most useful if it occurs within a few days of the classroom observation, while the activities are still fresh in the minds of the teacher

and colleague observer. No later than one day following the observation, the colleague should review the notes on the class. The colleague observer should then discuss the classroom observation in depth with the teacher. A series of questions with which to initiate a follow-up discussion would include:

1. In general, how did you feel the class went?

2. How did you feel about your teaching during the class?

3. Did students accomplish the goals you had planned for this class?

4. Is there anything that worked well for you in class today that you particularly liked? Does that usually go well?

5. Is there anything that did not work well-that you disliked about the way the class went? Is that typically a problem area for you? .

6. What were your teaching strengths? Did you notice anything you improved on or any personal goals you met?

7. What were your teaching problems- areas that still need improvement?

8. Do you have any suggestions or strategies for improvement?

The colleague observer can reinforce and add to the instructor's perceptions by referring to the log of class events.

An analysis and interpretation of the classroom visit, as well as of the post-observation conference, should go to the instructor. It is important that the results of observations be shared with the member being evaluated.

Classroom observation is a collaborative process. Both the person being observed and the observer have important roles before, during, and after the observation. Collaborating at each stage of the process can help put both participants at ease so that each benefits from the experience.

If you are being Observed ...

Before :

Be prepared to discuss with the observer:

· Goals for the class

· What you plan to do in class that day

· What you want the observer to pay attention to

Tell the observer :

· Where you’d like the observer to sit

· If you’d like the observer to take part in class

· Where the class meets, and when

During :

Introduce the observer to the class.

Explain the purpose of the observation.

Explain the observer’s role to the students.

Soon after class, write down your reflections on the class so that you will be prepared to discuss it with the observer.

After :

With the observer, reconstruct what happened in class

Think about goals for the class and the specific class session that was observed. Be prepared to describe:

· What you felt went well

· What you would change

· What was typical or atypical about the class

Ask for specific descriptions and constructive suggestions.

If you are the Observer ...

Before :

Clarify the purpose of the observation:

· For reappointment, promotion, tenure?

· For individual teaching development?

Meet with your colleague to discuss:

· What will happen in class that day

· What to pay attention to

· Describe what you’ll be doing during the observation.

Schedule a meeting to discuss the observation.

During :

Record observations:

· What is the instructor doing / saying?

· What are students doing / saying?

Record your impressions and questions; for example:

· "Is there another way to present that concept?"

· "Seems clear, but students look confused. Why?"

Note time intervals of what you observe in your notes

Participate in the class only if invited to do so

After :

With the instructor, reconstruct what happened in class.

Ask your colleague to describe:

· What he/she felt went well

· What he/she would change

· What was typical or atypical about the class

Listen to your colleague

Describe rather than evaluate what you saw

Finally, offer constructive suggestions.

Prepared and compiled by

ELT SupervisorsPrivate Education

2006 – 2007

Supervisor’s Visit

School: …………………… Name: ….……………. Class: ..... / ......

Date : / /

Period : ...........

Subject matter: …………… Unit: .… Step: ….

Descriptive analysis of the lesson

Personal Qualities

Teacher's Personality		Qualified	Competent	Confident	Active	Patient
Teacher's Attitude		Enthusiastic	Encouraging	Sincere	understanding	Tolerant
Command of Language		Distinguished	V. Good	Good	Fair	Adequate
Preparation	Mentally:	Distinguished	W.ell prepared	Fair	Poor	None
Preparation	Written:	Distinguished	W.ell prepared	Fair	Poor	None
Teaching Media	Board:	Well utilized	Well Organized	Clear	Not organized	Confusing
	Tape R.:	Preset	Well utilized	Clear	Not organized	Confusing
	OHT:	Relevant	Well utilized	Clear	Not organized	Confusing
	Charts:	Relevant	Well utilized	Clear	Not organized	Confusing
	Cards:	Relevant	Well utilized	Clear	Not organized	Confusing

Procedure:

......................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Remarks:

Class Management		Excellent	V. Good	Good	Fair	Inadequate
Aims Achievement		Fully	Well	Partially	Fair	Not Achieved
Pupils' Response and interaction	T/P	Excellent	V. Good	Good	Fair	Poor
Pupils' Response and interaction	P/P	Excellent	V. Good	Good	Fair	Neglected
Weak pupils	Encouraged				Neglected
Class Standard	V. Good		Good	Ab. Average	Average	Bel. Average
Written Work

Comments and recommendations

Teacher ELT Supervisor

( الموضوع الخامس )

Teachers’ Professional Development and Evaluating Performance

(Strategies, Ways and Means)

Development is a need to every human being to better himself and the society around him. Teachers are mind developers. Therefore, they have to make the best of their situation and themselves. Every thing adds to a teacher's experience: his own skills, desires, colleagues, supervisors and his own students.

Teachers want the best for their students. In particular, they want their students to have the best possible learning opportunities and outcomes. Often in their own time, teachers seek new teaching ideas, new resources and equipment to improve the learning of their students. They also seek to improve their teaching skills, their knowledge about the subjects they teach, their relationships with the students and the administration of the school in which they work. After completing the initial teacher education required, teachers must continue to learn about teaching /and learning throughout their professional lives.

It is sometimes claimed that teacher development is nothing new. Certainly, some of the ideas that have most influenced our current thinking about teacher development were first put forward long ago and have been much debated over the years by philosophers, psychologists and educationalists. There were, however, a number of quite specific reasons why, during the last three decades, English language teachers began to feel the need for some form of self - motivated professional development, and to express this in various ways, through journals, conference papers and workshops. Teachers also used networking.

The Need for Quality Professional Development:

The following factors make professional development a vital need for teachers:

· School reform and accountability initiatives call for a new role for professional development in the career paths of teachers.

· Researches have shown a strong correlation between teachers' teaching and students' school success.

· Professional development has become increasingly important as a way to ensure that teachers succeed in matching their teaching goals and styles with their students' needs and learning styles.

· In the case of foreign language teachers, professional development is needed to enable them to help their students develop proficiency in the target language and an understanding of the cultures associated with that language.

· Professional development differs from other professional endeavours, such as teacher supervision and evaluation, both in purpose and in procedures.

· Professional development focuses specifically on how teachers construct their professional identities through ongoing interaction with learners, by reflecting on their actions in the classroom and adapting them to the learners' expressed or implicit learning needs.

What is Professional Development?

Professional development is defined as an ongoing learning process in which teachers engage to learn how best to adjust their teaching styles to the learning needs and styles of their students. Professional development is not a one-shot, one-size process that fits all events, but rather an evolving process of professional self-disclosure, reflection, and growth that yields the best results when sustained over time in communities of practice and when focused on job-embedded responsibilities.

What are the Key Characteristics of Teachers' Development?

Although development can happen in many different ways, it seems that certain core characteristics emerge when teachers are asked what they think teachers' development is. Richard Rossner was interested in finding out what these characteristics were. He conducted an informal survey among EFL teachers both in the United Kingdom and other countries. One of the questions he asked the teachers was, ‘What do you personally understand by the term "teacher development”?’ Their responses indicated that it has at least the following four key characteristics in teachers' minds:

A- It is about dealing with the needs and wants of the individual teacher in ways that suit that individual. The needs may be many and diverse from confidence-building to language awareness or technical expertise.

