The impact has been incredibly positive. I have learnt new ideas and strategies to include for formative assessment questions and lollipop sticks. I have established partner talk well. Children are aware of expectations and use their partners well. Self-efficacy has improved, the classroom has a more positive feel with children showing an improved mindset, resilience, risk taking and not afraid to make mistakes.
I have found this project very interesting. At first it was overwhelming with so many strategies to try. However, by the end of this experience I find myself wanting to learn more. I have seen a change in my teaching and how the children respond to different strategies. I have found a way to pick which strategy works best in different subjects. I would love the TAs to have this chance.
I feel like the culture of my classroom has significantly changed in relation to formative assessment. My pupils are developing their independence in marking and editing their own work, showing pride in their work following verbal praise opposed to previously expecting physical rewards.
The learning culture in my classroom has shifted. It feels like me and my class are all part of the same team and we are all learning in the same direction. The talk partners creates an even playing field for ALL children. Yes, we still come across bumps and disagreements but the children and myself have more resilience to solve problems and work together to overcome barriers to learning.
Increased confidence in assessment; talking less during input; making it more purposeful; culture in the classroom where mistakes are celebrated as an opportunity to help us learn; children are taking greater ownership over their learning; demonstrated that even young children can have an understanding of pedagogy.
This has had a big impact of my teaching and planning. I can plan now based on children’s pre-assessment and exactly what they need to learn. I absolutely love using talk partners. It had a big impact on my SEND children who are supported by their peers. On the feet marking has had an impact on children’s learning. It has also reduced my work load after school.
Given me greater confidence to give specific feedback to children that is task related. Allowed me to really think about how I can extend and challenge pupils’ learning. I’ve seen children become used to the routines. They have mimicked and taken on my feedback and shared this with peers.
Children are more empowered, they have higher self-efficacy and gain more from lessons. Task focused feedback resulted in more children ding the work correctly. Children are working collaboratively and less cognitively overloaded. Silent modelling allowed children to focus more during input.
Through this project I think it has made me more aware of the individual child as a learner, where I am consciously spotting everything that is going on in class and using it to assess and move learning on. Using a range of questioning, live marking and mid-lesson stops has helped me support the children and address misconceptions promptly.
I have invested in my visualiser so I can silently model particularly in maths. This has been a powerful thing for me and the children, a moment of stillness and quiet where pure learning takes place. Marvellous mistakes can occur and that’s ok. I’ve also developed the marvellous mistakes sheet for our English policy so children and staff can use that to help develop writing in all lessons. It has also eased workload for staff and enabled them to focus on the moderation of writing more.
Firstly the children feel more confident in their work as we have normalised mistakes and made them a celebration. I feel more confident in my teaching as I can swiftly check understanding in my class. The children can also now more freely communicate with one another about their learning.
Learning to adapt how the students can access the learning as much as possible, particularly integrating methods of thinking time as this demonstrates how valuable it can be to retain the learning (e.g. mid-lesson stops using the visualiser and discussions).
The impact of this project has been overall a change in understanding of what feedback means for me and my students. Feedback is everywhere in our classroom and in everything else we do. I am more confident in the tools I have to move children on to the next stage in their learning and my children have a more consistent understanding of the expectations I have for them and their work. It has inspired me to be more reflective about what works and what doesn’t in my classroom and to embrace marvellous mistakes in my own practice.
The biggest impact I think has been the awareness I now have of my own teaching practice and the realisation that even small changes can make a big difference to the progress of a child. It has allowed me to take a more pro-active, nuanced approach to assessment, giving me a clearer indication of what I can be looking to assess in my students’ learning and how to communicate my expectations.
A bigger understanding of the learning process and the skills we need to be learners – focus, discipline, collaboration, curiosity, persistence. The tools and opportunities we can provide for our children to acquire these learning habits. The children are able to achieve more and are better equipped to learn with these habits embedded.
Helped to structure sessions that allow the children to clearly understand outcomes; discovered ways of increasing independence, especially with success criteria; children are doing more work, talking and sharing; established talk partners within the classroom to allow high quality discussions; helped to think about different forms of assessment
The impact of this project has been incredible. I am so much more aware of my own teaching, my TAs, my children, the parents and my colleagues. I feel that the children in my class have improved their speaking, listening, confidence and empathy through the development of talk partners.
Before I started this project I was horrified at the thought that the children couldn’t have stickers. I was firm in the belief that a sticker didn’t hurt and can encourage children. After that first session when I heard Shirley talk about children having belief in themselves and how they shouldn’t need a sticker to prove that, I no longer give stickers and encourage the children to try to give their best so that they can be proud of themselves.