ACTION RESEARCH Introduction: Hi there! My name is Mary Michelle.

Im a Teacher Candidate at Queens University Faculty of Education with a focus in Environmental Education. Prior to my arrival to the Queens teaching program, I completed my undergrad at Queens with a major in Classical History. I competed, and fulfilled a leadership role, on the universitys womens lacrosse team throughout my undergrad and into Teachers College. I am fortunate enough to have experience studying abroad, volunteering in a primary classroom abroad, and spending summers as a swim instructor throughout high school. Most recently, Ive completed 10 weeks of placements in a school in Mississauga 6 weeks in a grade one classroom and 4 weeks in a grade four/five split classroom. During my junior placement, I independently focused on a study revolving around the use of conferencing in the classroom. Classroom/School context: I conducted my Action Research project in two classroom environments. The first, and primary, was the homeroom Grade 4/5 class. In this class, we covered all subjects with the exception of mathematics. While I led several lessons throughout the day, I planned and executed a science unit and this is when I implemented the majority of my action research project. The second class we worked with was a Grade 5 language class. In this class, I was occasionally able to utilize/practice conferencing but for informal assessment as learning not for formal assessment. Starting Point:

In my second practicum block in December, I was leading a Grade 1 science unit and planned to conference with students as a final cumulative assessment tool. I found it was difficult to meet with each student and conduct the conference in a reasonable amount of time. It was a very effective assessment tool and was a great indicator of what the student had learned throughout the unit but proved to be very inefficient. So I chose to start my Action Research based on this experience. How can conferencing be used as an efficient assessment tool? I started my research with general inquiries about how conferencing can be used as an assessment tool. Early Data: The first suggestions I came across were rubrics to guide a thoroughly effective conference. While many categories assessed are evaluated subjectively, these rubrics provide a structured and standard feedback. After reading through several of these, I realized my initial conference experience was more of an oral test and could have been far more in depth for the time I put into it. Assessing thinking and inquiry by critiquing appropriateness of questions asked, checking in on communication by seeing how students most effectively express information and uses vocabulary properly, and evaluating application by discussion how they make connections to personal experiences are only a few ways these rubrics suggested acquiring important information regarding learning skills. Further Questions: It was clear from the rubrics that conferencing is highly effective in gathering specific information for assessment. From here, I wonder if conferencing would be more effective if I had used it for assessment during a different time of the unit.

Would the use of conferencing in Assessment as Learning be a more efficient way of conducting conferences? Additional Data: During my third placement, I aimed to implement conferencing as an assessment tool for Assessment As Learning, rather than Assessment Of Learning. In the grade 5 language class, this took form during the persuasive writing unit. Students were writing a persuasive letter and had to self-edit, peer-edit and finally teacher edit before submitting a final draft. This teacher edit was a great opportunity to make specific corrections and check in on whether or not the student understood the concept of persuasion. Professional Insights: The process of assessment as learning is very important for providing meaningful feedback for students. While it is easy to rely on completed student work as an assessment piece, I think it is invaluable to consider their process in the assessment as well. Ive learned that teaching is also very reactive. From several of the conferences, I was able to identify areas where students were confused or needed more attention to teaching on that topic. From his information, I was able to change lessons throughout the unit to cover the information that needed to be cleared up. After all, isnt this what Assessment of Learning is for. New Practices: I first had the opportunity to conference with students doing teacher edits for a persuasive text assignment in language. Conferencing in this manner allowed me to check in with their process and provide substantial and meaningful feedback

on how they may improve. For language, I did not use a rubric to inform assessment to the unit for use later but did discuss with my Associate Teacher about her methods for using such information in report cards comments or parent teacher communications. When planning my science units for my Grade 4/5 class, I included conferencing as Assessment As Learning. For each lesson, I plan to spend time to reflecting with students on their daily work. Meeting this way will keep interactions brief but informative and allow me to keep tabs on learning throughout the whole unit. Working with a suggestion from my Associate Teacher, these meetings are a quick debrief of the work they have completed and give the students a chance to defend their answer and reasoning. This opens avenues to assess knowledge, inquiry and thinking, communication and application the four main learning skills that are stressed in the science curriculum. Findings: Overall, I found that conferencing as learning was a very flexible and effective way of checking in on student progress. The process is very conducive to providing timely and specific feedback. Ive learned that being reactive to the needs of the students is an important aspect of a teachers role. In the process, I also discovered that completed student work shouldnt be overlooked, as it is solid evidence and proof of student progress. Validation: I looked at several rubrics built for the purposes of assessing a studentteacher conference. Referring to these helped me narrow down the elements worth including in a conferencing. Rather than approaching a conference to get as much

information as possible, choosing to focus the examination proves to yield more qualitative and concrete information. One such rubric can be found in the following link: http://www.nelson.com/WOB/otr/wobotr/national/Attachments/f_assessment_to ols/WOBTRAT5.pdf

I started by looking at assessment as a general broad category. This guideline for schools served as a good introduction to the different ways conferencing can be used. It also had sample activities that employ conferencing that I could take a look at.

National Center for Curriculum and Assessment. Assessment in the Primary School Curriculum. Guidelines for School. *Accessed online:http://www.ncca.ie/uploadedfiles/publications/assess%20%20guide.pdf

My associate teacher recommended a dated but useful article that spoke on reflection as a teacher, in particular the portion that reflects on the use of conferencing. The article was useful because it reviewed the importance of reflective practices that focus on strategies that help develop teaching techniques/strategies.

Hatton, Neville, and David Smith. "Reflection in Teacher Education: Toward Definition and Implementation." Teaching and Teacher Education 11.1 (1995): 33-49. Next Steps: I definitely think there would be more room for exploration with conferencing. In large part, I think a lot of what I have left to learn about conferencing as Assessment as Learning will be found through experience and trying it in more circumstances with different groups. I would like to explore further how conferencing can be utilized in the arts (music, drama and visual) and if it makes sense to use conferencing as an assessment tool in these subjects. Messages for my first year: Without a doubt, never stop trying new strategies or theories out. They might not work but they might be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! Try to use conferencing but dont get caught up in it. Keep yourself on track; if conferencing will be efficient and effective then by all means, go wild! Conferencing as Assessment as Learning works very well with language, especially since students can work independently while the conferencing is going on. Brief conferences are also really effective and not too overwhelming. Insights into professional learning as a teacher: Professional development and learning as a teacher is absolutely the way to get the most out of your questions. Time spent in my placements was undoubtedly where the majority of my relevant and practical learning took place. Being able to

take a theory or strategy and immediately implement it in your teaching is an invaluable learning experience.