B- Much of Teacher Development is seen as relating to new experiences, new challenges and the opportunity for teachers to broaden their repertoire and take on new responsibilities and challenges. This helps them to fight a feeling of jadedness and also to develop their careers as well as themselves.

C- Teacher Development is not just to do with language teaching or even teaching. It is also about language development (particularly for teachers whose native language isn't English), counseling skills, assertiveness training, confidence-building, computing, meditation, cultural broadening- almost anything, in fact.

D- Teacher Development, in most teachers' opinions, has to be ' bottom-up', not dished out by managers according to their own view of what development teachers need.

This doesn't mean to say that managers have no role in it. Nor does it mean that managers should stop organizing in- service or other training courses.

It is a common experience among teachers to feel, after several years of teaching, that they need a fresh impetus to encourage them to go on learning and developing.

Most teachers can recognize a point in their career when they have mastered the technical skills. Some believe, having reached that point, that they have attained their own personal best and have nothing more to learn. Some decide to go on a further course of academic study such as an advanced diploma or a Master's degree, or some kind of in-service training.

Other teachers who are keen on understanding more about teaching and learning find, however, those academic courses either are not an option, or seem not to provide an appropriate way of developing themselves. The questions that motivate such teachers to go on learning come from the sense that they have the potential within themselves to become better teachers through deepening their own understanding and awareness of themselves and of their learners. Development can mean many different things and take many different forms, as teachers find ways of responding to the inner desire that motivates them to learn.

Objectives of Teachers' Professional Development:

The professional development of teachers aims to:

· raise the standard of teachers' performance.

· help teachers know the state of art in methodology.

· comfort teachers and make them ready to adopt up-to-date teaching styles and techniques.

The ultimate purpose of professional development is to promote effective teaching that results in learning gains for all students.

Effective Professional Development:

· To be successful, professional development must be in line with research on teachers' career development and patterns of adult learning.

· An important consideration in professional development is the educational context in which it is carried out. The conditions that education for adults (including education for teachers) should meet in order to be effective are: clarity of goals, adequate levels of challenge , capitalization on previous knowledge ,sustainability over time ,organizational support , and alignment of achievement with the goals set.

· Professional development models are differentiated by the degree of involvement of teachers themselves in planning, delivering, and evaluating the activities in which they are involved.

· Professional development should be embedded in the daily lives of teachers, with strong administrative support and use of strategies that are tailored to their specific needs.

Types of Professional Development Programmes for Teachers in Kuwait:

Training schemes and programmes, given to teachers in Kuwait, are varied and their direct objectives differ. But they all aim at promoting teachers’ proficiency and developing their professional abilities. Among these schemes and programmes are the following:

· Qualification Programmes: They aim to qualify the newly - recruited teachers who have joined staffs at schools without getting the educational qualification.

· Cure Programmes: Special programmes set to treat deficiencies in specific aspects of teachers' performance.

· Acquaintance Training Courses: Special courses, which aim at developing teachers' abilities and helping them to acquaint themselves with the new theories and knowledge in the realm of their specialization. These courses are also given to teachers before applying new curricula and developed courses.

· Promotion Programmes: These programmes and courses aim to prepare teachers, heads of departments and others to be promoted to (other) leading positions.

N. B. The afore-mentioned types of programmes and courses come within what we call in-service training.

· Enlightenment and Acquaintance Programmes: These programmes aim at helping new recruits to acquaint themselves with the new working environment, the community and the society at large.

Professional Development Strategies:

Professional development strategies can be broadly classified into the following categories:

1- Theoretical strategies: Lectures, discussions, conferences, seminars, forums, etc.

2- Practical strategies: Demo lessons, workshops, class visits, intervisitations, trips, microteaching, studying cases, problem analysis and different training programmes.

Teachers should be engaged in the professional development strategies described below as ways to address diverse teachers' needs, skills and knowledge. These ways and means have positive effects on the teachers' professional lives:

1. Peer Coaching: It is based on the three-phase model of Planning / Observation / Feedback. It is also known as clinical supervision. Pairs of teachers, who have been trained to do so, visit each other's classes and provide each other with insights and advice on their teaching. Teachers themselves decide on the focus for observation and the observation instrument, and reflect on the results of the observation based on their development needs. Peer teaching is particularly suitable for teachers who need to learn new ways to use the target language or to implement new language and cultural practices in the classroom.

2. Study Groups: These groups involve teachers in reviewing professional literature or analyzing samples of student work. Groups structure their interactions around scripts or agendas called protocols and use lesson plans or samples of students' work as input for discussion. In the case of foreign language teachers, these meetings provide opportunities for them to interact in the language they are teaching. Leadership in meetings is shared and its roles rotate among members. Study groups are suitable for teachers who need a better understanding of research and knowledge in the field or of ways to analyze their students work and for those who need to develop a more reflective stance toward their teaching or their students' learning.

3. Dialogue Journals: Dialogue journals are conversation in writing. They have recently found a place in the professional development field. Teachers who cannot meet with colleagues for reasons of time or distance may choose to keep a written conversation with a mentor or peer in order to share expertise and reflections on their instruction. Dialogue journal writing helps extend interaction time between colleagues and is particularly suitable with teachers who have different levels of expertise or different needs .For foreign language teachers, dialogue journals can also provide an opportunity to practise and hone their writing skills in the target language.

4. Professional Development Portfolios: Although portfolios were originally developed for use in student assessment, professional development portfolios provide a way for professionals to focus on and document their own development in specific areas. A portfolio is a systematic collection of teaching artifacts and reflections. A portfolio can have four main components: A statement of the teacher's educational platform or philosophy, a goal statement, samples of teacher's work with reflective captions that describe why they were included, and concluding reflective statements. Portfolios can showcase a teacher's development (Showcase Portfolios) or document a teacher's progress toward a goal (Product Portfolios). Most portfolios also include a rubric, developed by the teacher or others, that can be used by peers to assess congruence between a teacher's goals and the pieces included.

5. Mentoring: Mentoring brings together a more knowledgeable professional with a less experienced colleague for collaboration and feedback on teaching and learning. Mentors provide advice, support, encouragement and modeling for their mentees, who, in turn, provide mentors with opportunities to use and reflect on their expertise. Mentoring relationships work best when structured and developed over time. Mentoring is particularly suitable to new teachers who need to understand issues such as school culture and climate and their impact on student learning. Mentors can be instrumental in helping novice teachers enhance their proficiency in the language as well as their cultural knowledge and pedagogical competence.

6. Action Research (Teachers’ Research): It is also known as participatory practitioner research. It involves groups of colleagues in diagnosing a situation, reflecting on that diagnosis, and planning and carrying out an intervention in order to improve current conditions. The focus for this inquiry can range from students' own individual issues (language proficiency and use, handling of classroom procedures, etc.). The intrinsic value of this strategy lies in the opportunity for teachers to examine their teaching situations in order to better understand and improve them. Teachers embark upon research, as they might want to:

A- know more about their learners and what they (learners) find motivating and challenging.

B- learn more about themselves as teachers-how effective they are how they look to their students and how they would look to themselves if they were observing their own teaching.

C- gauge the interest generated by certain topics.

D- judge the effectiveness of certain activity type.

