Learner Improvement: Opportunities, Encouragement, and Strategies

This assignment explores various tasks related to improving learner outcomes through strategic opportunities and encouragement. It covers providing opportunities for learners to improve their work, using monitoring to help learners review their strategies, encouraging communication about learning needs, supporting peer and self-assessment, and aiding learners in reflecting on their progress, identifying needs, and planning improvements. Specific examples include assessing student writing on museum visits, using 'answer first, question later' techniques in physics, introducing the properties of carbon atoms, and debating Dalton's atomic theory. The assignment emphasizes the importance of creating a supportive learning environment and fostering reflective skills to enhance students' understanding and engagement.

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Task 10:-Provide Opportunities and encouragement for learners to improve upon their
work
Example Observation/ Witness Statement
Student Name
Student Number
Date
Learning Outcome Use of the Assessment strategies to promote
learning
Assessment Criteria Task 10
Description of the Activity undertaken with an intention to achieve the objective
I gave them a task to write about a museum that they have visited. In order to go for an
assessment, I did a segmentation of my class based on their previous results. The in-depth
study of the academic performance gave me a list of high performers, average performers,
and low performers. I immediately jot down a list of "High ability students, "Average ability
students" and "Low ability students." It is essential for a teacher to identify the performance
levels and create a distinction for them. This mapping of the class based on the assessment of
the students s allows a teacher to formulate group specific and person student specific
strategies to intervene the students and bring out the best in them (Marzano, 2012).
I fixed two goals for myself; the students with higher and average mental ability will commit
fewer mistakes in the use of the capital letters, placement of the finger spaces and right use of
the comma and full stops, it was the primary objective of the exercise. Students with lower
performance levels will find it difficult to differentiate between the places where commas or
full stops can be placed. This is why the focus area was to check the answers for the
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placement of the punctuations and sentence framing. In the case of higher ability students, I
decided to fix a challenge by telling them to accommodate connectors like "because" and
"so" etc.
Education is not all about highlighting the weaknesses of a student when we are teaching any
particular language for any standard, we should never forget the fact all the individuals on
this earth are familiar with a universal language. Every human being has a different capacity
to play with the words. As a language teacher, it is our responsibility to bring every student
closer to the right expression in the form of the language. Adequate grammar is a tool, good
grammar is an asset for the expression, however, the natural flow of the expression is another
that should be cultivated if it is present in a student (Dixie, 2011). This universal rule of
language teaching is applicable to other subjects as well.
While checking the answers of the students, I worked on a checklist that I developed with the
help of the performance assessment of the students. The answers were written by the students
also gave me a fair idea about the familiarity with the subject and where they are standing in
the terms of the learning that they received prior to writing the answer. When a teacher works
with a particular class he doesn't require to for assessment on a daily basis because after two
or three assessments they become familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of the students.
While checking the answers of the students I not only corrected them but also gave them
some insights that how they can apply this knowledge further in life. I told them the
importance of the right placements of the commas and full stop by correcting their mistakes
and how these mistakes can become a bad impression for them.
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Task 11: Use information gained from monitoring from learner participation and
progress to help learners to review their learning strategies, achievements, and future
learning needs
Student Name
Student Number
Date
Learning Outcome Ensuring the participation of the students s in
the class and help them in drawing strategies
to improve their learning capacities and
develop a better understanding of the subject
better.
Assessment Criteria Task 11
In general, a teacher can adopt two techniques to check the presence of the students in the
class. A first technique is a technique of "answer first and question later" and the second
technique is the technique of the "amplification of the question." While teaching "Doppler's
effect" in a physics class we can take the example of two trains moving towards each other.
The concept of the relative velocity is easy to understand; a student can always add or
subtract the velocity of the two trains. As a teacher, we can demand an answer from the
students. Since it is a simple sum, the majority of the students will love to answer this
question. This simple technique will engage them in the classroom. Later on, after winning
their attention we can switch on to a complex scenario like Doppler's effect. The first
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technique of winning their engagement was from Unit 5 and delivering a lesson afterward
was a part of task 11.
Addition of two random objects to demonstrate the positioning of the objects for the desired
Doppler effect was another technique; the engrossment of the visual senses is another
technique or a trick in the arsenal of a teacher to increase the engagement level of the
students. The first task engaged them in a calculation and provided me an opportunity to go
for an assessment of their engagement levels. The second technique allowed them to observe
the things from a different point of view and feel belongingness with the subject (Brookfield,
2017).
With the help of these two techniques, I achieved a state of mind in the learners that they are
solving the riddles or exploring something new in the life with the help of the prism of
education. This step by step learning by bringing out the answers from the students
themselves helps them in gaining confidence while learning.
Further Action
I am seeking for some intermediate questions that can be asked in the classroom to check the
understanding of the learners. It is important, prior to testing them with the final exercise
after the lesson. The assessment of the intermediate questions will give me an idea about the
understanding levels of the learners and I will be able to pay proper attention to the students
that are not able to comprehend certain things in the theory.
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Task 12: Listen carefully to the learners and positively encourage them to communicate
their needs and ideas for future learning.
Student Name
Student Number
Date
Learning Outcome Extending support to the learners by listening
to their problems and shortcomings to
understand any particular topic.
