1. Course Handbook Year 5 Assessment for Learning
Northern Ireland Revised Curriculum
Professional Development Programme
Course Handbook
Year 5
Assessment for Learning

2. Contents
Programme for day
Links between AfL and Personal Development & Mutual Understanding
Links between AfL and Thinking Skills & Personal Capabilities
Constructivism ~ the work of Carol Dweck
The Learning Board
Range of adjectives
A structured feedback system ~ ‘2 stars and a wish’
Modelling Effective Questioning
What’s involved?
Examples of Learning Intentions
Self-Evaluation ~ ‘Big Questions’
Structured observation from DVD
Next steps for me in Assessment for Learning
Frequently Asked Questions
Back at School ~ Sharing ideas with colleagues
Key issues to raise with colleagues
Learning Log ~ Session
Learning Log ~ Session
Learning Log ~ Session
Networking

3. Programme Session 1 Assessment for Learning in the Revised Curriculum
9.15am – 10.20am Outline
Picking up from Day 2
Constructivism ~ the work of Carol Dweck
Mapping the AfL strategies
10.20am – 10.40am BREAK
Session 2 Practical experience of a range of AfL strategies
10.40am – 12.10pm Sharing learning intentions and success criteria
Formative Feedback
Questioning
Scaffolding reflection
12.10pm – 1.00pm LUNCH
Session 3 Impact of AfL in classrooms
1.00pm pm Range of practical examples
Benefits to the learning environment
Session 4 Considering the next steps
2.30pm – 3.00pm What’s next for me?
Networking opportunities

4. Links to Personal Development and Mutual Understanding
Respect
Self-esteem and self confidence
Cooperation
Sharing the Learning
Feedback
Feelings and emotions
Dealing with conflict
AfL
Reflection
Questioning
Facilitator should remind teachers of the key elements of AfL. Make the link that AfL strategies in any Learning area contributes to pupils PD.
Self esteem and self confidence: They build pupils self esteem and self confidence.
Feelings and emotions: Pupils experience both positive emotions and learn how to deal with disappointment. When giving feedback to another pupil they need to understand the impact of words and learn to be sensitive.
Attitudes to learning: They will develop more positive attitudes to learning through setting personal goals, giving and receiving feedback etc
Cooperation, communication and conflict: This is very important in any group activity or when involved in peer evaluation and assessment.
Respect: This is on three levels – teacher/pupil, pupil/teacher and pupil/pupil
Responsibilities: Pupils learn that they are responsible for improvements in their own learning.
Attitudes to Learning
Communication
Responsibilities

5. Links to Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities
Asking questions to deepen my learning
Self regulation
Time to Think
Sharing the Learning
Feedback
Managing my own learning
Learning is visible and explicit
AfL
Reflection
Questioning
Working with Response Partners
Using information to help me learn
Assessing other’s work

6. Constructivism ~ the work of Carol Dweck
Key principles:
Children’s beliefs about the nature of ability strongly affect their success in learning.
Carol Dweck’s highly influential research suggests the presence of two distinct ‘mindsets’ in the pupils in our classrooms.
Ability is fixed.
Difficulty and failure is the environment telling me that I don’t have enough ability to do the task, or cope with the learning area.
Ability is changeable.
When I experience difficulty, it means that I’m learning. Failure tells me that I need to work harder, or use different strategies to succeed.
These mindsets relate to children’s beliefs about the nature of ability, or intelligence. One mindset holds to the belief that ability is something that is fixed, the other that it is changeable.
Where children believe that ability is fixed, then on experiencing difficulty they feel a sense of hopelessness ~ because there is nothing they can do about it.
Where children believe that ability is changeable, then on experiencing difficulty they feel a sense of optimism. They also believe very strongly in the importance of effort.