Methods: When collecting the data needed for their researches, teachers may use a number of methods such as:

a. keeping a journal: Many teachers keep a record of what they and their students do in the form of a journal or diary. This encourages them to reflect upon their practice and allow them to compare different reactions and re-evaluate the predictions that were made based on what actually happened.

b. Observation task: They can record who speaks in class, how many times each individual student asks for the teacher’s help over a week’s study, who chooses to sit with whom I freely-chosen pairs, or count how many times certain specific items of language are used. We can watch and make written records of student language production in general. If we set ourselves tasks such as these, the data we collect will often be more reliable than our general reflection such as journal keeping.

c. Interview: We can interview students and colleagues about activities, materials, techniques and procedures. Teachers may ask students to discuss certain issues in small groups and then have group reports give their conclusions back to the whole class.

d. Written questionnaires: These are often more effective than interviews, especially when administered to individual students. Questionnaires can get respondents to answer open question such as How did you feel about activity X?, Yes/no questions which ask for some kind rating response.

e. Language progress: We can measure the students’ language progress as a result of our new different activities through homework assignments and test results. Data collection frequently involves more than one method. Indeed the more methods we use, the more reliable our analysis is likely to be. By weighting up our journal entries, our observations and our students’ written responses, we will be in a good position to decide on further actions.

7. Professional Literature: Teachers can get abundant sources of knowledge from various methodology books, journals, and magazines produced to teachers of English. Therefore,:

a. those books and articles written by teachers and theorists will open out eyes to new possibilities.

b. they may also form part of the action research or search and research cycles discussed above, either by raising an issue which we want to focus on, or by helping us to formulate the kinds of question we wish to ask.

8. Cooperative / Collaborative Development: Teachers need chances to discuss what they are doing and what happens to them in class, so they can examine their beliefs and feelings. Discussing our situation with others helps us to sort things out in our minds. In cooperative development, speakers interact with understanders. They work on their weakness. An interesting activity, which is worthy of mentioning, is called "Headache" and "Aspirin". First, the teacher should find an empathetic colleague. They take it in turns to be "Headache" and “Aspirin". "Headache" starts by stating their problem or puzzle. “Aspirin” just listens as carefully as possible. Then, "Aspirin” offers possible solutions or ideas to the problem. No judgmental comments are allowed. Then, "Headache” and “Aspirin" swap roles. It is important that both of them get equal amounts of time to talk about the problems.

9. Teacher’s associations: There are many teachers’ associations around the world. Some of the are international such as IATEFL based in Britain and TESOL, based in USA; some are country based such as JALT (in Japan), FAAPI (in Argentina), ELICOS 9 in Australia … and so on. These associations provide teachers with two possible opportunities:

c. Conferences: attending conferences, meeting and workshops allows us to hear about the last developments in the field, take part in the investigative workshops and enter into debates about current issues in theory and practice. We can ‘network’ with other members of TEFL community and best of all we learn that other people from different places, different countries and systems even, share similar problems and are themselves searching for solutions.

d. Presenting: submitting a paper or a workshop for teachers’ association meeting, whether regional, national, or international, is one of the most powerful catalysts for reflecting upon our practice. The challenge of a future audience sharpens our perception.

e. The virtual community: There are a large number of channels on the Internet by which teachers can ‘talk’ to each other, exchanging ideas and opinions, and asking for help. By subscribing to some teacher’s mailing lists, we can keep ourselves in touch with a larger teacher community so that the information we find there, and the ‘discussions’ we enter into, can all feed into our continuing development.

Training

Training means "the learning experience that will be sufficiently impressive to urge teachers, integrate existing skills they have with the new suggestions so as to develop a more complete interactive methodology on theoretical base." In other words, it is the process of developing the teachers' abilities to meet their students' needs and interests.

Identifying Needs and Priorities in Professional Development:

Identification of needs is a process that should be handled sensitively and efficiently, but not mechanically. It has to take into account the following elements:

1. The needs of the individuals and groups.

2. The school needs.

3. The national policies.

Simple Principles for Effective Identification of Needs in School:

· It is important to link closely between staff development and school improvement. However, the concentration on the needs of the school does not mean ignoring the teachers 'career and requirements.

· The need of the staff should be fully involved in the process of need identification, i.e. the more the staff is involved in the process and the way these needs should be satisfied, the more development is achieved.

· The third principle involves bridging the gap between the present situation and the desired performance intended to reach.

The following table reflects the principles upon which needs identification is based:

1. Needs Identification:

1- The school needs.

2- The staff needs.

3- The teacher’s needs.

a) professional needs.

b) Career needs.

2. In-service training instruments:

1- Classroom observation. 6- Local conferences.

2- Staff meetings. 7- Reading.

3- Workshops. 8- International conferences.

4- Training courses. 9- Informal discussions.

5- Microteaching. 10- Personal reflections through experience.

3.Who needs training?

1- Teachers in post: * Second-line leadership

* Mediocres

2- Teachers new to post: * Newly recruited teachers .

* Teachers used to teach in other educational

stages.

4. Training Tools:

1- Classroom observation:

Definition:

Classroom observation is the honest dialogue and the supportive and constructive feedback, which lead to professional growth and result in positive observer / observed experiences and outcomes.

Classroom Observation aims to:

1. assist teachers in developing strategies to promote learning, motivate learners and manage classrooms.

2. diagnose and solve technical and educational problems.

3. provide with objective feedback based on pre-instructions.

4. guide in discovering the classroom from a prospective other than the person actually teaching.

5. become familiar with basic theoretical and practical issues surrounding learning and teaching.

6. enrich the teacher's knowledge about aspects and processes related to teaching and learning.

7. build a positive relation with colleagues based on mutual respect and support classroom observation must be done on the basis of the teachers' concerns and requirements. These can be classified into eight categories:

1- Learners 5- Teaching strategies.

2- Learning 6- Learning styles.

3- Language 7- Classroom management.

4- Objectives 8- Materials and resources.

Peer observation:

Teachers are usually observed by directors of study or supervisors who come into the class as some part of a class visit, intervisitation and so on. In these situations, the observed teacher is at disadvantage since the observers – however sympathetically they carry out their function- have power over the teacher's future career.

Peer observation and peer teaching, on the other hand, involve colleagues- who are equal watching and teaching together so that both maybe helped in their understanding and practice.

Forms of peer observation or peer teaching:

a. Two teachers hold a dialogue in front of the class about a language point, a text or an aspect of culture. Students gain from hearing different views on the same topic, and the participating teachers learn through their public interaction with each other.

b. Two teachers can (take) different parts of the same lesson so that at one stage one might be acting as organizer and then observer, while the other plays the roles of prompter and source.

c. At other points in the lesson, one teacher could explain a grammar point before the other takes over to run a short controlled-practice session.

d. Two teachers plan a lesson, which one of them then teaches. After the lesson, they both describe what happened to their joint plan and detail their experiences of the lesson. They can then discuss how it could be improved. For the next class, the position is reversed.

e. Obviously, peer observation dissipates the nervousness that is usually caused by having other people observing our lessons.

Two Problematic Aspects:

Observing lessons possesses two interrelated problems for the observers:

· The quantity and quality of insights an observed lesson affords into the normal classroom practices of language teachers, and consequently their abilities and needs.

