Getting to grips with learning intentions and success criteria Staff Meeting: Part 1

Use the sticky notes to annotate your thinking The Paradigm Shift Use the sticky notes to annotate your thinking What does this mean for us? What implications does this have for us in education? What are you wondering about? What puzzles you? What new learning do you have?

The Paradigm Shift The emerging internet-based education paradigm has fundamentally changed the way schools and their curricula must be structured. The need for increased discipline and focus around clear learning intentions based on a conceptual approach clears away much of the “busy work” we have engaged in within the previous paradigm. Educators now need to make it quite clear what the intent of the learning is to the learner and what the learner should be able to demonstrate at the conclusion of that learning.

The learning intention for this Staff Meeting To learn to construct learning intentions and success criteria. Success criteria I can: identify open and closed learning intentions separate learning intentions from their context construct learning intentions and success criteria in my own subject area

Why use learning intentions? Using learning intentions helps students develop a picture of what is expected of them from the learning. “Many pupils do not have such a picture and appear to have become accustomed to receiving classroom teaching as an arbitrary sequence of exercises with no overarching rationale… When pupils do acquire such overview, they then become more committed and more effective as learners: their own assessments become an object of discussion with their teachers and with one another…” Black & William (1998)

Learning Intentions defined What are we going to learn? Learning intentions may be written like this: We are learning to … (WALT) To be able to … To understand / explain / discuss etc Today we will be able to …

Learning Intentions Intentions will need to be linked to outcomes (i.e. success criteria) so that students can demonstrate they have met the intentions set out by the teacher. Building appropriate success criteria into our planning is vital to ensure a focus on learning as opposed to activities. When planning, we ask ourselves; What will my students have learned and what will they be able to do at the end of the lesson that they could not do before? How will they demonstrate that they have met the intentions? How can I make it clear to students what good quality work will look like (and avoid simply focussing on task completion)?

Language for Learning Intentions By the end of the lesson students will: know that … (knowledge: factual information, e.g. names, places, symbols formulae, events) develop / be able to … (skills: using knowledge, applying techniques, analysing information, etc.) understand how / why … (understanding: concepts, reasons, effects, principles, processes, etc.) develop / be aware of … (attitudes and values: empathy, caring, sensitivity towards social issues, feelings, moral issues, etc.)

Separating the learning intention from the context If learning intentions are not written clearly the result may be: a mismatch of lesson focus with activities an inappropriate focus awkward success criteria that don’t fit the learning. By separating the learning intention from the context students can apply the skill or concept in a number of different contexts. It is also much easier to write success criteria for de- contextualised learning intentions.

Examples of learning intentions with and without the context (Clarke, 2005) Learning intention with context Learning intention without context Context or activity To present an argument for and against vegetarianism To present an argument including ‘for’ and ‘against’ positions Vegetarianism To produce a questionnaire about shopping patterns To be able to investigate the distribution of an economic activity Interviews with family about where they shop and how their shopping patterns have changed To order numbers to 10 To order written numbers Numbers to at least 10 using number cards Clarke, S. (2005). Formative Assessment in Action: weaving the elements together.

Learning Intentions: what students thought they were learning (Clarke 2005) Learning intention with context What students thought they were learning Learning intention without context What students thought they were learning now To write instructions to make a sandwich “I would learn how to make a sandwich”. To write instructions (A sandwich) “We would be learning to write instructions.” To know why Sir Edmund Barton is important in understanding the shaping of Australia as a Nation “We would be learning about what happened and what he did. We would also learn how to shape a nation” To know how primary sources help us to find out about the past (The Federation of Australia, Sir Edmund Barton) “We would learn to find out about how other people lived.” From Clarke, S. (2005). Formative Assessment in Action: weaving the elements together.

Concept and knowledge learning objectives Concepts are the big ideas that are explored over time. They need to be broken down when writing learning intentions so that learners can see how the day’s learning relates to the overall learning intention. Learning intention To understand the importance of a healthy diet. The long-term over-arching concept Its broken down version for today To understand the impact of protein. The process involved To use information retrieval skills.

Success criteria – why are they important? How do we know we have met the learning intention? When success criteria are used … the learning becomes more explicit students can confirm, consolidate and integrate new knowledge future learning is scaffolded students can see what quality looks like.

Success Criteria Throughout the lesson, success criteria should be shared with students so that they always know what they need to do in order to demonstrate success. Success criteria should: be based on the intentions shape the teaching and modelling and provide the students’ focus while they are working provide the key focus for all feedback and assessment Displaying success criteria can provide a visual prompt for students and teachers during the course of the lesson or sequence of lessons. It can also be very useful to involve students in setting the success criteria. For example, ask the students ‘what will you need to do to demonstrate to me that you have met the intentions for this task/lesson?’

Types of learning intention and success criteria Not all learning is the same so not all learning intentions and success criteria are the same. There are: Closed skills – teaching of skills, concepts, knowledge Open skills – application of skills, concepts, knowledge

Closed skills Closed skills are either right or wrong. Success criteria for closed skills are either the steps involved or what you need to remember to achieve the learning objective. Learning intention To share a quantity into a ratio. Success criteria I can: add the parts e.g. 2:3 2 +3=5 write each ratio as a fraction 2/5 : 3/5 multiply each fraction by the whole e.g. 2/5 of 20.

Open skills Open skills are neither right nor wrong. Lesson objectives need examples and discussion about quality. Learning intention To understand and explain the use of musical instruments and elements to create a piece of music. Success criteria I can: create a composition to match a story use tone, pitch and dynamics to reflect the events and mood of the story Uses a range of percussion instruments with appropriate technique The success criteria provide a ‘menu’ of devices that will help to produce quality work, where not all need to be included.

An example at senior level Achievement objective To give and respond to information and opinions, giving reasons. Learning intentions I can: research my topic using the Inquiry Research Process write a persuasive text

To write a persuasive text Success criteria I can: Learning intention To write a persuasive text Success criteria I can: write a paragraph introducing the topic and expressing my opinion write a paragraph stating a reason that supports my argument with examples use linking words and phrases that we have studied before to enhance my essay for example: no doubt, on the contrary. the evidence clearly proves that write a concluding paragraph re-stating my opinion with supporting reasons.

Success Criteria are directly related to the learning intention Teaching and Learning activities are designed to provide students with opportunities to meet the learning intention. Feedback is based on the learning intention and the success criteria. Learning Intentions Students self assess in the light of the learning intention and success criteria. Teacher questioning always keeps the learning intention in focus. The assessment task/activity matches the learning intention. 20

Keeping the learning to the forefront Learning intentions and success criteria need to be readily available to students. Think about ways this could be done in your classroom: For the class For individual students Spend 10-15 minutes chatting in your Learning Teams Make a Plan Together How will you use (or are already using) Learning Intentions in your LT? How will you display them? Who will write the Success Criteria? We will share our successes and challenges at next staff meeting