Assessment For Learning Manuela Wolf - 4th Grade Spanish Bi-Lingual & ELD classes- Sanchez Elementary

The Joy of Learning: Qualitative Observations

The Image That Changed Everything: Focal Student 1 - 4th Grade Spanish Bi-Lingual

The student, A, is a long-term English learner at the Emerging level with high absenteeism this school year. During the pandemic A's preferred language became Spanish and she had become very reluctant to use her English language abilities. A returned after several weeks of absence to classmates who were excitedly recording a previous writing project in Adobe video. A became carefully curious and decided she wanted to be part of the fun. When I sat down with her to start the video, she told me that "this is all boring"and she wanted to speak only Spanish. When we talked about her daily schedule, she mentioned that she always first checks the weather in the morning. As we typed in the search word, dozens of stock photos of thunderstorms, rain, sunshine and foggy scenery came up on the screen. A's eyes opened wide,"...and I can choose? I love rain!." To my surprise A then decided to record the video in English. Having choice in images became a motivating force for her. Being able to represent herself through the photos made her decide that it was ok to use English, her less preferred language, for her recording. The images scaffolded the use of English and recording herself in front of the computer allowed her the privacy to overcome her inhibition to speak English. Several months later, she reflected in her portfolio about her choices:

Collaboration As A Motivator: Focal Student 2 - 4th Grade Spanish Bi-Lingual

Student X is an expanding English Language Learner who did not miss a portfolio and Adobe related lesson. Though not familiar with many chrome-book features, she persistently and fearlessly learned how to move files in her google drive to a folder for later use in her portfolio, and quickly became an expert in copying and pasting text from her documents into Adobe. Learning to share and support others is a great motivator for this students and being able to do so in our portfolio project enabled her to quickly develop expertise in many areas. Despite her limited English abilities, she became one of the most reliable students in providing support for her peers. The combination of images and words supported her in her thinking as she reflected later in her portfolio.

The student used a school iPad to take images of her classmates, classroom and activities to include in her video.

Figuring Things Out With My Friends: Focal Student 3 - 4th Grade general ELD Class

Student H likes to work independently with her friends on figuring out problems. Early on, she experimented with the different features of Adobe Video like "Theme" and "Music," making use of the "high ceiling" of learning possibilities Adobe Express provides .

Finding My Voice: Focal Student 4 - 4th Grade general ELD Class

Student M attended all teaching sessions about Stacy Abrams but withdrew while other students recorded and organized their research in an organizer. M had no notes nor did he want to talk about what he might know. M often struggles to start or complete learning projects. Prior to working with him on the Adobe video, I had set up a split screen and typed the research questions. While sitting next to him during a pull out session, M researched and chose independently an image for each topic. Being a good reader, it was not difficult for him to read the topic for each slide. He became excited when he realized that he could record his learning as a video instead of typing. After recording the first slide we discussed what was good and how to make it better. M recorded himself one more time. We both found that his voice was hard to hear and M recorded himself again. When he asked me if that was good, I told him that he seemed to have a good understanding of what would make a recording understandable to an audience and that he, as the presenter, decides what is sufficient, not me. M took up the challenge. As I moved away to give him privacy, M recorded himself for about 11 minutes - often recording a slide repeatedly. He showed knowledge about each research question, and listened critically to each of his recordings, muttering little remarks like "oh, I messed up", or " yeah, that's good". He proudly presented his finished work to me as we listened to it together.

The structure of the the bite sized slides combined with an image allowed M to organize his thoughts. The opportunity to record his response instead of writing it enabled him to express himself in his preferred modality and can be a springboard for writing projects.

M is a very self-aware and self-conscious student. He had not wanted to record himself in front of his classmates but did so diligently when given privacy. He was clearly proud of his accomplished work and agreed to have it be a part of the class share out during a whole school walk through. After a gallery walk with his classmates in which students were giving each other feedback following the TAG protocol, M decided that his was "not good", despite the kind and supportive feedback he had received. He seems to compare his work with the most complex videos of a few students and I wonder how to mitigate this possible negative effect of peer feedback/gallery walks.

Reflections

What Would I Change?