7. Use adjectives effectively Work well in groups
We Are Learning To:
Use adjectives effectively
Work well in groups
Success Criteria:
Choose words that best describe the friend you would like to have
Include a wide range of qualities
Use classroom rules for group work
The Learning Board
The Learning Activity:
As a group, design a ‘Wanted Poster’ advertising for a friend

8. A range of possible adjectives
truthful
reliable
kind
happy
considerate
humble
trustworthy
dedicated
giving
jolly
caring
meek
sincere
devoted
big hearted
cheery
selfless
unassuming
straight-forward
dependable
charitable
positive
attentive
reserved
frank
faithful
open-handed
jovial
helpful
unpretentious
open
steadfast
loving
lively
sympathetic
reticent
candid
constant
magnanimous
joyful
patient
discrete
direct
trusty
noble
smiling
tolerant
self-effacing
straight
stalwart
decent
optimistic
reflective
shy
honest
loyal
generous
cheerful
thoughtful
modest
To be used as prompt for Poster activity

9. A structured feedback system
First … Find 2 successes with reference to the success criteria
Second … Find the part of the work which provides most scope for a ‘jump’ ~ not simply the worst part
Third … Write a short prompt telling the learner exactly what to do to this part of their work, and …
Formative Feedback
GIVE OUT THE ‘STRUCTURED FEEDBACK SYSTEM’ SHEET
Many teachers find it very difficult to adhere to the Success Criteria when identifying the successes and improvement area, but when they do they usually find that pupils have greater focus and purpose in their learning activities.
It is for teachers/departments/schools to determine how much of this kind of feedback can be provided to pupils, as it is obviously more time-consuming and would not necessarily be used to replace current marking systems, but rather to us as a significant additional strategy for marking. There is a pragmatic balance to achieve.
The same feedback system can be used orally for younger pupils, with good levels of success and practicality.
Fourth … provide time to read, process and respond to your prompt.

10. Effective Questioning
Modelling
Effective Questioning
Prior notice
Tell children ~ in a few minutes I will be asking a question about . . .
Ask fewer but better questions
Asking fewer questions allows more time to invite more responses. Move away from quick fire questions and quick fire answers.
Thinking time
Allow thinking time. This gives children the opportunity to improve their responses. Most teachers wait about one second before they expect a response and they often answer their own questions.
No hands up
Encourage all children to think about the answer ~ not just the quick processors.
Think / pair / share
This allows each child to think of an answer or an opinion. They must share with at least one other person so no one can coast along on the back of others’ thinking. This is helpful for the less engaged child, the shy child and the child who needs time to think.
Examples of open ended questions include:
What do you think?
How do you know?
How can you find out?
Why do you think that?
Do you have a reason? How can you be sure?
Is this always so?
Can you think of different ways to ?
Is there another reason / idea / way?
What if ?
Where is there another example of this?
What do you think happens next?
What do you think of that answer?
Can you explain how you got to that answer?
Which is the odd one out and why?
A good question challenges our thinking. It makes the mind buzz. It arouses interest, raises further questions, new ideas, differing views and requires some difficult thinking.

11. Questioning (continued)
Encourage children to ask more questions
Value children’s questions as much as their answers ~ the ability to question is one of the keys to effective learning.
Pausing, prompting, probing
Provide prompts and probes for fuller answers. Don’t just accept the first response ~ the child may need a little help and encouragement to give a fuller answer or to go deeper in their thinking, e.g.
Is that the same as…?
Do you mean….?
Tell me more…?
Can you give me an example…?
Responding positively
Respond positively ~ prompts and scaffolds can help children amend their answers. Ask other children if they agree or would like to add anything. Answers which seem a bit ‘off beam’ can provide great insights for the teacher ~ seek clarification and explanation.
Appropriate language and content level
Questions should be clearly worded ~ challenging but manageable so language and subject matter should be appropriate for the age and stage of the children.
Metacognition
Thinking about thinking ~ allow children the opportunity to reflect on their thinking through questioning. Metacognition is the ability of the learner to plan, monitor, redirect and evaluate how they think and learn, e.g.
When planning they can ask themselves questions like:
How am I going to do it?
Is it similar to anything I’ve done before?
Is it one of those?
When adapting they can ask themselves questions like:
Do I understand it so far?
Do I need to ask a question?
Am I on the right track?
Am I still on task?
Is there a better way?
When evaluating, they can ask themselves questions like:
How did I do it?
What method/strategy worked?
What did I learn?
Did my plan work out?
Can I learn from my mistakes?
Can I do it differently/better next time?
Important considerations:
Do we ask too many questions?
Do we need to ask fewer, but better questions?
Do we ask, then answer the question ourselves?
Do we ask the same type of questions?
Are we looking for an answer or an explanation?
Do we need to plan for more questions which provide opportunities to challenge thinking and get children discussing and debating?
Are some answers ignored?
Do we take responses seriously?
Do the same children provide the answers?
Is answering questions a competition between children?
Are children comfortable with giving wrong answers?
At the planning stage ~ What would be good questions to ask?
How active are the children? Do they realise that their learning depends on their readiness to express ideas and discuss? It’s not about spotting right answers!
Are children encouraged to generate their own questions?
Do children value and respect the ideas/opinions of others?

