Four Pillars of Assessment : Value (4)

Assessments can have positive and negative effects, something known as the washback effect. The intended effects of assessment, such as pupils studying more, or high-quality feedback for learning, are known as positive washback. The unintended negative effects from assessment – such as unmanageable workload, teaching to the test, decreased time for other activities – are the negative washback effects.

In many ways, effective assessment is learning how to maximise positive washback and minimise negative washback. The main way in which we approach this is to create strong and explicit links between curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.

Ultimately, pupils should be able to “experience success and failure not as reward and punishment but as information” (On Knowing: Essays forthe Left Hand by J S Bruner 1979); it is information derived from well-designed, purposeful, planned assessments which bridges the gap between teaching and learning.

Better information can inform better decisions, and better decisions can lead to better learning. And if that’s not the most valuable outcome, what is?

Read more at: https://evidencebased.education/pillars-assessment-value/ 

Four Pillars of Assessment: Reliability (3)

Have you ever weighed yourself in the morning, and then again in the afternoon? If you did, you probably got slightly different readings each time. So how much do you weigh? Which is the correct reading (if either of them is indeed ‘correct’)? Most people answer this question with the obvious response (‘the lower one’), but at the heart of the issue is the reliability of the measurement: its accuracy and consistency over time, and context.

Reliability in the assessment of student learning is also about accuracy and consistency and, as a rule, the higher the stakes of the decision we want to make based on assessment information, the more accurate and consistent we want the information to be. High-stakes decisions need highly reliable information. As we saw with validity, a determination of how reliable an assessment needs to be is informed by its intended end uses.

Read more at: https://evidencebased.education/pillars-assessment-reliability/

Four Pillars of Assessment: Validity (2)

Validity is perhaps the most commonly-used word in discussions about the quality of any assessment. While it’s used a lot, it is often misunderstood and can be very misleading.

Validity is a word which, in assessment, refers to two things:

• The ability of the assessment to test what it intends to measure;
• The ability of the assessment to provide information which is both valuable and appropriate for the intended purpose.

A common misconception about validity is that it is a property of an assessment, but in reality, there is no such thing as ‘a valid assessment’. However, there is such a thing as ‘an assessment which is valid for a specific purpose’: validity is all about the inferences you make based on the information generated.

Read more at https://evidencebased.education/pillars-assessment-purpose-validity/

Four Pillars of Assessment: Purpose (1)

The first in a 4-part series of blogs here from Evidence Based Education on Assessment. They argue that to effectively use assessment in school, we need to be sure that the assessment itself fits the purpose that it is going to be used for. i.e., if we want to show progress on a particular topic, are our assessments robust enough to see if this has happened?

"What sorts of assessments do you use in schools? Whether they are external standardised assessments, home-grown tests, or past papers, is everyone clear about what their intended purpose is and how the information from them will be used? Are they fit for their intended purpose, or have they been warped over time – bent out of shape to fit a need in school? Or perhaps they’re done because … well… “we’ve always done them”!

Make sure the most is made of your time on assessment with appropriate, dependable measures to make appropriate, dependable claims and judgements."

https://evidencebased.education/pillars-assessment-purpose/

Rethinking Boys’ Engagement

An interesting post here on boys' engagement, debunking some myths and moving away from the assumptions about competition and real-world relevance of content. What it suggests as good practice is equally applicable to girls too.

What this Head of English found worked well:

1. Quality feedback that encouraged lots of repetitive practice in their areas of weakness
2. Positive relationships based on effective behaviour management
3. Really high expectations for all pupils

This is expanded upon in the full blog post which is worth a read:

https://markrobertsteach.wordpress.com/2017/07/03/rethinking-boys-engagement-my-talk-from-tllleeds17/

Kenton School TeachMeet

Kenton School are having a TeachMeet on Thursday 2nd November and we are warmly invited. 

The event has a bonfire theme, all about putting a spark into our teaching. The event focuses on how to engage and add a va-va-voom to the classroom. How can we excite and combat apathy in the classroom? How can we eradicate the gap between the achievement of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students? What does this look like practically? You’ll leave the event with a number of exciting strategies that can be immediately implemented into your lessons.

A number of speakers will be presenting on the evening (some from Kenton, some from other schools), all offering 3 minute tips in a carousel format- as always you choose which tip will be most relevant for you!

We have a number of exciting prizes up for grabs too. 

