Using video feedback to increase the impact of sixth form marking

This is the video blog detailing my TLC focus and the impact it has had.

Below are the feedback videos that I made:

Below are some photos of the students DIRT. One student is targeted a grade A the other a grade C:

Closing the Gap - Student Feedback on my Feedback

This year I have tried to improve the feedback that I give to the students in all of my classes. I have tried to develop efficient feedback techniques to aid all of my classes. I blogged about this at the start of the year (see link). The aim has been to try to increase the impact of the feedback that I give in order to help the students close the gap between their current performance and the desired performance . I was happy with the quality of the feedback I was giving but felt that the impact of the marking and feedback could be increased. I also looked to do this in a more efficient manner.

The first page of an A/S assessment book

One of the ways I have looked to do this is by having specific assessment books for both my GCSE and A/S classes. The aim of these books is to keep all the assessed work, all the feedback and all the improvements, in one place. This allows the students to show understanding and ultimately progress and keeps the feedback in one accessible place.

The first pages of the A4 book are taken up by the students copying out their feedback and explaining how they are going to improve their answer. The parents also sign this page.

The rest of the book is taken up with assessed answers, my feedback, and then the improvements/re-drafting that the students have completed to ensure they have understood. The final part is me checking that the improvements are correct.

Feedback from my students
Last week I asked my A/S and GCSE class to complete an anonymous GoogleForm to give their feedback on the assessment books and my feedback more generally. Below is a Tagxedo of what they said:

Words that stand out from this to me are easier, good, helpful, improvements, think and useful.

Below are some comments from my GCSE students about the assessment books:

"I think it's quite good because you have all of your important work in one place and not all mixed in with the other stuff that doesn't have as much priority."

"It's easier having all of the more 'important' pieces of work being written in one book because then it's all in one place and it isn't likely to get lost; it's clear where everything is when it comes to writing targets or looking back to compare pieces of assessed work."

Lots of comments were similar to this in mention the organisational benefits and many also said how easy it was to look back over their work and targets.

Below are some comments from my A/S students about the assessment books:

"I like completing my AS work in the book as it allows me to keep it all in one place and easily look back on past questions / essays. It's also good for teacher feedback and discussions with parents over how certain tasks have gone."

"Great idea! We can keep all our work in place, see where we need to improve, do the improvements and get feedback easily."

"I like been able to keep track of all my essays and i can see improvement across the book,
However i feel getting it signed and filling out the front is a bit over the top "

My A/S students focused more on the impact of the feedback and moving forward. It seems that getting parents to sign the book has divided opinion but my reasoning behind it is to keep parents informed and ensuring that any performance is seen be all parties. I also think getting it signed increases the seriousness with which the students take the assessed work.

Moving forward
It seems that the students feel that the assessed book is worthwhile. None of the comments were completely negative about it and the vast majority were positive.

That said one reaccurring theme was obvious; the students would like more positive feedback.

"Give positive feedback as well as improvements (particular things we did well)."

"Give more positives."

In light of these comments, and others like them, I am going to increase the amount of positive remarks I give. Looking back through the books I realised that I gave out merits but did not specifically say what the students had done to earn these merits. I am obviously going to make this a New Years Resolution.

Finally, though I am pleased with the reaction from my students to the assessment books. It has made my feedback more meaningful, it has allowed the students to show how they have acted upon the feedback and finally it has been organisationally efficient.

A final word from one of my A/S students:

"I don't really have any improvements, it's the best feedback I receive on homework."

The Value of Independent Reflection

My GCSE class working independently in lessons.

At Rossett our new timetable has started and last week I had my first lessons with my new GCSE class. This class is exclusively Year 9 students and I teach them for 5 hours a week. Obviously, this group of students will take their GCSE history next summer as part of a cohort of students that will, for the large part, consist of students two years older than them. With this in mind I began this timetable thinking of ways I could close the gap between the potential of my evidently very hard working group and those other students who will be, in the main, two years older than them.

One of the ways I am seeking to do this is through a weekly homework task that the students independently complete. They are tasked with spending 30 minutes developing their understanding of a topic we have studied that week. They can chose the topic (although I strongly advise them to pick the topic they have found most difficult) and they can chose how they go about improving their understanding. The only rule is that they must produce something that I can see. It can be physical or digital. I do not mark this work, I simple check it has been done, give out merits where appropriate, and oral feedback where necessary. The work is set on a Thursday after our final lesson of the week and is checked by me on Monday at the start of the next week. The 30 minute time limit is absolute, and I have explained to the group that they cannot work longer than this even if they are really into the topic. This is obviously difficult to police but I want them to show how much reflective work they can produce in a 30 minute time frame.

