Effective Use of Assessment Strategies

Winterhill SchoolOctober 2014

Key AfL Strategies

Description

Sharing Learning

Expectations

Sharing and modelling learning intentions and criteria for success

Feedback Providing feedback that moves learners forward

Questioning Engineering effective discussions, reviews and learning tasks that elicit evidence of learning

Assessment for Learning (AfL) helps a learner close the gap between their

present understanding and their learning goal.

Our job is to:1. Help students understand their

learning goals2. Help students to close the gap between

present performance and their goal

Self-Assessment

Activating students as owners of their own learning

Peer Assessment

Activating students as instructional resources for one another

Sharing Learning Expectations

Strategies for Sharing Success Criteria

Lesson outcomes WILF (What I’m looking for ...) Differentiated learning outcomes: Must’, ‘Should’, ‘Could’

Checklists – created by teachers and linked to levels/grades or created with students

e.g. after ranking sample work to develop ideas of success criteria

Level descriptors and mark schemes in student speak

Showing students ‘What a good one looks like’ – using modelling to create this ‘live’ in class

Analysing a poor example and creating a list of success criteria as a result

Modelling Golden Rules for graphs/discussion/performance - linked to a reward system for each criterion met

Playing Card Criteria

Feedback

Story Writing

Include alliteration

e.g. angry alligator …

(2 points)

Best practice in teacher-led written and verbal feedback:

SPECIFIC CONSTRUCTIVE TIMELY

1. Focus on the success criteria (Specific) 2. Provide clear targets for improvement (Constructive) 3. Ensure students immediately act on feedback (Timely)

4. Provide a framework for student-led feedback (Student – led)

Framework for being SPECIFIC and CONSTRUCTIVE:

1. Two stars and a wish

2. “Closing the gap” prompts - to encourage instant feedback:

Reminder prompt – most suitable for higher attaining students

“Say more about ......(why a rain shadow occurs / how you feel about this person)

A star is a positive comment which highlights excellence by explaining how students met an aspect of the success criteria for the work

A wish is a target for the student to act on immediately or within a short-time frame to improve the work

Scaffold prompt – suitable for most students

A question – “Can you explain why it rains over mountains? “Can you describe how this person is a good friend?”;

Example prompt – supportive of lower attaining students

“Choose one of these statements to tell me more about your friend. “He is a good friend because he never says unkind things to me.” Or, “My friend helps me do things.”

Ensuring feedback is TIMELY:

1. Providing 3-5 minutes homework response time 2. Reward students for evidencing that they are acting on your feedback 3. Encourage peer coaching and peer checking that wishes are acted on

Find and Fix your Errors

Rather than marking answers as correct or incorrect, the students are simply be told the number of answers that were incorrect. Then, they are given time in class to find and correct their mistakes.

Margin Marking

Instead of marking each spelling or grammar mistake on student essays, place a mark in the margin. The students are then required to analyze the sentence, find their own mistakes, and correct them.

+, –, = (Plus, Minus, Equals)

Student work is marked in relation to the previous assignment. If the latest assignment is of the same quality as the last assignment, it receives an “=”, if the assignment is better than the last assignment it receives a “+”, and if the assignment is not as good as the last assignment it receives a “–”. This information is formative because it uses the last piece of work as a reference point.

Focused Grading

Student work is marked only for one or two specific skills or criteria, even though there may be many more criteria that could be marked. This allows the teacher to provide more focused and thorough feedback on these skills and/or criteria than if a comprehensive set of criteria were applied. This approach also helps students by setting clear, attainable goals for their next revisions.

Mastery Grading

Student work is not accepted unless it is of a specific quality. One teacher gives only one grade, an A. Students are expected to continue to revise and resubmit their work as many times as necessary in order to receive an A. The end-of-course grade is then determined by the number of pieces of work that have received an A. In another example, the teacher awards √+, √, √–. A √ or √+ means that the student has mastered the necessary skills for the

current concept, a √– is accompanied by comments on how to improve, and the student is expected to revise his or her work before the unit test.

I Tell You – You Tell Me

A checklist is included at the start of the student’s workbook. Once a piece of work has been marked, the teacher lists the assignment (or page number) and the date and signs the checklist. Once the students complete the revisions, they also date and sign the checklist. Unless the student has signed the checklist, the next assignment will not be marked. The teacher is telling the student when and what to revise, and the student is telling the teacher when he or she is ready for the next assignment. If parents or students complain about the lack of feedback, the teacher has a system and evidence to support that position.

Reach for the Next Level

Students are required to identify areas of improvement in their own work by comparing their assignments to exemplars at the next level of achievement. With able students, this is a technique that allows the teacher to find room for improvement, no matter how good the original is. Students find out for themselves that they need to set higher standards.