Refreshments from 4:30 with the meet happening from 5-6:30. If you are interest in attending send an e-mail to. TandL@kenton.newcastle.sch.uk

Mini TeachMeet 9

Link to Presentation

1. Higher-Order Questioning
SS shared some good question prompts for different levels of thinking (see presentation for question prompts):

• Knowledge, Comprehension
• Application, Analysis
• Evaluation, Synthesis

2. I’m going to speak as……

• This was adapted from the training we had in September, which SS greatly valued. He has come up with 8 categories of individual to ‘speak as’ during lessons (Chief Designer, Head of Manufacturing, Client, Inventor, Head of Quality Control, CEO/Board Members, User, Head of Finance) which he has found work well. He encouraged other departments to think of similar categorisations for their subjects.
• This is particularly powerful when asking students to ‘speak as’ these individuals and encourages them to think about aspects they might not have done if just answering the question themselves without the roleplay.

3. Purple Pen

• Student responses to feedback recorded in purple pen
• Some students work is nearly perfect and so has little purple pen, others have added significantly following feedback. 
• All students end up with similar level of detail but it is clear who has had support or who has completed the task independently
• A good way of evidencing response to feedback

4. Feedback proforma

• SS shared a new proforma they are thinking of using in Product Design where the WWW parts of the work can be completed from a checklist and ticked whilst EBI feedback is then given in a more individualised way.
• Saves the work of writing the same/similar things on 20 pieces of work whilst still providing meaningful feedback as long as the criteria are sufficiently detailed – which they were!

Scientists May Have Found the Real Cause of Dyslexia—And a Way to Treat It

A bold headline for a study containing 60 subjects but this does make interesting reading. Many thanks to VW for pointing me in this direction.

In essence, they noticed that there are physiological differences inside the eye between subjects with and without dyslexia:

Just as most of us have a dominant hand, most have a dominant eye too, which has more neural connections to the brain. The study of 60 people, divided evenly between those with dyslexia and those without, found that in the eyes of non-dyslexic people, the arrangement of the cones is asymmetrical: The dominant eye has a round, cone-free hole, while the other eye has an unevenly shaped hole. However, in people with dyslexia, both eyes have the same round hole. So when they're looking at something in front of them, such as a page in a book, their eyes perceive exact mirror images, which end up fighting for visual domination in the brain. 

They go on to use a special lamp which helps to eradicate the problem.

Original blog post: https://goo.gl/6qrMcq
Guardian article: https://goo.gl/U9z6Rp

Spaced Practice, in Practice

Here is a post from another blog on the use of 'spaced practice' whereby topics/concepts are revisited over time along with low stakes testing to help the learning to be retained.
The original post describing the practice is here: https://goo.gl/8tt41d 

This newer post (https://goo.gl/55K9jQ) desribes how the teacher has achieved this in 'real life' rather than just in theory.

It begins:
"Firstly, we introduced ten-minute recall sessions at the beginning of every lesson. This meant that we could test students’ knowledge effectively without creating extra workload. However, using some of the principles of interleaving, these sessions would not necessarily be based on the text being studied in the lesson; they would be based on knowledge taught in the lesson, week, month, term, or even several terms before. So, the beginning of a lesson might involve a recall task focused on Macbeth, then the main body of the lesson would be focused on Jekyll and Hyde. With these ten-minute recall sessions in every lesson, we could have mini revision sessions for every unit, almost every week."

The 10-minute recall sessions took the form of:
1) Multiple choice tests
2) Filling in the blanks (from Knowledge Organisers) 
3) Filling in the blanks (quotations)
4) Quickfire quotations
5) Interleaving homework

Do read the full blog for more detail! https://goo.gl/55K9jQ 

Mini TeachMeet 8

1. Peer Assessment Labels (ACr)

• ACr shared an effective example of using Peer Assessment within Art lessons where students complete a luggage tag style label and mark against the 4 assessment objectives as well as giving some written feedback on what has been done well.
• A student is then selected (usually at random) to be in the ‘hot-seat’ and their folder is then gone through, the students peer assess and targets are set
• Students’ abilities to assess accurately improve over time as they get more practice. Teachers guide the discussions more early on in the year so that students become more confident in how to assess.
• Students in general take more pride in their work knowing that it is going to be seen by their peers as well as their teacher.
• Students get to fight their corner to justify why they think their work is worth certain marks
• Even with weaker students, there is usually one of the assessment objective which will be receiving praise so it is quite a supportive activity

