The Power of the Voice

Tools, Measures and Approaches to Profile Student Learning



Student voice has been the most powerful tool for me knowing where my students are with regards to their Critical Literacy.                                                                                                                                          

Using Voice Memos to record student voice allows me to capture and compare discussion and extended interrogative skills over a period of time. It's a very clear way to analyse not only extension of speech but also the depth of vocabulary being used. And... the class love being recorded! Win win situation. 

I started the year recording a session with the class to ensure I have a baseline for comparison. Recording will continue at least twice a term throughout the year.



Anecdotal notes follow on from voice recording. Voice recording during process drama also allows me to look more at body movement with the understanding that there are non-verbal ways of communicating. A student can seem to have an understanding of a process but it may only only surface deep. When there is re-enactment and movement it is easy to see the level of deep understanding the student may actually have. Anecdotal notes are also a quick way to capture spontaneous outbursts and discussion / interrogation. These can be moments that have me rushing off to find my phone to start a voice memo. 
 

                                                      

PAT Reading Comprehension gives me a baseline for inferential and evaluative comprehension but not for Critical Literacy.   


Probe gives a baseline for Reading Age, however, many texts we use in Process Drama can be well below or well above these levels and are dependant on the rich vocabulary and evocative range of themes, worlds, cultures and ways of being.

E-asTTLe writing, again, a baseline that we try to surpass twice a year. From this I know the surface and deeper features that we need to work on, however, I know that given the right prompt and an engaging motivation my students are able to write with a far greater depth of understanding and use of richer language.
 

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