Delayed Marking

Student work is not given a grade or score of any kind. Instead, written comments are provided that address the quality of the work and provide guidance for the student on how to improve. Students must read the comments closely to find out how they have performed. After a predetermined amount of time (eg one week) students talk with the teacher individually to discuss their piece of work, the feedback they received, and the grade or score that was given to the assignment.

Questioning

Effective Questioning strategies throughout a lesson

What should questioning set out to achieve in the first part of a lesson?

Engaging students, Focusing students on the learning objectives, Gathering prior learning, Demonstrating what students think or know/ don’t know, Demonstrating who does and doesn’t understand concepts, Making the first learning gains

1. Framing Learning

Identify key questions around which to base your learning outcomes:

Where in the world are Transnational Companies like Nike based and why? (C) +

What positive and negative impacts can Nike factories have on developing countries like China? (B/A)

= Learning Outcome To be able to explain the distribution of the operations of TNCs (C) and evaluate the impacts of TNCs on developing countries (B-A)

2. Launching Learning

Type of question

Example

BIG question An open question or problem solving task which can set the scene for a lesson and can be used to encourage discussion - ‘If plants need sunlight to make food, why aren’t the biggest plants found in deserts?’

5 W’s Asking students based on a photo to explain Who? What? Where? Why?

When?Range of answers

What makes a good conductor?Metal Plastic Wood Cotton

Statement “Multiples of 3 are always odd numbers. Agree or disagree?” “Exercise leads to a healthy lifestyle”

Right and wrong

Why are these shapes square and these not?

Starting from the end

The answer is 180. What was the question? Bricks are the best material for building a house. Why?

Opposing standpoints

Was Gandhi’s assassin justified because he opposed partition? Should women do all the housework if they don’t go out to work?

Odd one out Which is the odd one out and why?

True or false All odd numbers are prime? True or False?Always, Sometimes, Never

“A car will travel the same distance on any surface if the starting force is the same.” Always, sometimes, never?

Order the statements

1.Can be used in a linear sequence (washing line style)e.g. tapes, records, CDs,

2.Can involve prioritisatione.g. which is most important a. water b. air c. food

Thunks A simple or silly-looking question about everyday things that promotes discussion and thinking:What would happen if someone turned off the sun? In a dark room what does a mirror reflect? Can you touch the wind? Which is heavier, a deflated or inflated balloon?Can you stand on the same beach twice? Is war a good thing?

3. Strategies to encourage students to ask questions (launching or reviewing a lesson)

Questions under the chair – Student write on a mini-whiteboard or post-it note the questions they have based on an image linked to the day’s lesson or based on knowing what the lesson topic is and put these away under their chair. Then at the end of the lesson these questions are taken back out to form a final review by finding out if the students can now answer all of their initial questions and answering any remaining questions

Question box / Post-It Wall – Asking students to put questions on the wall/in the box at the start of a lesson to help personalise the content taught or putting in questions that still remain at the end of a lesson to allow learning to be consolidated or plan a starter for next lesson

Mystery object and dice – Reveal a mystery object or image which students then ask each other questions about using question dice (Dice asking What? Who? Where? Why? How?) to gather existing knowledge or develop creativity

Question Tokens – Encouraging students to ask effective questions during a ‘hands-on’ phase of your lesson can be achieved by giving students a certain number of tokens (which can be differentiated) which they exchange for the chance to ask their teacher a question. This promotes independence and thinking leading to higher quality questions.

4. Differentiating the direction of learning (Hinge Questions)

A hinge question is based on ONE important concept in a lesson that is critical for students to understand before you move on in that lesson. The lesson should be planned to go ONE OF TWO OR MORE WAYS depending on student understanding, as revealed in their answers to the hinge question. A hinge question can take any format as long as:

It takes no longer than 30 seconds to a minute to ask or present It takes no longer than 2 minutes for student to respond to All students can respond to it simultaneously e.g. using mini-whiteboards or A,B,C,D

cards to hold up You can quickly assess the responses in less than 30 seconds The correct answer is interpretable (the correct answer can be correct only for the right

reasons, not by a fluke)

Hinge Question 1: “Trapeziums”

Context: The lesson topic is the characteristics of trapeziums. The critical point is that students recognize the characteristics of trapeziums beyond the traditional view (III). Responses will be collected on whiteboards. The lesson will either continue with most students working in pairs on a trapezium concept sort or with those students who understand the characteristics pairing up for a review with those who chose B or C, and the teacher working with those who chose A.

I II III

Which of the figures are trapeziums?