2. Take-Away Homeworks and Plickers (DNL)

• Take-Away Homework 
• DNL shared how he has used Take-Away homework to good effect by incorporating competitive elements.
• A menu of activities is produced with differing levels of difficulty (example on next page). Students have choice over which activities they choose to complete for homework over the course of a topic block.
• Students achieve points based on how hard the activity was and how well it is completed and DNL produced a league table to motivate the students. 
• He found this increased the effort levels and the frequency with which homework was completed.
• Plickers (https://www.plickers.com/ )
• This is an instant polling app where students hold up their card in a certain orientation to give their answer. The room is scanned with the camera on the device and the teacher instantly knows who is right and wrong 
• This was demonstrated to good effect and it was very quick and easy to administer and has lots applications across the curriculum.

Too Much Teaching is Wasted

An interesting blog post on attempting to embed learning so it’s not just surface learning. This is key in helping our students to achieve success longer term. The key here is ‘retrieval practice’ - keep expecting students to recall information to create more links in their memory.

Here’s an extract from the blog and the link to the post in full:

Link to full blog post

Let me give you some information: (Try to imagine that you’re going to learn it.)

• The Earth-Sun distance is used as unit of distance called the Astronomical Unit. 1 AU.
• The Earth-Moon distance is 0.0026 AU to 2 significant figures.
• The nearest Star is Proxima Centauri (part of the Alpha Centauri system. Pronounced ‘Sen-TOR-eye’). The distance to Proxima Centauri is 270,000 AU to 2 significant figures.
• On a scale we can relate to, let’s say 1 AU is 1 metre. The length of a metre ruler.
• This makes the Earth-Moon distance 2.6 mm; the Earth-Sun distance, 1 metre, and Proxima Centauri 270km – on our scale model.
• In fact the Moon is 384,400km away.  This is about 30 times the diameter of the Earth.
• The International Space Station orbits 400km above the Earth which has a radius of 6371km.
• The moon is about 1000 times further away than the ISS.
  

It’s quite easy to imagine the gap-fill worksheet in a typical classroom:

1. The nearest star is called  ____________  _____________  
2. The distance to the moon is  about 10 / 30 / 100/ 3000 times the Earth’s diameter.
3. If the Sun is 1 metre away in a scale model, the distance to the moon is 0.26mm / 2.6 mm/ 2.6 cm/ 26cm.

Students who complete this worksheet during the lesson minutes after being taught about the information will happily fill in their sheet, answer a few questions, stick the sheet in their books and skip off to break.   They may never encounter this information ever again. Even if they were asked to pronounce Proxima Centauri in class, they may never say the words again.  They may never be asked to recall the distances, in absolute or relative terms ever again.  What have they learned? … What will they remember in an hour, a week, a month, a year?

How to create a knowledge organiser

Full post: https://mrhistoire.com/2017/01/25/createkos/

Introduction

Making a knowledge organiser

The KO is like a scheme of work, but simpler and more effective. It doesn’t need ‘Do Nows’ and chunked activities; it doesn’t need to be differentiated; it doesn’t need lots of detail. It is a whole course and a two-minute quiz, a revision timetable and a cover lesson.

It is not a bolt-on. The only thing that should come before it is what we want children to learn. It should underpin every single thing we do in every single lesson at every single moment. If we’re teaching a lesson and nothing on the KO appears then one of two mistakes has happened: either we’ve not planned a coherent curriculum, or we’ve just made the KO because we have to, in which case the whole thing is pointless.

A KO is the curriculum map, driven by the requirements of the assessment, but that itself rests on what we want students to learn.

Full post: https://mrhistoire.com/2017/01/25/createkos/

Why Formative Assessment Matters - The Power of Prior Knowledge

With the Teaching and Learning Focus being Assessment for Learning this half term, I found this blog post quite timely.

In essence:
"Formative assessment matters because it focuses our attention on students’ prior knowledge and provides us with the techniques to bring this knowledge to light.
"

"Ignorance of students’ prior knowledge leaves us fumbling in the dark.  Without it, we cannot choose where to pitch a lesson, identify who will need help or evaluate who has learned anything new: our plans and responses will be insensitive to the differing needs of students familiar with the Reformation, those needing a brief reminder and those fresh to the topic entirely.
"

Full post:
http://improvingteaching.co.uk/2017/02/12/why-formative-assessment-matters-the-power-of-prior-knowledge/

10 Social Media Accounts to Aid Revision

A quick post from Teacher Toolkit with a Top 10 Social Media Accounts to Help Students and Teachers with Revision.

