Tag Archives: criteria

Class management

Positive Feedback Comments

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If the student senses that you care, they will start to care as well. If the teacher does not care about the welfare of the students, why should they care about the teacher and the subject.

To learn the skill of giving constructive feedback took me a long time. But I did get better in doing that – by trial and error method. Quite a lot of principles to remember!

Feedback comments to encourage your students

The expressions below can be softened by adding ‘I think …’ ‘I have got a feeling that …’ ‘I am very pleased that …’ ‘It seems to me that …’ to them.

‘I think …’  You participate enthusiastically in discussion.
‘I’ve got a feeling that …’ You are superior in dividing work in your group.  
‘I am very pleased that …’   You listen to and follow directions well.
‘It seems to me that …’  You express ideas clearly and logically.

You will find 55 sample comments below that you can use in giving positive feedback to your students, those in senior high school or over 16 years of age. You will, however, notice that in practice you will use less than 10 phrases in the development discussion because you need to lure the students to say many of the ideas themselves.

SOCIAL SKILLS – feedback comments

 ‘I think …’  ‘I have got a feeling that …’   ‘I am very pleased that …’   ‘It seems to me that …’ USE THESE PHRASES TO SOFTEN THE MESSAGE

1 The other students seem to admire you for your calmness.
2 You have demonstrated great organizational skills.
3 You enjoy dramatization and encourage the others well.
4 I love to watch you working in groups and get the others back on track.
5 You have a great sense of humour and you lighten up the atmosphere.
6 The others say you are the one who encourages others most.
7 Your classmates like to be around you.
8 You are often the thoughtful leader in the group discussions.
9 You have developed more positive ways to interact with others.
10 The way you cooperate with others in group work is exemplary.
11 I admire your willingness to take responsibilities and follow them through.
12 What you are particularly good at is dividing work in your group.
13 You follow my directions well and advise the others if they do not get what I mean.
14 The way you treat the shy ones is superior to anyone else in class.
15 It is you the classmates turn to if they have a problem in English.
Modify the phrases for your own purposes and to encourage those who are not very good in English.

STUDY SKILLS  – feedback comments 

1 You have started to do your homework well and it shows in class too.
2 The others have noticed how you concentrate on learning much better this year.
3 Despite your hobbies you seem to manage your time well.
4 The strategy you follow in essay writing works beautifully now.
5 I’m so pleased that you seem to rely on yourself now.
6 You solved the problem with multiple choice questions and your open-ended answers are superb.
7 You probably realize yourself how much your vocabulary has expanded in just a few months. The tips seem to work well.
8 You are gaining academic skills, such as using effective learning strategies.
9 The way you pronounce English is music to my ears, just like native speakers. Recording your own speech on the phone was a great idea.
10 You are consistent in using English all through the lessons.
11 I’ve noticed how you help the others to find information quickly in the internet.
12 You have become so good at expressing your opinins that I suggest you will take part in our next school debate.
13 Reading newspapers and magazines in the internet has improved your reading skills tremendously.
14 I’m glad you don’t worry about grammatical mistakes any more and still you make fewer and fewer of them these days.
15 You seem to have found your own style of learning English better. And you even give hints to others.
Study skills, learning to learn well, requires a lot of time and patience.

ATTITUDE and MOTIVATION –  comments

1 You have realized that you are an auditive learner and youtube seems to serve you well.
2 The others have noticed how you take more and more pride in the way you make progress.
3 You have understood how important the learning tips I’ve given to the class are. The sky is the limit now.
4 Lately you have show enthusiasm for learning English.
5 You asked me how to improve your pronunciation, I gave you some advice and gosh how beautiful you sound now.
6 I’m glad you pulled up your sock when I returned your essay last month. The one this week nearly blew me away. Marvellous!
7 You really seem to enjoy speaking English and you are very active in class these days.
8 It’s great you like to challenge yourself in class and not do the easy assignment.
9 You have the guts to keep on asking relevant questions. I’m happy to answer them and the others benefit from them too.
10 You give constructive feedback to the others and me too.
‘The teacher is fair and on my side’ – a message that makes a big difference in the students’ minds.

