A display to show effective feedback

A display recently created by Mrs Mistry to exemplify the quality of our Key Stage 1 writing and how effective feedback is central to that

 

We routinely see displays in schools that exemplify the best outcomes created by children but how often do we get to see the feedback given by the teachers that has formed part of the fantastic learning journey that teacher and child have been on? Post it notes with personal targets- feedback against criteria for success- positive praise- double ticks where targets have been met- are all part of a consistent marking policy for writing across school.

 

The Ofsted School inspection handbook (2012) includes in it's grade descriptors for outstanding teaching that "Consistently high quality marking and feedback from teachers ensures that pupils make rapid gains".

Jackie Beere (2012) , a leading educational trainer and consultant backs this up by stating that "specific feedback needs to be present in students' books and in theclassroom dialogue, otherwise students can become demotivated, confused or misled".



Mrs Mistry has a very innovative approach to creating displays and this one has an added layer of value as we get to see the journey of the teacher and child when producing writing outcomes.

 

The images you see here are perfect examples to show you the time that teachers invest in making sure that children are rigorously supported in their writing; that they take ownership over aspects of their improvement by self evaluating against success criteria and by engaging with feedback given as a result of teacher's in depth knowledge of each individual child's needs. This style of marking is consistently implemented across school but worth noting is how impressive it is, that even some of the youngest children in school can engage with such sophisticated strategies for improvement.

 

 

Click on the images to see them up close and the detail of the feedback...

The power of collaborative learning

Last week, I was teaching a group of Year 6 children in my office. Nothing unusual there, but what I did notice was the incredible learning behaviours. I have been in this profession, for over 16 years now and I don't think I have ever experienced such positive learning behaviours as those that I witnessed last week. I simply asked the children to look back at a previous test they had done for Level 6 Maths and given that they had a further 3 months of learning under their belts, asked them to tackle the problems they had previously got incorrect. I did not want them to do this alone, however; I wanted them to use each other's understanding to collaboratively solve the problems. I asked this specifically because I wanted to see how the children worked together, to listen to who could ask the most efffective kinds of questions to their peers, and to see who could share their knowledge and strategies with others. But more than anything, I wanted to see whether the children solved the problems more or less effectively than if they had been asked to do this independently. I sat back and took stock of the situation, listening and watching intently, taking notes of what the children were saying out loud.

For at least 15 minutes, there was an audible buzz of interaction, a sharp focus from each child which faltered for nothing and an excitement in their achievements which was touching to see. Verbal interactions amongst the children included:

"What did you get for that?"
"This is how I worked this out"
"I can't believe I got that one wrong!!"
"I haven't a clue how to tackle that one- show me how you did it".
"I got that one right, let me show you what I did"
" I can definitely solve this one now- look!"
"We all got that one wrong, let's tackle it together"
"Ooooooooh yes, I can see that now- thanks"
"Would I use the grid method for that?"
"YES! I did it!"
The level of accuracy improved dramatically.

This is a great example of how collaborative learning is powerful and effective and impacts on the depth of the children's understanding. This approach to learning is something that Year 5 and 6 teachers are implementing more and more, especially with the higher achieving children.