· The psychological effects of the observation on teachers, and the attendant influence on their preparation for, and classroom behavior during the observed lessons.

2- Staff Meetings:

Staff meeting can supply the teachers with a forum for sharing reflections, problems and success. The meetings need to be formally structured to make sure everyone participates and benefits.

3- Workshops:

They guarantee the indulgence of teachers in applying the conceptual presentation that takes place during the meeting. The presenter must prepare the session in advance including providing enough copies of any necessary material.

4- Microteaching:

This sample of teaching is usually performed by the trainer. It is important because it:

· models a variety of new teaching strategies.

· adjusts a teaching technique and increases the opportunity for immediate modification or correction.

· assesses learning outcomes.

· reflects critically on the teacher's performance and provides support and constructive feedback.

· helps the teachers to go beyond the traditional way of teaching.

5- Training Courses:

These in-service courses can offer a rich selection of lectures of lectures, workshops, seminars and discussions, so as to enable the teachers update themselves on the latest researches, learn new teaching techniques, become acquainted with the recent published materials in their field and meet other professionals.

6- Reading (periodicals-educational journals, booklets ….):

Reading is a necessary accompaniment to professional development. It is a main source for further learning. Though it may substitute training courses, the converse is untrue: courses cannot substitute reading.

Evaluation:

The term evaluation could point to the ongoing and systematic assessment of the teacher's professional development. A teacher's evaluation may fall into these main divisions:

1. In-school assessment

· Portfolios and data collection

· Contribution in school and staff development plans.

· High aspiration, which leads the teacher to demanding challenges, high proficiency and top grades.

2. Tests.

3. Training courses and researches.

4. Interviews.

Development starts from “inside". A teacher's thoughts and behaviours are based on certain frameworks, belief systems, thought patterns, paradigms and sets of operating principles. There are even some more potential powers within ourselves as teachers - that we are not conscious of.

Every teacher seems to possess some “key factors" that can easily classify him/her within the successful groups of teachers or "super/top teachers".

As step towards self-development, a teacher may ask him/herself the following set of questions:

· Have I ever believed that everyone of my students is gifted, though they were not

officially categorized as gifted ones?

· Do I think of myself as a “learning catalyst or a mere controller”?

· Am I a demander or a discoverer?

· Do I consider myself the "one and only" human being in the human history?

In other words:

· Do I like to be the pebble that redirects the flow of water, that then alters the flow of

a stream, that then changes the river banks, and then alters that landscape, that then

fills the lakes, that then provides water for thousands, that then evaporates into

clouds, that then changes the weather, and then ultimately affects the fate of

humanity?

· Do I choose my own feelings and then choose the appropriate ones for the situation?

In other words:

· Do I say to myself about my low achievers “you make me frustrated” or accept the

responsibility by saying “I feel frustrated at this moment”?

Questions and reflections like the above and more when thought deeply by a teacher make him/her understand the “secret to teaching success".

In other words, training and the need for development lie within the boundaries of ourselves first and foremost.

In order to enhance professional and personal growth, teachers sometimes need to step outside the world of the classroom where the concentration, all too frequently, is on knowledge and skill alone. There are other issues and practices which can be of immense help in making their professional understanding more profound and their working reality more rewarding, such as:

Learning learning:

One of the best ways of reflecting upon our teaching practice is to become learners ourselves so that our view of the learning-teaching process is not influenced from one side of the relationship. By voluntarily submitting ourselves to a new learning experience especially (but not only) if this involves us in learning a new language, our view of our students' experience can be changed. We might suddenly find out how frightening it is to speak in class; perhaps we will realize that many ‘communicative’ activities are mundane or realize how difficult it is to speak when we have nothing much to say. It can be eye-opening to find out how much important our teacher's approval is for us, how susceptible we are to teacher criticism, or to realize how important it is for the teacher to set us clear goals and guide us in other ways.

In this way, the teacher learner will gain significant insight into the whole business, which we are engaged as professionals.

Mind and body

Health specialists suggest that teachers should pay attention to their physical well-being for they practise stressful jobs in order not only to teach better, but also to survive, learn and grow as people. Some, however, suggested techniques for breathing and progressive relaxation.

One of a teacher’s chief physical attributes is voice. It was observed that at least one in ten long-serving teachers need clinical help at some time their career to counteract vocal damage. Voice is part of the whole of person, both physically and emotionally. When we misuse it, it will let us down. But when we care for it, it will help us keep and build our confidence. We can do this by breathing correctly and resting our voice and ourselves when necessary.

Supplementing teaching:

One way of encountering the potential sameness of a teacher’s life is to increase our range of occupations and interests, so that teaching becomes the fixed centre in a more varied and interesting professional life.

There are many tasks that make a valuable contribution to the teaching and learning of English. Writing materials, for example, – whether these are on-off activities, longer units or whole books – is one of these tasks. Material writing can be challenging and stimulating, and when done in tandem with teaching can provide us with powerful insights, so that both the writing and the teaching become significantly more involving and enjoyable.

Compiled by

ELT. Senior Supervisor

Aysha Al-Awadhi

Al-Jahra Educational Area

2006 /2007

( الموضوع السادس )

( معناها – أنواعها – مهاراتها – صفات القيادي الناجح )

Leadership

Leadership means getting what you want from people and achieving certain results, and to do this, you have to find a way to motivate them.

Leading people to be successful means getting people to do what you want them to, either in order to achieve tasks or to behave in a certain way.

The Charismatic Leader:

· You have personal charisma and commitment to your staff. You are an active listener and optimist.

· You try to develop you staff potential. You are an outstanding praiser of your staff when they have worked well.

· You empower your staff, you enjoy being with them.

· You look for the best in each member of your team.

· You challenge people to reinvent their jobs. Effective leader creates a climate where people's worth is measured by their willingness to learn new skills and seek new responsibilities.

(Colin Powell)

You can create trust if you follow these rules:

Express your feelings and thoughts as statements about your self, not criticism of others; for example" I don’t agree with the suggestion", not "that sounds a stupid idea".

1.Listen to others' self – disclosure caringly: give them your attention and avoid being judgmental.

2.Let the others know when you are uncertain or fearful. Ask for help when you need it.

3.Give praise freely when it is earned.

4.Give feedback when asked. Present it as a gift for growth; offer only feedback that can be used to improve performance.

5.Treat everything said to you as confidential unless it is clearly public knowledge.

6.Remember that most people do what they do for positive reasons. Look for positive intent and acknowledge it, even if you disagree with it.

References:

1.Leadership skills for success- Jean civil 1997

An article by secretary (Colin Powell) – State Magazine

( الموضوع السابع )

Characteristics

A Good Test

Continuous Assessment in the EFL Classroom

What is the difference between assessment and evaluation?

Most people are clear on what a test is—it is the "thing" or "product" that measures a particular behavior or set of objectives. The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (1999) define test as "an evaluative device or procedure in which a sample of an examinee's behavior in a specified domain is obtained and subsequently evaluated and scored using a standardized process." When you give a test, you are taking a "snapshot in time" and making an observation of an individual's or group's performance. Usually, a test gives only scores; however, when the test is considered diagnostic, it offers information related to the examinee's strengths and weaknesses based on the test performance. For example, the PPVT-III is an example of a receptive vocabulary test, while the CASL and the GRADE are diagnostic tests that offer an analysis/profile of the examinee's strengths and weaknesses in oral language and literacy, respectively.