ENGLISH PROFICIENCY – feedback comments 

1 You have shown noticeable improvement in speaking and pronunciation.
2 You comprehend reading tasks quickly and can explain the content in your own words.
3 You seem to make steady progress in learning active vocabulary and it is shown in both writing and speaking.
4 You have learnt to use more complicated grammatical structures with few mistakes.
5 Your essays have a clear logical structure and the points are soaring.
6 The presentations you give in front of the class are enjoyable to listen to.
7 When you have set your goals you do not give up no matter what.
8 You are able to analyse the listening tasks in detail and even challenge the formulation of some questions.
9 Your knowledge of the English-speaking world is amazing.
10 You seem to be able to think in English without any hesitation just like native speakers.
11 Thanks to reading English novels your passive vocabulary is admirable.
12 Your ability to argue for your case both is speech and writing is most convincing.
13 You have really made use of all the strategies we have been studying to learn English more efficiently.
14 The lesson on auditive, kinesthetic and visual learners seems to have openend your eyes to what sort of learner you are.
15 Your fluency in speaking leaves nothing to be desired. And your pronunciation is music to anyone’s ears.
Language skill is the most delicate skill to give feedback on. Low-achievers in particular need encouragement even for minor improvement.

What we teachers say to our students, has a much more profound meaning to our students than we can ever imagine.

Writing

HOW TO USE THE EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR WRITTEN TASKS

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Most official criteria first apply a holistic view: overall impression, fluency and how pleasant the text is to read AND secondly detailed components: content/message, language and accuracy of language

Marking and evaluating any pieces of writing is always a challenging and time-consuming task for the teachers. Marking is supposed to be fair and reliable but one has to admit that there is always a little room for subjectivity.

What a marvellous group of future teachers of English! They are all university students, teacher trainees as we call them, who have been practising teaching English for a full year at Turku Teacher Training School. Now they are about to finish their training, ready to start their career as fully qualified teachers of English with a Master’s Degree in their pockets. Permission for the use of the photo pending.

In teacher training in Finland we first aim at a situation where every teacher trainee’s evaluation of an essay, for example, is within 5 points of the experts’ opinion (the scale being 0 – 100). Having marked hundreds of essays the teachers’ marking is usually within a couple of points.

For this reason in order to guarantee the maximum amount of objectivity we have to have criteria that is easy to use once we have been trained how to use it. The criteria has to be explained and analysed to the students too. It is the only way to show them what is expected from them when they write essays or work on any other written assignments.

In order to save paper give your criteria to the students once a year and ask them to glue it in their essay notebooks. During the year the students will mark their progress on the criteria sheet, each essay with its own symbol. The students are allowed to glance at the criteria even during exams.

Criteria never tell you directly what to do to get to the next level. Criteria only tell what is required at that level. CLT researchers have provided us with lots of strategies how the students can improve their language skills.

Learning strategies will help the students on the question ‘HOW to get to the next level in writing or any other language skill area. I have lots of comments on these strategies separately and under most of the topics, too.

Many students quickly become very good at evaluating their own and other students’ products. They realize that the detailed criteria open the door to the improvement of their essays.

Then they start to ask questions of the following kind:

  • How can I get more points for my argumentative essays?
  • Is there a commonly accepted structure for good essays?
  • How can I impress the reader with my vocabulary?
  • Which grammatical structures appeal to the reader?
  • What is meant by complex and simple sentences?
  • How much do mistakes affect the points given?
  • Are all mistakes equally serious?
  • What if I have a lot of spelling mistakes?
  • Do we have to follow the conventions of text types? Newspaper articles, reviews, interviews, blogs etc.?

Some of these questions are answered in my other articles, others in this very same article. If the student gets criteria-based feedback on his/her writing task, they will know which areas they are good at and which areas require much more work.

For instance, if the teacher gives the following points for the essay: overall impression 7,5, content/message 8/10, vocabulary and structures 6/10 and accurary/mistakes 7,5/10, the student will start wondering ‘How can I get 9/10 for content?’, ‘What’s wrong with my structures and vocabulary?; I think it is better than that?, ‘What are my most serious mistakes?

The remedy for the defects of a text can be found by applying the criteria to the text and using writing strategies.

Let’s now check how to proceed with using the ‘unofficial sample’ criteria below. It can be used in age groups 12 – 18 provided it is modified to the proficiency level of the students. Each column is enlarged below with some additional comments.

