http://www.throughdifferenteyes.org.nz

Through Different Eyes; Assessment For Learners With Special Education Needs

http://www.throughdifferenteyes.org.nz

Possible support needed

Ways you might use this resource in your first years of teaching:

This resource, Through Different Eyes is clearly set out and includes a lot of support for educators on it's own. It is closely tied with the New Zealand Curriculum, and using these two resources together will give further support for teachers. At all times and especially when we are starting out as beginning teachers it is always important to seek help from people that may have more knowledge and experience than yourself, these people could be fellow teachers, a tutor teacher, team leader or principal. Take time to get familiar with the resource and speak to others who have experience with it when possible to make using this resource as straight forward as possible.

There are many ways this resource could be used within the classroom. To list a few; teachers can assess their high priority learners with the aide of and by following the guidelines of the Exemplar wheel. Teachers are able to view numerous different Exemplars on this website in order to guide them through different learning areas. The narrative assessment allows teachers to create learning stories following the guidelines of this resource. Teachers are able to quickly select their key competency focus and learning area in order for the suitable exemplars to be shown. A selection of exemplars could be selected in each area of learning, as well as a selection from each key competency and the teacher could display these on the wall in order to regularly refer to this to inspire new ideas. Parents could also have access to this wall space to monitor where their child is at. Overall this resource will be of great benefit to all teachers, not just beginning teachers, as it effectively allows for teachers to filter through different key competencies and learning areas in order to find the most suitable exemplar to guide, plan, assess and monitor their students progress throughout the year. Fantastic resource to assist us all as beginning teachers!

References

Ways you might use this resource in your first years of teaching:

• Ministry of Education (2010) Inclusive education for all. Through different eyes. Sourced from http://www.throughdifferenteyes.org.nz/home2

• Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand curriculum for English-medium teaching and learning in years 1-13. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

This website will provide a guide for us as teachers on a successful way to assess the learning of students with special needs, whilst ensuring that assessment is 'constructive and all students’ learning can be acknowledged and valued’ (Ministry of Education, 2014, p. 39). This site provides a step-by-step guide to recording evidence of learning for students with special needs, where other formal assessment tools fall short of giving teachers the tools to convey the learning and achievements accomplished by those students. As the narrative assessments not only show the individuals learning, but also provide evidence in how their learning relates to the NZC achievement objectives and key competencies, they can be used to report a record of learning to whānau, support staff, principals, and ERO as well as a guide on planning goals for future learning. Examples of practical ways to use this in the classroom follows.

• Morton, M., Rietveld, C., Guerin, A., McIlroy, A-M., & Duke, J. (2012). Curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning for all. In S. Carrington & S. MacArthur (Eds.), Teaching in inclusive school communities (pp. 269-293). Queensland, Australia: Wiley.

• Ministry of Education. (2014) What an inclusive school looks like. http://www.minedu.govt.nz

Through Different Eyes

• Morton, M., McMenamin, T., Moore, G. and Molloy, S. (2012) Assessment that matters: The transformative potential of narrative assessment for students with special education needs. Assessment Matters 4.

Narrative Assessment in an Inclusive Classroom

In order to create an inclusive classroom we must have all students present, learning and participating. Through different eyes provides, the narrative assessment: a guide for teachers which as a resource assists teachers to utilise this form of educational assessment, to show real and meaningful progress of individual special needs students. At the core of this assessment is the key competencies, Morton, McMenamin, Moore & Molloy (2012) state “The New Zealand Curriculum describes how key competencies involve the learner in engaging personal goals, other people, community knowledge and values, cultural tools and the knowledge and skills found in learning areas. “People use these competencies to live, learn, work and contribute as active members of their communities” (Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 12).” By acknowledging the successes of key competencies through narrative assessment, students are contributing to and participating in learning for life.

This resource can be found on TKI and is designed to support teachers with the assessment of students with the highest learning needs. As inclusive education is becoming more prevalent in all New Zealand schools there is a high chance that every teacher in the future is going to need a resource like this one for support, when assessing their high priority learners. There are a number of resources on this site; the exemplar wheel, narrative assessment and exemplars of learning.

How Do we Use it?

The case studies presented on the through different eyes website will assist educators create learning goals consistent with the needs of their students. The exemplars provided give detailed examples of case studies and analysis of the goals set, both within the key competencies and through the curriculum subjects. This guidance will be invaluable for all educators to assist in providing a truly inclusive education by ensuring that the correct goals are set for individual students to promote achievement through participation and learning. The Ministry of Education (2014) states that “Inclusive education is about the full participation and achievement of all learners. In fully inclusive schools, children and young people with special education needs are engaged and achieving through being present, participating and learning.”

Case Studies:

Learning stories

There are 2 school's that have provided case studies. These explain how they have used learning stories as a form of assessment. One is a mainstream school the other is a special needs school.

Links to

Te marautanga - curriculum

Narrative Assessment; a guide for teachers

Using this resource will help to guide teachers to understand the central ideas behind the use of narrative assessment. The context is explained and examples are provided.

"The guide and the associated exemplars offer an approach to narrative assessment adapted from the work of Margaret Carr (1998a and 1998b) on learning stories .

The guide to narrative assessment describes how the exemplars are structured and identifies what teachers should look for in them. It also outlines how to:

• use learning stories in classroom settings;
• begin to write learning stories;
• analyse learning stories to illustrate learning over time." Ministry of Education (2010) Sourced from http://www.throughdifferenteyes.org.nz/a_guide_for_teachers

An Exemplar

The Exemplar Wheel

The exemplar wheel is made up of 4 rings. Each depicts a single layer of a number of important aspects to effective learning and pedigogy that can be identified within each exemplar.

When reading the learning stories, you can look back and see how the wheel illustrates the connections between the children's learning and the NZC, i.e Key competencies, learning areas and suggested effective pedigogies. Ministry of Education (2010) Sourced from http://www.throughdifferenteyes.org.nz/how_to_read_an_exemplar/the_exemplar_wheel

What We All Did..

The Through Different Eyes website promotes special and inclusive education by supporting te marautanga, an inclusive curriculum for all learners.

The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education 2007), states that:

"Learning is inseparable from its social and cultural context. Students learn best when they feel accepted, when they enjoy positive relationships with their fellow students and teachers, and when they are able to be active, visible members of the learning community" (p. 34). Through Different Eyes assists educators to develop teaching programmes that align with the needs of individual learners.

Bridget: Emailed group to initiate contact, set up Prezi, completed question 1; definition of resource.

Dana: Researched and input information which linked this resource to a key concept/topic from the course: te marauranga - curriculum. Uploaded and presented Prezi, uploaded feedback/feed forward form.

Bekee:

Why is it important?

This website underpins the New Zealand Curriculum's (2007) principle of inclusion. Through allowing teachers to design teaching and learning programmes that best fit their students, negative socially constructed teacher beliefs can be reduced. This then reduces the likelihood of student learning being compromised (Morton, Rietveld, Guerin, McIlroy, & Duke, 2012).

Through interacting with this website, teachers can develop practices that support an inclusive classroom through providing opportunities that take into account students' differing requirements and needs. By doing this, teachers are promoting a classroom culture that supports inclusion, diversity, and sees each person as a valued member. Motron et al. (2012) identify learning as being closely related to belonging.

Naomi found out about how we could use this resource as beginning teachers.

Tegan: Described how we could use this resource as beginning teachers.

By

Bridget Leggett

Naomi Thurlow

Dana Bolton

Tegan Summerville

Bekee Albertson

Mark

Mark: