Nicola

Oct

2015

Phonological Awareness Screeners

Phonological Awareness assessments are usually long and involved. Sometimes all that is needed for formative assessment is a quick snapshot. These one page PA screeners may be handy as we head into report writing, just as a quick tool to gather evidence of student progress in literacy skills. After you’ve used them, please let me know in the comments below how you went !

Join the Flashcard Club for access to other free Australian content. Use the Flashcard Club content in a Mastery Learning Folder to support your struggling students.

See also my post on Screening Tools & Standardised Tests.

Word Level Quick Screener

Syllable Level Quick Screener

Onset Rime Quick Screener

Phoneme Level Quick Screener A

Phoneme Level Quick Screener B

See links to Phonological Awareness Diagnostic Tools

“For those who use the Mastery Learning Folders the results are excellent. The folder is well constructed and can be reused for several years. Flashcards are age appropriate and open ended. The editable template is an excellent resource. We enjoy our experience with the Mastery Learning Folders and will continue to use them.” Judy, Teacher

More Feedback

Oct

2015

Teachers Urged to Adopt Targeted Teaching

Schools are urged to embrace “targeted teaching” to improve student knowledge according to the findings of the latest education report from the Grattan Institute “Targeted Teaching: How Better Use of Data can Improve Student Learning” by Dr P. Goss & J. Hunter.

What a pleasure to discuss the new Mastery Learning Folder strategy with Dr Goss recently. The strategy provides a safety net for students through individual remediation of foundational classroom learning whilst providing an organizational format that facilitates a tailored learning load and pace of learning. As a homework tool, the folders enables all students to receive targeted remediation through harnessing the power of parents – see their feedback below.

I welcome further discussion – please get in touch or a add a comment below!

Lunch with Dr Pete Goss

Related Articles:

Video: What are Mastery Learning Folders?

Teachers urged to adopy target teaching to address curriculum – The West Australian

Teaching the Digital Natives – Australian Financial Review

“… our daughter LOVES her Mastery Learning Folder and is always eager to retrieve it to practise her words every night. We’ve been pleasantly surprised with how well her reading has come along since using the folder and would definitely recommend it to others. Thanks for letting us be a part of your trial and good luck with what has proven to be a great program :)” Christine, Parent

“We absolutely love the folders that you have created. The children and the parents are finding them most useful for the kid’s flashcards. What we also find very helpful is that the pockets are wider and the design of them is brilliant especially the hard back cover so that no spills can soak through to the work and also because you can see where the children are up to and what they have achieved with the pockets being labeled and the children can also see what they have achieved.” Lisa, Parent

“The learning experience was very enjoyable. My daughter enjoyed moving the words along in the folder and could see her progress. Also she loved the stickers on completion of each day.” Lorena, Parent

“We did the big test on the girls’ words today and they both got 100% for the first time. Happy days!!! Thanks for creating such a great tool.” Leanne, Homeschooling Mum

Further Feedback

Oct

2015

Dr Pete Goss Grattan Institute

Today I had a wonderful lunch at the Riverbank Estate, Swan Valley, with Dr Pete Goss, researcher and leading authority on targeted teaching (see article links below). I am very pleased to share that he recognised my new Mastery Learning Folder strategy as a valid remediation intervention for foundational learning concepts.
I went through my history of using the strategy from starting with the same content for each child in the old manilla folders through to the modified strategy of differentiated content, learning load and learning time facilitated by the new mastery learning folder design. I also shared the results of the first pilot school study being conducted this year. He suggested several avenues to pursue for research opportunities and kindly offered his support in this process – very happy with that!