12. What’s involved? and how? and the tricky bits?
Telling children what they’re about to learn and why
Publish Learning Intentions
~ perhaps using ‘WALT’
Framing good LI’s for learning, rather than activity
Scaffolding successful activity towards learning by telling them what to pay attention to ~ explicitly
Agree and publish Success Criteria
~ perhaps using ‘WALT’
Coming up with SC
Keeping SC succinct
Keeping them few
Ensuring range
Giving feedback which is focussed on improvement
Structured, comment only feedback
Keeping within the SC!!!
Breaking old habits
Ensuring that students reflect on the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of their learning
Peer/Self Assessment
Structured plenaries
eg 2 Stage MindMaps
It probably won’t happen unless you make it happen
Training for objectivity
This is the final slide of 3 as explained earlier. So potential challenges to current practice may include:
Staying focused on the learning within the activity ~ not describing the activity itself (eg we are learning to make a poster to advertise for a new friend!) ~ need to get to the learning they will be taking away ~ in this case the LI was using effective adjectives ~ the poster etc was the context/the activity
NB. Show range of examples provided and these can be modified ~ see page ? of handbook.
Success criteria need to be closely linked to the LI and should help the children know what to do to achieve the LI. Not too many and a range to ensure that children with different abilities can achieve success. Children can be involved in generating the SC as seen in the video clip.
It can be a challenge to give feedback with reference to the SC only. Spelling/punctuation/neatness care difficult to ignore at the beginning. Some teachers have got round this by asking children to self-check their work with reference to posters in classroom outlining agreed guidelines for written work.
We don’t all naturally reflect on our learning so it’s important to model this and to give the children strategies for doing this. Children need to pay more attention to the success criteria rather than the person so objectivity is essential. Teachers can begin to model this through their own strategies for success criteria-based assessment and by introducing children to shared anonymous peer assessment.
Using questioning strategies that extend participation and deepen learning
‘No Hands Up’
Wait time
Response Partners
Low risk closed questions
Initially ~ no hands up!!!
Scaffolding the wait time
Breaking old habits

13. Activity Intentions Learning Intentions
Sort 3D shapes in a Venn diagram
Sort by 2 criteria relating to properties of shapes
Write familiar words in hieroglyphs
Know that hieroglyphs are a form of written communication
Make a plan of your bedroom
Investigate repeating patterns in a variety of objects, pictures and textiles

14. Self Evaluation – ‘Big Questions’
Developing prompts that help children to evaluate the quality of their learning.
What did you find easy about learning to … ? (add the learning intention)
What really made you think while you were learning to … ?
What helped you (eg a friend, the teacher, new resources, a book, your own thinking) when something got tricky about learning to … ?
What do you need more help with about learning to … ?
What are you most pleased with about learning to … ?
What have you learnt that is new about … ?
How would you change this activity for another group/class who were learning to … ?
What new questions would you like to ask now about learning to … ?

15. Structured Observation of DVD Clips
Clip1: Learning Intentions/Success Criteria First impressions?
Clip 2: Questioning What have you learnt?
Clip 3: Formative Feedback What could you take from this into your own practice?
Clip 4: Reflection What are the benefits to these children’s learning?
This is used after each of the classroom clips are viewed. The prompts are varied ~ different levels of evaluation.

