Co-constructed Success Criteria

Background

Shirley Clarke says that: “Success criteria are internalised and used by pupils if they have had a stake in their generation“.

success criteria picture

Strategies we’ve used:

We have both tried using a number of strategies for co-constructing the open and closed success criteria (SC) for Maths and English (& other subjects).

Having compared our notes, we have found we have approached their creation in very similar ways, with the differentiation across the two cohorts being from our approach in facilitating and guiding the pupils talk.

SC maths

In Y3/4 Maths:

The model we use which has developed over the year, is to get pupils to spend time working on skill fluency and then practice applying the skill in reasoning and problem solving.  Following this period of embedding and investigation, the pupils, with the help of their Talk Partners (TP), discuss the SC they feel are important.  This is then shared amongst the class and discussed.  This is an invaluable Formative Assessment tool, as at this point, any misconceptions are able to be analysed and skill fluency revisited.  A ‘master’ SC list is agreed by the children (guided by the teacher) and typed on the IWB so that the pupils can see their ideas are used and valued.  This is sometimes printed off to put into their books, and sometimes the class one is used as a starting point for the children to edit and improve using their own words and ideas which they can write into their books. This is usually done towards the end of the unit, when they have all become familiar and confident with the skill being taught.

Sometimes, they have written the SC down on paper when discussing with TP at an earlier point in the unit, and a copy has been kept to refer back to later in the unit (or when the topic is revisited later in the year).  At this point, the pupils are able to add to the SC they originally created, in another colour, as a clear indication of the progress in their understanding.

In Y5/6 Maths:

Having spent time teaching and applying the skills needed for a unit of work, the Y5/6 class are given a blank slip of paper where they create their SC list during working through the unit, using their TP to verbalise their thinking and reasoning, and changing and updating the slip as they go.  They approach it as if they were writing to teach it themselves.  At the end of the work we share our SC with the class – the pupils adding on any criteria they feel they missed off, and I as the teacher type up a ‘master’ copy on the IWB, to save for when the topic is revisited, and for revision.  The pupils glue their own copy into their books, at the end of their unit.

In both teaching cohorts, the maths SC are generally closed criteria as they refer to the process of the skill.  Obviously, when using the skill in a problem solving activity, it is the problem solving that needs the SC. It is at this point that the criteria becomes much more open, as the children are able to ‘choose from’ a range of techniques/approaches that they have at their disposal.

SC English

In Y3/4 and Y5/6 English:

We have both taken a very similar approach here.  When writing a particular section of the story/non-fiction piece, we use our Toolkit created earlier in ‘Imitation’ week when studying the class text.  Using our TP, we remind ourselves of what we need to/want to include in the Shared Writing that day.  A continual dialogue is being had during this time and at the end of the Shared Writing, we create a ‘master’ list on the IWB together.  It is at this point that we split the SC into Open and Closed criteria.  For figurative language techniques, the pupils usually decide that these are open criteria and come under the optional “Choose From…” column.  For the key ingredients that make the writing that particular genre, or that particular section of a story, the pupils decide these need to go in the closed criteria, (“Remember to include…”) column.  This is done as a TP, then whole class, discussion.  It doesn’t take very long at this point in the lesson as it follows the continual dialogue about it during the shared writing.

This SC table is visible on the IWB throughout the lesson, but also printed off, copied and handed out to the children so that they have their own copy to stick in their books, and mark off as a kind of ‘checklist’ to support their writing.

SC Outcomes

 

 

Year 3/4

Realistically, the process has not been as seamless as the above description would suggest. The last go at co-constructed success criteria was more like the above but the first couple of attempts required much hand holding and teacher input to end up with a coherent set of skills. The children have embraced it as the year has gone on and the process is much swifter now than our early bumbling attempts.

It is an extremely useful formative assessment tool. You can see exactly what the children have understood and used.