The problem with the word test is that it has somewhat of a negative connotation in the public arena. No parents want their children to have to be "tested," and many of us may remember negative or stressful experiences with tests in the past. Based on the definition above, taking a test is simply gathering information in a standard way, and we certainly want to gather the best and most accurate information available. The testing experience is an important consideration, however, especially in this high-stakes arena, which continues to escalate for educational accountability. Tests are key players in this arena.

An Assessment is a Process

An assessment is a more general process of gathering data to evaluate an examinee. You take the information from test data, interviews, and other measures, and pull it all together. An assessment process begins to shape the answer to the question "why did the person/people perform this way?" The Standards (1999) define assessment as "any systematic method of obtaining information from tests and other sources, used to draw inferences about characteristics of people, objects, or programs." Assessment can also refer to the outcome of that process (e.g., "What is your assessment of Susie's difficulty?"). You can't point to, or hold, an assessment (just a report from an assessment process). For example, you might use the GFTA-2 and the KLPA-2 as tests in your assessment process. You might also interview the parent(s) and the teacher. Then you make some overall intelligibility judgments. You watch the student in class or at play. These are all important steps in the assessment process.

The practical problem is that out in the world, test and assessment are sometimes used as synonyms. During a focus group we conducted a few years ago, the moderator asked the question "What assessments do you use?" The attendees were puzzled at first and then responded with the overall assessment processes they use. Had the moderator asked "What tests do you use?" or even "What assessment instruments do you use?" the confusion may have been less. Precision lowers confusion!

A Diagnosis is a decision

After all the testing is done and you've gathered all the information you need and uncovered all the available data, compared it, held it up to the light, put it under a microscope and considered it in context, it is time to make a clinical judgment. "In my professional opinion, based on all the data, the history, and my clinical experience, I believe that the issue is X." You've made a diagnosis—a statement or conclusion about the testing and other information-gathering that you've done in the overall assessment process. For example, after you complete the assessment using the GFTA-2 and KLPA-2 tests and other assessment instruments and procedures, you may conclude that the child has a phonological process disorder. You support that diagnosis with test scores, medical history data, interviews, observation, and the like. But the diagnosis is your decision, for which you must use your clinical judgment—and no test or assessment can do that for you.

Why all the fuss over terminology? Are we just splitting semantic hairs? Maybe not. Again, while the word test may not have a great reputation, it is simply one piece of the larger assessment process. A test cannot make a diagnosis; humans do that. Likewise, an assessment is not a diagnosis either. A diagnosis is the result of the assessment process; it explains and defines the "why" of performance data. Both testing and diagnosis are really steps in the larger general assessment process: gathering background information, planning, testing, interviewing, observing, analyzing, interpreting, diagnosing, and recommending. The overarching umbrella to this process is clearly our clinical minds!

One suspects that the global influences affecting education and how we assess it will soon reach into most classes in the world. One consequence of these global influences, such as changes in the world economy, the information revolution, environmentalism, and cross-national health threats, is the move away from the heavy use of traditional, more judgmental approaches to assessment toward alternative, more inclusive means of determining what learners know and can do. Along with this move is a thoughtful re-examination of just what we want from our learners in our English language classrooms worldwide.

Why continuous assessment is important:

Continuous assessment (CA) acknowledges that we cannot change the instructional process unless we change the assessment process. It has been widely accepted that testing greatly influences instruction; and narrow testing has meant narrow instruction, teaching done “to the test.” In order to transform the whole educational process, the change to assessment is being made hand-in-hand with the change to outcomes-based education.

Outcomes-based education (OBE) in many places offers broad cross-curricular statements, or “essential outcomes,” of how we want our learners to be, resulting from formal education and from life-long learning ie.

1) Reflect on and use a variety of learning strategies and enhance lifelong learning.

2) Solve problems and make responsible decisions using critical and creative thinking.

3) Work with others as a member of a team/group/organization/community.

4) Deal with information critically.

5) Communicate effectively using visual, mathematical, and language skills.

6) Use science and technology critically, showing responsibility towards the environment and the health of others.

7) Participate as responsible citizens locally, nationally, and globally.

8) Show culture and aesthetic sensitivity.

9) Make wise and safe choices for healthy living.

10)Explore education and career opportunities.

11)Appreciate the links between mental conceptions of knowledge and manual tasks

informed by such knowledge.

12)Act in a way that reflects justice, democratic values, and respect for human dignity

These outcomes are being made more specific in the context of various disciplines. We can see that content is de-emphasized, and that a range of attitudes, emotions, and social skills will somehow need to be “caught” by the assessment process. Traditional ways of testing, such as essay or multiple choice exams, can sample only a fraction of what we want to produce.

Assessment must become wider. While a wider means of assessment must be conducted in some formal way using credits, it must also be practiced in the very arena of educational development—the classroom.

The concept of CA itself holds rich potential for teachers because it affirms high-order creative and critical thinking and because it embraces not only cognitive outcomes but affective and behavioral outcomes as well. It puts the learner more in control of his/her own learning. And while one cannot promise it will reduce the work for teachers, I have found, from observation as well as personal experiences, that it changes the work teachers do so that it reduces instructional drudgery and increases professional satisfaction. CA in practice can embody the global changes that affect the very nature of the classroom process, bringing it away from education as information and toward the full development of learner potential. It offers a way to provide differential input depending on the needs of learners, and can help to improve the quality of instruction even with large classes.

A CA approach can help to rectify the problem of mismatches between tests and classroom activities (Chapelle and Douglas 1993). When assessment is built into the instructional process, the confusion and frustration that test takers often face is reduced.

Kuwait, like many other countries, has relied almost exclusively on a system of national examinations to identify the learner who “passes,” meaning the learner who advances to the next level; who receives a qualification; who is admitted to a university or other institutions; and even who may receive a bursary. These examinations were invariably written; they usually emphasized the essay, and they depended heavily on recall. Whatever the intent, the effect penalized unfairly those learners who could not express themselves fluently and accurately in their second language. It would not be far-fetched to suggest that South African education has not been unique in this regard.

CA is aimed to bring out a paradigm shift in educational assessment in several ways. The central characteristic of this shift is the moving of assessment from a judgmental role to a developmental role. This move reflects evolving ideas on the nature of assessment and its purposes.

In this article, key aspects of this paradigm are explored, followed by a case study involving ESL /EFL writing, a deeper look at the key strategies of self assessment and peer-assessment, and a word about the role of portfolios in continuous assessment.

Continuous assessment defined:

CA is conceptually similar to a term in wider use, alternative assessment. Following McTighe and Ferrara (1994), assessment refers to the process of gathering and integrating information about learners from various sources to help us understand these students and describe them. Teaching is one type of assessment. Evaluation is the process of making a judgment of a product, a response, or a performance based on criteria. CA in the classroom can be characterized as ongoing, informal assessment and evaluation combined.

