School case I

The Use of Writing Portfolios to Help Students

Write Fables

Po Leung Kuk 1983 Board of Directors’ College

School background

All students follow the same curriculum in which weaker students may not get enough support

Students have not tried out portfolio assessment and process writing before

Teachers would like to have more opportunities for collaboration and communication in the Project

Focus of the project: The use of writing portfolios to help

students write fables

Classes involved: All classes (an in-depth study was

conducted in S1C) No. of lessons involved: 13 (not including students doing the final

draft and acting out their own fables in the Drama Competition)

Theme: The Chinese Zodiac

Rationale for the use of writing portfolios

To give weaker students more support

in writing and help them develop basic self-management skillsusing writing portfolios

To inform students, teachers & parents

of students’ learning progress,

strengths and weaknesses in writing.

Content: personifying an animal

to illustrate personality flaw

and how it is overcome

Organisation:developing

conflict, offering resolution and

including a moral

Language:Using simple past tense to describe

past events

Project objective 1 - To improve students’ writing interest and skills

Project objective 2 – To help students develop basic self-management skills such as setting learning goals and reflecting upon their own strengths and weaknesses

Project objective 3 – To enhance students’ creativity and critical thinking and nurture positive values

Settinglearning

goals

Strengths Weaknesses

Special features of the writing portfolios

1. Students need to think about

moral values and use problem-solving skills

2. There is intensive support for weaker students through

much teacher-student conferencing,

self-reflection and peer review

3.The portfolio task provides students with continuous

feedback and ample opportunities to manage

their own writing processes at

different stages

Whole-persondevelopment

Manageableand achievable

Focused support

An overview of the entries of the writing

portfolio My profileStory map Self-reviewing checklist1 First draft Self-reviewing checklist 2 Second draft Editing worksheet Third draft Rating scale Final draft Peer –reviewing checklist Self-reflection log

Constantfeedback

Taking increasing

chargeof one’s own

learning

Work plan and implementation

I. Motivating students and giving input (3 lessons)

-identifying oneself with the animals in the Chinese Zodiac

-reading the Chinese Zodiac fables and discussed the moral in them

-exploring the features of fables by using a story map

(grammar was taught in context at different implementation stages)

Story Map

Work plan and implementation

II. Designing a personal profile for the writing portfolio (3 lessons)

- reflecting on one’s strengths and weaknesses through making analogies with the animals for the profiles

-making New Year resolutions to overcome one’s weaknesses

(grammar was taught in context at different implementation stages)

My strengths Hard-working,

honest, loyal, intelligent, friendly

My weaknesses Arrogant, fun-

loving, stubborn, moody, critical and quick-tempered

I am like a dragon

Work plan and implementation

III. Goal-setting and task-setting for the writing portfolio (2 lessons)

-getting to know the writing task and processes as well as the concept of portfolio

-negotiating and setting the goals to develop self-management skills

-discussing assessment criteria

(grammar was taught in context at different implementation stages)

Writing taskStudents reflect on their

own weaknesses and have to choose an animal

to represent themselves. Write aFable about how the animal

competed to be at thetop of the zodiac chart

My learning goals:

I will be able to create a fable of my own that includes elements of fables.

I will be able to use the main character of the fable to illustrate my weakness and how I can overcome the weakness.

I will be able to write dialogues according to the content of the fable.

I will be able to correctly use simple past tense in my writing.

I will be able to evaluate my own writing as well as other’s writing according to the assessment criteria.

IV. Exploring the writing processes for the writing portfolio (5 lessons)

-planning and drafting the new fable (brainstorming, roving conference and writing workshop)

-reviewing and editing the new fable (self-reviewing, peer writing conference, roving conference, teacher-student conference)

-conducting teacher-student conference with weaker students and writing clinic

-producing different drafts and doing publishing

Work plan and implementation

(grammar was taught in context at different implementation stages)

Teacher’scomments:

1.What were the weaknesses of the main character?

2.How did it overcome its weakness?

3.What good deed did it do?

Student’s Work

Because it’s funny

Don’t be uncompassionate.To be compassionate.

Is not interesting.

Use the correct past tenseor present tense and correct

the grammar.

Student’s comments

Drafts 2 & 3

Impact of writing portfolios on learning

1. Students’ confidence in writing fables was significantly increased

Class C 20%

2. Students believed they had more ideas to write their fables using writing portfolios

Class C 70%

3. Students found that discussing learning goals and assessment criteria with teachers was very useful or useful

Class C 50%

(Survey results based on pre-project and post-project questionnaires)

Impact of writing portfolios on learning

4. Students were able to improve their own writing by evaluating their peers’ work

Class C 95%

5. Students enjoyed sharing their English writing with others

Class C 30%

6. Overall comment on the lessons I had

Very useful - Class C 95%

Very interesting - Class C 85%

(Survey results based on pre-project and post-project questionnaires)

The part I most enjoyed

“Other people sharing my fables”

“Plan & organise the story”

“Think about the animal that can represent me and then talk about my strengths and weaknesses”

Students’ reflectionsI have improved a lot in.....

“Story ending”

“My grammar”

“Correcting my own errors”

“Story may”

“Writing stores”

The most useful strategy I have learnt is:

“How to write stories”

“How to write fables”

“How to write dialogues in stories”

“Thinking about positive and negativepersonality traits”

Impact on teaching

More sharing amongEnglish teachers

Increased understanding of students’ needs, progress, strengths

and weaknesses in writing

Increased confidence in using of writing portfolios

-Manageable -Achievable

Impact on the school-based English curriculum

Extending students’ learning experience

in the writing portfolios through performance-based tasks

Infusing language arts into theWriting portfolios with the reading andWriting of fables in the L/T processes

Including positive values and attitudes

in the writing portfolios for achieving students’

whole-person development

As a teacher, which animal As a teacher, which animal do you think you want to do you think you want to

identify with in theidentify with in the Chinese Zodiac?Chinese Zodiac?

Thank You!Thank You!