Year 5/6

The older children were able to assimilate the idea of what I wanted them to contribute pretty much immediately.  SC coconstructedIn English, they could see from the outset that I was recording what had already been discussed by them in class and they found the print out of the SC table to put in their book extremely powerful as a tool in itself.  In maths, they have always been trained to ‘teach it’ in their explanations and to justify and clarify all the way through any explanations.  Writing up the co-constructed SC at the end of the unit and sharing our findings as a class seemed a very natural process to them.

I have found it a very powerful contribution to my Formative Assessment of the learning. The ownership they feel over it, and the talk that it generates and requires, is a very powerful thing in embedding the learning.

 

Finn for Curiosity – Learning Power #4

We have unveiled Learning Power #4 –Finn for curiosity, the 4th meta-cognitive power in our series of 8.  Great excitement rose before the big reveal – who was the character this time?  As before, we began by sharing the ‘Learning Story’ together, and with their Talk Partners, the pupils identified skills from the story that would be useful in helping them to work with others and be co-operative.

Finn for Curiosity
Finn for Curiosity

Initially, the pupils were surprised by this Learning Power, but after a quick discussion, they decided that without this power, how would they learn anything?

Once again, we identified the skills we thought necessary to help our curiosity develop and improve, as a tool for our learning.

Learning Powers - C3PO 1_Page_11

 

Key Skills for Curiosity
Key Skills for Curiosity

Outcome

The repeated thread of comment from the children on this learning power was that it it felt like it was talking about our maths class.  And how true; I’m always asking these questions and getting them to look for patterns and connections in our visual and numerical mathematics.  Obviously, it is also applicable across the curriculum, but maths does feel like its natural home to our class.  Ms McCarron says TOTES agree!

C3PO for Co-operation – Learning Power #3

Ms McCarron described the start of this journey with our Learning Powers in her blog post, “Yoda for Concentration – Learning power 1 unleashed we have,” on 28 Feb 2016.

Last week I unveiled Learning Power #3 – C3PO for Co-operation, the 3rd meta-cognitive power in our series of 8, to my Y5/6 class.  As before, we began by enthusiastically sharing the ‘Learning Story’ together, and with their Talk Partners, the pupils identified skills from the story that would be useful in helping them to work with others and be co-operative.  They know the format of the unveiling of the Learning Powers by now and are already trying to guess which power, and which character, may be next!

C3PO for Co-operation
C3PO for Co-operation

We made a class list of those skills identified and entered into a lively discussion about what makes co-operation important, why it is important, when it might be important and conversely, what might impede co-operation.  Having reflected on what might hinder co-operation, I felt that they had thought deeper about how much they indeed value this Learning Power.

Key Skills for Co-operation
Key Skills for Co-operation

Outcome

We referred back to these skills over the next few days (and of course the previous Learning Powers), particularly when working on our DT projects and in our maths investigations.  These skills of course apply across the curriculum in every lesson where pupils are together, so this Learning Power is a particularly important meta-cognitive skill.

The pupils said that this is the most important power so far for the success of their Talk Partner scheme…..commenting on how the key skills they identified were very similar to the success criteria they generated for their Talk Partners rules. (See previous blog post “Time to Talk pt 2“) 

Finally, we all decided that C3PO’s joke was OK, but he still needs some more practice……and perhaps some co-operation with inventing better ones!

Next Step

The fourth ‘Learning Power’ will be unveiled to the pupils after Easter – “Be Curious“.  Who will the character be??

Our Glorious Mistakes

Improving questioning and talk.

Background.

Previous Shirley Clarke action research teams have found that:

The impact of using more effective questioning is that children’s thinking is more creative and they have to justify their opinions. Confidence is increased and children then are more able to take risks and ask questions.

Introducing deliberate mistakes is one of the ways improving the quality of questioning in order to unpick the misconception.

What we did.

Over the last term we have used a number of deliberate mistakes to great effect and huge hilarity. My favourite was the measuring length glorious mistake where the confidence of the children had built to such a peak that they were shouting at me “Ms. McCarron not like that, can I show you how I would do it?”.