How to use this sample criteria if you are marking an essay

Do not be alarmed! Whatever criteria you are using the same principles in arriving at an ‘objective’ grade apply. HOWEVER. the main point is not to give a grade but give a more detailed account to the students where they stand in each column.

Choice 1 My recommended way of proceeding:

  • Start with the green ‘First Impressions’ column = Ease to read /Flow of ideas/ Fluency and decide which grade applies to the text you are reading.
  • Then move to the right to each yellow ‘Detailed criteria’ columns separately and decide on your grade.
  • The underlying idea is that ‘Content/message’, ‘Language’ and ‘Accurary’ columns are of equal value; i.e. have equal effect on the final grade
  • Finally come back to the ‘green’ column and see if the ‘yellow’ column grades match the green column one.
  • The average grade of ‘Content/message’, ‘Language’ and ‘Accurary’ columns should be close to your ‘First Impression’ grade in the green column. And this average grade is the final grade in most cases!
  • NOW, having done this procedure you can ‘objectively’ give the final mark and justify the grades against your marking sheet, both for the students and their parents.
  • For example, Overall impression 8+ out of 10, Content 7, Language 9-, Accuracy 8,5.

Choice 2 Some teachers prefer to move horizontally from the green column to the right. Their assumption is that the student’s level remains approximately the same in all columns, maybe going up or down one step but no more. If you know the student’s proficiency level, this is a faster way to give the grade since you do not have to read all criteria texts.

  • Let’s look at an example on proceeding horizontally: If you give, say, 6 points for ‘Flow of ideas’, move to the right on the same line to the other columns and see if the other standards match at level 6 or not. If they do not Move up or down in each column until you are pleased.
  • If you think the grade is between even grades 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 use grades 9, 7, 5 and 3.
  • Even half points, pluses or minuses are ok, if you feel like it.
  • Now the student can decide which skill area he/she wants to develop next and how to do it. This document is also easy for parents to understand if you meet them at some discussions.  

Additional comments on the columns 

1 How easy and pleasant is it to read the text? 2 Is it close to natural text written by a native at that age? 3 Are the ideas clearly presented?

At its best the text sounds natural and could be written by a native speaker.

The text is easy and pleasant to read and it is logical.

  • The yellow boxes clarify the meaning of some of the terms used.

  • Simple ideas are known to everybody, often opinions not supported by evidence. Complex ideas are convincing and backed up with proof, reasons or examples, seen from many perspectives.
  • Essays are just one type of written tasks and these days many other text types have to be practised and their conventions followed.

This language column has two components:

Vocabulary which at its best has to impress the reader and be stylistically appropriate.

The variety of the grammatical and sentence structures reveals a lot of the level of writing skills.

Still, one also has to take the audience and the text type into account when writing a text.

Yes, indeed. All mistakes are not equally serious. Basic errors learnt early in the study of the target language are more serious.

1 How serious are the vocabulary or grammatical mistakes?

2 Do these mistakes or spelling mistakes cause misunderstandings?

Communicative teaching (CLT)

TESTING SPEAKING SKILLS

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Every lesson means rehearsing for the real-life ‘test’ far in the future. Eliminate FEAR in talking!

How to get started in testing

  • It is wise to practice speaking a lot in pairs and groups before you even think about testing.
  • Practise pronunciation and reading aloud in every lesson so that the students feel confident about their pronunciation.
  • Never correct the pupils/students when they are speaking in pairs or groups unless they ask you to. If you do, they will stop talking due to fear of making mistakes and, even worse, may feel humiliated.
  • Give general feedback and comments to the whole class after the practice sessions. Use assessment for learning to find the strengths and weaknesses of the class.
  • Make progress with students with small, enjoyable, even humorous and relaxing steps. Rely on results emerging after a few months.
  • Make the students come in front of the class: in pairs or groups – each one saying something for 5 seconds at least, later on 10 – 30 seconds, a minute, five minutes – just to use English and allow them to have a note with key words or ideas. Make it always a positive experience!
  • Remember that coming in front of the whole class may be scary and it needs to be a positive experience from the very beginning.
  • Practice listening skills too since the pupils are supposed to respond to what the others say. Teach appropriate phrases of response, too.

VITAL: Eliminate fear from practice and test situations – first evaluate the pupils/students in lessons and in other situations. Then give them individual feedback to encourage them to improve in speaking. Speaking skills should be part of the evaluation and noted in giving grades.

