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LEARNING TEAMS FINDINGS:
Day Three Lincoln 16 November, 2006
FOUNDATION STAGE Teachers usually used this approach at the beginning or end of a lesson and found that children at this age need stark contrasts between the two pieces of work shown. Lots of verbal comparisons happen during a day as this is more accessible, also the use of pictures. Impact – children are applying what they are learning into independent learning and play. Anecdote: A Reception class in the second week were drawing faces. This had been modelled on an interactive whiteboard looking at ears and noses etc., touching them and so on and then they drew a face. The next day the teacher saw a girl painting outside on an easel. She had drawn a face and added eyelashes, hair and a neck. Compared to the child’s drawing in class the day before, the improvement was vast. She had transferred this independently. When you model and compare very well it does take hold.
YR 1/2 One teacher described an effective way of showing 2 pieces of work by using the interactive whiteboard with two pages side by side. As children make suggestions, changes can instantly be made on the screen. Do this at the beginning of a lesson or in a plenary revisiting and again at the beginning of the next lesson. When teachers stop in the middle of a lesson and show a good example, children often want to scribble out what they’ve done and start again there is a need to be careful. One teacher found it was really useful with higher achievers to show examples of quality from previous years. Sometimes if you put a good example on the board, however, the children copy what’s on the board instead of thinking of it for themselves. Anecdote: Literacy – one teacher spent a whole term working on one piece of work, beginning with a fairy story which was two sentences long. They began by writing an unaided story then compared their story with one which had a beginning middle and end then another with no ending, then spent six weeks improving the two-sentence story. At the end there was a fairy story written by everyone in the class with bits contributed by everyone – speech marks, character, setting, etc. This was a wonderful experience and the children have been able to apply what they learnt in this context in other contexts. Impact on learning : children are now, across the schools, able to pick out success criteria in their own work and begin to suggest improvements.
YR 3/4 Most teachers have been rigorous at keeping examples of work from last year and use them regularly for success and improvement. The teachers have done a lot of this verbally and now are doing it more visually as well. Some keep photos of past art work and DT models.
YR 4/5/6 DT: one successful lesson involved looking at the outcome of an extended project from last year – two picture frames were shown: one really decorative, one not so good. After analysis and comparison, children’s planning was much more effective and they were more motivated. Science: one teacher’s marking had revealed a weakness in conclusions. Good and bad examples were shown to children to discuss against success criteria. There was a marked improvement in their conclusions as a result. Art: one teacher found good examples from another school which inspired and motivated children.
YR 5/6 Writing – one teacher started with modelling two pieces which she had generated. She then used these for training in the comparison process. Once the children got on to their own work, they were motivated and all achievement levels started to see improvements that could be made in their work. If they get complacent after a while, the teacher can always introduce another piece to show them that more work can be done. Impact – grammatical skills improved as did vocabulary. When the teacher uses her own examples she purposely uses more technical words and the children pick up on this and begin to use them too. Children have become much more independent – higher standards are promoted and expectations have been raised. Motivation and knowing what “good” is also works well in DT. One teacher kept last year’s plans and discussed these with the children. Examples can be taken from many places, including the National Curriculum online. Teachers said they now do mini plenaries throughout a session rather than a big one at the end.
2. On-the-spot modelling of Success & Improvement during the lesson
FOUNDATION STAGE Nursery: feedback is to do with built in discussion with the children informally as they do activities – e.g. ‘How can you improve, what language can you use, what did you like about your work?’ Talking partners has been used successfully. The Foundation Stage depends on good use of language. Feedback is within sessions rather than the following day, which helps to refocus children during the lessons. Confidence has improved Anecdote: one teacher doing joint modelling and how to use glue got the children to look at each other’s work successfully. This has helped the TA know what is going on, too.
YR 1/2 Teachers in this group found it easier to focus with small groups. One teacher looked at a previous piece of work and asked children to identify success and improvement (pinks and greens). All children agreed that ‘I was awoken by dogs barking’ was pink and that something could be improved. This has helped the development of their language. Teachers stated that doing this with children there and then makes all the difference to their improvements.
YR 3/4 All have been using integrate feedback by reading examples out rather than using whiteboards, visualisers, etc. which has been very limiting. One teacher found that she was tentatively taking extracts from one child’s piece of work as a good example. Then she was getting the class to spot something that could be improved and they changed it slightly so that the child would feel badly. S: get to a culture where you can take anyone’s work to take the best bits. Now 15 min into the lesson take someone’s work and use it without feeling badly about it – make it clear he class this will be done and they look forward eventually to having their work “success and improved”. Teacher said that they tend to look at work and say ‘This is something you’ve done well but we could improve something here – what/how could that be done?’ The attitude in the classroom has changed as they are now helping each other and wanting to share. One teacher found that you do not have to be anonymous about the work you hold up – everyone shares so self esteem improves. S: anonymity only tends to be necessary when comparing two pieces. Teachers found that the mid session plenary is more effective with younger children than doing a session the next day.
YR 4/5/6 One teacher described using ‘three stars and a wish’ for ‘success and improvement’ to make sure the appropriate success criteria were included as this is a necessary first stage. In one Drama workshop, children had success criteria in front of them and were reading out what they had done so far and counting the successes and seeing the impact on their writing. Some did pinks and greens linked to success criteria. Impact: the pace of the lessons has improved and children are enthusiastic and motivated because they are getting ideas that move them to success. This process can be used in all subjects. Another teacher asks her children to give her a score on how they did on their success criteria (e.g.: 6 out of 10) and the next day asks how they could improve and what features are good and why. They work with talking partners and white boards to edit and improve. At the end of lessons they are asked to self assess their improvement and they usually give scores of 9 out of 10. It is the analysis which makes the difference and helps children to know what excellence is.
YR 5/6 Teachers found that showing children’s work is enjoyable and useful. One teacher said it was useful in Numeracy lessons to use the success criteria in the middle of a lesson to stop and ask the children to evaluate. It was useful to use calculations that were done well and not well. Immediate feedback is important so that children can self correct. Impact: there have been overall positive classroom results as children are more adventurous and not afraid of failure. Anecdote: in a numeracy lesson children were showing their thinking on number lines for subtraction. Children go up to the front to show their different ideas – there was a progression from smaller to bigger jumps by higher achievers. It was good that the good modelling came from children’s ideas and not the teachers, and their language was easier for children to understand! This extended all children’s thinking by showing them how far they could go, the next level up. Instead of waiting for this to be dealt with in the next lesson, expectations were raised and children made quicker progress.
3. Further Developments
FOUNDATION STAGE There has been a shift in teachers’ thinking about the process of the learning. They are now focusing on the learning rather than the context. This fits in well with foundation stage principles. Have been doing this for about two years, so the children are familiar with the AfL strategies and language and the teachers are seeing an impact. The whole school approach is very powerful.
YR 1/2 All classrooms are more settled. Children are a lot more confident and able to say what someone has done well rather than pulling each other’s work apart.
YR 3/4 Success criteria are used throughout the school and children are using the language related to this. Children are relating learning to real life contexts. One teacher shares planning sheets with the children. The whole culture of improving work is now embedded in the classroom.
YR 4/5/6 One teacher decided to have Learning Partners instead of Talking Partners as they were rather naughty and talking all the time. In a meeting they were asked about how to address bad behaviours and suggested talking responsibility for each other. So they now go into assembly with their LP and are now in charge of each other and this seems to be working.
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