Problem of Practice: How are we identifying and checking the level of student understanding?
We saw lots of evidence of:
• Success criteria and LOs
• Students articulating what they needed to do, where they could check if they were unsure
• Talking to each other about their learning and what they are doing
• Students giving each other feedback
• Teacher questioning students - using 'How..., 'Why...' - checking for understanding, teachable moment
• Instructional prompts
We wonder about:
• How much time is provided for students to act on feedback and whether or how that is planned for
- big ideas at the end of the lesson, needs to be followed up in the following lesson - at the moment not providing enough time for that. Need to look at how we plan for that.
- giving lots of small feedback all through the lesson and students able to act on that straight away, not so much the big ideas/concepts
- in some subjects more than others - eg in writing lots of opportunities for follow up but not so much in others. Big Writing and the targets is consistent and they know how to give good peer feedback. That lesson is planned for each fortnight. Parts of PBL require feedback before continuing so its built in.
* Could we be better at building it into other subject area plans? How can we be more explicit in other areas - eg maths. - TPL session
• How we prepare students for giving and receiving feedback, how we ensure peer feedback is equitably provided.
- Explicit teaching - eg 'I like..' and 'I wonder...'
- Exit slips
- Be deliberate about who students work with - think about capacity to give/receive, what pairings will be most beneficial
- modelling how to give/receive - going beyond the I like/wonder
- Providing a scaffold for the feedback - Big Writing criteria, co-created success criteria
* Could we explore different strategies for peer feedback? Do we see them applying that feedback - can we explore ways for incorporating this? - explictly stated in plans...
• How often are teachers checking in with what the whole class is learning and what strategies are we using? - what questions do we ask, who do we ask, how often?
- reading groups - able to hear them and ask questions, sometimes once/wk
- mathematics - moving around, asking open questions, getting them to show/tell (mini-wbs), responding flexibly - moving some students on/away, giving students the option of more support or independent
- moving around the room constantly
* Further explore - questioning strategies, different ways of checking in, tracking who we saw, how we're recording what we see/hear, involving students in the process of checking/giving/receiving feedback and recording what they are saying/doing. Look into tech that could help - seesaw app? three-ring? evernote? google drive?
• How are teachers responding to what they see? - adjusting lessons, providing scaffolds, providing follow up individual support.
- adjusting lessons during the lesson and after for the following lessons - able to do this because programs are over a shorter time-frame. More responsive and flexible.
- open-ended activity at the beginning of maths lessons means you can assess student understanding and then move them to activities responsively rather than based on pre-determined groupings
- PBL and student ownership has forced a change in mindset - can't direct the course of learning
- prioritising content in response - knowing what can be left for later or requires less time
- knowing the syllabus content around the particular stage/grade - able to move the teaching program in response to student learning
* Could we make the maths targets similar to Big Writing - use the continuum to make it more child friendly students know where they're going
• Do we know what we're looking for to check for understanding
- LO and SC help with this - syllabus content, continuums - details and strategies to get there
- making sure that the LO matches the learning tasks and vice versa so that you are providing learning opportunities that meet the content you're trying to achieve
- knowing the content below and above so you have an expectation of what they need to be able to do
- understanding the bigger ideas or purposes of the content
- collaborative programming and the conversations we have to clarify our intentions and tasks
• Success criteria and LOs
• Students articulating what they needed to do, where they could check if they were unsure
• Talking to each other about their learning and what they are doing
• Students giving each other feedback
• Teacher questioning students - using 'How..., 'Why...' - checking for understanding, teachable moment
• Instructional prompts
We wonder about:
• How much time is provided for students to act on feedback and whether or how that is planned for
- big ideas at the end of the lesson, needs to be followed up in the following lesson - at the moment not providing enough time for that. Need to look at how we plan for that.
- giving lots of small feedback all through the lesson and students able to act on that straight away, not so much the big ideas/concepts
- in some subjects more than others - eg in writing lots of opportunities for follow up but not so much in others. Big Writing and the targets is consistent and they know how to give good peer feedback. That lesson is planned for each fortnight. Parts of PBL require feedback before continuing so its built in.
* Could we be better at building it into other subject area plans? How can we be more explicit in other areas - eg maths. - TPL session
• How we prepare students for giving and receiving feedback, how we ensure peer feedback is equitably provided.
- Explicit teaching - eg 'I like..' and 'I wonder...'
- Exit slips
- Be deliberate about who students work with - think about capacity to give/receive, what pairings will be most beneficial
- modelling how to give/receive - going beyond the I like/wonder
- Providing a scaffold for the feedback - Big Writing criteria, co-created success criteria
* Could we explore different strategies for peer feedback? Do we see them applying that feedback - can we explore ways for incorporating this? - explictly stated in plans...
• How often are teachers checking in with what the whole class is learning and what strategies are we using? - what questions do we ask, who do we ask, how often?
- reading groups - able to hear them and ask questions, sometimes once/wk
- mathematics - moving around, asking open questions, getting them to show/tell (mini-wbs), responding flexibly - moving some students on/away, giving students the option of more support or independent
- moving around the room constantly
* Further explore - questioning strategies, different ways of checking in, tracking who we saw, how we're recording what we see/hear, involving students in the process of checking/giving/receiving feedback and recording what they are saying/doing. Look into tech that could help - seesaw app? three-ring? evernote? google drive?
• How are teachers responding to what they see? - adjusting lessons, providing scaffolds, providing follow up individual support.
- adjusting lessons during the lesson and after for the following lessons - able to do this because programs are over a shorter time-frame. More responsive and flexible.
- open-ended activity at the beginning of maths lessons means you can assess student understanding and then move them to activities responsively rather than based on pre-determined groupings
- PBL and student ownership has forced a change in mindset - can't direct the course of learning
- prioritising content in response - knowing what can be left for later or requires less time
- knowing the syllabus content around the particular stage/grade - able to move the teaching program in response to student learning
* Could we make the maths targets similar to Big Writing - use the continuum to make it more child friendly students know where they're going
• Do we know what we're looking for to check for understanding
- LO and SC help with this - syllabus content, continuums - details and strategies to get there
- making sure that the LO matches the learning tasks and vice versa so that you are providing learning opportunities that meet the content you're trying to achieve
- knowing the content below and above so you have an expectation of what they need to be able to do
- understanding the bigger ideas or purposes of the content
- collaborative programming and the conversations we have to clarify our intentions and tasks
