Task 2: Catering for Diversity

Assessments created by educators are required to not only relate to the level of each year
group and subjects curriculum links by also cater for the students learning ability. Australian
Curriculum and Reporting Authority (2013) explains how All students are entitled to
rigorous, relevant and engaging learning programs drawn from a challenging curriculum that
addresses their individual learning needs (p.4). This requires educators to create
assessment tasks that are appropriate for each learners needs as well as their strengths,
goals and interest to make a fair assessment (ACARA, 2013, p. 4). The way an educator
teaches a learning area should be prepared to use flexible instructions that work with the
whole class, but also have specific learning targets for students at different learning stages
(Tomlinson & Cunningham, 2003). By doing so, this will accommodate catering for a
students learning, needs, interests and providing multiple strategies for each student to
succussed in assessment through areas of fairness, reliability, validity and equity which will
cater for each students abilities (Tomlinson & Cunningham, 2003). These types of
assessments can be linked to Standard 5 of the Australian Professional Standards for
Teachers. Under this standard all educators from Graduate to Leader are required to meet 5
different areas. Standard 5 requires educators to comply with assess, provide feedback and
report on students learning (Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, 2011, p. 16-17).
Artefact 1 Smiley Sentences

Figure 1. Sentence Rubric

The artefact above is used as an informal marking criteria called Smiley Sentences. The
purpose of this marking criterion is for students to use it when writing sentences. The
artefact focuses on a check list what can form a smiley face to help students remember to
incorporate each of the steps in their work. An educator reviewing their work can compare
each students work to the elements of the criteria. If a student incorporates all five
instructions they would receive a smiley face. This informal assessment can be used as a
Monday morning writing task, where students write their own goal for the week.
For a student who is below their current year level. the educator could modify this informal
assessment task by having the student focusing on a smaller range of instruction. This could
be focusing writing their name on their work, using capital letters and full stops for their
sentences. If a student who is classified as being gifted and talented, the educator could
focus on instructions such as asking the student to think about incorporating the SMART
goal theory to their weekly goal. An educator could start focusing on part of the SMART goal
areas or a gifted student could try and write a goal using all 5 aspects of the SMART goal:
specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and timely (Conzemius, ONeill, 2011).
A parent reviewing their childs work can look at the picture on the childs work and review it
with the poster of Smiley Sentences to see why the child did not receive the two eyes, mouth
and nose on their work. By displaying a poster like the above artefact around the room it
supports students with diverse needs. One student may not need to review this poster when
writing sentences and would be able to achieve a smiley face easily, on the other hand
another student may need to review this poster to make sure their work covers all five steps.
Using this artefact an educator is able to give timely and appropriate feedback to students as
it can be done as the students hand in their work (AITSL p.16). This is because the educator
is able to easily describe where the student is up to, and the student is able to see what
else they need to do next time to receive a completed smiley face. Review standard 5.4
interpreting student data educator can review all students work and comply areas learning
what require attention. This could by revisiting a lesson on Capital Letters or using correct
punctuation.

Artefact 2: Checklist

Figure 2. Checklist
A checklist to assess students in the classroom can be a vital tool in correlating a students
marks. The checklist as seen above is useful for an educator to use as it provides the
students with not just one chance of attempting the learning area. By using a formal
assessment aligned with the one above, an educator is able to easily record students
achievements on a particular day. Not only is this checklist used for one day but an educator
is able to use it throughout the learning area to first of all, review if the students have
unforeseen circumstances affecting them on the day of testing. This checklist can also be
used to monitor a students ongoing learning and see if they developed a deeper
understanding over the course of a few weeks with additional lessons. This formative
assessment task is used to identify areas that a student currently understands, and areas
that still need to be worked on. This task can be done with the student and educator one on
one or through assessing the students through their oral answers and written answers in

other work. By reviewing this task at different periods of the learning area, an educator can
gauge if a student has been able to improve their understanding or to review their new
knowledge. Catering for students of at different levels an educator can cater to them by;
changing the shapes to hexagon, trapezium or to 3d shapes if the student is above their year
level, or on the other spectrum for the student who is behind in their year level by choosing
the same block shape that looks the same as the picture or making them pick the right
colour that goes with the right word. This task could be altered to meet the learning needs of
the child.
Using a checklist to distinguish students current understanding can support the educator in
modifying their teaching for each individuals learning (AITSL, 2014). Also associated with
AITSL Standard 5, and educator can easily display the students progress to a parent or
carer or areas that require attention to support the students in reaching the achievement
level for their year group (AITSL, 2014). This checklist can comply with the Australian
Teaching Standards, as it demonstrations links to all five standards under Assess, provide
feedback and report on a students learning as the educator can clearly distinguish and
provide feedback to students, parents and other staff members on a students current
understanding in a unit of work.

Artefact 3: Coloured Dot Rubric

This rubric is used for the students writing in a Year 2 classroom. Each of the coloured dots
on the rubric represents the coloured dots students will see once their work has been
marked. This same colour scheme is used for the student behaviour throughout the school
as well. The reason behind the educator using these coloured dots is for their students to
understand the expectations of their work as they already have the connection to their
behaviour for the same colours. Before students commence their work, the educator
explains what the educator is detecting when marking the students narrative work; this is
neat handwriting, capitalisation, punctuation, spelling and a complete story by using an
introduction (what, where, who, when), problem (what are they doing) and the solution (how
are they going to solve it). The educator writes what she is looking for in the students work
on the board for students to refer to during their writing time. In this instance, the topic for the
narrative was If I was invisible. As a result this relates to differentiated instruction as the
educator has specific and clear learning objectives for the students to meet (Pearson, 2009)
by using the rubric above. This rubric can be altered for a students level of learning. For a
child who is below the average learning area of others the educator supports the student by

providing the student with their first sentence written out for them to copy into their writing
book. Whilst writing the first sentence she prompted the student with questions that focused
on the rubric. An example of this is asking what happens at the beginning of a sentence and
also when using a name. This provided the student with the opportunity to display their
currently learning level to be marked on to be able to achieve at their own rate. For a student
who may be classified as being talented or gifted this rubric could be altered to have the
punctuation as I have used speech bubbles when my characters are talking to one another,
or encourage talented or gifted students to write a certain amount of writing.
Reviewing Standard 5 from AITSL, an educator can clearly link this rubric too all five
standards under Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning (AITLS, 2014).
There is a clear link to the AITSL is because the educator is able to assess students work
and provide timely feedback to students by the use of the coloured stickers on their work. A
parent or carer can easily see the link between their work and reviewing the behaviours
chart that is set up in the room to see what is excellent for requiring additional attention. The
students work can easily be moderated as the rubric clear states what the each student can
do with the colour scheme. If all students are having trouble with one particular area an
educator is able to plan and implement extra lessons that focus on the areas of need that
the students require.

By providing all students with the opportunity to participate in informal, formal, formative and
summative assessments, this provides educators with a whole understanding of the learning
needs of all children. Incorporating different types of assessments not only to meet the
Australian Teaching Standards, but also disclose students strengths and weakness to an
educator. An educator who creates each assessment task in their classroom should cater for
all student needs. This could mean diverse learning needs are met through different
assessment tasks, and all students are able to achieve success (RMIT, 2008, p.1).