(A) III (B) I, III (C) II, III (D) I, II, III

Hinge Question 2 = “Topic Sentences”

Context: The lesson theme is topic sentences. The critical point is that students recognize the characteristics of good topic sentences. Responses are collected with ABCD cards. The lesson will continue either with most students working in pairs to write and evaluate their own topic sentences and then to write a paragraph based on one of them. Supporting students who did not give the correct answer (D) by pairing those students with those who do understand to firstly read prepared individual paragraphs and then to select and discuss the topic sentence, before moving onto the main task.

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a topic sentence?

(A) It should be a clear, crisp statement of the central thought.

(B) It should be placed where it is most effective.

(C) It supplies direction to the other sentences in the paragraph.

(D) It adds evidence and develops the main idea.

5. Differentiating the difficulty of questions

Differentiation using Bloom’s Taxonomy – A scale which encourages progression in the difficulty of questioning. With each step up a level the demands on students thinking increase as questions become more open.

Level 1 – Knowledge What is ...? Who was ...? How is ...? Which one ...?

Level 2 – Comprehension What is the main idea of ...? Can you explain what is happening ...? How would you classify...? How would you compare...?

Level 3 - Application How would you use...? What examples can you find to...? What would happen if...?

Level 4 – Analysis Why do you think...? What is the relationship between...? What evidence can you find...? How is _____ related to ....?

Level 5 – Synthesis Can you propose an alternative ...? Can you predict the outcome if...? Suppose you could _____what would

you do? How would you adapt ___ to create a

different..?

Level 6 – Evaluation Do you agree with the actions...? Why

or why not? How would you evaluate...? How would you prove or disprove?

Differentiating the NC Level or grade of the questions asked - to allow students to access the level/grade that matches their current performance or their target performance (as best fits that lesson). Encouraging students to progress to the next level of difficulty or extension task once their understanding has been checked either by the teacher or themselves through self-assessment

What should questioning set out to achieve in the second part of a lesson?

Consolidating understanding, Developing and deepening understanding, Making students witness their own progress, Assessing the extent to which further consolidation or extension is required next lesson

6. Deepening Discussion

Hot Questions – Encouraging students to extend their answers by probing further thanks to questions like:

What do you think? Why do you think that? How do you know?

Do you all agree? Do you have a reason? Is there another way? Can you be sure? Where/What the evidence?

Pose – Pause – Bounce – Pounce = Pose a question or series of questions, Pause while the students to think in silence, Bounce the question to a student you pick and random and let them respond, Pounce on another student and ask them their opinion on the answer just given

7. Promoting student reflection

The Blob Man Tree - Students choose one of the blob men on the tree which best sums up how they feel about the lesson / their work so far?They then have 20 seconds to individually get into the image of the blob man chosen to then be questioned

Plenary Cue Cards - A selection of questions in an envelope to facilitate student discussion in pairs e.g. ‘I know I have learned something today because .....

Plenary Dice - Dice with a pair of students take turns to roll and answer themselves e.g. ‘one thing I have learned today’ or seek help from their partner e.g. ‘one thing I still don’t understand’

8. Reviewing learning

Classic Quizzes – as long as the questions asked are directly linked to the learning objectives across the whole lesson, a gradation of difficultly is evident and all answers can be reviewed e.g. through use of mini-whiteboards then quizzes from Blankety Blank to Blockbusters and many more work well

Levelled questions – Posing questions linked to levels which students are given one at a time to see the level of understanding they attained in the lesson. Alternatively, revealing all these levelled questions at once for the students to tackle the one they feel confident to

Exam questions – Applying the understanding gained over the lesson in an exam answer which could be peer marked and answers taken on what the most common misconceptions were

Review wheel – A spinning wheel that selects a method for students to feedback on learning, personalised to the review techniques which work best in your subject

9. No Hands Questioning Strategies

Lollipop sticks - Encourage all students to be ready to answer by selecting them at random using lollipop sticks and encourage students to build on each other’s answers e.g. picking two sticks at once and asking the second student to extend the answer or agree/disagree. Differentiate by having one colour lollipop stick for one ability level and another colour for a higher ability to target with more challenging questions

Mini-whiteboards – an inclusive way to question and ensure all students can share an answer at once

Random name generators - choose a student using a Powerpoint version or online fruit machine at http://classtools.net/education-games-php/fruit_machine/. (although this online version is too slow for general class questioning, so only suitable for selecting a student to present or enter a hot seat say)

Post-it note answer wall – students all answer on a post-it and stick it on the wall for teacher or student to debrief

Volunteers and victims - where 3 students are invited to answer and then 3 further students chosen to share an answer

10. Thinking Time Strategies

Wait time – allowing 3 to 5 seconds time for research and reflection after asking questions. This generates the benefits of longer answers from students, more confident responses, and students challenging and building on each other’s answers. It also reduces failure to respond.

