Curriculum, Assessment and Teaching and Learning

Curriculum, Assessment and Teaching and Learning

As previously mentioned, one of our focuses this year is to ensure there is continuous assessment feedback throughout the year for all subjects. 

Staff in their Learning Areas Teams have been working on their learning continuums for their students. A learning continuum helps teachers to know the typical phases students go through in their learning, and this supports them to articulate development, scaffold learning and target their teaching. It’s important for our students learning progression at Woodmans Hill, that the learning continuum used as the basis for the formative assessment rubrics is clearly linked to the Victorian Curriculum    F–10.

This then enables us to create our developmental rubrics. A rubric is a tool that describes the expected qualities to be evident in learner responses to an assessment task. It states the assessment criteria and the characteristics of different levels of performance in responses to the elements of the task. 

Compass Assessment Changes

To better fit with our work above, recently we have changed the language in Years 7-10 Learning Tasks reporting on Compass.

We have removed the following from grading components:

• Percentage
• Language of VH, H, M, L, VL

We have replaced the above grading components with the following:

• Language of ‘Working above expected level’, ‘Working at expected level’, and ‘Working towards expected level.

As mentioned above, by ensuring our assessments are clearly aligned with the standards within the Victorian Curriculum, this use of language better aligns where students are with their current progress to their expected progress across their expected learning pathway through 7-10.

An example of this in practice is in Year 7 Maths.  Year 7 Maths students have learning and assessments differentiated to three different levels based on their tested ability (Group A, B and C within each class). Previously, a student may have received a moderate percentage in higher level group, and a student in a lower group may have received a high percentage for an assessment.  With the changes, it will create a clearer picture of where every student is in the learning progression.

Over the course of the year, different Learning Teams will be able to place their rubrics onto the Learning Task, which will clearly demonstrate their current progress.

Learning Tasks feedback are available throughout the term with the calendars placed on the Compass News Feed – Assessment Feedback Calendars. This tells you when assessment feedback is displayed for different subjects throughout the Semester.

Study classes

Year 11’s will now be setting individual success criteria in their Home Group classes for their study period, reflecting and stating very clearly what they want to accomplish each week in the provided time. This period of study is a new addition for our Year 11 students and we recognise that they are still developing their study habits.

A teacher is located to this study time now and will be working with students, referring to their individual set success criteria.

Lunchtime Learning

On Wednesday, it was great to visit the Art area and see a variety of senior students in VCE Studio Art and VCE Visual Communication working throughout lunchtime with their teacher on their folios. Students were incredibly proud when describing their pieces of work throughout the term, each focusing on a different artist.

Added to this is the ‘Glue Gunners’ Craft Club which is beginning on Friday lunchtime in room I004, which offers a chance for students to be creative and learn new skills.

Steve Sirrals