Glorious Mistake: Number Families

This first was the toughest because as a school community we are still relatively new to growth mindset and philosophy for children. It was an emotional roller coaster.

At the end of each maths lesson I ask the children who would like a session in the afternoon to go over what we have done in the morning. During this particular afternoon’s session we were addressing misconceptions which had come up in the morning to do with ‘number families’ – in particular – subtraction.

Q: What addition sum could we do using all 3 numbers? The children had chosen 6, 4 and 10 as our family.

6 + 4 = 10

What else?

4 + 6 = 10

“Now, what subtraction sums could we do with these numbers?”

Some of the children used our rubber sheep. They all had a go at writing a sum on their whiteboards. The children were asked to come up and share their solution.

6 – 4 = 2

“Does it use our family of 3 numbers?”

“Yes it’s the right answer.”

“What about the 10?”

So then we got:

6 – 4 = 10

Lots of shots of “No! That’s not right!” and several volunteers to be the teacher. The child who had written this sum up retreated slightly and looked unsure. He asked if he could sort it out on his whiteboard and sat working on his own for a bit.

There was a lot of counting rubber sheep action for the next few minutes. Lots of chat, giving and receiving advice as they sorted it out. Finally 2 of the group got very excited and said they’d got it.

Coming up to be the teacher, their delivery was very effective as the rest of their group hung on their every word in case they tripped up in their explanation. When they had finished with a very successful explanation of:

10 – 6 = 4

the boy who had retreated beamed up at me and said “I’ve got the last one.” He proudly came up and shared:

10 – 4 = 6

to much ‘ooing’ and ‘aahing’ and checking with rubber sheep.

The next bit of question and answer led the children to the conclusion that there was a rule for adding – you can do it in any order – that didn’t work with subtraction. The second thing they worked out themselves through trial and error was that they needed the biggest number first.

We concluded that we had made 2 mathematical discoveries which we then went on to share with the whole class the next morning.

All in all a very rewarding session. This was a breakthrough moment and with additional practice, these children have been confidently using number families ever since and have understood the concept of an inverse relationship.

Reflection

The children took proper ownership of the task after the first mistake. There were tricky moments for some as they felt upset at being exposed as wrong but a couple of children were so enthused with sorting out the misconception that the whole group was carried along. They were less polite to each other than they are to me and their questions were very direct and effective. They were very focused on getting it right so that they could come up and be the teacher but they were also good at making sure other people had ‘got it’. A good sense of team. I also feel that they understood it and were engaged more deeply than if I had stood at the front and explained the rules.

Next step

This culture of sharing mistakes has built during the term, so that during our measurement unit the children were able to correct my incompetent measurement of height with lots and lots of advice on how to do it correctly and offers of help. From them taking over and trouble shooting my mistakes, we were then able to write our own success criteria for measuring. This has led to some excellent work on co-constructed success criteria which has been fascinating and which Mrs. Hodges and I will share in subsequent posts.

 

Rey for Don’t Give Up – Learning Power 2

Background

Having unleashed Yoda for Concentration the previous week, anticipation was high for week 2. WHO WAS IT? WHAT WOULD THE SPECIAL POWER BE? All 8 Learning power posters had been stuck up around the classroom but masked for the whole week behind a large question mark! Every day, the children had been speculating. Finally, the moment had arrived.

I work with a mixed attaining group which includes a high number of Pupil Premium children. Part of my remit as a Pupil Premium teacher, is to help those pupil premium children close the gap whilst building their self-esteem. All children can be fragile when they are faced with something new that they know they might ‘fail’ at and when they find that new thing difficult their ‘stickability’ is challenged.

Time to unleash –  Rey for ‘not giving up’.

What we did.

Having had great success with measuring length and tearing their hair out at ‘mistakes’ in my method (see next post from me), our next step was to convert measurements.

