We all know that showing progress is key to getting judged as Good or Outstanding . But how can we do this ? Here we have a look at five tips for demonstrating progress at any stage of a lesson !
We all know that showing progress is key to getting judged as Good or Outstanding . But how can we do this ? Here we have a look at five tips for demonstrating progress at any stage of a lesson !
Learning Bags / Boxes : Display 3 bags / boxes either permanently on a display board in your classroom or on your whiteboard . Title them ‘ Understand fully ’, ‘ need to learn more ’, ‘ don ’ t get it !’ etc or use your 3 learning objectives . Students can then put their names on a post-it and put them ‘ into ’ the corresponding bag . This can then either be used to inform the next activities if it is a mini-plenary or for next lesson if you do it at the end .
Pass The Parcel : A brilliant way of assessing progress and learning and great differentiation if you cheat with the music ! Questions are wrapped within the layers of the parcel — students then pass the parcel around and when the music stops they unwrap one layer and answer the question .
2 stars and a wish : This is a very effective form of peer assessment whereby pupils look at each others work at a suitable point in the lesson when you do a miniplenary . Identify 2 good point ‘ Stars ’ and then a wish , which is a target for improvement . At the end of the lesson they can then discuss what progress has been made towards the target and tick it off if completed .
Continuum line : This can either be done physically with the students standing in a line or on a washing line displayed on the whiteboard . At one end of the line it is ‘ understand fully ’, in the middle ‘ need more learning ’ and at the other end ‘ don ’ t get it !’. You can then either ask them questions or repeat the learning objectives and they either move in the line ( asking each other questions to establish who knows more !) and shuffle about with a change of question or objective ! Or they can again use post-its with the names on and place them on the washing line on the board .
Carelessly completed : What ’ s wrong with this ? Give students a piece of work / display something on the board with inaccuracies for them to identify and correct — it is good practice to also pick out what is done well and accurately too !
Kirstie recently read an interesting article about how to engage learners and ensure that they are absorbing the information we are sharing with them . The book “ Outstanding Teaching : Engaging Learners ” by Andy Griffith & Mark Burns is available from Amazon and we are hoping to have a copy available for staff to read in the Teaching and Learning Centre soon . Until we are able to offer the book , here are the key points that Kirstie was able to pick out from the article .