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Year 5 Narrative - Unit 1 - Building assessment into teaching

Assessing Pupils' Progress

In this exemplified unit we have identified the 'main' assessment focuses for reading and writing. However, it is important to remember that teachers should interpret and adapt the teaching sequence to meet the needs of particular classes and this may affect the types of evidence which it is desirable and possible to gather.  

In order for a judgement to be made against writing assessment focuses 1 and 2 it is important that children are given space and time to develop their own ideas and define their own purposes for writing. Opportunities to plan for this will arise throughout the literacy curriculum as well as through the application of skills across the curriculum.

The suggested outcome for this unit is a story inspired by a favourite book or author. The teaching of this unit should support the collection of evidence against Reading assessment focus 7 (relate texts to their social, cultural and historical contexts and literary traditions)and Writing assessment focus 2 (produce texts which are appropriate to task, reader and purpose).

Evidence against a variety of assessment focuses will be collected at many points during the teaching sequence. Independence and opportunities to make decisions are integral to children's development in reading and writing, and it will be important to collect evidence of achievement against the assessment focuses from occasions where children can demonstrate some independence and choice, away from direct teaching.

Suggestions for the collection of assessment information against a range of assessment focuses are found below.

Opportunities for assessment

The following are examples selected from the teaching content for this unit of work that will support planning for effective assessment as an integrated part of the teaching and learning process. Evidence gathered during this ongoing work will contribute to the periodic assessment of pupils' progress.

Learning outcomes

Example of teaching content and assessment opportunities

Evidence

Approach to assessment

Children can express their opinion of a story with reference to other work by the same author.

The guided reading groups within a class have read a different novel by the chosen author. While reading, each group has explored the style, settings, themes, characters and mapped the plot structure of the novel.

The class use the jigsaw technique to extend their knowledge of the particular writer. Each child within the guided reading group is allocated a number. Those with the same number are grouped together and given an element of the author's work to discuss, e.g. characters. They are given guiding questions to support their discussions comparing similarities and differences between the characters within the writer's work. They become an expert group.

After the discussion in expert groups the children join their original guided reading group and report back what they have found out. At the end of this each group works independently to complete a short ICT presentation identifying the main features of the novel studied.

Children's discussions.

Children's notes (jottings, reading journals, ICT presentations).

Teacher observation.

Teacher questioning.

Oral feedback.

Children can talk about the distinctive features of an author's style by referring to characters, themes, settings or use of language.

During guided reading the group begin to explore a main character and the character's journey so far within the novel being read. A key point in the text is read independently and the children are asked to consider the techniques used by the author to convey the character. Do any words/phrases help to build a clearer picture of the character? What does the reader learn about them? How does the reader learn about them – through their actions/their appearance or through what they say? The children's responses are noted on sticky notes.

The group returns to the text and explores the children's notes and thoughts. The teacher records the children's answers on a flipchart or the IWB. The group consider whether this event has changed their opinion of the character and why. The teacher encourages the children to justify their responses by referring to specific parts of the text.

Oral responses during guided group discussion.

Children's notes.

Teacher observation, questioning.

Oral feedback.

Children can write a complete story with a sequence of events arranged into paragraphs, linked with a range of connectives and varying sentence length.

The children are in the process of writing their narrative. During a guided writing session children are guided by their teacher to focus on one aspect of their writing. Their first drafts show that the children are over-reliant on the use of direct speech. A short section of one child's work has been selected and is projected for the group to see. The group work together selecting necessary direct speech and conveying the rest of the information by other means, including reported speech. The teacher models using a set of simple success criteria to evaluate the changes made.

Following the shared examples the children work in pairs or independently to improve a short identified section of their drafted narratives. At the end of the session they are given time to assess their work against the success criteria.

Discussions and interactions with pairs and individuals.

Children's drafts and final narratives.

Marking and oral feedback.

Teacher observation.

Self-assessment.