16. Next steps for me in Assessment for Learning
Discuss with pupils what they must do when you ask a question.
Extend wait time to 5 seconds after you have asked a question.
Experiment with hands up at the end of five seconds or no hands up at all so that anyone can be asked for a response.
Have ‘talking partners’ or threes as a regular feature of your lessons.
Say that if it’s making you think it means that you are learning something new - make this a good thing.
Dabble with self- evaluation: getting pupils to reflect on what helps them learn.
At the beginning of units of work, introduce the elements to be covered in a visual form. Try to involve the pupils in some way. Use this at the beginning and end of a lesson to remind children of the connections of what has been learned and how it links to future learning.
Share/write up learning intention. Explicitly separate from the activity/ context.
In short term plans separate the learning intention from the activity/ context.
Plan process success criteria (what they will need to do in order to achieve the learning intention) Start with one subject only and plan with someone if possible.
Ask pupils for success criteria just before they start to work and write it up or put them up as you go during the teaching part of the lesson.
During lessons, remind pupils to focus on the success criteria.
Remember to:
Build on what you are already doing.
Start slowly… Select an “easy” subject. Continue to move slowly and don’t be in a rush to explore all areas of learning.
Talk to other teachers about what you are doing - compare notes – plan together. Jot down notes about things you’ve tried out and what happened.
Look for impact on children’s learning and your own teaching.
Think of yourself as an action researcher- these pieces of advice are only starting points or ‘ways in’. Experiment and modify your ideas as you go along.
Refer to the ‘Key Stages 1 & 2 Curriculum Support and Implementation Box’.

17. Frequently Asked Questions? ?
Frequently Asked Questions ? ?
Should I start every lesson with learning intentions?
No, only when you are introducing new learning.
What about the capital letters and full stops, if the learning intention is not focussed on these?
Have a lesson/s where the learning intentions are ‘writing using capital letters and full stops’ or develop a list to remind children what to do ‘during’ their activities, e.g. remember full stops, capital letters.
What do we do about our schemes/planners?
Do not start rewriting these. Experiment with the strategies and even consider using post it pads on your schemes to record any learning intentions or success criteria which you trial. Share your feedback with other colleagues.
More work?
You are not going to do this all the time at first. Try a few lessons and see how it goes.
What about pupils who aren’t fluent readers accessing the learning intentions & success criteria?
Assist children to generate their own little icons to illustrate the meaning of text.
What about children who have satisfied all the success criteria?
Select a criterion which they can use to extend their work to make an improvement.
What if there are no successes in a child’s work?
Consider writing a range of success criteria so that they cater for different abilities. Ensure that you do not have too many points in the criteria.
What about telling parents about the changes? They expect to see all the spelling mistakes corrected?
Consider a parents’ evening to inform parents. A booklet for parents is being produced which will outline the strategies.

18. Back at school ~ sharing ideas with colleagues
Assessment for Learning
It is recognised that after your development days you will not feel that you are experts in the areas covered! However, it is important that the principal and staff are kept informed and involved. In order to assist you in this process, the following steps are suggested.
Meet with your colleague/s
Share the programme/information from the day.
Discuss the learning log/summary sheets and personal learning.
Ask – What will this mean for us in our classrooms?
Meet with the principal
Share the programme / information from the day.
Describe the activities you will be trying out in your classroom.
Plan how to disseminate to the rest of the staff.
Meet with the staff
The Stage 4 self-evaluation process will be on-going throughout It is anticipated that at Stage 5, dissemination from Primary 1 and Primary 5 teachers from their Personal Development & Mutual Understanding, Thinking Skills & Personal Capabilities and Assessment for Learning days will inform whole-staff discussion. It will be at the discretion of each school how this is progressed.
This may be through:
The sharing of the programme and key learning points.
The P1 and P5 powerpoint presentations will be available on the PMB web site:
Using the briefing sheets and critical questions from the Stage 4 self-evaluation pack and the CCEA DVD.

