Clarity about Learning

Assessment For Learning Archway of Teaching Capabilities

Clarity about what is to be learnt•Learning Intentions•success criteria•relevance•exemplars•modelling

Assessment•curriculum understanding

•Pervasive quality

•Quality Management

Promoting Further LearningLearning Conversation•Feedback•Feed-forward

Active Reflection•About learning

•student engagement

•sense of partnership

Shared Clarity about next learning steps

Effective

Learning

Building Learning-Focused RelationshipsThe archway is standing on a firm foundation of trusted and supportive relationships

Shared clarity about what is to be learnt

• Learning Intentions• Success criteria• Relevance• Examples• Modelling

Learning Intentions

The first ‘active’ element of formative assessment in the classroom is the sharing of Learning Intentions.” - Shirley Clarke

Be clear in your own mind

• What it is that you want the students to learn or understand

• Write it down in ‘teacher-speak’

Translate into student - speak• Take your ‘teacher - speak’ Learning Intention and put it into language that your students can understand clearly.

Judging the quality of learning intentions…

• To make a list of all the words for ‘said’.

Write a learning intention that captures the learning behind this activity.

Judging the quality of learning intentions…

• To create text that clearly conveys the sense of a character.

Reword this as a learning intention that students could more easily understand.

Judging the quality of learning intentions…

• To write a recount about school camp.

Rewrite this as a learning intention that is ‘context-free’.

Judging the quality of learning intentions…

• Learning to use capital letters and full stops.

Rewrite this so it captures the ‘deeper’ ideas inherent in the learning.

Where do you start?Learning Intentions may be

derived from:

• Linking to the National Curriculum

• Other curriculum resources• Assessment that has identified a learning need (e.g., asTTle)

• Reflective discussions between teachers and students that indicate the next learning step

Remember to Establish Relevance

• Tell the students why they are learning this at all, or….…

• Discuss with them when they think they will use/need this learning, or...….

• Share with them how it fits into the bigger picture

Follow the Learning Intention with an opportunity to create the Success Criteria

• How will we know when we have met the Learning Intention?

• How will we show that we understand what it is we are Learning?

• What will be the evidence that we’ve learnt this?

• What steps would lead us to achieving the learning?

‘Product’ and ‘Process’ Criteria:Product: What it is about the finished product that shows you’ve been successful

Process:What steps I could take to make sure the finished product is successful

Depending on the learning, one may be more useful than the other.

Why have Success Criteria?

• So the teacher and the students are clear about what it is they are going to be judged or evaluated on.

• So the students have something definitive to refer back to when they want to check if they are on track or not.

• So as to guide teacher and students in self, peer and student evaluation.

Co-construction of Success Criteria with

Students• Discuss with students what success criteria are.

• May begin by just giving students the success criteria

• Explicitly model for students how to construct success criteria

• Invite students to contribute to the success criteria

• Timing / process will vary depending on the learning context

Model the Process or Examine an Exemplar

An opportunity to see what we’re learning about and what it might look like – extra guidance for students.

Modelling or examples can be used to co-construct the success criteria:

• Stronger involvement by students• Students are making connection between the learning and the task

• Much more challenging than being given the success criteria.

Examples / Modelling

• National Exemplars of writing.• Journals/books/etc.• Teacher-written examples• Teacher modelling of a process• etc.

Global and Specific Learning Intentions:

For example:Global: Learning how to persuade others in our writing.

Specific: Learning to write the opening paragraph of an argument.

More specific: Learning how to get the reader involved and interested in my argument from the start, or…Learning how to back up a point with convincing evidence.

Learning intentions, success criteria and task need to be separated but aligned.

• The Learning Intention is what you want the students to learn or understand.

• The Success Criteria answers the question “How will we know we have achieved this?”

• The instructions for the Activities and Tasks describe the activities the students will carry out in order to learn

Alignment:

LI: Learn how to describe an event in detail (so the reader gets a better picture)

SC: I have written about: – What I could see– What I could hear– What I was feeling.

Task: Re-write your introduction with more detail (or try a different event)

Check that students understand• Give frequent opportunities for students to check their understanding with you or one another

• Give students time to think before responding to a question

• Model for the students how they might think and share with others

Display L.I and S.C

• These need to be visually displayed so you and students can refer back to them

• Some ideas to save your time & the school’s money:– save LIs and SCs on the computer– record LIs and SCs once on a laminated card that can be shifted from the whiteboard to a display area.

– Create a flip-chart or A3 Booklet so students can refer back to them

Recapping... ...the beginning steps• Clarify Learning Intentions at planning stage• Create a climate where students expect a Learning Intention

• Explain the LI in student-speak and display it• Discuss the reason for learning this • Model the process or examine an exemplar• Invite students to say how we will know this has been learnt and write the Success Criteria

• Introduce the task• Check the students understand• Get the students to refer back to the LIs and SCs

How the principles of ‘Clarity’ and ‘Partnership’ could be put into action

• Follow the video and observe the elements of that are present