Agree on the criteria to be used in assessment. In elementary classes it has to be very simple but in senior high/sixth form you can you the official final exam criteria. Each country has its own criteria but the European Framework is widely accepted. It has skill levels from A1, A2 B1, B2, C1 to the highest native level C2. Many employers use this scaling.

Start with self and peer evaluation in class and encourage the students to use their phones for recording at home too. Allow them to listen to themselves while evaluating themselves. The same if they are assessing other students. Evaluating oneself and others is highly motivating.

Personal teacher–pupil feedback sessions before or after a test are most valuable: ask for the student’s self-evaluation first and then give positive feedback. Encourage, look at the criteria and have gentle reference to challenges. Learning to speak a foreign language is a long process and everybody wants to improve their skills in speaking.

The time for official oral tests/evaluation comes later on. When that time comes, use good and bad examples to give the students an idea of what is required of them. The evaluation criteria has to be explained and opened up at the same time.

The real test in speaking takes place abroad. In Venice, Italy, for example.

Testing individuals

Depending on the age of the pupils (6 – 15), they

  • can send me a 30-second or a minute-long phone-recorded speech or
  • I can have a two-to-five minute face to face discussion with them (I ask them one of the 5 – 10 questions given in advance and they can practise their answers at home and finally I ask them a ‘surprise’ question on a topic we had earlier in class)
  • for senior high students I use modified final exams

Testing groups

Groups can easily be evaluated while they are discussing in class. It makes sense to tell the groups in advance that they will be evaluated in order to encourage them to practise at home to get the best possible result. However, the students need to be given some advice.

  • Do not try to dominate the discussion. Show your excellence in drawing the quiet ones into the discussion by asking them questions or comments.
  • Use phrases that indicate you agree, disagree with the speaker. Or maybe you did not get the point or want to have justifications for an argument. So: ‘I disagree with you because …’. I fully agree with you but …’ ‘I’m sorry I missed your point.’ ‘Sorry, I did not get that’ ‘I’m not sure what you mean. Can you give us an example.’ etc.
  • Fight for your space and indicate you want to say your opinion.
  • Be ready to take the group feedback constructively and the feedback your teacher gives to you personally.

Modelling a group oral for an advanced class

In this activity we model the assessment of different types of speaking activities.

  • The class is divided into groups of four. Preparation time (10 min).
  • Each group is given a task of their own.
  • Each group member will receive a number (1-4).
  • One group at a time will discuss fro 10 min (total time 40 min all groups)
  • The others will observe and assess the performance of the given number using the given criteria. Write the number of the student you observe on the handout.
  • Feedback is given in groups (1s, 2s, 3s, 4s).
  • In brief, each group carries out a different speaking activity.The other groups observe and assess the activities.

Choose your topic. The order of presentations is random.

Group 1 Problem solving: You work for the Ministry of Tourism planning a holiday resort. You need to decide which facilities to have there. You can choose the place for the resort yourselves.

Group 2 Debate on the effect of tourism in your country. The argument: Tourism is good for our economy. Two of you are for the idea and two against (no matter what you really think about the matter).

Group 3 One of you is the tourist guide with his/her tourist group in a place of your choice. The guide describes the place and the tourists are making questions and comments. They also compare the place and habits to their own country/region.

Group 4 A magazine reporter is interviewing participants of the ‘Tour of Central Europe’ and their experiences in different countries. Each one of you has to say their opinion about the countries in question.

Group 5 A group of teachers are deciding where to go on a class trip with a class that all of them teach. They are also discussing what things need to be taken account of in the planning.

The criteria for group discussions are similar to the criteria we had for writing but now we have also interaction and pronunciation to be assessed.

Yleinen

ASSESSMENT

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Let’s be honest. Nobody likes exams. Teachers do not like to write or mark them and students don’t like to study for them. The whole exam situation is full of stress and you feel miserable if you get a bad grade. But …

OK, I admit it. I am being a bit provocative. Evaluation and assessment of students has always been there and will never disappear. So we had better accept it and see how communicative language teaching has drastically changed our views in this area of teaching.

