Prototype testing

The bulk of the work I have been doing on my MIT project this term has involved fine tuning the layout of my website to make it a tool which is useful and practical for classroom teachers.

I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the nature of oral language development in the classroom and realised that the issue is too broad to be addressed by one simple intervention as I had initialy workshopped.  I decided this term to really go back to the starting point - ie test my learners to see where the opportunities to improve their oral language lay.   I was able to classify their needs into four categories.  I then reworked my assessment tool to address these categories and developed some testing materials which I believed would best suit my learners.  For example I included some more culturally appropriate terms in the ROL section and included images of our school.

I have since tested a number of students on entry to school and have been able to categorise their oral language needs.  I have been working now to find classroom materials which allow a teacher to meet these needs in targeted ways and have been linking these resources within my website.  My aim is to provide teachers with a pic and mix of templates and ideas they can use easily.

Next term I will be gathering  pre and post intervention data and sharing my tool with some other teachers to gain feedback and more validity to my data set.  Wish me luck!