Supporting English Language Learners with Formative Assessment

Bio:

Leah Passauer has her M.A. in International Education and completed her 100+ hour TEFL Certificate in 2016. Leah currently works as a Virtual English Language Fellow out of Washington D.C. and is eager to engage teachers in Vietnam around the topic of formative assessment. Leah has previously worked as an English Language Fellow at Hue University, Education Program Manager in Burundi, English Teaching Coordinator in Madagascar, English Teaching Fellow in Palestine, and University English Teacher in China. Her primary focus has consistently been providing teacher education and support in resource-limited environments. She is passionate about cultivating learner-centered classrooms and developing strategies to ensure students receive consistent feedback. The formative assessment course is developed based on a workshop that Leah developed for VietTESOL 2019 and is an expanded in-depth version of the original workshop.    

Course Description:

The formative assessment course is designed to be an interactive virtual classroom experience for teachers. The course will be run asynchronously using Canvas and Zoom as the two platforms. The six-week course is designed to engage teachers who have both limited and high levels of education on formative assessment. Participants should expect to be active in the class and the final week will involve participant presentations showcasing how they may utilize formative assessment through lesson plans. Each class will be structured to incorporate formative assessments to help build an understanding on how they may be used. Teachers who attend and participate in each class will receive a certificate of completion.

Course Outline:

Week 1:

• Introductions
• Ice breaker
• Course Overview
• What is the purpose of the assessments?

Week 2: Principles of Language Assessments

• Practicality
• Reliability
• Validity
• Authenticity
• Washback 

Week 3: Formative Assessment Challenges

• Why bother?
• I don’t have time to assess each student!
• Examples of formative assessment

Week 4: Designing an Impactful Lesson Plan

• Review lesson plan templates
• Read through lesson plans to determine if the lesson plan utilizes formative assessment
• Begin to develop a lesson plan based on the curriculum you teach 

Week 5: Strategies for Planning

• Backward curriculum design
• Screen shares of participants curriculums to ask for ideas
• Day, week, month, semester, trimester, year plans

Week 6: Participant Presentations

• Participants complete a short presentation using screen share to showcase their lesson plans and how they would incorporate formative assessment in the lessons
• Participant feedback
• Question and answer session
• Final wrap up and discussion time