Six things about assessment are vital for CLT teachers:

  1. To understand the difference between Assessment of Learning (AoL) = official exams and test and Assessment for Learning (AfL) = all measures that enhance learning (See the next article ‘Assessment of and for learning’)
  2. To know how to use the tools for Assessment for Learning in class. (See AfL Tools 1 – 4 and AfL Tools 5 – 6 in the next two articles for more information)
  3. Due to practical reasons summative testing (AoL) will never disappear but we can make these situations less stressful.
  4. We need to find and use easy and quick ways to test all language skills reliably. In many countries some language skills are not tested at all. ‘Not tested’ often means ‘not taught’ either.
  5. In CLT we spend some time in analysing and applying the official national criteria for each language skill area. The students need to understand what is required from them and it is best learnt if they assess themselves and the work of others and get feedback on how when they succeed in doing it.
  6. Studying for exams is a skill of its own and how it is done depends on the students’ style of learning. In the 1990s CLT teachers started using practice exams to reduce exam stress among their students. Over the last 15 years we have also paid attention to exam strategies: what the students ought to do in exam situations if they face a problem and how the teachers can make the returning of the exams a learning situation.

N.B. Exam strategies are dealt with in separate articles under the skill headings. Direct links are provided here for you.

The other articles in this unit, under heading ‘Assessment’ are:

AssessmentAssessment of and for learning
How to apply AfL in class, Tools 1-4
AfL, observation with criteria, self-assessment, Tools 5-6
AfL, giving constructive feedback, traps and samples
Development discussions, feedback forms
Positive feedback – comments and phrases

The main point in AfL is that the student realize they can and should affect their own learning and results. And that the teachers are there to assist them.

An example of an AfL style discussion at school

Me: “Which grade do you want in scale 4 – 10?”
” Student: “Which grade? What do you mean? 10, of course.”
Me: “But your grade is 7 at present. Is 10 a realistic goal?”
St: “Well, maybe not. But I’d like to have 9 out of ten. I have not tried very hard but I think I can do it.”
Me: “Ok, if that is what you want, I can help you. What are your strongest skill areas? Listening, writing or what?”
St: “Listening, definitely, and vocabulary. But I always get lousy points for my essays and grammar tests.”
Me: “Ok, let’s think about them first. What do you think you should do to improve in them?”
St: “I have no idea. Last week you talked about learning styles and strategies but I had a headache and I did not get it really. Do you have the handout with you? Maybe I should try out something in it.”
It is important the answers come from the students themselves. This way they become committed to solving the issues themselves.

If the purpose of school is to develop the students’ personalities as a whole, not just fill them with knowledge, traditional assessment (AoL) is not very effective. That is why AfL and CLT methods are needed even if they may never show in school reports.

It may be interesting and vital to note at this point that … we teachers need to change the way we think about student evaluation and assessment: CLT principles recommend reducing drastically the time we talk to the whole class and use most of the lesson in observing and guiding indivuduals, pairs or groups.

The ideas above should remind us that our job is mainly to facilitate learning, not to focus on exam results.

Even if I think we teachers are assisting our students more than assessing them in lessons, I decided to stick to the term ‘Assessment for Learning’ because it is so established. The original term could have beeen ‘Assistance for Learning’ …

The point in the articles under ‘Assessment’ is to show

  • that applying AfL principles does not mean extra work for the teacher but are a natural part of any CLT lesson
  • that traditional exams cannot be totally avoided but the focus should be turned to the learning process in an encouraging atmosphere
  • that it is not really the grades achieved that matter in life but what is truly learnt: we are looking for the ability to apply language skills and knowledge
  • that continuous follow-up of learning with appropriate feedback is often more important than final grades in learning; not by stalking and harrassing the students but by boosting their self-esteem genuinely
  • that the most important tool for Assessment for Learning is getting to know each individual by observing them and talking to them: knowing which string to pull with each person
  • that observations lead to teachers having individual discussions with their students and thus the relationships become much more emphatic
  • that it is not only the teacher who can assess the students since it can be done by their peers and by themselves as long as they know the criteria and what to observe in each other’s activities
  • that we need to take off the pressure from testing; a thing that can be done by offering individual help, teaching how to learn more effectively, practising for the exams and getting feedback from them as well as doing evaluation by other means than summative exams
  • that the students have to realize all our AfL efforts aim at them learning more and that we are on their side and truly try to help them
  • that many of the important things we learn at school are not actually tested at all but are skills needed in life later on: e.g. social skills such as group/pair work and emotional intelligence, skill to learn new things independently, critical thinking and presentation skills (= 21st century skills)
  • that using AfL and continuous assessment does not mean one exam after another but it means letting the student know where he/she stands at the moment and supporting their growth and self-esteem

So why do we have to assess or evaluate pupils and students?

