Gill Taylor November 2007 Assessment For Learning at Ivybridge Community College

Assessment for Learning KMO-FAP “The process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there”. AFL SMART method of effective teaching

Chronological order Inside the Black Box Foundation Subjects 2005-Pedpack 2006-Guidance for Senior Leaders Schools Project

Introduction of AFL College Development Plan Whole school launch Audit of AFL Subject leaders attend AFL courses In – house courses Support from 2 Consultants

Further Development of AFL CPD – action research projects Marking Policy Teaching and Learning Forum Embedding of AFL

Refocus on AFL Development plan Performance management AFL Working Party

The Relaunch July 2007 Working party set up Student Learning Forum Twilight training session

Assessment for Learning Aims to ‘close the gap’ between present and desired states of knowledge Involves students in their learning and the assessment process Raises motivation and self esteem

Learning Objectives “I now think more about the content of the lesson. The influence has shifted from ‘What am I going to teach and what are the pupils going to do?’ towards ‘How am I going to teach this and what are the pupils going to learn?’” (Susan, Waterford School, Working Inside the Black Box)

Speed Dating : The Rules 1. Try to speak with people that you haven’t got to know before 2. You will have 2 minutes to share as much information as you can on ‘learning objectives’ 3. Remember the most interesting ideas to trial in one of your next lessons 4. Be friendly

Questions to ask:  What do you think a learning objective is?  How do you share your learning objectives?  Do you think they help students’ learning?  Do you have ideas about how, as a teacher, you could make what students learn more clear?

Student Voice A questionnaire was carried out with all Year 7 students A follow up focus group was interviewed

What do you think a learning objective is? ‘It’s a target for you to achieve in a lesson’ ‘an idea of what the lesson will be about and what we need to do’ ‘What teachers want you to understand’

How do your teachers share learning Objectives? ‘write them on the board and explain them in more detail’ ‘We write them in our books’ ‘sometimes we are given aims at the beginning of a topic’

How do your teachers share learning Objectives? ‘the teacher draws a diagram or show us how to do something’ ‘Some teachers use WALT’ ‘a single word is put up and then its explained’

Do they help? ‘it does help because it makes things clear’ ‘they help my understanding’ ‘sometimes they don’t help because the work is different to the LO’s set by the teacher’

Do they help? ‘when there is a lot to achieve on the board, it can be a big rush and it makes me feel that I haven’t done everything’ ‘Learning Objectives that aren’t finished in one lesson aren’t picked up next time, so it gets confusing’ ‘Sometimes teachers don’t explain them properly’

Do you have ideas about how teachers could make what you learn clear? ‘If Objectives were set at the start of a topic it would give you more time to achieve them’ Powerpoint makes it easier to learn because it is bright, its got pictures, animation and is sometimes interactive’

Do you have ideas about how teachers could make what you learn clear? ‘A warm up exercise or a game sometimes, but not the same every lesson’ ‘If there are lots of LO’s, put them into bullet points and spread them out’

Student Recommendations 1. Keep them short and simple 2. Explain the LO’s and make links with prior and next learning 3. Make it fun/active 4. Check learning and follow up next time

How we intend to embed AFL Key focus on development plan- 3 yrs AFL target part of PM Dept rep on AFL working party Use VLE to share good practice Continued action research- teachers and students