Successful Sixth Form Activities from RHS Staff

Marking

Marking using AO sheets so that they can see exactly what the exam board are looking for and which area they need to focus on

Marking using ticks and underlining – they then have 10 minutes at the start of the lesson to write next to each tick what they did well and work out why the underlined parts were underlined and what they needed to do to improve them

Group Tasks

Writing parts of essays in pairs – where both have to write exactly the same thing – this encouraged the students to talk about to work out the best way of phrasing each sentence.

Group task on understanding how to structure an essay properly – students are given cut up sections of an exam answer on different coloured paper (Yellow – Point, Pink – Evidence, Green – Analysis/link to question). They must put the answer in order. Successfully helps them identify the correct structure for their exam responses and understand the importance of in-depth analysis (the green sections of the essay are much longer than the other colours).

Peer and Self-Assessment

Use a random name generator at the end of timed essays to show on the visualiser to peer assess work. This encourages students to produce quality work.

Peer-assessment speed dating – to help students reflect on their coursework and begin their evaluation. Students put in pairs with questions and then rotate to different topics. They score each other for the depth of their partner’s answer. The next stage is they pair up with their highest scoring partner and peer-assess their film together using the success criteria.

Select a particular assessment focus which students struggled with, provided exemplar work, exam board feedback, teacher tips in a pack and asked them to synthesise the information in to a Guide To How to succeed in that assessment focus. Put them in pairs to make it more specific eg. How to get an A* in AO2. Then apply their own guide to their writing, aiming to improve their level to the next grade.

Homework

Setting mini projects for homework – we found this worked well for English Language in Yr 12 because their coursework in Yr 13 is a large project and it helps prepare them for it.

Revision

Using white board pens on the desk to mind map topics for revision Pub quizzes work really well with a mixture of question types and groups of mixed ability (or

sometimes just friendship groups for the more competitive element), small prizes are helpful but I tend to give each student a small chocolate or something too.

Rotation system of work so you hand out eg an exam question or a piece of paper with a key topic on it and they have x minutes to write something on it then they pass it on to the next person. Obviously it gets harder as it goes along but it also helps them to develop ideas.

Exam Practice

Teacher Writes model exam answers in class with the students Practising essay skills in groups e.g. HAPs working on synoptic links, middle on historical

interpretation and lower on knowledge Marking sample exam papers from the exam board using the mark scheme is good. Usually

done in pairs and the students tend to be harsher than me or the examiner. Students improve exam questions until they get their target grade – this is difficult to

manage with the more reluctant to do homework types, but it does mean that they can see where they need to work on and you can provide help with particular areas

An excellent example from ICT

When teaching students how to develop analytical and evaluation skills needed for essays – Socratic discussion. Get about five-seven more vocal and opinionated students around a table in the middle of the room (less/more depending on class size). They should only be able to see each other in their eye line. Give them a contentious topic such as ‘Is technology helping or hindering children’s social development’. If you need to, prompt the initial conversation, but they should discuss and be able to agree and disagree with each other’s points and build upon them in natural and flowing way. The aim is for it to seem like a discussion with just them and no one else with opposing views being given.

Meanwhile, each of the students in the audience is given a specific task to do that has been written on a bit of paper before the Socratic discussion starts. E.g. ‘Summarise all points made by student X’, ‘Summarise all points for the supporting argument’, ‘Summarise all points for the opposing argument’, ‘Listen carefully to all points made then write your own overall conclusion referring to what you have heard’. You can differentiate by giving weaker students simpler tasks. You can have more than one student with the same task.

Once the Socratic conversion has run it’s course you can get students who were making notes to read out what they have written. Can do it in the way an essay is structured with the conclusion last or however you choose.