Self-Study Activities
Review: 10 mins
Read the Research and Practice Summary on this week’s topic. As you read, reflect on:
- the practices that you are already doing well
- the practices you are doing some of the time but could do more of/more consistently
- the practices you do not use in your teaching yet
As you work through the activities in this week’s self-directed study session and mentor meeting, aim to both refine and extend what you already do well and to build your skill and confidence in using practices which are not yet a regular part of your teaching repertoire.
Plan: 10 mins
Discuss with a colleague
Arrange to speak to an experienced colleague about how they use assessment in their practice.
Look for connections between the outcomes from this discussion and the research summary above. Make notes as appropriate in your Learning Log, if you are using one.
You could ask them:
- how they use formative assessment at the start of a topic to find out what pupils know already
- how they use formative assessment during a topic to monitor pupils’ progression
- how they use summative assessment at the end of a topic to make judgements about learning
- the factors they consider when selecting a formative or summative assessment tool to use in their teaching
If you are not able to speak to a colleague with the required expertise, you can refer to the video resources that accompany this session.
Theory to Practice: 20 mins
Practical exercise / independent planning
Select a lesson that you will be teaching soon. Look at the learning objectives (LOs) for this lesson and identify three different ways that you could assess pupils’ learning in relation to these LOs (for example: different types of questions, observation, quizzing, peer-assessment task, self-assessment task, marking work).
Using the concepts in this week’s Research and Practice Summary and other knowledge that you have in this area, reflect on each of your chosen three options by answering the questions below. Then decide which is the most effective strategy for this lesson, based on your assessment. An example of how Seda might answer the questions for her topic about the Puritan threat is also shown below.
Identify assessment strategy. Outline how you could use this assessment strategy within your chosen lesson/session.
I could…use multiple- choice questions which include common misunderstandings as the distractors. I will do this at the beginning of the topic. I’ll give pupils time to discuss their answers in talk pairs so I can listen in and assess their understanding. I’ll then use whole-class response with mini-whiteboards and targeted questioning for elaboration.
Why have you chosen this strategy? What are the strengths of this approach in this lesson and with these pupils?
I have chosen this approach because… I can make the questions tightly focused on the key aspects of Puritan ideas, which pupils often confuse with moderate Protestant or Catholic beliefs. My pupils enjoy discussions, so this suits them, and it suits me because it generates lots of talk for me to assess. I’ll need questioning so I can really probe understanding.
What will you learn about pupils’ understanding/skills from this assessment?
This will help me to find out… how far students have understood the key features of Puritan beliefs and if they can differentiate them from moderate Protestant and Catholic beliefs. I can then plan how far I need to teach or reinforce this crucial content before students can begin to assess the threat posed by the Puritans to Elizabeth’s rule.
Next Steps: 5 mins
Bring your completed table and any supporting notes to your mentor meeting next week (this week, you will focus on the module audit). Be ready to discuss this activity with your mentor. You should also bring any outcomes recorded in your Learning Log from your discussion with a colleague and be prepared to discuss how you have developed your knowledge and understanding in relation to the learning intentions from this self-directed study session.