I must also say at this stage that this 30 minutes of independent work sits alongside the two formal homework tasks that I set each week. These are obviously traditionally marked.

Aims

• The main aim of this work is to get the students to reflect on the work they have done that week. The simple action of choosing the topic that they have found most difficult gets the students to reflect. The aim is that they also reflect on their understanding and develop it.

• The second aim is to give the students ownership of the work they produce. By choosing what they do I hope that the students will be more committed to ensuring it is as good a quality as it can be.

• The work produced will be brilliant for revision. All of the examples I have seen so far (and particularly the ones in this post) make fantastic revision aides. The aim is not just to shore up the understanding but to help close the gap come revision time.

• The aim is for the students to creatively develop their understanding in a way that best suits their own learning. By being creative and active my aim was to ensure the students consolidated their understanding. The examples in this post have all done that.

Examples

The first example comes from Sophie. It is a video she has made to show how Republican Policies of the 1920s caused the Boom. The second half in particular is very impressive as she relates the Policies to the Boom. When I watch this back I am struck both by the quality of the work and the fact that you can almost see the cogs whirring as she explains it. There is no doubt that this work fulfils all of the aims I set and is work of a remarkable standard for a student who is essentially still in Year 8 (although technically in Year 9 they are not really until after the summer).

The second example comes from Katie who has produced an Educreation on the Republican Policies. Again this is another fantastic piece of work which fulfils the aims. I like here how she has combined a mind-map with her own explanation. Such is quality that it is the sort of resource I could easily use within my own lessons.

Katie's Educreations Lesson

The next example comes from Matthew who produced this Keynote on the 1920s using a LACKPANTS video that I found online and embedded in my wiki mrwestusa.wikispaces.com I am impressed with the creativity here and how Matthew has found a resource that he could use to help develop his understanding of the causes of the boom. It was not a resource we used directly in lesson so it is good to see him using his initiative (and the wiki) to develop his understanding.

The final example comes from Lucas who produced revision cards, on the other side of the card is the  relevant explanation. I particularly like this as it is an old fashioned example but one that works well. It has minimal glamour but is still a very effective tool.

Reflections

• Clearly it is only the second week of this but I can already see the quality of both the work and the creativity that has been displayed. I firmly believe that the students will have a much better grasp of the topics they chose than they would have done simply from my traditional teaching.

• I also believe an air of competition has developed with the students keen to produce better work to show themselves in the best possible light.

• Even at this early stage of the course setting this type of activity has allowed me a de-facto look at how my students revise and I have been able to guide them to more worthwhile activities than simply just re copying out what they have already learnt.

• The quality of the work from my Year 9 class in the first week of their GCSE History speaks volumes for this approach. I think the freedom here coupled with the traditional standard homework tasks works really well.

Going forward

The aim is to have a mini learning fair in the last lesson of term, the students will have completed three separate 30 minute pieces of independent work by then, the aim of this is to show off the quality of the students and their work. The students will have to lay out their work (digitally or physically) and the students in the group will go around the 'fair' and see all the creative ideas that have been produced. If this is a success I hope to replicate it regularly throughout the year.


3 weeks later...

The Learning Fair

Well the learning fair has just finished. The students brought in three different examples of the 30 minute independent learning work they had completed so far. they then set them out on the desks in a 'u' shaped fashion. The students moved around the fair in a clockwise fashion watching, reading and listening to their peers work, they then commented on what was good about the work produced.

I asked them to give specific comments not just general vague ones like 'detailed.' At the end of the fair the students all gave one reason why their independent work was good. An example of the work produced is below:

This is about prohibition and Al Capone, I love the creativity and drama.

 

 

Reflections on the Fair

We held the fair on the last period of the final Thursday of term. It was really hot. Despite this the quality of the work was outstanding. I was completely blown away by the students and I could easily have put an example from every student on this blog.

 

My students are a huge credit to themselves, in just 4 weeks they have really got into the idea and importance of this independent work. Without any input from me they have produced fantastic work.

 

I believe that the fair will spur everyone on at the start of next term to be even more creative and to use some of the excellent examples they have seen from each other to make their work even better.

 

The work produced will be invaluable for revision.

 

I set this independent activity up to help close the gap between my year 9 GCSE class and the older students taking the exam and I believe it has already gone some way towards achieving that.

 

I would urge everyone who teaches a group more than 3 times each week to try this approach as I believe it has yielded some fantastic results.