CA can easily co-exist with traditional assessment. In fact, it needs many concepts of assessment to be effective, such as validity, reliability, and efficiency. Rather than select a few items for testing, CA focuses on tasks or projects which demand performance of the learners, as in Figure 1 . Such activities allow the learner to demonstrate understanding and personal meaning of what has been taught. This approach is essential in a language classroom.

It is a challenge to the teacher to create authentic, engaging tasks that challenge the learner to use the language and develop related communicative abilities. CA can be further explored by contrasting it with traditional assessment, as in Figure 2 .

The first dimension shown is the purpose of a test that we give to our learners. Traditional assessment is summative, meaning it can be seen as the culmination or “bottom line” of a unit of work that was covered. What the learner has done (or not done) remains unchangeable. If the test is along the lines of continuous assessment, it will probably be more formative, meaning that it is not the end of the line and that there is still time to change what learner and teacher have been doing in order to increase the likelihood of achievement.

The second dimension concerns the focus of attention of people interested in what goes on in the classroom, mainly the learners and the teacher, but including other stakeholders (see the very last dimension). At the traditional end, we concentrate on the product of instruction, usually the test. We look to the test to tell us how we have done. At the opposite CA end of the line, we centre our attention on the process of instruction. We look at how well the learner completed learning projects and tasks during the course. We could look at the attitude s/he developed toward English, for this may presage ongoing language development. We could note whether the learner showed initiative, for example, by choosing extra reading, or by spending more time with English-speaking friends, or by using movies as a learning tool.

The rest of the dimensions represent further aspects on which to contrast continuous assessment against more familiar ways of testing. The reason for setting up such contrasts is to explore various meanings of continuous assessment. It can be readily seen that CA is not a one dimensional term.

Implications of continuous assessment for teachers

While CA is not a panacea for all that is wrong with education, nor for meeting all the needs of diverse learners in diverse societies, it does offer a great many benefits. CA reflects evolving theories of learning and teaching and educational outcomes and assessment. Underneath is a major paradigm shift involving less a transmission model of learning and more an active, constructive, questioning model which works toward developing the full potential of our learners. We need to familiarize ourselves with CA, to experiment with it.

As it is a change from the familiar authoritarian classroom that so many of us have experienced, we can expect some resistance. Such change has to be understood and accepted by society, and this demands a generous amount of communication with various stakeholders: parents, school governing bodies, administrators, funders, and not least, teachers and learners themselves. We can expect the suspicion that comes with change, as happened in the state of California (Baker, Linn, and Herman 1996:5), where subsequent research suggested that “lack of information and misunderstanding of the (new performance) assessment contributed as much to parental concerns as did the content and new format of the test.”

Classroom teachers might introduce CA gradually, perhaps experimenting with self-assessment. One can give the learners a brief questionnaire asking them about their perceptions of progress and achievement and their attitude and values regarding a particular unit. One might help learners generate questions about one another’s work for peer-assessment purposes. A teacher could write down his/her own criteria describing a good piece of work, an average piece, and an unsatisfactory piece. Examples of each stage would be even better. Let the learners add to the criteria, and use them for peer-assessment as well as for evaluation by teachers. Together with the learners, teachers can generate creative, authentic learning tasks that can be used as assessment tasks. In South Africa, where CA policy is soon to be fully implemented, whole schools are orienting themselves as a group to this assessment approach.

CA offers a way to cater to a diversity of learners in the language class. Diversity can derive from sociological factors, such as mother-tongue differences, culture, and place of origin, as well as individual factors, such as differing abilities, interests, and motivations, which arise in most classes anyway, no matter how homogeneously students are grouped. Assessment tasks can be done in various ways, and learners can select approaches that suit their interests and abilities. For example, in outlining a reading on transport in America, one learner may relate key ideas in a flow chart, another may use annotated drawings, and a third may use key phrases in point form. Others may even dramatize it.

Especially with large classes, learners can be assessed in groups as well as individually. Group process itself becomes part of the content to be assessed. Learning is social in nature; effective participation in class groups is known to bring about learning, and the ability to work as a cooperative team member is an essential skill not only for the class but also for enabling people to contribute to society. People learn by doing, and need to work together in a meaningful way in class.

Transformation of assessment is essential to the transformation of curriculum. CA in the English language classroom is one response to new global realities as they shape the classroom. As we move away from sitting in judgment on our learners, we need to keep finding and researching creative and authentic ways to make their development the primary focus of the assessment process.

Figure 1

SOME CA DEVICES

CHECKLIST OF LEARNER BEHAVIOURS OR PRODUCTS

Journals

Reading logs

Videos of discussion of role play

Work samples

Dramatizations

Teacher observation

Anecdotal records

Interviews

Learner profiles

Progress cards

Reflective responses

Self-evaluation questionnaires

Peer-evaluation questionnaires

Portfolios

Figure 2

SOME CONTRASTS: TRADITIONAL VS. CONTINUOUS CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT
DIMENSION	TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENT	CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT
Purpose of test	Summative; if "sums up" what has been happening	Formative; it generates input to inform and guide teaching
Purpose of test	Judgmental; forces learners to study	Developmental; diagnostic: directs instructional attention
Focus	Product of instruction	Process of instruction
	Teacher-created activity	Learner-created activity
	Heavy on memorization	Heavy on thinking, integration
	De-contextualized	Holistic
Feedback	A score or mark; final, no changing it.	A range of comments from peers, teachers; happens during the process while still time to change
Test task	Typically written work	Typically range of tasks
	Medium: paper and pencil	Multimedia
	Narrow focus	Multidimensional
	Exercises (for the future)	Authentic (real life tasks for now)
	Formal	Informal
Classroom Management	Intrusive; interrupts class process	Integrated; part of class routine
	One-shot; only one chance to show competence	Over time; chance to revise, improve, add
	Results need time to be determined	Feedback comes quickly
	Books closed	Reference available
Frame of Reference	Norm-reference	Criterion-reference
Frame of Reference	Learner compared against norms based on other test-takers	Learner compared against specified criteria of achievement
Stakeholders	Learners, parents, principal receive results	Learners, parents, principal invited to help assess

Prepared by

Mohammad Taha Samaha

Characteristics Of A Good Test

A good pragmatic test should possess the following qualities :

1. Validity :it measures what it ought to be testing .For example a test that is designed to measure grammar becomes invalid if it contains difficult vocabulary.

2. Reliability : it should provide consistency in measuring the items being evaluated; if the same test is given twice to the same pupils , it will produce almost the same results.

3. Practicality : is easy to administer and to score without wasting too much effort or time.

4. Comprehensiveness :covers all language aspects that have been studied.

5. Relevance : measures reasonably well the desired objectives or achievement.

6. Balance: evaluates both the linguistic and the communicative competence; items must reflect the pupil's real command of the language as far as the aspects of appropriacy and accuracy are concerned.

7. Economy: an efficient test makes use of the teacher’s limited time for preparing and grading and of the pupils’ assigned time for answering all the items.

8. Authenticity: language should reflect day –to –day discourse.

9. Difficulty: questions should be appropriate in difficulty; neither too hard nor too easy but progressive in difficulty to reduce stress and tension.

10. Clarity: all questions and instructions should be clear to enable pupils to know what the examiner wants them to do.

11. Objectivity: questions and answers should be clear and definite so that any grader would give the score a pupil deserves.