For four reasons + the latest CLT one, number 5: to enhance learning

  • 1 Firstly, we are human and we often do not try our best if we are not forced to do something useful. In an ideal situation the motivation to learn is internal, not set by an outsider psychological reason
  • 2 Secondly, parents are accustomed to exam results and grades being good indicators on how well their kids are doing at school. parents’ role
  • 3 Thirdly, school administrators and authorities are tied by law to follow up the progress of the students. requirements set by law
  • 4 Fourthly, the admission of students to other schools and higher education is often based partially or totally on the grades given at school and/or the final examination. admissions to further education
  • 5 Fifthly, the CLT reason: The students, teachers and all people involved need to know how the students are making progress from the very beginning of a course and how the students’ learning process can be improved.

A photo of Finnish students taking a senior high ‘matriculation’ exam, which corresponds to the English A-level exams taken at the at of 18 or 19. More and more exams are done on a computer with no access to the internet or any other sources. The questions often force the students to apply their knowledge rather than test merely knowledge as such.

Writing

TEACHING BEGINNERS WRITING, differentiation

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Use some pre-tasks to stir the imagination of the students before you ask them to write anything. Photos are excellent in this respect.

Learning a foreign language is usually started with listening and speaking. The words and phrases learnt may be shown as visual stimuli but actual reading and writing takes place a bit later when the students are given a textbook.

Writing in its simpliest form means

  • writing down or copying words, word lists or short sentences; the teacher shows a picture and the students write the word for it; the teacher says words aloud and the students write them down, etc.
  • dictation: the teacher reads simple sentences or stories and the students write them down, filling in words in a text with gaps or some missing words in a song
  • writing down simple sentences either copying them from the book, copying part of the sentence and changing part of it
  • elaboration: students make sentences or simple stories using some words given to them
  • free creative writing: the students write a fictive story using or ignoring the prompts given by the teacher

All in all, writing starts from individual words, continues in writing simple sentences which at its best are creative in the sense that they are not copied from the textbook chapters. Learning to write well is a long process and both teachers and students have to be patient until the very end of studies.

At the beginning pupils need a lot of guidance from the teacher but as they get older most students benefit from being allowed to be creative and all they need to get going is a set of titles or pictures to choose from.

Differentiation in mixed-ability classes

However, all teachers know that there is a tremendous variation in writing skills in mixed-ability classes. Let’s have a look at the following example and see how the teacher can differentiate the writing task so that the pupils can work at their own level. They know how past tenses of regular verbs are formed and some 30 irregular past tenses.

The formula of differentiation is simple

  1. Revision is done the previous lesson on vocabulary and the grammatical point we wish to emphasize. The topic has to be based on the chapters that were recently studied.
  2. A couple of oral pre-tasks are done in pairs or groups at the beginning of the writing session as a reminder.
  3. Three (or two) choices how to get started with writing. The only difference is in how much of the guidence provided by the teacher the students are making use of.

For example Title: Last summer Be as creative as you wish.

Pre-tasks: The idea is to force 6th graders to use the past tense in telling what happened last summer. The past tense was practised the previous week but we will do a couple of warm-up exercices as a reminder.

Many students find it hard to get started with writing so we need to stir their imagination a bit with some pre-tasks, A) and B) below.

A) The students change a story on the screen written is the present tense to the past tense. It is an oral exercise done in pairs. The second time the students do the same thing but have to change something in every sentence. (5 min) In other words, the mechanical 1st version is turned to a semi-communicative more creative version.

Jane likes to go shopping on Saturday mornings. She usually goes to town by bus but sometimes she takes her own car if she plans to buy some big things. It is eight o’clock and Jane gets up, brushes her teeth and makes morning coffee. She also drinks some water and eats a banana and two sanwiches …
The story is unfinished here and would need 3 – 4 sentences more. If the students do not know the answers, they need to negotiate between themselves and finally consult another pair or the teacher. Some students get only the 1st reading done, others maybe have 3 different versions.

B) The students get into groups of four and make a mind map on what they could write about. 5 min planning. Something like this, just throwing in ideas that can be used or ignored.