• Start portfolio work at the beginning of the year.
• Introduce the idea of a rubric and how to work with it in debth.
• Use the TAG protocol also in the general classroom.
• Discuss the TAG protocol with students who have an IEP/brainstorm strategies with the RS/SDC or SpEd teacher.
• Provide more practice to use adobe word graph or video through multiple fun/choice projects (overall, students in the bi-lingual Spanish class who had such opportunities felt much more competent than their peers in the ELD class who did not have that extra time and practice).
• Strategically plan with the classroom teachers at the beginning of the year projects that lend themselves for assessment in Adobe and overall create in the 2nd semester a choice board of assessment in which an Adobe Word Graph or Video is one of the possible ways students can show their learning in all subject areas.
• Include other enrichment teachers in the portfolio work: art teacher (e.g. during art class students could create the illustrations for their adobe video instead of using stock photos, or show their understanding of design and color concepts learned in art class by creating an abstract collage in word graph), librarian (e.g. students could create alternative book covers in Adobe illustrating their understanding of books read in their book clubs)
• Introduce a system of peer feedback, revision and editing of projects early on.
• Develop a table of content for the portfolio.
• Provide students with more time to reflect in small groups and with a teacher.
• Include a critique of the stock photos: some students already commented on how most adults in the stock photos don't look like their parents or that they do not show their preferred food. The critical analyses of stock photos and the creation of an "alternative" stock of photos and illustrations could become a worth while project.

What Worked?

• Using Adobe as a container for a digital portfolio for students in 4th grade. The high rate of completion shows that with the right support 4th grade students are capable of accessing the features Adobe provides. The initial process though is challenging and requires structured support. English Language learners and students with IEPs are supported in Adobe by the possibility to record their voice and the use of icons, photos, music, and visual organizers. These features are highly motivating to a wide range of students. The cognitive demands of the use of Adobe did not seem to bog down the creativity of students as their work examples show—just the opposite: even students with a low completion rate of assignments were motivated to complete projects while showing creativity and individuality in their work. Above all, 4th grade students across the board seemed to enjoy the collaborative, communicative, and social aspect of working in Adobe. They enjoyed the "figuring it out with my friends" effect and communicating their learning in a very individualized way to the world. Following are some practical points of what worked:
• Providing students with a clear deadline to accomplish assessment projects.
• Using peer support and collaborative structures in the classroom.
• Using the TAG protocol to provide feedback.
• Providing multiple opportunities to practice the use of Adobe through fun projects or free choice time.
• Provide reflection time in teacher led small groups.
• Allow students to create own photos for their projects through the use of iPads or phone cameras.
• Ending every assessment with a share out for an authentic audience.

Conditions That Were Important For This Project: Success is Imbedded in a System of Support

• A school environment and staff that value and support collaboration.
• Support of more than one adult in the classroom when new technology is introduced (a creative solution to provide support might be using upper elementary students or students who received pre-teaching in small groups).
• A culture of strong peer support and well established protocols for collaboration in the classroom.
• Ideally two teachers per class support the portfolio work to allow work with small groups in the creation and reflection of a portfolio in Adobe Express.
• Time: engaging in a cycle of reflection, gaining new understandings and documenting this takes time. Thinking, feeling, integrating new understandings cannot be rushed. It also requires time for conversations with a teacher and peers. If we really want this kind of deep and independent learning we need to provide the space in our daily planning and curriculum planning.
• Site administrators that trust that educators use time thoughtfully to support such deeper learning.
• A master teacher for the teacher. Teachers, like any learner, need the guidance of a master teacher to reflect and grow. The enthusiasm, insights, support, encouragement and wisdom of my cohort partner Dr. Ricardo Elizalde was vital to this project. My hope is that in the discussion of reassigning TSAs the importance of having master teachers like him is recognized. If we want deeper learning in our schools we need to provide the systems of support to make this possible.
• District support that provides throughout the school year multiple adult learning opportunities for teachers in flexible modalities (zoom, in person, in real time or recorded). Both, the Adobe Express short introduction and the Adobe Creativity Institute of 4 sessions, were extremely helpful and fun.