12. Time: it should be appropriate in length for the allotted time.

Test Writing

If you think taking tests is difficult then you should try writing them! Writing a good test is indeed quite a challenge and one that takes patience, experience and a degree of trial and error. There are many steps you can take to ensure that your test is more effective and that test writing becomes a learning experience.

The elements of a good test:
a good test will give us a more reliable indication of our students' skills and it ensures that they don't suffer unfairly because of a poor question. How can we be sure that we have produced a good test?

One way is very simply to think about how we feel about it afterwards. Do the results reflect what we had previously thought about the skills of the students? Another simple way is to ask the students for some feedback. They will soon tell you if they felt a question was unfair or if a task type was unfamiliar.

Validity of a test:

A good test also needs to be valid. It must test what it is meant to test. A listening test that has very complicated questions afterwards can be as much of a test of reading as listening. Also a test that relies on cultural knowledge cannot measure a student's ability to read and comprehend a passage.

Reliability of a test:

a test should also be reliable. This means that it should produce consistent results at different times. If the test conditions stay the same, different groups of students at a particular level of ability should get the same result each time.

A writing test may not be reliable as the marking may be inconsistent and extremely subjective, especially if there are a number of different markers. Thus to try and ensure the test is more reliable it is essential to have clear descriptors of what constitutes each grade.
In an oral interview it is important to ensure that the examiner maintains the same attitude with all the candidates. The test will be less reliable if he is friendly with some candidates but stern with others. You should try to ensure that the test conditions are as consistent as possible.

The affect of tests:
we must also bear in mind the affect of our tests. Has the test caused too much anxiety in the students? Are the students familiar with the test types in the exam?

If a student has never seen a cloze passage before she may not be able to write a test that reflects her true ability. The solution to this is to try and reduce the negative effects by using familiar test types and making the test as non-threatening as possible.

Other features of a good test:
other features of a good test are that there is a variety of test types and that it is as interesting as possible.

A variety of test types will ensure that the students have to stay focused and minimize the tiredness and boredom you can feel during a repetitive test.
Finding reading passages that are actually interesting to read can also help to maintain motivation during a test. A test should also be as objective as possible, providing a marking key and descriptors can help with this.

Assessing difficulty:
another important feature of a good test is that it is set at an appropriate level. You can only really find this out by giving the test and studying the results. Basically if everyone gets above 90% you know it is too easy or if everyone gets less than 10% it is obviously too difficult. For tests that aren't so extreme you will need to do some analysis of your test. You can do this by analyzing the individual items for difficulty.

In order to does this mark all of the tests and divide them into three equal groups, high, middle and low.
Make a note for each item of how many candidates got the answer correct from the high and the low group (leave aside the middle group). To find the level of difficulty you need to do a quick calculation.

Take one question and add the number of students from the high group who has the correct answer to the number from the low group.
Then divide this by the total number of people from both groups (high and low). It is thought that if over 90% of candidates get the answer right it is too easy. If fewer than 30% get it right it is too difficult.

Also bear in mind that if most of the answers are in the 30's and 40's it would be best to rewrite the test. It's the same if most of the answers are in the 80's and 90's.
The final step is to reject the items that are too easy or difficult.

Conclusion:
Always bear in mind though that the difficulty of an item may relate to whether it has been covered in class or it may give an indication of how well it was understood. Such test analysis can give us information about how effective our teaching has been as well as actually evaluating the test. Evaluating tests carefully can ensure that the test improves after it is taken and can give us feedback on improving our test writing.

Below is a suggested procedure for writing a test.

Decide what kind of test it is going to be (achievement, proficiency)
Write a list of what the test is going to cover
Think about the length, layout and the format
Find appropriate texts
Weight the sections according to importance/time spent etc.
Write the questions
Write the instructions and examples
Decide on the marks
Make a key
Write a marking scheme for less objective questions
Pilot the test
Review and revise the test and key
After the test has been taken, analyze the results and decide what can be kept / rejected.

Testing and Assessment

I will always remember the horror of receiving my chemistry result when I was thirteen years old. I knew it wasn't going to be high, but to come bottom of the class was very upsetting. It was all made worse by the fact that the chemistry teacher read the results to the whole class, from first to last place. My humiliation was complete. Students can have very negative reactions towards tests and it's no surprise when they too may have had experiences like this.

Why testing doesn't work:
There are many arguments against using tests as a form of assessment:

Some students become so nervous that they can't perform and don't give a true account of their knowledge or ability
Other students can do well with last minute cramming despite not having worked throughout the course
Once the test has finished, students can just forget all that they had learned
Students become focused on passing tests rather than learning to improve their language skills.

Reasons for testing:
Testing is certainly not the only way to assess students, but there are many good reasons for including a test in your language course.

A test can give the teacher valuable information about where the students are in their learning and can affect what the teacher will cover next. They will help a teacher to decide if her teaching has been effective and help to highlight what needs to be reviewed. Testing can be as much an assessment of the teaching as the learning
Tests can give students a sense of accomplishment as well as information about what they know and what they need to review.

In the 1970's students in an intensive EFL program were taught in an unstructured conversation course. They complained that even though they had a lot of time to practise communicating, they felt as if they hadn't learned anything. Not long afterwards a testing system was introduced and helped to give them a sense of satisfaction that they were accomplishing things. Tests can be extremely motivating and give students a sense of progress. They can highlight areas for students to work on and tell them what has and hasn't been effective in their learning.

Tests can also have a positive effect in that they encourage students to review material covered on the course.

At university I experienced this first hand, I always learned the most before an exam. Tests can encourage students to consolidate and extend their knowledge.

Tests are also a learning opportunity after they have been taken. The feedback after a test can be invaluable in helping a student to understand something she couldn't do during the test. Thus the test is a review in itself.

Making testing more productive:
Despite all of these strong arguments for testing, it is very important to bear in mind the negative aspects we looked at first and to try and minimize the effects.

Try to make the test a less intimidating experience by explaining to the students the purpose for the test and stress the positive effects it will have. Many may have very negative feelings left over from previous bad experiences.
Give the students plenty of notice and teach some revision classes beforehand.
Tell the students that you will take into account their work on the course as well as the test result.
Be sensitive when you hand out the results. I usually go through the answers fairly quickly, highlight any specific areas of difficulty and give the students their results on slips of paper.
Emphasize that an individual should compare their results with their own previous scores not with others in the class.

Learning from tests:
Finally, it is very important to remember that tests also give teachers valuable information on how to improve the process of evaluation. Questions such as:

"Were the instructions clear?"
"Are the test results consistent with the work that the students have done on the course? Why/why not?"
"Did I manage to create a non-threatening atmosphere?"
All of this will help the teacher to improve the evaluative process for next time.

Alternatives to testing:
Using only tests as a basis for assessment has obvious drawbacks. They are 'one-off' events that do not necessarily give an entirely fair account of a student's proficiency. As we have already mentioned, some people are more suited to them than others. There are other alternatives that can be used instead of or alongside tests.

Continuous assessment :
Teachers give grades for a number of assignments over a period of time. A final grade is decided on a combination of assignments.
Portfolio:
A student collects a number of assignments and projects and presents them in a file. The file is then used as a basis for evaluation.
Self-assessment:
The students evaluate themselves. The criteria must be carefully decided upon beforehand.
Teacher's assessment:
the teacher gives an assessment of the learner for work done throughout the course including classroom contributions.

