Mentor materials
Setting the scene and providing high-quality feedback
Intended outcomes
The intended outcomes of this topic are for Early Career Teachers to:
Learn that:
- Over time, feedback should support pupils to monitor and regulate their own learning.
- Working with colleagues to identify efficient approaches to assessment is important; assessment can become onerous and have a disproportionate impact on workload.
Learn how to provide high-quality feedback, by:
- Scaffolding self-assessment by sharing model work with pupils, highlighting key details.
- Thinking carefully about how to ensure feedback is specific and helpful when using peer- or self-assessment.
- Working with colleagues to identify efficient approaches to marking and alternative approaches to providing feedback (e.g. using whole class feedback or well supported peer- and self-assessment).
- Reducing the opportunity cost of marking (e.g. by using abbreviations and codes in written feedback).
Activities
Introducing module 11: Deepening assessment, feedback and questioning (10 minutes)
Preparing for this module:
The first part of this topic will be a chance to look back at the progress the ECT has made in this area. Support them to articulate what successes they have had as well as areas they feel need work. If you were the mentor last year, it may be appropriate for you to offer your opinion on successes and ongoing areas for development.
Each school will have policies in relation to assessment and feedback and ECTs should by now be aware of these policies.
Suggested dialogue for mentors:
Welcome to module 11 called ‘Deepening assessment, feedback and questioning’. As you know, this module builds on your learning from year 1. It will do so by going beyond our existing understanding of what good assessment is by looking at how we can link our assessment practices to metacognitive strategies. We will also look at how to work with colleagues to deepen your knowledge and practice in this area, particularly in relation to becoming more efficient while maintaining quality. In year 1, you looked at what was meant by ‘good assessment’ and ‘good feedback’, as well as high quality classroom talk and questioning.
Some questions for discussion:
- You’ve had a whole year since you learned about effective assessment, feedback and questioning practices. We looked at things such as the ways in which assessment provides us with important information, helps to expose misconceptions and identify pupils’ prior knowledge. How do you think you have developed in these areas in the last year?
- Can you give me a specific example of a time when you think assessment/feedback/questioning went particularly well?
- What areas do you feel you still need to work on?
Understanding the evidence (15 minutes)
Guidance to mentors:
The ECT should have read the ‘Understanding the Evidence’ section of the self-directed study materials ahead of the topic. You should also read them to familiarise yourself with the content. In this part of the mentor topic, you will be asking questions to check the ECT’s understanding of what they have read.
The guidance below provides a full range of responses which show understanding. However, you should not treat this as a ‘test’ of the ECT’s knowledge; use the prompts to elicit fuller answers or clarify if they have misunderstood any aspect.
Suggested dialogue for mentors:
You completed activity 11.2 of the self-directed study materials ‘Understanding the Evidence’ in relation to what makes good assessment and feedback and also 11.3 ‘Learning about efficient approaches to assessment’. Let’s discuss your response to the questions to check your understanding of that material.
What is the value of pupils learning to monitor and regulate their own learning?
- Metacognition is linked to improved pupil outcomes - Pupils can take ownership of their own learning - Pupils can make better progress
- It is an important life skill
- Reduces workload.
How can this be supported through feedback?
- Restructuring understandings
- Confirming to students that they are correct or incorrect
- Indicating that more information is available or needed
- Pointing to directions students could pursue
- Indicating alternative strategies to understand particular information.
Why is it important to find efficient approaches to assessment?
- Assessment can take up a lot of time
- Developing efficiency (while maintaining quality) is important to managing workload.
What different approaches to efficient marking and feedback are there?
- Self-assessment
- Peer-assessment
- Whole-class feedback
- Marking codes
- Verbal feedback
- Live marking.
What problems are there with self- and peer-assessment and how can these be overcome?
- Pupils can do it badly in which case they don’t realise what mistakes they’ve made and continue to repeat them.
- This can be overcome through the use of high-quality success criteria and modelling.
Providing high-quality feedback (30 minutes)
Guidance for mentors:
The ECT will need to have brought along a lesson or sequence of lessons that is going to be taught in the next week. As this is the first topic of the module, mentors should email or catch up with the ECT quickly in person to ensure that they are aware.
Pose the following question: How can you scaffold self-assessment by sharing model work with pupils, highlighting key details?
Model work helps pupils gain an understanding about what quality learning ‘looks like’ and – by highlighting the key details and characteristics – what they need to do to achieve the standard. It is underpinned by the idea that it is easier to understand how to do something by being shown how to do it rather than being given a description of how to do it. What could this look like?
Prepared model work:
- Pupils see a complete example, so they know what they are aiming for.
- Teacher can share multiple prepared responses showing a variety of high-quality responses
- Can be used to identify errors and how to address them
- Pupils see the product or outcome they are aiming for
- Pupils and teacher can analyse, dissect and evaluate the features within a model.
Worked examples:
- Improve learning by reducing cognitive load during skill acquisition
- Model the process or procedure and thinking required to solve a particular problem, as well as showing the product
- Can be used more than once and completed in collaboration with pupils with pupils partly or fully leading the worked example depending on the level of scaffold required.
Watch the video from this week’s ECT self-study materials.
Pose the questions:
- How did the teacher highlight key details of the model work?
- How did this provide pupils with high quality feedback about the success criteria of the work?
- How was this used to scaffold self-assessment?
Answers might include:
- Teacher modelled revision of specific sentences to show pupils that is what they should be doing
- Re-read answers because ‘that is what good writers do’ models to pupils that they should constantly be checking and re-checking their work
- Asked questions throughout to model thought process<
- Unpicked success criteria.
Looking at your own lesson/sequence of lessons, where could you model an activity and how will you do this? You can use Handout 11.1 for support.
Planning for action
Options:
Agree with the ECT that you will come and observe the lesson which has been worked on today, looking specifically at how the ECT uses self-assessment and activities which model this such as sharing model work with pupils.
If the mentor is unable to observe, perhaps the ECT could record that part of the lesson and bring it to the next topic
Alternatively, the ECT could write down some reflections and bring them to share at the next topic.
In the following topic, ECTs will have the opportunity to discuss efficient approaches to marking with a colleague who you should invite along to the topic. Identify which colleague to invite and send them an email. This could be someone from the same department/phase or someone who is considered an excellent practitioner. It could also be you.