10 minutes into converting ‘g’ to ‘kg’, I detected some frustration. I invited the most frustrated child to come and unveil the 2nd learning power.

Quivering with excitement, frustration immediately forgotten, he beamed at the sight of Rey running from a burning starship. We spent a giddy few minutes reading the learning story and talking about Rey’s qualities

This time, when asked to highlight pieces of the story which might be skills for ‘Don’t give up!’, the children had made accurate decisions within a couple of minutes.

Slide05

We looked at the bullet point list we had created and the children talked about how we could use Rey’s Learning Power for what we were getting stuck on. During the discussion, without prompting, the children referred back to Yoda for concentration, making the link between the 2 learning powers and how we should use both.

Slide06

Outcome

Invigorated, we kept going with our tricky conversions but the mood had changed completely. Our explicit discussion of not giving up lifted the spirits of everyone.

For the rest of the week, we talked about Yoda and Rey and the Learning Powers have become part of our classroom language much more quickly than I anticipated.

Next step

I am under so much pressure to reveal Learning Power 3 to my group! However, year 3/4 then became very busy with the school production so it is over to 5/6 and Mrs. Hodges for the next instalment.  Sky class have also been introduced to the Learning Powers over the last few weeks. Time to hear how they have been getting on.

 

Involving Pupils in the Planning

Background

Shirley Clarke states, “Formative Assessment is essentially about pupils being actively involved in their learning, so their input into it needs to start before lessons begin, at the planning stage…..What is clear is that structured involvement increases their motivation and leads to higher achievement.

What we did – co-constructing the planning of our Rainforest Topic

 1.  Finding out what they already knew:

I gave the Y5/6 pupils pictures of the Rainforest (our new topic), posted a list of vocabulary on the IWB,  and then invited discussion on what they already knew and what they wanted to find out.  Using their Talk Partners, followed by whole-class feedback, I was given a feel for the knowledge and skills I needed to cover, misconceptions I needed to address, and the appropriate pitch I needed to take during the subsequent teaching.

2.  Finding out what they wanted to learn and ideas on how to achieve it:

In order to focus their excitement and imagination into a term’s worth of work (rather than a year’s worth!) I presented the children with the key skills that we needed to cover on a large flip-chart.  They were then invited to write their focused questions on post-it notes, which we matched up to the skills that we needed to cover.

Co-constructed topic planning
Co-constructed topic planning

From there, we discussed activities that we could do which would help answer our questions.  Any question that did not fit into our ‘skills-based’ plan, was posted onto our Wonder Wall (“I wonder….”).

Our Wonderwall
Our Wonder Wall

This wall is for any question, at any time during the topic, which children want to find out about.  During the topic, any pupil can research and post answers to those “additional” questions.

 

3.  Immersion in the subject:

We immersed the children in the subject via a trip to ‘The Living Rainforest’ (Oxfordshire).  Whilst we were unable to carry out the trip at the start of the unit (fully booked), the trip occurred half-way through and inspired them enormously, helping with their research for extended writing tasks.

What was the impact?

Without doubt, there was a huge increase in independence and ownership of the topic.  We were learning about what they wanted to learn about, and they felt that their suggested activities were valued.  Children felt that they ‘controlled’ the topic’s direction, giving them more motivation and enjoyment.  The visibility of the planning to all pupils, all of the time, helped them understand where they were along the journey of the topic, and helped prompt further questions in advance of the lesson.  In summary, they were fully involved as active learners.

 

 

 

Yoda for Concentration – Learning power 1 unleashed we have.

Background

“When tasks are more complex for a pupil, the quality of meta-cognitive skills rather than intellectual ability is the main determinant of learning outcomes.” (Hattie 2009) Hattie looked at 63 studies and deduced an effect size of 0.69 for meta-cognition making it extremely worthwhile. (Shirley Clarke 2014)

Integration of meta-cognition – Learning ‘muscles’ or ‘powers’.

