Some Questions?

• What is Assessment for Learning?

• Where has it come from?• Why should it interest us?• How do we make it part of

every lesson?• How do we take it forward

whole school?

A fresh look at Assessment…

• 1998 Black and William commissioned to find out whether formative assessment could be shown to raise levels of attainment…

• They embarked on a year long trawl through all studies since 1988 which involved any aspect of formative assessment e.g. sharing learning goals, pupil self assessment, etc – many studies were rejected through lack of rigour. They decided only to take account of studies where a control group had been set up and children had been tested both before and after the trial so learning gains could be measured and compared.

Why should this be of interest to us ?

•Very well researched and shown to have a dramatic impact on attainment at all levels

•Fits in well with what we already do.

•Involves students more closely in the learning process – partners in learning

•Teaching students how to be involved in their own assessment cuts down workload for teachers – more students get it right first time, peer and self assessment becomes part of process.

What’s on radio W.I.I.F.M.

Tonight?

Inhibiting factors identified included

• A tendency for teachers to assess quantity of work and presentation rather than the quality of learning

• Greater attention given to marking and grading, much of it tending to lower the self-esteem of pupils, rather than to provide advice for improvement

• A strong emphasis on comparing pupils with each other which demoralises the less successful learners

• Teachers’ feedback to pupils often serves managerial and social purposes rather than helping them to learn more effectively

Effective Teacher Feedback

• Describes why an answer is right or wrong in specific terms that students understand. Students can even generate their own feedback by comparing their work with teacher generated exemplars or posted samples. They can then compare their own feedback with that of the teacher.

• Teacher feedback should provide clear ways for students to improve in clear constructive language.

• Teacher feedback happens throughout the learning process.

How Do I Close the Gap?

• Comment only marking!

• Written feedback should include prompts for improvement

• Students should get opportunity to respond to feedback immediately

• Students should have frequent opportunities to peer and self assess against agreed quality criteria

Creating the learning Environment

• Create the learning environment by:

• Smiling• Using “we” language• Language focussed on learning

Intentions• Affirmation posters on the wall• Making your room a No Put Down

Zone• Having a colourful and stimulating

and relevant display on the walls• Arranging the furniture to facilitate

the learning• Playing music to set a particular

mood

Connect the Learning

• Connect the Learning by:

• getting students to write down the 3 most important things they learned from the previous lesson - then pair share it with a friend and try to make it up to 5

• Getting students to solve anagrams of keywords from previous lesson

“You only understand information relative to what you already understand”

Teacher might use this feedback to spend time at beginning of lesson looking again at questions students have raised

Teacher may give back pieces of work he/she has marked and allow response time

Big Picture First

• Unsure how to show the Big Picture:

• Use Big Pictures - post images relating to the whole topic around the room

• Use module maps• Make a keyword display

and get students to add to a keyword glossary each lesson

• Make reference to how work will be assessed

“Can’t do a jigsaw without looking at the picture on the box”

Share the Learning Outcomes

• Share the learning outcomes

• Let students know what “they will be able to do by the end of the lesson that they could not do before

• Write learning outcomes clearly in a prominent place in the classroom so students can see them

• Refer to learning outcomes throughout the lesson

“Do your pupils have a clue as to why they are learning what they are learning - have you told them”

WILF AND TIBS

What I’m Looking For….Is

for you to be able to use a range of graphic organisers to note down information quickly and easily. You will begin to think about how you organise information.

this

This Is Because…We

are often asked to deal with a large quantity of information and to make sense of it quickly and easily – graphic organisers will help you to do this.

And

We’ll Know we’ve achieved this because…

Our Success criteria are…

•We’ll be able to use our completed sun burst organisers to tell somebody else the details of both “Mauro’s” story and the audio tape story

Learning Outcomes

1. “To understand the difference between 4 different elements of fitness”

2. “To be able to explain how metamorphic rocks are formed”

3. “All students must be able to list the factors that have led to an increase in the use and variety of food packaging in society”

4. “To understand what happens in Act 3 sc1 lines 1-99”

Discuss what “success criteria” you would attach to the above learning outcomes

Clear learning outcomes – these should be displayed in a prominent position in the classroom and referred to throughout the lesson.

It is explained to students how the learning outcomes are relevant and of use to them.

What does success “look” like? – arrived at through discussion with class

Teach students to recognise quality

•Discuss exemplar pieces of work – get students to rank pieces of work and explain their thoughts

•Agree quality criteria

•Feedback/marking should refer to quality criteria

Introduce Information

• Introduce new information through V A K

• See it

• Hear it

• Touch it

• and if possible

• Taste it

• Smell it

Teacher may get students to look at a gallery of exemplar work at different levels and get students to rank work against quality criteria

Activity

• Create a culture of Questioning in the classroom

Key opportunity for Questioning in the classroom – both asking students open ended questions and encouraging students to ask questions of each other.

Body Bop

Frequent opportunities for discussion

Allow “Think” time

Adopt a “Hands” down policy

Language in classroom is focussed on learning outcomes

Demonstrate new Understanding

• Students show they understand by:

Why not get students to demonstrate their understanding by setting tests or quizzes for each other – ask your friends some really challenging questions –but you need to know how to explain it yourself!

Give students some answers that are clearly wrong and ask them to correct them

Students mark a piece of work against a mark scheme

Students create a summary of what a “A” grade student would need to know

Review

• Review not just what you learned but how you learnt it:

• Use the “question wall”• The block it review - 3 things I

leaned, 2 questions I still want to ask, one thing I already knew

Key opportunity for peer feedback against “success” criteria

Key opportunity for self assessment and review

Key opportunity for individual target setting

Part of our Planning

• Assessment for learning needs to be a planned part of our Schemes of Work – lesson plans need to make specific reference to how Assessment for learning is being addressed in the lesson

We will know we have been successful when…

• …Learners are able to make sense of where they are in their own learning, where they are going, and how to improve Autonomous learners

engaging in Assessment for Learning for themselves