Last term....(marking and musings)

So, the last term of the academic year looms. I'm struggling to get my head around how the year has gone so fast. It's been an enjoyable year, in which I think since returning from maternity leave I've found a huge energy for my job. I've found myself reading more around the subject, re-visiting teaching books and material that I hadn't read for a while. Twitter and this blog seemed like the next step, in order to engage further with the way I teach.

The area I think I have developed the greatest interest, in terms of reading and research, has been marking and assessment. The more I learn, the more I think I took for granted and assumed about my marking and feedback. Making sure that every comment, point, tick or symbol was not only useful but informative. There is also then the tricky balance of praise and progress. No-one (or perhaps it is just me!) really likes being told what isn't great and needs improving, even if that actually helps you, it can still sting.

If we consider that students could have 4-5 other classes in a day that is potentially a lot of constructive comments and structured progress and development! Whilst it is extremely useful and supports/structures progress it could get draining and demoralising for students, particularly those that already have lower self-esteem. That is why it is crucial to structure progress comments

• in a clear manner that won't confuse the message or your aims
• in a positive way, to ensure not only that students engage with the feedback but that they feel confident about their ability to progress in the subject
• linking to a specific area; be that use of evidence, spelling or ability to explain an argument for example
• if possible including a question (more about this in a minute)

I've found including a question as part of my feedback has been beneficial, it provides a clear and defined task as part of the feedback as well as directing focus to a specific area. Next blog post will focus on how praise is used in marking and feedback.

3 stars? 2 stars? 1 star? Wish? Getting to grips with feedback

Providing feedback to students, whether immediately, at the end of a lesson or later, is so important. It so important to ensure that the feedback given, whether written or spoken, is understood and achievable for the student. When training as a teacher we talked in terms of SMART targets and our own targets were phrased and developed with this in mind. I often wonder whether we keep this at the front of our mind when setting targets for students and providing feedback.

We all discuss at the start of any new course or academic year the target for each student, we talk it through and we agree upon it as teacher and student. But, to what extent are we discussing the journey to that target?

When we give feedback, both as teachers and when we encourage students to, we all have our own bank of approaches and ideas:

• some like a traffic light system
• others favour 3 stars and a wish
• smiley and quizzical faces have been noted previously!
• others favour a more lengthy comment and question approach

I am not attempting to state or argue as to which is best, all focus upon providing students with a positive comment to recognise their contribution, engagement, effort and knowledge. We all thrive on praise, there are numerous articles written that weigh up the type and frequency of praise with the impact upon the development of a young person. But, put quite simply most of us like to hear when we are doing something well. We feel acknowledged and valued. As teachers we want our students to feel this. The wish or quizzical face denotes the required next steps for the student. This may be a simple task such as completing missing work, it may be a question to test and stretch or it may be a focus for future work such as spelling.

The more I teach the more I recognise that there is still so much for me to learn about feedback. About feedback to get the most out of students, to have the greatest impact and to help that progress in the most manageable and importantly engaging way.

Peer-assessment

Such a great and beneficial tool in the classroom. Not only does it give students the chance to review and engage with different ideas and their peers it enables them to apply the success criteria. By applying the success criteria critically to someone else's work it helps, in my opinion, the student to see what and how the teacher is reviewing their work. It also helps provide a realistic model for the task.

Something I am conscious of is that finding the time to do peer-assessment is not difficult, it is something that can be built in easily to a successful plenary. Finding the time to do peer-assessment in depth, successfully and with the students fully aware of what and why they are doing this is much harder. I think in the past I have been guilty of thinking that students will be able to review someone else's work and comment on it, as if that was an easy thing. I have been reviewing my approach to peer-assessment and am contemplating trying some new things:

• creating target and achievement statements
• making sure I use the statement banks regularly both in class and in book feedback
• providing different opportunities for peer-assessment, rather than just the usual swap with a neighbour

I think that I will be creating A5 laminated statement banks that can be left on tables next to student work, enabling students to rotate around the room and find a new and different book to mark. Alternatively I can collect books and hand them out randomly, but I think they may take up unnecessary time and create more confusion. I also propose to try the statement banks as a means of providing extension material for students, enabling them to review their work with a better level of focus.

Anyway, I'll check back in on this in a couple of weeks. Hopefully with good news. Will welcome any comments and thoughts from others about peer-assessment and what has worked well!

Making marking matter

So in my last post I mentioned trialling a traffic light system and borrowing some tips and techniques from friends in the primary school sector. These tips included:

• a wipe clean A1 traffic light poster and board pen
• a traffic light stamp - pre-coloured
• a blank traffic light stamp

These have been really useful as part of my verbal feedback and in class cues. The pre-coloured stamp has enabled me to circulate and give feedback that identifies; both effort/engagement and whether the work being produced is on-track. It has been really useful as a motivator for students. The wipe-clean poster allowed me to write down what I meant by red (off-track), amber (working towards on-track) and green (on-track). It enabled me to identify the behaviours I associated with good learning and provide a reminder for students about the purpose of the traffic lights in their feedback (both written and oral).

So with half-term upon me I have the chance to reflect properly, and to review some of the student voice that I have been collecting.

Marking and Feedback

So, this is an area of particular interest for me as a teacher. As a newly qualified teacher I found myself worrying about how much I should mark, what I should say and what parents expected to see. As I have gained both confidence and experience as a teacher I have spent much time looking for ways to improve my marking, in particular to ensure that students learn from it rather than simply seeing it.
One of the most common reactions to handing back a piece of work, particularly if it was a test or assessment, is the rush amongst students to find out their grade and then to compare it with their peers. Whilst this can be a positive experience and can boost confidence as well as showing progress or act as a means to motivate, does it actually engage students in the learning process?
The next challenge then is the role of comments at the end, and during, assessments and work:

• ensuring you have the time to do this justice
• ensuring the comment has meaning and not simply 'well done'
• making sure the comment identifies to students whether they have made progress
• identifying where students are in terms of their targets
• rewarding effort and praise
• enabling the student to respond to comments and concerns
• clearly showing the required next steps

As the list shows there are a number of things that would be useful and/or beneficial to see in marking feedback. This was my starting point. I am currently working on a traffic light centred system. The purpose of which being;

• identifying quickly for students through red,amber, green whether they are on track for their target grades
• providing a tick list of four effort options; ranging from off-target and no/minimal effort to excellent effort and engagement both in written and oral contributions.
• teacher comment and feedback: a small box for written comments and next steps
• a response box for students
• the ability to add an overall grade if required

I feared at first that this might become too time-consuming, but so far it is working well and providing quick, visible and obvious feedback for students. The next step will now be to get feedback from students about what I am doing.