Using a synthesis of Claxton, Costa, Quigley and Clarke we have taken a split screen approach so that the focused learning power has equal status to the knowledge or skill learning objective of the lesson. (Clarke 2014)

What we did

We attached a Star Wars character to each of the 8 learning powers. Each one to be revealed over the next 8 weeks.

On Monday, I revealed the first character: Yoda for concentration. First we shared the ‘learning story’ together. It generated great excitement, with volunteers coming up to do their best Yoda impression.

Then we discussed the story. Was it familiar? Was anything surprising? What messages were there?

Yoda

The children then highlighted the skills contained within the story.

Slide02

In our talk partners, we discussed the skills, how they might help us with our elicitation for maths task and broke them down into bullet points.

Over the next few days we kept referring to Yoda, doing impressions, linking what we were doing to the skills needed for concentration.

Slide03

Outcome

It was so much fun. Our Yoda impersonations improved as did our meta-cognition for concentration. Embedding this metacognitive approach will be a slow burner but if a 5 year old can understand, use and apply a split digraph, then I have full confidence that this will pay off in the long run.

Next step

The next 7 Learning Power posters are now covered up in the classroom – ready to be unmasked! We’ll unveil a character a week until all the categories are known.

Next learning power – ‘Don’t give up’. Who will be our character? Watch this space.

 

 

 

Time To Talk! (pt 2)

Part 2 -Achieving Effective Talk – maximising the learning opportunities with the Talk Partner strategy.

Part 1 of the ‘Time To Talk!‘ post described how and why we have implemented the Talk Partner strategy in our class.  The natural follow on from this was a discussion with the pupils about what makes a good talk partner.

Blank bingo card given to the children.
Blank bingo card given to the children.

What we did:

We co-constructed the success criteria for Talk Partners in class, using the blank bingo card method (as described in the post I wish these children had been my Maths teacher!)

 

The children and I thought about what does not make a good talk partner and the subsequent discussion drew out ingredients for being a good talk partner.  The pupils filled their cards in with their thoughts about what being a good Talk Partner involved……. talk partners success criteria creation & poster_Page_2

 

……and we played Bingo against a collation I made of our ideas.

 

 

I created a class Success Criteria poster for us to have up on the wall as a reminder for us to refer to throughout all our lessons.Success Criteria Posters

Our class poster which we refer to.
Our class poster which we refer to.

 

 

The final step in the process, to really embed the Effective Talk criteria, has been to have short self- and peer evaluation sessions before changing Talk Partners each week.

Children write a positive comment and give to their Talk Partner, before changing.
Children write a positive comment and give to            their Talk Partner, before changing.

The children have really enjoyed reflecting on their part in the partnership and writing a positive comment on a “Thank You” slip, which they then give to their partner, saying why they enjoyed learning with them.  The children love receiving them and keep these complimentary slips in a special book, which they (and I) can look at over time.

Outcomes:

Achieving all the success criteria will need training, and I intend to look at each one in more depth over time, creating tasks that will specifically target areas that require it.  The immediate impact I have seen is:-

  • that children are aware of the importance of looking at each other when speaking;
  • they are beginning to take a shared responsibility for each others’ learning, ensuring that together, they both complete tasks set, helping each other along the way;
  • the amount of pupil speaking and listening has increased dramatically;
  • and my talk has decreased, allowing me to listen in to their conversations and gain immediate formative feedback, and give immediate feedback, clearing up misconceptions as they arise.

 

I look forward to watching this develop over time and believe it will help me to have a clearer focus for assessment in lessons.

 

 

 

Take the test. Do you have a ‘Growth’ or a ‘Fixed’ mindset?

