In the last blog, I wrote about three key learning points.
In this blog, we'll look at the first of these...
Key learning point 1: Try to give feedback without returning pupils' scores/grades/papers. This removes the emotional response to a score/grade, and maintains pupils' curiosity in the questions that the teacher has identified to go through.
When this was suggested to me, it sounded weird.
When I first tried it, it felt weird.
But I tried it and I've observed a trainee do the same.
I'm sold. Pupils are more open to corrections, they're more curious about the answers, and they're more engaged in the feedback.
Logistically, this is how I've gone about feeding back.
1. Pupils complete a 'test', and I mark it before the next lesson. I've always valued a speedy turnaround, and like to plan my 'assessment lessons' so that I have time to mark and prepare an 'assessment feedback lesson' for the next lesson on the timetable.
2. I identify three areas of need for each pupil and set them follow up work on these questions. I try to make sure that each area of need catches as many pupils as I can, to minimise my work load and maximise the impact for the minimum effort, and also that the area of need isn't too far from their current level of understanding.
I do this by completing a QLA document (template here) and identifying the greatest areas of need by looking for the topics I expect 100% on, and seeing where gaps exist. I'll highlight the question in yellow, type the question number in at the end as their 'Next Step' and create similar questions in another sheet which are then sent to each pupils' individual printout.
3. I write example-problem pairs for the areas of need. The example that I use is always the test question, as that develops motivation - pupils recognise it, and they want to know the answer. The problems have a similar surface structure and similar deep structure, as my aim is to develop near transfer. Additional problems can vary in terms of the surface structure or their deep structure, but my main aim is to develop near transfer with this idea for those that didn't get this right in the 'test'.
4. We run through the example-problem pairs as a class with whole-class response systems. Pupils answer questions on mini-whiteboards and hold them up on my say-so, or we use multiple-choice questions to draw out misconceptions. At this stage pupils don't know what they scored on each question, so engagement is maximised. Pupils are responding on mini-whiteboards or with their fingers, so participation is maximised.
5. The pupils complete independent work on their three areas of need on their individual printouts. This way, their independent work is focused on their areas of need, not on the simple stuff that others got wrong, or on the stuff they found way too hard.
6. It's important to keep this stuff 'live' in the classroom, with opportunities for retrieval prepared in future lessons. With this in mind, the topics are added to my medium term plans as settlers/starters/Do Nows/homeworks with retrieval in mind.
I've mentioned this in a previous blog, and it's definitely important - emotions run high in 'assessment feedback lessons'.
Either there's a feeling of contentment, of relief, after successes that leave the learner feeling relaxed and like they don't need the feedback because they've 'smashed it'. Not giving them their 'test' back avoids this lack of focus and maintains their motivation.
The other side of the coin is that the pupil has 'failed' the 'test' and is now questioning their self worth, and the point of working hard if they 'keep doing crap in tests'. Not giving them their 'test' back until later delays this emotional response, maintains motivation and increases participation in the example-problem pair part of the lesson.
Karen Hancock had this to say on the issue:
I rarely put marks on the students' work. I mark directly into a spreadsheet and then I'll either do the paper live for them to mark or we create video solutions and they watch those.
— Karen (@karenshancock) January 8, 2023
We usually have a shadow paper so that they can demonstrate they can do the questions now.
This strikes me as being similar to what I've done, in that there's no focus on performance, but supercharged. Completing a QLA is something I do anyway, so I think the only difference is a lack of writing on scripts. I would, however, be wary of marking live, as there can be so many slight differences that can score marks on a five-mark question (for example) that I'd feel as though I'm losing control of the lesson. The video solutions is something I could go with - my current thoughts are to share worked solutions (on something like Google Classroom), but recording me writing these and talking about my thought process would be useful to pupils, I expect.
Using a shadow paper is an excellent idea, too, and something we do, but I think that their use could be more impactful too. Maybe they don't need to complete the entire shadow paper, but I can pick and choose those questions based on pupil need.
Nicky Gale replied with this tweet:
I work in a sixth form college. We do a video solution for all the questions and a shadow paper. In the lesson, students watch videos and correct any they didn’t get full marks for, then try the similar questions. We then have an individual conversation with them and set targets.
— Nicky Gale (@nicnaks79) January 9, 2023
This sounds excellent, and where I'd like to go with Karen's suggestion, but I don't think I could do this for 30 pupils in a lesson. I'd love to handover responsibility to the pupils, to watch the videos, to correctly answer the questions, and then work on the similar questions, but I'm not sure that I'd get what I want out of some of my pupils.
I feel like I need to direct this, and this is what Helen Scott had to say:
Pick 2-3 "should" have been able to model, DIRT questions after this. Ticks the policy box.
— Helen Scott (@HelenScott88) January 9, 2023
We all know the real learning comes from the retrieval and learning over time when they see the question again over starters and then in a quiz.
I feel as though 2-3 questions wouldn't cover everything from the paper in terms of pupil need, but I'm fully alongside the message of the tweet. I think choosing 2-3 per pupil, which might become 8-10 over the class is achievable and acceptable, with pupils working on the shadow questions for those 2-3 questions in terms of the 'feedback cycle' expected within schools, with (as Helen said) the real learning coming over time as pupils are re-exposed to the idea (using questions with a similar structure in the short term, and altering the surface or deep structure as we go).
In terms of how we go about this, Josh tweeted:
Yeah absolutely. I think when identifying the questions to go through we should ask ourselves ‘do they fundamentally not understand this? Or are they close to getting there?’
— Jshm (@jshmtn) January 8, 2023
The latter are for review lessons, the former are for your medium term plans.
This seems like an important point to end the blog on. Just because a pupil has got a question wrong doesn't mean that they don't understand the idea. On top of this, just because a pupil got a question correct doesn't mean they do understand the idea. Sometimes a pupil guesses, sometimes they fumble through their working, taking leaps and getting to the right answer despite not understanding the journey, and sometimes pupils struggle to apply their understanding in a high-pressure situation.
Be wary of assessment data.
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