Taunton
Teachers were linking skills with knowledge taught such as a newspaper report (skill) on the Greek Gods (knowledge).
Showing the children examples of good ones have shown children that the skills in writing are no longer a tick list, but depend on quality.
Lis are clear and focused small steps have been successful as new skills have been introduced.
Writing a title rather than long Lis in books has given more learning time and having a visualiser has allowed for instant modelling and improving one child’s example.
Wandsworth
Three teachers had analysed features of a text with the class to co-construct the success criteria – children spot the features. This has helped them include these in their writing. There is a time issue of co-constructing success criteria especially if doing rehearsal.
Looking at good examples gives children a clear idea of how to recreate this and they take more ownership.
Children write out the steps and colour code them as they self-assess in one school. This is easier for children to understand.
Middlesbrough
Teachers had done lots of work on getting children to compare good and bad examples then unpicking what made them good. Children are able to see the success criteria being used or applied in context which has given them more purpose in their writing.
Another strategy was to rank and compare texts giving justifications. They had focused on the author’s intent and purpose in writing and non-negotiables. Success criteria for maths had been co-constructed and used when children were stuck.
The LI had been abbreviated to a short title which meant there was more time.
One school had a launch day for topics to give some prior knowledge.
Cognitive Load
During knowledge based lessons children were encouraged to take notes and pictures and images had been used more often to enhance their working memory. There was more active engagement and learning as a result.
Silent modelling in maths had really focussed and engaged the children.
Teachers were using ‘my turn your turn’.
One teacher had chunked lots of organisational instructions into one command for classroom routine (e.g. go to table, get pen, write date etc.)