Talk Partners – giving students the opportunity to talk through a possible answer, even just for 30 seconds, allows them to support or challenge each other and means every student has engaged in thinking through an answer so they can be picked at random without fear

Think-Pair-Square-Share/Snowballing - increases participation and quality of answers by asking students to think individually and then discuss in a pair, then a group prior to the teacher asking the class for contributions

Peer and Self-Assessment

Strategies for student-led feedback (self and peer assessment)

Peer Assessment

Annotating using post-its to highlight strengths and areas of improvement homework examples :

e.g. with work blue-tacked on a wall/pegged on a washing line (after annotating an example on the board to model the process)

Carousels – Students send their piece of work around to others in a group and each of them provides constructive feedback for improving their work

Checklists – Students mark each other’s work against a checklist prepared by themselves as a class based on sample work or against a teacher prepared checklist

Composite Answer – Students in a small group build a composite answer by taking the best features of each of their individual answers, making them recognise strengths and weaknesses across the individual answers. Students who did not originally understand some aspects of the question learn a lot from their peers

Fix-it marking – Pairs pass their work onto another pair, who underline two bits that need to change or be improved. They then pass the work onto another pair, who look at parts underlined and attempt to ‘fix it’

Hot, warm, cool, cold – Students decide which parts of someone else’s work is ‘hot stuff’, which is fairly engaging (warm), which rather uninteresting (cool) and which is downright dull (cold). Can be done with colours (red, orange, blue, grey)

Identifying group weaknesses – Groups of students discuss what they have learned and what they still need to learn in a particular topic. Each group then decides which of these needs should be labelled ‘a group weakness’. Students from other groups then help close some of their peers’ gaps in understanding before the teacher is asked for help

Improvement Evaluation – Students analyse the work of a peer over a period of time to provide feedback on what has happened and what is still needs improvement. The work compared must use the same type of skills so the student can check for improvement and provide helpful feedback.

Learning triads - Pupils work in threes. One person answers questions on their work, pointing to the relevant bits. One person questions them using a checklist. The third person writes notes (e.g. on post-its) on the key points for improvement which arise. Then roles reverse until everyone’s work has been assessed. Students should find a positive and no more than two points for improvement which then form the targets for immediate redrafting of the work.

Silent Gallery – Students move around the room in silence looking at all the work completed by fellow students laid out on desks or blue-taked to the wall. They are then to draw a sybol on the piece of work that includes the most original idea (light-bulb), meets the most advanced success criteria (spanner) and shows the most effort (star)

Tip, target, success, think – Tip (>) means add or change. Target (*) means now try this. Success (√) means you did this well. Think (?) means you didn’t do this well – rethink it. Students try to find one of each in a partner’s work.

Two stars and a wish –Give students a mark-scheme or checklist, to mark their own work. (Or each others in pairs). Students can then award two stars and a wish. This can act as part of a plenary to class work or be given to homework before it is handed to the teacher.

Playing Cards Success Criteria – Give students the success criteria for a task on individual playing cards. They can then turn these over as they meet them to help self-assess progress and/or award these to a partner for each success criteria they meet during peer assessment

Ice Cream Bowl – Use ‘scoops’ to mark work or presentations against each success criteria

Cooperative Peer Improvement – an alternative to students swapping work, writing on targets and passing back. The students

Use the following scale to analyse performance on this presentation:

• Empty Bowl = The presenter did not meet any of the requirements of the presentation

• 1 Scoop = The presenter met some, but not all the requirements of that section

• 2 Scoops = The presenter met the requirements of that section

• Extra Toppings = The presenter went way beyond the requirements of that section by giving a special effort and adding something extra

discuss the quality of each other’s work together and then students improve their work there and then based on the live feedback

Self-Assessment

Learning Journal - Having completed an lesson, an assessment or a homework, ask students to write down areas they are finding interesting / any areas they are having problems with, which you then read during marking and this facilitates dialogue

Traffic lighting - with checklists or learning outcomes or displaying laminated traffic light cards or paper cups during lessons to indicate confidence and whether need a little or a lot of help

Post-it Note Question Board – Having completed a task, lesson or homework students write questions they still need answering onto a post-it and stick these to the board. These can then be addressed be fellow students or the teacher (for those fellow students can’t solve) there and then or in the next lesson This can also be used for ‘gots’ and ‘needs’ where students write on a post-it something they understood (got) and something they still don’t understand (need).

Plus +/Minus -/Interesting Charts – Students write on a Flip chart/post-its what was positive, negative or interesting about a lesson

De Bono’s Thinking Hats:

Yellow hat – What did you really enjoy doing? What did you do really well?Black hat – What didn’t you like doing? What problems did you have?Red hat – How did you feel when completing/presenting your story?Blue hat – List the activities you completed in this training. What were your goals?Green hat – What would you like to do differently in your own practice to improve? What would you like to learn in future?White hat – List one new thing you have learned? What did you learn about yourself as a learner?