19. Assessment for Learning
Briefing Sheet:
Assessment for Learning
Key
Concepts
and
Messages
Assessment for learning is built on the constructivist theory of learning.
Learning is seen as an activity, not just a product.
Pupils are actively involved in their own learning?
Pupils construct their own understanding.
Learners take responsibility for their own learning, and eventually for their own assessment too.
Make learning and assessment transparent. Learning intentions and success criteria are shared with learners.
Make learning transferable
Classroom
Strategies
‘Big Picture’ strategies – enabling learners to see the breadth, depth and connections in their learning.
Sharing learning intentions and success criteria.
Using questioning strategies that enhance participation and deepen learning.
Formative feedback – telling learners where they have been successful, where they should focus and providing them with the time and support to make improvements.
Self-evaluation, as well as peer and self-assessment, where emphasis is not just on what they have learnt, but how.
Outcomes
Research indicates key outcomes of assessment for learning practice to be:
Enhanced performance, especially those in lower ability groups.
Enhanced self-esteem and self-confidence leading to more risk-taking behaviour especially with new l earning opportunities.
Greater resilience displayed by learners when they meet difficulties.
Increased independence for learners.
Greater teacher awareness of the needs of learners and the learning they are meant to gain from activities.
A community of learners, built through positive changes in the classroom climate.
Implications
for
Leadership
Management
A need to revisit and challenge the school’s vision statements – what does the school seek to achieve for its learners?
A need for discussion on beliefs about learning and how this affects the organisation of teaching and learning activities.
To ensure that pupils’ learning experiences are consistent with the school’s aims.
To balance summative and formative assessment and understand the role of both, separately and relatively.
To help parents understand the developments in assessment, especially in relation to the feedback we provide to learners.

20. Prompts for Staff Discussion:
Critical Questions
Key
Concepts
and
Messages
1. What do we believe about the ways in which pupils learn?
2. In what ways can assessment best serve pupils’ learning?
3. What are the benefits and problems of pupils taking increased responsibility for their learning?
4. What exactly do we mean by ‘transferable’ learning?
Classroom
Strategies
1. How important is it for pupils to get a big picture view of new learning?
2. What strategies do we currently use to help set pupils up for new learning?
3. To what extent do we use these strategies in our current practice? What are the benefits and practical
issues relating to the practice?
4. Of the strategies listed, which ones do we need to focus on for development, and what immediate steps
do we need to take?
Outcomes
1. What are the most pressing needs of our pupils?
How do these compare with the outcomes cited for Assessment for Learning practice?
Implications
for
Leadership
Management
1. What is our school seeking to achieve for its learners?
2. Do we seek a core of similar outcomes?
3. How does our present assessment practice help fulfil these aims?
To what extent does it need to change to realise them more fully?
4. Do we need to review our summative assessment procedures? How can our summative data be used
formatively?
5. How can parents be informed to aid their understanding of our assessment practices?

21. Learning Log Session Title: AfL in the Revised Curriculum
Issues raised in this session:
The impact that these issues could have on children's learning:
Things I could do differently as a result of these issues:
Issues I need to research/reflect on further:

22. Learning Log Session Title: Practical experiences of AfL strategies
Issues raised in this session:
The impact that these issues could have on children's learning:
Things I could do differently as a result of these issues:
Issues I need to research/reflect on further:

23. Learning Log Session Title: Impact of AfL in the classroom
Issues raised in this session:
The impact that these issues could have on children's learning:
Things I could do differently as a result of these issues:
Issues I need to research/reflect on further:

24. Schools involved in AfL action research
Cohort 1
Cohort 2
Millington, Portadown
Hart Memorial, Portadown
Saints & Scholars, Armegh
Kilkeel
St Malachy’s Camlough
St Joseph’s Meigh, Newry
St Patrick’s Aghacommon, Lurgan
St Patrick’s Newry
St Patrick’s Mayobridge, Newry
The Armstrong, Armagh
Insert the names of schools ~ or teachers & schools as appropriate!
This is SELB ~ maybe using own ELB’s cohorts!!