Background

A growth mindset (Dweck, 2000) has become an accessible concept for the way learners need to feel about themselves and their abilities to be successful learners. Research over many years has highlighted that we all differ as learners, being somewhere on the continuum between a fixed and a growth mindset… A fixed mindset is the result of a continual focus on your ability rather than your achievement and effort. (Shirley Clarke, 2014)

As a team we launched a growth mindset approach back in September 2015. This has included:

  • Growth mindset displays which we use as constant reference learning tools. Research has shown that displays allow subliminal learning.
  • Establishing ‘Don’t know yet’ as a pupil mantra.
  • Ensuring we praise the effort and named achievement. Being very specific rather than overusing superlatives. eg “That’s a mature and well thought out answer. I like how you remembered to include a metaphor” rather than “Brilliant answer! Well done!”
  • Regularly using the language of growth mindset. eg. saying  “The point isn’t to get it all right away but to grow your understanding step by step. What can you try next?”  instead of “Not everybody is good at maths. Just do your best.”

What we did

I gave some of the Year 3 mathematicians this and asked them to tick the statements which they thought were true of them.

Have a go yourself before looking at the slide below if you are interested in discovering your own mindset. Most people have a mixture of both.

Slide1

The results threw up something very unexpected and interesting. Have a look.

 

Impact on learning

It would appear that the growth mindset approach has had a greater impact on the Year 3 girls than on the year 3 boys.

It would also appear that the growth mindset approach is having a measurable impact.

Next step

To repeat this exercise across the rest of the school.

Reflections

The results have made me question how the boys are learning. Why are the girls ‘getting’ it? Why do boys think that they tend to give up more easily? Are they more competitive and so don’t want to fail in front of their peers? I’m very keen to see the results from across the rest of the school. Fascinating!

 

 

 

Time To Talk! (pt 1)

Part 1 -Talk Partners & Seating

Talk partners clip art image

In a world where knowledge and excellence are increasingly shared, we understand the importance of discussion and learning from others. “Talk Partners” is a term we use to refer to pupils discussing and planning together and cooperatively improving each other’s learning.

On the advice of Shirley Clarke, I’ve recently implemented the changing of Talk Partners much more frequently and rearranged the seating plan in the class to enable classroom talk to be more effective and focused.

What we did:

table arrangement
New seating arrangement – everyone broadly faces front
  1. Mixed ability seating had already been standard practice in our class, arranged with tables grouped into six/eight children.  The upside of this is that it lends itself naturally to group work.  The downside is that some children were always facing away from the front, and had to keep moving their chairs round or worse, twisting their backs, every time they were required to face the front of the class.  We have now rearranged the seating into a broadly U-shape, with rows in between (within classroom shape limitations!)  The upside of this is that all children are now facing the front but also have a talk partner beside them.  When we want to work in a group, the pupils have worked out for themselves that it is a very quick task to move their tables together.
  2. Talk partners are now changed much more frequently (weekly), using the random lollipop method, in order to maximise the experience of learning from so many of their peers. Over the course of the remaining year, each child will have had the opportunity to have been paired with over half the class.  Next year, this will increase as we begin this from the start of September.

Outcomes

Talk partners allow children a chance to articulate and rehearse their thinking before sharing with the whole class.  The experience of having different learning partners has already benefited the pupils in many ways across the curriculum in our class, and is removing the inevitability of some children not wanting to work with other children (such as across the 5-6 Year divide, or girl/boy pairing). Pupils are beginning to recognise and value the skills of others (e.g. such as who has a talent for ICT or our current topic etc..) and they remember those skills at a later date.

The higher achievers have benefited by being “explainers”, a higher order skill which deepens and embeds their own learning.  The lower achievers have benefited from discussing ideas from a perspective other than mine!  They have all begun to recognise that all children have ideas and talents and that each brings different strengths to the partnership and this has increased the respect they have for each other.

The pupils liked the new seating arrangements much more than I had anticipated, “off task” talk has all but disappeared and the children have taken to the frequent change in talk partners in a very positive manner.  Some have even spoken to another member of the class for the first time!

To Follow:- Part 2 – Achieving Effective Talk – how we have maximised the learning opportunities with the Talk Partner strategy.