Review of CPD course; How to assess Spanish Speaking CA tasks (Edexcel) - Natalia Palmero

The focus of this course was linked to understanding and applying the marking criteria. To practise it, we listened to recordings and marked scripts at a range of grade levels, both individually and with other colleagues. We also checked our marks against those awarded by the moderators which was reassuring and showed consistency in our marking.

Moreover, we tried out different methods of marking. All suitable and recognised by Edexcel, to find the one we feel more comfortable with. In my case is using the ‘Assessment Criteria sheets’ in Unit 2, Edexcel GCSE in Spanish.

Finally, we evaluated controlled assessment tasks and focused on the importance of the quality and quantity of its wording (to help students to remember all the relevant information) and to write them in English. In reference to this, we were reminded to use the word ’may’ instead of ‘must’ in the sentence: You ‘may’ want to include the following points(…) to avoid our students being penalised if they do not answer all of them.

There were several other key points that were more general but just as thought provoking which came out of the day. These included;

·         We have to encourage spontaneity in our Speaking CA. Consequently, pauses are natural and they expect to hear them. Also, some utterances expressing doubt like, ‘let see…’ or ‘a moment, please…’ in Spanish are perfectly acceptable.

·         Examiners are very fond of a single sentence containing two or even three tenses.

·         Standardization within the department is crucial.

·         We should share ‘Assessment Criteria sheets’ with the students so they know how they are going to be assessed and act accordingly.

The Hunger Games: A Cross-Curricular Project

Since being involved in resilience I hear many varied excerpts of books aimed at our pupils. One of the things that surprised me about this was just how few of these popular books I had read. Last Easter I decided to read The Hunger Games, as I had seen a trailer for the first film and my interest was piqued. Throughout the novel I kept making references to real world situations and couldn't escape some of the geographical themes that were explored in the book.

I decided to investigate the possibility of a cross-curricular project and was pleased when colleagues in the English Department shared my enthusiasm. Following several planning meetings with Amy Dare, we had roughed out areas that each subject could cover and identified themes that complimented both the Geography and English curriculums.

The dystopian style of the novel was a particular point of interest as so much of the geography that pupils pick up from current affairs is focussed on natural disaster and conflict. During the lessons pupils were able to draw on references to Syria, the Ukraine and Hurricane Katrina. It was pleasing to see that both the boys and girls were keen to read more about the story behind our scheme of work, a number of the Year Eight pupils even showed me their copies of the book they had selected for reading in resilience sessions.

The assessment element of this scheme of work was significant in proving, learning linked to popular fiction is an excellent way to make the geography relevant to pupils. In the lead up to the assessment we had studied natural and built environments that felt "dystopian" as places had been abandoned or ravaged by natural disasters. Pupils understood that dystopian novels combined difficult elements such as political problems and a lack or resources. To make the assessment as accessible as possible I decided to give pupils the choice between writing their assessment or debating it. Year Eight pupils have experience of using "talk" as a vehicle for assessment as the Geography department uses this in Year Seven and Year Eight topics the pupils had already studied. Many pupils chose to talk, whilst a smaller proportion were seated at the edge of the classroom at tables with paper. I am always impressed at the mature approach pupils adopt when debating. Very few behaviour sanctions were needed as pupils were engaged in listening to one another and looking for their opportunity to add to the debate.

For colleagues interested in trialling a talk assessment, I would recommend creating a tick column criteria sheet as this helps with recording how well the pupils perform and is essential to provide individual written feedback. I have generated a few short hand codes, that used along with some key words helps me to assess and level the pupils. Finally, if you are considering this type of activity but are uncertain of how pupils will respond, I would say that so long as pupils are given preparation time to script their ideas, on the whole each of my classes thoroughly enjoyed this change of activity.

Thinking Hats!

The thinking hats are a method used to structure thinking and discussion of ideas. Each colour has a specific focus and when pupils are focused on this colour, they should not be talking about anything else. Changing the colours at timed intervals keeps the conversations relevant and purposeful. Below I have outlined how I used this within an English lesson.

Pupils were planning a persuasive speech to give to the rest of the class. The aim of the speech was to persuade the rest of the class to vote for their product – a fictional product that they had made up, which would help save people on a Cruise Ship if disaster struck (using the films Poseidon and Titanic as a stimulus).  This was done as a speaking and listening exercise done as a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style pitch. They used the thinking hats to consider different elements  of the situation and their product in order to create the best pitch.

White: What are the facts of this situation (stuck on a ship in an air bubble, all communication down) This discussion helped clarify  what it was they were actually creating a product for.  We focused on this hat first  so that all pupil’s were ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’ and could ask any questions about this fictional situation.

Red: How would people be feeling in this situation?

By focusing on the potential feelings of people within in the situation, rather than themselves as ‘inventors’, it allowed them to tailor emotive language to their audience when discussing their product and the impact having it on a ship could have. This is a key aspect of persuasive language.

Yellow: The good points of your product

Simply, why cruise ship companies needed their product on board. What does their product offer?

Black: The negative points of your product We looked at a couple of dragon’s den videos and saw that the Dragons would sometimes pick out bad points or flaws in a person’s product and essentially, rip them to shreds. By using the black hat, it allowed pupils to consider, not only the bad points of their product, but also ways to counteract these in a persuasive manner if the class ‘Dragons’ picked up on them.

Green: Possibility

This linked to the purpose of the task which was to persuade a company to buy their product. It linked to money and potential. As all investors want to see potential in the products they invest in, it allowed pupils to consider what they would say to the dragons as to how their product could be developed.

Blue: Evaluation

We used the blue hat to consider which group had planned the most effective speech and to decide our class winner.

Impact on teaching: The thinking hats provided far more clarification for pupils as to the necessary content and structure of their speech and also the purpose of it. Even though it was for an unlikely and fictional situation, they didn’t treat it like that. They appeared to have so much focus and were given time to think about key elements. I gave a lot of top marks (GCSE A/B) and I don’t think I would have given so many if I hadn’t used the thinking hats to structure their thinking beforehand.

Ms Rebecca Davis - TAG team