Assessment for Learning

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Assessment for Learning

• Workshop Activities
• iNET Chile May/June 2006
• Dr Carin Taylor

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What are we trying to do?

• Improve Learning

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Workshop Objective to explore ways of improving
learning in your schools

• Expected outcomes at the end of this workshop
  you will have ten new ideas and have decided
  which three are the most important to implement
  in your school

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How can Assessment for Learning help improve
learning?

• Provide effective feedback to students
• Actively involve students in their learning
• Adjust teaching to take account of feedback on
  students learning
• Recognise that assessment has a profound impact
  on the motivation and self-esteem of students
  this is the foundation of achievement

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Part One Measuring Learning to Improve Learning

• Identifying objectives and outcomes for lessons
• Identifying assessment criteria and sharing them
  with students

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1a Learning Outcomes for each lesson

• Identify lesson outcomes in your planning
• Share them with students at the start of the
  lesson
• Check that you and they have achieved the
  outcomes at the end of the lesson

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Lesson outcomes Activities

• What is the difference between lesson objectives
  and lesson outcomes?

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To list three products of the oil refining process
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To understand the clinical definition of
depression
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Can you come up with two examples of each of your
own?
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Activity

• Take a topic that you will teach. What are your
  learning objectives for that topic?
• Plan six lessons
• What might your lesson outcomes be for each
  lesson? At the end of this lesson students will
  be able to do/describe/explain what?

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1b What do UK assessment criteria look like?

• Examples from Religious Education and from
  Science in your pack

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Religious Education for 13 -14 year olds

• An essay of 500 words Examine the different
  ways in which the Universe is said to have begun
• How does the student know what is expected?
• How does the teacher measure the standard and set
  targets to improve learning?

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Assessment Criteria

• A UK example for 14 -16 year olds for science
  investigations
• Some examples of marked and assessed work in your
  pack

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Assessment Criteria Activity

• In your pack you have an unmarked science
  investigation. Use the assessment criteria to
  make a judgement on the standard of this work and
  be ready to justify your decision

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Part Two Deepening Learning

• Feedback dialogue to increase learning
• Setting useful targets to improve learning
  (SMART)
• Asking questions that promote thinking
  learning
• Teaching students strategies for effective
  learning extending learning through homework

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2a Providing Feedback

• Why do we mark work?
• How can marking improve learning?

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Some Assessment for Learning principles for
effective marking

• Make clear to students what is required and the
  criteria for success
• Be constructive about how to improve work Next
  time try to include more detail to support the
  points you make
• Be positive about what is done well good use of
  detail to support your argument

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Allow students to respond to marked work

• I found this difficult because..
• Next time I need to try to
• I am sure I can now explain this topic to my
  friend.
• Since my last piece of work. I have improved

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2b Setting targets for improvement

• You must work harder
• Pay attention more
• Write more
• Revise vocabulary thoroughly
• Chilean examples?

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Activity setting targets for improvement

• How can we make these general wishes into SMART
  targets that are helpful for students and
  teachers?
• Choose three and make them SMART!
• Teach students how to set their own!

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Helping Students to set their own SMART targets

• Sheet in your pack which you can use to help
  students think about thier own short and medium
  targets

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2c Delivering the Outcomes Use of Questioning

• Is the question worth asking?
• What is the learning purpose of different types
  of question?

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Activity Questioning

• How many different reasons for questioning can
  you come up with?
• (I have a list of 24)

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Killer Questions

• These eliminate most of the class
• Can anyone tell me?
• Who can tell me?
• Hands up who knows?

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Good use of questioning

• Planned for purpose
• No hands up
• Time to think

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Follow up questions

• would you like to say more about that?
• Invite another student to say more about it
• Ask other students if they agree and why/why not
• Get students in groups decide on the best answer

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2d What is the point of Homework?

• What do you use homework for now?
• Can we develop its use to extend real learning?

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Strategies for Students Homework Revision

• Design a card sort for peers to use to rank their
  ideas or views
• Re-write your learning on this topic/from todays
  lesson as five bullet points
• Change your lesson notes into a diagram or a
  concept map
• Record a one minute talk about what you have
  learned
• Write a list of key words and their meaning from
  todays work
• Design a quiz for your peers about the work
  covered today

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Strategies for Students homework revision (2)

• Create a storyboard to illustrate a process or
  sequence learned
• Go through all your notes for the last half term
  and traffic light them to see how much you still
  understand
• Make a list of questions that you would like to
  ask about this topic. Choose one to answer for
  the whole class.
• Take a friends book home and write questions you
  have about it and ask your friend to explain

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Homework activity

• Choose three new strategies and apply them to a
  topic you teach.

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Plenary Review of Learning

• What Assessment for Learning techniques have you
  experienced yourself through the sessions today?
• Have you had ten new ideas about learning? What
  are they?
• Which are the three ideas that you might try to
  implement in your school?

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Set yourself three SMART targets

• What do you now need to do in order to implement
  these three important ideas in your school?

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It has been a privilege to work with you. My
thanks and best wishes as we journey together to
improve learning for the young people in our
schools