Original link: http://www.teachertoolkit.me/2017/02/13/accounts-to-aid-revision/

"

Here are the revision accounts – in no particular order – that I have found on social media for short, precise revision ‘on the go’. These could equally work for you and your pupils.

Twitter:

10. JustMaths Revision @ReviseJustMaths (GCSE Maths):
JustMaths Revision tweet past paper questions along side annotated answers. Everyday there is a new foundation and higher tier question with an answer on the next tweet.

9. German Everyday @GermanDailyWord (GCSE German):
This twitter account posts a German word a day to expand pupil’s German vocabulary. The words posted are not too complex which is great for GCSE level. I am still searching for a French equivalent.

8. Science Revision @Sci_Revision (GCSE Science):
Science Revision accounts are available to follow on multiple social media sites (Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat). They tweet a flash card a day about a key scientific word. The definitions that they provide are “pupil friendly” and easy to understand – perfect for my pupils revision.

7. MathsRevision @MathsTopTips (GCSE Maths):
This Twitter account tweeted some great Maths exam and revision tips last year.  I am hoping that it starts tweeting again so for now this account will remain in my top 10!

Instagram:
6. English_Tcha (GCSE English):
This is Chalk Hill Academy’s Instagram page for their pupils (what a great idea). They regularly post about exam technique, annotated texts and how to use key terminology.

5. ScienceRevision (GCSE Science):

The same as Science Revision above but on Instagram (I like their flash cards so much I included it twice).

4.  StudyWell (A-level Maths):
Upload images of A-level questions with annotated answers to show pupils how to achieve the correct answer. They regularly post their clear steps a couple of times a week.

YouTube:

3. HegartyMaths (GCSE Maths)
This YouTube channel is found by UK teacher of the Year, Colin Hegarty.  The channel uploads videos about key topics with straight forward steps on how the achieve the correct answer. Allowing pupils to watch videos at their own pace can aid in supporting pupils of different abilities.

2. Mrs Whelan’s English (GCSE/A-level English):
Mrs Whelan creates videos which concentrates on exam technique. She often uploads clips of her explaining command words within past papers and sharing model answers. I am a massive believer that exam technique needs to be taught and this channel supports this ethos.

1. Christopher Thornton (GCSE Science):
With the tag line of “Get that C in your GCSE” Christopher Thornton explains key topics within Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Clear explanations and clear images used – perfect to break down complex scientific ideas.

"

Mini TeachMeet 7

1. History Memory Game (JDe)

• JDe shared an example of an interesting example from trench warfare in WWI. This was based on ‘Kim’s Game’ where students are put in groups (by ability to aid differentiation) and one student comes up at a time to view the diagram of trench warfare for 30 seconds. They returned to their group and had to describe the image to the rest of the group and one person drew what they were told. After 1 minute, they then go to the front to view the diagram and so on.
• Stretch and challenge questions would then be employed at the end of the activity
• It was noted that this would be a useful activity in many subjects. This was a very ‘accessible’ activity as you could choose to focus on labels, overall structure, small details etc.

2. Playposit.com (FD)

• FD shared a website that would be useful if a teacher were attempting a ‘Flipped Classroom’. 
• A common problem when setting students a video to watch as their homework is in knowing whether they have done it or not in preparation for the lesson.
• This website allows the teacher to insert questions into any YouTube video and track responses, thus knowing whether pupils have completed the activity.
• FD demonstrated the website and it was quite straightforward to crop videos, embed questions etc.
• At first glance, it did not seem possible to upload your own videos to the website, but it may be possible to upload videos to YouTube as ‘private’ videos and then use them.
• The marks from the questions can be imported into Google Classroom.

What do top students do differently?

Here is a video from TEDxYouth that FD has used to good effect with his Year 11 tutor group. They found its ideas very motivating.

Thinking Keys

Following the January Training Day, a colleague shared these 'Thinking Keys' and some example activities that tie in well with the material from the Lazy Teacher.

Find the full set of keys below:
Thinking Keys Presentation