Artefact 3

This artefact was displayed in a kindergarten classroom and used for

formative writing tasks. A number of basic writing conventions are written on
cards and each students name is placed next to one particular card,
indicating what that student is currently focusing on during their everyday
writing tasks. Unlike the examples from the year-three classroom, this artefact
does not show differentiation for one particular student with diverse needs, but
rather shows that every students learning needs are diverse and that each
student requires attention in different areas (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013). The
students current writing goals are devised from diagnostic or pre-assessment
writing samples, and are aligned with each students Zone of Proximal
Development (Readman & Allen, 2013, p. 8; Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013, p.
98), meaning that the goal is neither so easy that the student already
consistently uses this skill in their writing, nor so hard for the student that they
can not grasp the concept or would make other areas of their writing weaker.
This is what Readman and Allen (2013, p. 29) call the challenge model of
assessment and is seen to be most effective in engaging and motivating
students. When the teacher reads students pieces of writing she provides
feedback to each student (AITSL, 2014, Standard 5.2) in relation to their
individualised writing goal, offering reminder prompts (New Zealand Ministry
of Education, 2009) where needed, to encourage students to master their
skill. Once students are able to show they can consistently use a particular
skill or convention in their writing, their name is moved to a new goal, as
decided in an informal one-on-one conference between the teacher and
student, in order to continue to extend the students learning.