Conclusions:
Overall, I think that all the above methods have strengths and limitations and that tests have an important function for both students and teachers. By trying to limit the negative effects of tests we can try to ensure that they are as effective as possible. I don't think that tests should be the only criteria for assessment, but that they are one of many tools that we can use. I feel that choosing a combination of methods of assessment is the fairest and most logical approach

Test Question Types

In my previous article Test writing I looked at some of the difficulties of writing good tests and how to make tests more reliable and useful. I will now go on to look at testing and elicitation and in particular some different question types and their functions, advantages and disadvantages.

Other techniques

Types of test:
Before writing a test it is vital to think about what it is you want to test and what its purpose is. We must make a distinction here between proficiency tests, achievement tests, diagnostic tests and prognostic tests.

A proficiency test is one that measures a candidates overall ability in a language, it isn't related to a specific course.
An achievement test on the other hand tests the students' knowledge of the material that has been taught on a course.
A diagnostic test highlights the strong and weak points that a learner may have in a particular area.
A prognostic test attempts to predict how a student will perform on a course.

There are of course many other types of tests. It is important to choose elicitation techniques carefully when you prepare one of the aforementioned tests.

Types of task:
There are many elicitation techniques that can be used when writing a test. Below are some widely-used types with some guidance on their strengths and weaknesses. Using the right kind of question at the right time can be enormously important in giving us a clear understanding of our students' abilities, but we must also be aware of the limitations of each of these task or question types so that we use each on appropriately.

Multiple choice:
Choose the correct word to complete the sentence.

*Cook is ________________today for being one of Britain's most famous explorers.*
a) recommended	b) reminded	c) recognized	d) remembered

In this question type there is a stem and various options to choose from. The advantages of this question type are that it is easy to mark and minimizes guess work by having multiple distracters. The disadvantage is that it can be very time-consuming to create, effective multiple choice items are surprisingly difficult to write. Also it takes time for the candidate to process the information which leads to problems with the validity of the exam. If a low level candidate has to read through lots of complicated information before they can answer the question, you may find you are testing their reading skills more than their lexical knowledge.

Multiple choice can be used to test most things such as grammar, vocabulary, reading, listening etc. but you must remember that it is still possible for students to just 'guess' without knowing the correct answer.

Transformation:
Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning as the first.

'Do you know what the time is, John?' asked Dave.

Dave asked John __________ (what) _______________ it was.

This time a candidate has to rewrite a sentence based on an instruction or a key word given. This type of task is fairly easy to mark, but the problem is that it doesn't test understanding. A candidate may simply be able to rewrite sentences to a formula. The fact that a candidate has to paraphrase the whole meaning of the sentence in the example above however minimizes this drawback.

Transformations are particularly effective for testing grammar and understanding of form. This wouldn't be an appropriate question type if you wanted to test skills such as reading or listening.

Gap-filling:
Complete the sentence.

Check the exchange ______________ to see how much your money is worth.

The candidate fills the gap to complete the sentence. A hint may sometimes be included such as a root verb that needs to be changed, or the first letter of the word etc. This usually tests grammar or vocabulary. Again this type of task is easy to mark and relatively easy to write. The teacher must bear in mind though that in some cases there may be many possible correct answers.

Gap-fills can be used to test a variety of areas such as vocabulary, grammar and are very effective at testing listening for specific words.

Matching:
Match the word on the left to the word with the opposite meaning.

*Fat*	*old*
*Young*	*tall*
*dangerous*	*thin*
*Short*	*safe*

With this question type, the candidate must link items from the first column to items in the second. This could be individual words, words and definitions, parts of sentences, pictures to words etc. Whilst it is easy to mark, candidates can get the right answers without knowing the words, if she has most of the answers correct she knows the last one left must be right. To avoid this, have more words than is necessary.

Matching exercises are most often used to test vocabulary.

Cloze:
Complete the text by adding a word to each gap.

This is the kind _____ test where a word _____ omitted from a passage every so often. The candidate must _____ the gaps, usually the first two lines are without gaps.

This kind of task type is much more integrative as candidates have to process the components of the language simultaneously. It has also been proved to be a good indicator of overall language proficiency. The teacher must be careful about multiple correct answers and students may need some practice of this type of task.

Cloze tests can be very effective for testing grammar, vocabulary and intensive reading.

True / False:
Decide if the statement is true or false.

England won the world cup in 1966.

T/F

Here the candidate must decide if a statement is true or false. Again this type is easy to mark but guessing can result in many correct answers. The best way to counteract this effect is to have a lot of items.

This question type is mostly used to test listening and reading comprehension.

Open questions:
answer the questions.

Why did John steal the money?

Here the candidate must answer simple questions after a reading or listening or as part of an oral interview. It can be used to test anything. If the answer is open-ended it will be more difficult and time consuming to mark and there may also be an element of subjectivity involved in judging how 'complete' the answer is, but it may also be a more accurate test.

These question types are very useful for testing any of the four skills, but less useful for testing grammar or vocabulary.

Error correction:
Find the mistakes in the sentence and correct them.

Ipswich Town was the better team on the night.

Errors must be found and corrected in a sentence or passage. It could be an extra word, mistakes with verb forms, words missed etc. One problem with this question type is that some errors can be corrected in more than one way.

Error correction is useful for testing grammar and vocabulary as well as readings and listening.

Other Techniques:
There are of course many other elicitation techniques such as translation, essays, dictations, ordering words/phrases into a sequence and sentence construction (He/go/school/yesterday).

It is important to ask yourself what exactly you are trying to test, which techniques suit this purpose best and to bear in mind the drawbacks of each technique. Awareness of this will help you to minimize the problems and produce a more effective test.

Compiled & Edited by

E.L.T.Supervisor Ahmad Saad El.din

Mubarak Al.Kabeer Edu. Area

الصفحات

H.O.D Training Course

يعتمد، يعتمد،

Creating a Plan to Raise Test Scores

CLASSROOM OBSERVATION

AND INSTRUCTION

Steps in observation:

Professional Behaviour :

Some additional things to look for during the observation semester:

Some key factors in learning in a class:

Guidelines for Classroom Observation:

Pre-Observation Conference:

Classroom Observation

Knowledge of Subject Matter

Instructor-Student Interaction

Presentation and Enthusiasm

Student Behaviour

Overall :

Post-Observation Conference

2006 – 2007

Supervisor’s Visit

Descriptive analysis of the lesson

Teacher's Personality

Qualified

Competent

Confident

Active

Patient

Teacher's Attitude

Enthusiastic

Encouraging

Sincere

understanding

Tolerant

Command of Language

Distinguished

V. Good

Good

Fair

Adequate

Preparation

Mentally:

Distinguished

Written:

Teaching Media

Board:

Tape R.:

OHT:

Charts:

Cards:

Class Management

Excellent

V. Good

Good

Fair

Inadequate

Aims Achievement

Fully

Well

Partially

Fair

Not Achieved

Pupils' Response

T/P

Excellent

V. Good

Good

Fair

Poor

P/P

Excellent

V. Good

Good

Fair

Neglected

Weak pupils

Encouraged

Neglected

Class Standard

V. Good