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Self-Study Activities

Review: 10 mins

Read the Research and Practice Summary on this week’s topic. As you read, reflect on:

  1. the practices that you are already doing well
  2. the practices you are doing some of the time but could do more of/more consistently
  3. 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: 5 mins

Self-assessment

Now use the ideas in the Research and Practice Summary to reflect in greater depth on your own feedback practice in relation to how you give feedback.

You might ask yourself:

  • how accurate and clear is my feedback typically?
  • to what extent does my feedback encourage further effort from pupils?
  • is my feedback specific enough for pupils to improve?
  • what opportunities do I generally give pupils to act on feedback?
  • how does my feedback support pupils to increasingly monitor and regulate their own learning?

Theory to Practice: 25 mins

You have a range of activities to engage with this week. Choose one or two of these activities that are most suited to your teaching context and learning needs.

1. Analyse artefacts / reflect

Collect a few samples of written feedback that you have given recently. If you do not give written feedback often in your phase/specialism, briefly note the details of some verbal feedback that you have given recently. Review these samples of your own feedback on pupils’ work and note where they reflect characteristics of high-quality feedback.

  1. Connect these characteristics to the Research and Practice Summary for this session and to the guide questions in the previous activity. Where can you see opportunities to further improve your feedback?
  2. Having analysed some physical examples of your own feedback, consider how accurate you were in your reflections on feedback practice in the Review activity. Do you want to modify your self-assessment now that you have looked as samples of your feedback? What does this tell you about reflecting on and self-assessing your own practice, if anything?

2. Discuss with pupils

If possible, arrange to talk to a few pupils in your school about their views on feedback. They don’t have to be pupils that you teach.

You might explore:

  • how they understand the purpose of feedback
  • whether they prefer verbal or written feedback and why
  • what kind of action they typically take in response to feedback received
  • what they think the relationship is between receiving feedback and their learning

3. Discuss with a colleague

Talk to a colleague about realistic expectations for how independent and self-regulating pupils should be when they enter/leave each age range/phase/year in your setting. Reflect on your own expectations to date of pupils and how you might adjust these in light of your conversation, if at all.

Make notes in your Learning Log, if you are using one, about what you have learned from the previous activities. Note how you will draw on this learning to further improve the impact of your own practice in relation to giving verbal and written feedback.

Next Steps: 5 mins

While teaching during the coming week, make a point of connecting learning from this session to your practice by:

  • reflecting on the sort of feedback you give to your pupils and how this relates to the characteristics of high-quality feedback that you have learned about
  • focusing on how you create opportunities for pupils to act on your feedback
  • noticing specifically the impact this seems to have on their learning

Write a reminder to yourself to capture key learning from this activity in your Learning Log, if you are using one.

Be ready to share this and your other learning from this session with your mentor in your next meeting with them.