C) Write a true or imaginative story of what happened to you, your friends and/or your family last summer. Choose any of the three options below.

Choice A Choice BChoice C (the easiest one)
Feel free to write a creative story. It does not have to be true.You may use the beginning of the sentences below as part of you story. 1) Answer the questions OR 2) Fill in the story with any ideas that please you. The first letter or two are sometimes given to you. You are welcome to write sentences of your own too.
Last summer I and my best friend went to … because we …
First we … the train to …
Secondly, we …
After four hours we … because …
When we came back late in the evening we …

The next week me and my family ….
We … there by … and the following morning we … because …
1) What did you do last summer and why? Where did you go and with whom? Pick four places and explain about them. How did you get the money for ? Why did you go there? How did you get there and back? What were the best things you did there? … OR
2) Last summer my family m… a trip to … and we stay… in a ho… for … days. We sw… in the swimming pool for many ho… and at lunch time we we.. very hungry a… like a horse. My mum w… to the nearby village and bo…. herself some new clothes. My dad likes reading so he r… some short stories when we we… swimming.
Just before we le… the hotel on the last d…, we pick… up apples and strawberries. They co.. very little. My dad dr… us back home and …
A week later we …
The best thing last summer was when we …
When school started …


(Surprisingly many students give up this choice because it is not creative and because the modified cloze text (2) actually requires reading comprehension and a lot of thinking.) In most classes Choices B and C might be enough.
Choice A is for advanced students, B for average ones and C for weaker students. Still, we let them choose any of the options. The more there are sentences and ideas produced by the student him-/herself the better, He/she has to be rewarded with higher marks.

At first glance this kind of differentiation may seem troublesome but if you think about it from the students’ point of view, it shows that you care and try to make writing a more pleasant experience for them. Especially the weak writers need a lot of support and ideas. On the other hand, this way we do not tie the hands of more advanced students.

How does one evaluate stories like this?

This is an interesting question but I like to keep things simple.

Teacher evaluation: In our Finnish system we use grading 4 – 10. 10 is the highest grade and 4 means failure. This is what I tell my students:

  • Choice A suggests you are heading for Grade 9 or 10.
  • Choice B implies you wish to get Grade 7 or 8
  • Choice C basically means you aim at Grade 5 or 6
  • BUT the evaluation is not that simple since everyone can use the ideas given in Choice B and C. Therefore I simply have to consider the level of creativeness and language in general because someone who makes use of Choice C may well come up with a perfectly original story and deserves a high grade.
  • On the other hand, someone who chooses Choice A and writes an appaling story does not deserve a high grade.
  • SO, in the end I am simply using the national criteria in giving the grades but take into account how much the writer leans on the guidance given.

Student/Peer evaluation in writing

Letting the students read each other’s stories and assessing them is a delicate process of its own. In my opinion the students find it very interesting and it is great to have a group of other people who read the story in addition to the teacher. However, note the following points:

  • Ask the students not to write their names on the papers. The writers draw a symbol on the paper to identify their work later on.
  • Young students can indicate with some positive symbols how much they liked the story. 1 – 5 stars or roses, etc.
  • Junior high students (ages 11 -15) can use positive symbols and write only positive comments about the story. If they do not understand something they can put a question mark (?) in the margin.
  • Some junior high classes might be mature enough to give some constructive feedback also on the challenges or the ways the story could be made better. They might even be able to suggest the grade if they are familiar with the criteria/rubric.
  • The assessment can also be done in (randomly selected) pairs.
  • All the feedback is done in class before there are any teacher’s markings on the papers. The teacher moves around the class when the ‘assessment’ is going on because this is a dead-serious business and nobody’s feelings are to be hurt.
  • Senior high students benefit a lot if they are allowed to assess each other’s stories, essays or any other type of written assignments.
  • They will 1) get a realistic view on how good writers they are compared with others, 2) They will learn to interpret the criteria better and realize which writing skill elements they need to improve themselves, 3) They will have to think carefully how to apply all the advice given to them by the teacher. 4) They will be more motivated to write the texts since they know someone else than the teacher will be reading them too.

I hope you now realize how different the writing process becomes if it is done at least roughly as I suggest above. To me the benefits are undeniable and in the long run the teacher’s workload is not increased.