Focus Activity TL6 Assessing and Responding to Pupils’ Work The aim of this focus activity is to help you to think clearly about pupils' written work. You need to think about what makes a good task, how you can judge what the work demonstrates about a pupil's learning, and how your marking can best help the pupil. What to do: read the school policy on assessment, recording and reporting. Make brief notes on what you consider to be the key points; read and discuss with your mentor the departmental policy on assessment and marking; ask to see a sample of the written work from a class that you are going to teach. You will need the work of 5 or 6 pupils across the ability range. Consider one task in particular - preferably one which has already been marked. Look carefully at the pupils' work and make notes on the following points: what was the purpose of the task? Can you identify the skills, knowledge and understanding that the task has developed? whether the task was appropriate for all pupils, and whether (and in what ways) it was modified to allow all pupils to tackle it; how the work has been marked - the conventions (ticks, underlining, etc) used, whether all mistakes were corrected, the nature of the comments, any marks or grades given, targets for improvement; does the pupils' work reveal any common misconceptions or errors that the pupils are making? is there any evidence from later work that the pupils have taken note of the marking and learned from it? has the marker considered the literacy skills of the pupils in their marking and comments? discuss your observations with your mentor and note any points of interest. Ask your mentor to help you consider what evidence you have that all pupils did learn from the task, and whether or not the task achieved its purpose. Discuss with your mentor and teachers in your department the differences between assessing and responding to KS3, KS4 and KS5 work. Reflection Point Read: Harrison, C (2011) Making assessment work in the classroom. In: Dillon, J. and Maguire, M. (Eds) Becoming a Teacher: Issues in Secondary Teaching (4th edition), Maidenhead: Open University Press. After reading the chapter and reviewing your notes for this activity, identify at least three key aspects of assessing pupils’ work that you want to focus on for the remainder of the practice.
Focus Activity TL6 Assessing and Responding to Pupils’ Work The aim of this focus activity is to help you to think clearly about pupils' written work. You need to think about what makes a good task, how you can judge what the work demonstrates about a pupil's learning, and how your marking can best help the pupil. What to do: read the school policy on assessment, recording and reporting. Make brief notes on what you consider to be the key points; read and discuss with your mentor the departmental policy on assessment and marking; ask to see a sample of the written work from a class that you are going to teach. You will need the work of 5 or 6 pupils across the ability range. Consider one task in particular - preferably one which has already been marked. Look carefully at the pupils' work and make notes on the following points: what was the purpose of the task? Can you identify the skills, knowledge and understanding that the task has developed? whether the task was appropriate for all pupils, and whether (and in what ways) it was modified to allow all pupils to tackle it; how the work has been marked - the conventions (ticks, underlining, etc) used, whether all mistakes were corrected, the nature of the comments, any marks or grades given, targets for improvement; does the pupils' work reveal any common misconceptions or errors that the pupils are making? is there any evidence from later work that the pupils have taken note of the marking and learned from it? has the marker considered the literacy skills of the pupils in their marking and comments? discuss your observations with your mentor and note any points of interest. Ask your mentor to help you consider what evidence you have that all pupils did learn from the task, and whether or not the task achieved its purpose. Discuss with your mentor and teachers in your department the differences between assessing and responding to KS3, KS4 and KS5 work. Reflection Point Read: Harrison, C (2011) Making assessment work in the classroom. In: Dillon, J. and Maguire, M. (Eds) Becoming a Teacher: Issues in Secondary Teaching (4th edition), Maidenhead: Open University Press. After reading the chapter and reviewing your notes for this activity, identify at least three key aspects of assessing pupils’ work that you want to focus on for the remainder of the practice.