Assessment Criteria Task 12
Description of the Activity and the outcomes
My task was to introduce the students with the magical properties of the Carbon atom, how
its four unsaturated valances help it in forming bonds to recreate substances that can match
the property of other elements.
When a teacher is dealing with a topic with such a wide scope, it is very important to explore
the worldview of the student and allow him to bring in those objects in the process of the
learning. An intermediate question for this chapter can be related to the metallic objects that
have been replaced by the Carbonic compounds. I told them about the screws of small
electrical circuits, in the past they were using aluminum and iron, now they have replaced it
with plastic. Later on when I asked about the other objects that have been replaced by
carbonic atoms then they name window pans, door pans, water taps, and many objects.
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My next question was a bit difficult, here I asked that why all these objects are different from
each other and how carbon compounds negotiated with this difference because, in the end, it
is only a carbon atom and four valances?
The second question raised a set of questions for them, they started looking for two answers,
first why we need a certain element like iron or wood or any other thing to meet with a
requirement and second how carbon has this capacity to meet with so many diverse
requirements.
Education is not just about lessons and formulas confined to a chapter and some question
jotted next to the chapters, it is equally about improving the worldview of a learner. In the
current exercise, I gave them this opportunity to explore their own world from the purview of
the chapter and apply the knowledge in the life and times that he is living (Peters, 2011).
Further Action
A limiting factor should be introduced to confine the imagination of the students s, in the
absence of a limiting factor sometimes he or she can kill time beyond the chapter and explore
a few things unnecessarily.
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Task 13: Support learners in using peer assessment and self-assessment to evaluate
their learning achievements
Student Name
Student Number
Date
Learning Outcome The introduction of the peer assessment and
self-assessment in the system to help the
students s in developing a sense of
achievement and develop a reflective
outlook.
Assessment Criteria Task 13
Description of the Activity and the outcomes
Dalton’s atomic theory has become redundant because of the arrival of new theories.
However, it is an integral part of the curriculum because it gives a thought process to a
learner. This theory remained invincible for more than four decades and then new theories
came in. While discussing the nuclear division I raised a question related to the presence of
Dalton’s theory in the curriculum. The debate among the learners gave them a clear idea
about their understanding of the theory. The conclusive part of the debate also brought in a
result where they learned about the importance of scientific temper.
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In order to conduct a group discussion, I divided the class into three groups. The first group
was of the thought that Dalton deserves a tribute because of his contributions. The second
group was of the idea that Dalton should be removed from the curriculum because it adds a
burden on the learner. It should be replaced with something more contemporary. The third
group was of the idea that the contemporary theories may fail and Dalton should be taught as
a basis of the nuclear division.
The output of the debate was healthy, all the three groups reached on the conclusion that
Dalton ’s theory should be kept in the syllabus and they should be studied more from the
point of view of a thought process and the fundamental question that says “ what is the
smallest particle belonging to an atom or a molecule.
The environment of the discussion allowed the students and participants to understand their
own status (Bubb, 2012). It was something beyond the textbook for a while; still, it was
important from the point of view of the scientific temper. Education is not the destination it is
a journey was moral. The exercise of the peer assessment does the same thing, it allows a
student to explore where milestones of a topic when others are accessing him on the merits of
what he has done. Many online courses are using the concept of discussion boards very
effectively and creating an interface where students can go for the exercise of the self-
assessment by listening to the views expressed by other students.
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Task 14: Support learner to
A) Reflect on their learning
B) Identify the progress that they have made
C) Identify their emerging Learning needs
D) Identify the strengths, weaknesses of their learning strategies and plan how to
improve them
Student Name
Student Number
Date
Learning Outcome Development of the reflective skills in an
individual.
Assessment Criteria Task 14
Description of the Activity and the outcomes
Description of the activity: Scientist Nicolai Tesla failed in the patenting the concept of
transporting electricity from one place to the other without a wire. It was the biggest failure
that he met with. However, in the current world, most of the technologies are taking the
support of the electromagnetic waves. Nicolai Tesla conceived the right thought process,
however, his quest for the supporting technology let him fail. I told the students to write a
reflective essay on the teachings from the Tesla's life and his methods.
Reflection on the learning of the students
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It was an important exercise because there were two big challenges. In order to support or
decline Tesla, they were required to step into the shoes of Tesla. Secondly, they were also in
a need to understand the concepts given by him and compare them with the other
technologies. Reflective capacities and critical analysis of the information or the knowledge
is an important lesson. As a teacher I presented a case study in front of them, a technology
which was a failure in the 20th century and the same technology became the backbone of the
21st century.
It was a vast topic and most of the students failed in understanding the real reasons behind the
failure of Tesla, however, they comprehended some important lessons related to the coming
up with some responses that can keep them contemporary. Most of the students, however,
reached the conclusion that Tesla failed in positioning him with the contemporary prevailing
technologies and his peers scored in the same department.
Identification of the progress that they have made
Some of the students took this test lightly because they thought that performance here will
not add into their final exams. I told them that it is nice to have objectivity about the goals of
education; however, they should enjoy the journey rather than just thinking about the
milestones of the journey.
Identification of the strengths, weaknesses of their learning strategies and plan how to
improve them
It was essential for us to add a thought process where they can go for an analysis of the
events rather than just memorizing it as a historical event. During the course of this group
discussion, I realized that most of the students read the chapters with an intention to answer
the question that is present at the end of the chapter. This is a good approach to obtain good
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