Forms

Smiley Face Response Sheet (pg. 1)

Description

The Smiley Face Response sheets offer students and teachers an alternate format for gathering students responses to each item on the Possibilities for Learning Survey (PFL).

• It can be used by students who might struggle with text because they are just learning to read, have learning difficulties, or are new to English.  Students who do not read English may have the items translated in to their first language and read to them.
• It can be used when a teacher wants to control the pace at which students progress through the items to ensure they understand what each means.  The teacher reads the text of each item and the class can discuss any items that need clarification before responding.
• It can be used when the teacher wants to promote discussion of the items and the possibilities each might offer.  The teacher reads an item, prompts discussion of what it might look like in an activity, and then has the students circle the face that best represents how they feel about it.
• It can be used when a teacher wants to offer students a small selection of the numbered items rather than the entire survey.   Students only respond to the items the teacher has selected and read to them, one at a time.

Directions

The reader may be a teacher, aide, parent, sibling, peer, or other volunteer who is familiar with the purpose, procedures and content of the PFL.  The best way to become familiar with it is to do it.  This should be done before administering it to students, not with them.

Before asking non-readers to begin, they should be introduced to the meaning of each face by generating synonyms for it as was recommended in the general directions for the PFL.  Each face is equivalent to one of the ratings on the original form.

Strongly agree	Agree	Neither agree nor disagree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree

The Smiley Face Form can be used with groups or individuals.  The group size will depend on the extent of support students need.  The individual reading the items to students should monitor the pace at which students respond, allowing all students to finish before moving on to the next item.  It will be challenging to do this for more than 10 students at a time.

Monitor student’s engagement as well as item completion.  If they are tiring, stop and return to the survey another day. Feel free to reduce the length of the survey by reducing the number of items or only using the Part or Parts of the survey that are most important as starting points.  Renumber the remaining items on the Reader’s copy so you have a record for interpreting students ratings for each item number.

There are a few differences between the information derived from the Smiley Face Form and the standard PFL form.  First, the students are not asked to identify their two most and least favored items for each Part.  Second, there is no Part Five (the lists of possible topics, verbs and product formats). As a result, responses on this form do not flow easily into the Summary or Dream Sheets.  Still, the conversation around the items and students feelings about these options can still be rich and fascinating making it a valuable experience.

Click here to see other support materials for the Possibilities for Learning Survey.