Writing: Communicative Conventions -- Six Traits Assessment Mechanics Punctuation Grammar Spelling Correct Conventions That Communicate “Conventions” is the term we use nowadays to describe punctuation, spelling, and grammar. (Some people even extend the term to handwriting and computer formatting, but we won’t be talking about those things here.) The so-called “rules of writing” are not really rules at all, they’re agreements between people in a society as to how written communication will be interpreted when it is read. With writing of any length or complexity, one could debate endlessly about whether a piece is completely correct. Correctness Counts There are two important reasons why it matters that your writing be regarded as correct by your readers: (1) When readers encounter what they think of as mistakes, they find it hard to read your writing. Conventional Wisdom Personally, I do not think there is any definitive answer to the question, “How do I know for sure that my writing is correct?” “Outside” Punctuation That Shows Where Ideas Begin and End A sentence is a single idea.
Transitioning to Standards Based Grading: Retakes and No K's. I have had several teachers approach me over the past month asking about Standards Based Grading. Now I am far from being the SBG guru, but I can share with you what I have seen first hand in my school. Our school has not transitioned to "full blown" SBG, but many of our teachers are now using a hybrid system, that in my opinion, is better than no change at all. We are still on the 100 point scale, and many of the teachers who have inquired about this are also on the traditional grading scale. 1. 2. 3. Now this is the hard part, I had great difficulty doing this as a teacher, but it was never explained to me like I am going to try to explain it to you. If you are going to accomplish one thing, make sure your grades reflect what a student actually knows and not how hard they try.
Student Assessment | vuDAT (Virtual University Design & Technology) Student assessment is one of the key issues in education. How do we know if students have learned what we are trying to teach them? There are multiple forms of assessment available. We believe that offering varied methods is the best model. You will find in the following documents some examples of different types of assessment, and how some MSU faculty have used them. You will also find resources and guides. Assessing student performance Assessing student performance in an online course is similar to classroom assessment. Assessment can be based on writing an individual paper, preparing a group presentation, class participation, attendance, homework problem sets, exams (essay, short answer, multiple choice, true/false), and so on. Ideally the assessment process informs the teacher and the learner about learner progress and at the same time, contributes to the learning process. Feedback on assessment Feedback is a very important part of learning. Examples that are not appropriate:
Feelings Character Table Character Feelings You can describe your character's feelings in more exact terms than just "happy" or "sad." Check these lists for the exact nuance to describe your character's intensity of feelings. SF Characters | SF Items | SF Descriptors | SF Places | SF EventsSF Jobs/Occupations | Random Emotions | Emotions List | Intensity of Feelings What’s in a grade? | Reflections of a Type-A Teacher In the subheading of this blog I refer to this school year as my “second year of teaching high school math” but that is not entirely true. I taught for three years at a private New Hampshire boarding school before going back for my teaching certification. This is really my fifth year of teaching, but only my second year as a certified public school teacher. I separate the experiences because of how much I changed as a result of my teacher training program. And my grading policy – my grading policy will never be the same. The purpose of a grade is to show how much of the course-material has been mastered. “So we don’t have to do the practice?!!?!!” You get the idea. I would love for this post to turn into a discussion. Like this: Like Loading...
Home | AALHE How to Use Commonly Misused Words Steps Method 1 of 17: "Affect" and "Effect" 1Use “effect” as instructed." 2Use “affect” as instructed.The verb "affect" means to change something in some way. Method 2 of 17: "Anxious" and "Eager" 1Use "anxious” as instructed.When followed by a gerund (the "–ing" verb form), anxiousness refers to anxiety, not pleasant feelings such as enthusiasm or excitement. 2Use “eager” as instructed.Eagerness conveys enthusiasm and is followed with an infinitive.Ex. Method 3 of 17: "Convince" and "Persuade" 1Use “convince” as instructed.Convince a person of the truth or validity of an idea.Follow “convince” with "that" or "of." 2Use “persuade” as instructed.Persuade a person to take action.Follow "persuade" with an infinitive (“to” and the verb).Ex. Method 4 of 17: "Could of" and "Could have" 1Use “could” with “have.” Method 5 of 17: "Decimate" and "Devastate" 1Use “decimate” as instructed.Decimation describes the wiping out of humans. 2Use "devastate” as instructed.Devastate means "lay waste to." Tips Ad
Grading | Tom Schimmer Zeros don’t work; never have, never will! While a good number of schools/districts have already addressed this issue through a shift in policy or practice, two questions come to mind: (1) Why hasn’t everyone, and (2) What took us so long? For some of us, our reaction to this post would be, “Ya we know that already. We did ‘no zeros’ three years ago!” However, the knowing-doing gap is still alive and well in some places which is why I think the topic is still important to discuss. Now before I go on about zeros, let me first tell you that early in my career I was the zero guy. What I’m talking about is the practice of assigning “0” for work that has not been handed in. It’s not accurate: In most cases, “0” reflects what the student hasn’t done, not what the student knows. It’s entirely random: Let’s break this down for a moment and really call “0” for what it is. It’s Mean! Many teachers see zeros as the ultimate grading weapon. I wouldn’t necessarily say most, but possibly many.
Effective Assessment When you hear the word assessment, what comes to mind? Neat rows of students, neatly filling in rows of Scantron bubbles, the results of which will be displayed numerically in the neat rows of an excel sheet then transferred to the columns of students’ transcripts. Often, this sort of assessment feels like an afterthought, something that happens once the learning is done. But assessment is so much more than this; you can use the assessment techniques detailed in these pages to more clearly define and describe the goals of your course, receive mid- term feedback that improves your teaching strategies, provide students with more experiential learning opportunities, and teach students to self- evaluate thereby increasing their independent learning skills. Our assessment resources are divided into three sections, Learning Goals and Objectives, Testing and Grading, and Using Student Feedback.
Writing task two Task description You will be given a discussion topic. Your task is to write a 250 word essay on that topic. You should spend around 40 minutes on the task. What is being tested is your ability to: Present a point of view with convincing evidence Challenge an alternate point of view Focus on the topic and avoid irrelevancies Communicate in a style that is easy to follow and cohesive Use English accurately and appropriately Sample task You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Your task Complete the task 2 exercise above. Sample answer It has been around forty years since television was first introduced into Australian households and people today still have mixed views on whether it has a positive or a negative influence on the society. “The essay has a clear introduction which poses the problem. Strategies for improving your IELTS score The style of essay required for Task 2 of the IELTS writing test is standard to academic courses. Connecting sentences A. B.