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Assessment for Learning (AfL)

Unit 3:

Formative Feedback

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Learning Intentions

• To know what is meant by high quality ‘formative feedback’

• To know the steps needed to provide high quality formative feedback in your classroom

• To understand how formative feedback can impact on pupils’ learning.

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Activity 1a

Effective Feedback

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What Do We Mean by Formative Feedback?

‘Feedback to any pupil should be about the particular qualities of his or her work, with advice on what he or she can do to improve, and should avoid comparisons with other pupils.’

- Inside the Black Box Black & Wiliam 1998

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Characteristics of Formative Feedback

the desired goal

some understanding of how to close the gap

evidence on where they are now

• Feedback should provide:

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Timing of Formative Feedback

• Feed back during the learning

• Allow time for improvement

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Activity 1b

Formative Statements

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Why Is it Important?

• Focuses on improvement

• De-emphasises competition

• Improves motivation and learning ambition

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Types of FeedbackOral Feedback

• During the lesson/activity• Personal and immediate• Interactive (two-way)

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Effective Oral FeedbackActivity: Pupils cut out, order and glue pictures of a story in

sequence We Are Learning To: Sequence events

Success Criterion: The pictures will be in the same order as the story we read

You are getting better at cutting out. Well done!

Good girl, you have glued that picture very neatly

Good strategy, you have cut out all the pictures first so you can shuffle them around and change your mind

Well done. I see you have got the first picture in place. What happened next in the story?

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Focusing the Feedback

‘I recognised things in myself like commenting about the handwriting and spelling, when I should be commenting on the learning intention. It’s been a real revelation to me. I’m aware of it all the time now and when I hear myself starting to say “you’ve left a capital letter out there”, I stop really quickly now and go back to talking about the learning intention.’

- A teacher from S. Clarke’s research project

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Types of FeedbackWritten Feedback

• Tends to be after the task is complete• Comments only

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Learning from Feedback

• Do you allow time for pupils to read your comments?

• Do you allow time for improvements to be made to the work?

• Can pupils read/understand your marking comments?

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How Do Pupils Interpret Your Feedback?• ‘Develop these ideas further…’

- ‘Teachers expect you to know what they mean in comments’ Y10- ‘It would be good if teachers wrote how you could improve your work more’

• ‘Good work …’

- ‘Good’ doesn’t help much – he’s just saying that it’s not really very good. I’d like it if he just told the truth.’ P4

- ‘If I get a ‘good’ , I don’t often know what I’ve done good’ Y8

• ‘You must try harder…’

- ‘I get ‘try harder’ a lot, but it doesn’t really help me do any better‘

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A Controversial Question About MarkingWhich is most effective in helping learners improve?

• Mark/grade only (e.g. 4/10, B+)

• Mark/grade and comment

• Comment only

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Comment-only Marking Is the Best Way to Help Learners Improve

Groups of pupils given:

Improvement in Work

Interest in Subject

Marks/grades only Nil + for high attainers- for middle/low

Marks/grades + comments

Nil + for high attainers- for middle/low

Comments only 30% + for all groups

Research findings, Black & Wiliam,1998

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A Strategy for Written Feedback

• Find 2 successes against the success criteria

• Find the part of the work that has most scope for an immediate ‘jump’ (not simply the worst part)

• Write a short prompt telling the child exactly what to do to this part of their work

• Provide time for them to read, process and respond to your prompt

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Prompts for Improvement

• A reminder prompt: is most suitable for able children. ‘Say more about how you feel about this person.’

• A scaffold prompt: scaffolds the learning for children who need more support than a simple reminder.

‘Can you describe how this person is a ‘good friend’?’

‘Describe something that happened that showed they are a good friend.’

• An example prompt: can be extremely successful with all children, but especially with average or below average children.

‘Choose one of these or your own: “He is a good friend because he never says unkind things about me”, “My friend is a friend because he never tells me lies.’” - Shirley Clarke

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Reminder Prompt

Learning Intention: To be able to isolate variables in a controlled test. - ‘The nail rusted much more in dish 2.’

Emma, what were the isolated variables that

caused the rusting?

‘The isolated variables were water and air – these must have been the causes of the rusting.’

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Scaffold Prompt

Learning Intention: To use dialogue to give the reader an impression of character.

- ‘Emil smiled and whipered, “Put it in your pocit.”’

‘Emil smiled slyly’

Complete this with a powerful adverb:

Emil smiled …………..

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Example Prompt

Learning Intention: To identify patterns of volcanic activity- ‘There is a chane of voclanos in the meditranan sea they from a line.’

‘Sir I like Etna best.’

‘One of these volcanoes is named Etna it is near a citiy caled Naples.’

Name one example:One of these volcanoes is

named …………..

Vesuvius

Stromboli

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Activity 2

Prompts for Improvement

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Final Tips and Reminders

To deliver formative feedback:

• Relate the feedback to the learning intention and success criteria;

• Identify where success has occurred;

• Set a goal for improvement;

• Show where and how improvement could take place;

• Allow time for pupils to make improvements; and

• Start small