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.
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"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.
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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/

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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.

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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

Eight ways teachers can reduce their marking mountain

Thanks to MJS for spotting this article in The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2016/may/15/eight-ways-teachers-can-reduce-their-marking-mountain#img-1

Marking comes with the territory of teaching but, as the weather gets better, most of us would rather avoid spending all evening with only a set of books for company.

In fact, marking was identified as the single biggest contributor to teachers’ unsustainable workload in the 2014 Workload Challenge (pdf). Since then, two new reports – a Department for Education (DfE) independent workload review(pdf) and an Oxford research review entitled “A Marked Improvement” (pdf) – have highlighted ways to cut the marking mountain without affecting students’ progress. So here are some of their key recommendations to buy you a bit more time in the sun......

Follow the link above to the full article.

RAG123 marking experiment

An account of a teacher's decision to RAG123 mark students' books. This means the students rate themselves on a scale of 1-3 for effort each lesson and Green Amber or Red for their meeting of the success criteria for the lesson.

The teacher then marks their work and gives their own RAG123. This has led to some good dialogue between student and teacher and this might be a relatively painless way for this to happen.

Food for thought.

https://mrbenney.wordpress.com/2014/01/16/my-rag123-marking-experiment/