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TeachersMatter
alan cooper
F
ormative assessments are only good if
they are used to alter ways we teach or
for students to adjust their learning. In
regards to student learning, unless there is
an in the moment response, learning may
well be compromised as where students
are at in their learning and understanding
during a lesson is completely unknown to
teachers (Graham Nuthall).
Assessments can be either teacher centred
or learner centred. Traffic Lights is an
example of being learner centred and thus
gives teachers first-hand, in the moment,
knowledge of where the learner is at.
Charting is a blunter teacher centred tool
given after the activity to gain an outsider’s
view of what the student is thinking. Both
have their place - especially if used in unison
– and are described below.
Traffic Lights
“What a blast,” is the comment of an
experienced teacher after using the Traffic
Light technique for the first time.
This tool, as the name suggests, uses colour
coding to signify where each student is at
throughout the lesson. There are many ways
to provide the tools to accomplish this but
plastic or paper cups are the most suitable.
Each student is issued with a set of three of
these cups – green, yellow and red - hence
Traffic Lights.
Initially at the beginning of the lesson green
is the top cup, with the others stacked in
traffic light order. As the lesson progresses,
the students display for the teacher their
level of understanding.
Green indicates complete understanding
including a belief that they can teach the
lesson to someone else.
Yellow indicates that they are not sure so
extra explanation may be needed BUT
watch if the signal changes back to green or
into red before jumping in.
Red signals danger: stop the lesson and
provide first aid!
The crucial aspect of this method is that as
the lesson progresses, students have personal
control over the cups. So the formative
feedback is not only in the moment, but
also includes self-learning skills such as self-
assessment.
As students may take several days or even
longer to adjust to using Traffic Lights,
they need to be used with every lesson so
that they become an integral part of the
classroom rituals – part of the classroom
culture.
Quality control is needed. Those who mostly
have green cups showing can be asked from
time to time to explain a concept or lesson
segment to the class. Otherwise, especially if
they are a fixed mindset student, they may
Formative assessment, peer
teaching and differentiation
Living in the moment
be using the green cup in order hide their
confusion and appear smart.
As can be seen from the quotation above,
the teacher was satisfied but what about
the students? As also reported by the
teacher, “I have asked students what
they think about using Traffic Lights for
teaching and they are all in favour as
it means I spot misunderstandings and
confusion early on.”
Action when the green
light changes
Data on its own is absolutely useless. It’s
what is done with it that matters; the action
the teacher and the students take. One
practical action to take is peer tutoring.
Peer tutoring is strongly supported by
research and as Hattie describes, “peer
tutoring has many academic and social
benefits for both those tutoring and those
doing the tutoring...it is most effective
when used as a supplement to, rather than
a substitute for, teacher role...Thus, when
students become teachers of others, they
learn as much as those they are teaching.”
The assumption is often made that peer
tutoring needs to be done on a one on
one basis. Small group teaching is a better
option. Not only does this bring all the green
light students into taking an active part,
and therefore gaining those self-managing
attributes that peer teaching requires, but
it also means that the class organisation is
straight forward, not requiring the teacher
to plan and organise alternative activities
for the green lighters.
In contrast, if the grouping is random
the tutoring may be compromised by
personalities. If the class teacher has
constructed a sociogram (see my article
in Teachers Matter issue 13) and makes it
available to other teachers taking the class,
the social relationships within the class are
clearly shown to guide the composition of
compatible groups.

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alan cooper
Alan Cooper is an educational
consultant based in New Zealnd. As
a principal, he was known for his
leadership role in thinking skills,
including Habits of Mind,learning styles
and multiple intelligences, information
technology, and the development of
the school as a learning community.
acooper@clear.net.nz
There also needs to be a clear understanding
of group members roles (see my article
on this in Teachers Matter issue 22). The
progression from the teacher control of
process and procedure at the novice stage
through to the absence of teacher direction
at the expert stage will need mindful
coaching and mentoring. It won’t just
happen.
Taking time to pause and allow for peer
re-teaching and consolidation provides
the quality learning that leads to full class
mastery. In the coverage of the curriculum
it is not the quantity that matters but the
quality of the coverage. Get the quality right
and the quantity will look after itself.
Charting
Charting provides simple, easily collected
data for teachers to provide themselves with
personal formative feedback which provides
data for them to continuously learn about
their own strengths and weaknesses.
The best of this potential data will come
from the simple day to day observations of
an ordinary classroom day. There are many
things that can be observed, but initially
select one or two. Once having decided on
what to observe, design a simple chart that
is not time consuming to record on and
interpret.
An example, associated with the Traffic
Light system would be to keep an
observation of when it is that the green cups
start to change to orange or red.
Student names Monday Other days
First part of
lesson
Second Part of
lesson
Third part of
lesson
Chinese teachers are taught at their
Colleges of Education to identify at every
stage of their lesson plan areas of difficulty
or areas where misconceptions may occur
and to plan accordingly. Teacher analysis of
the above chart would follow this and would
highlight where the breakdowns occur. This
then allows for future planning to avoid
these pitfalls.
For example, if there is a cluster of students
shifting from green to yellow or red in the
first part of the lesson the data perhaps
points to future lesson planning reviewing
prior knowledge as an introductory whole
class discussion. Then those who know can
spread their knowledge to those who do
not. Likewise, if there are a number turning
yellow or red in the last segment, consider
if the lesson plan requires a break here to
allow for some gentle anaerobic exercise in
order to induce an increased blood flow to
re-charge the working parts of the brain.
Many other simple observational charts
can be devised and developed. One could
be a simple tick the box indicating who
is asking the questions. Another could
be who is answering the questions. Still
another could be to put a tick beside each
student spoken to each day. Areas for
action from these charts could include a
careful look to see if some students are
being left out? Is the teaching to only part
of the class? This can be quite salutary!
As personal practical knowledge of
this charting is developed, much more
sophisticated data can be gathered, but
even then the simple, as detailed here, is
still important.
Differentiation
S t a r t i n g w i t h t h e Tr a f f i c L i g h t s ,
differentiation is an important ingredient
all through this article. The first step is
taken when the Traffic Lights differentiate
individual class members is built up, it
may well become obvious that some green
lighters seem to get a better response than
others to red lighters who have particular
characteristics, so they can be matched
accordingly.
T h e C h a r t s a l s o p r o v i d e d a t a f o r
differentiation, where teachers can use
higher level thinking to analyse, evaluate
and then create a solution in their future
planning. An example would be to
scrutinise the mindset of red lighters who
signal early in the lesson, checking to see
if the vocabulary they use shows a fixed
mindset. If so they may expect to fail
and at the first hint of difficulty give up.
If this is so, to remedy it the teacher will
need to craft a careful use of vocabulary
to change to a growth mindset, perhaps
starting with yet. “I see you haven’t got
it yet,” thus implying that they will get it
in the future. The teacher vocabulary, as
always, is most important.
Paramount in every school, in every
classroom, is the quality of the teaching. By
implementing any or all of what has been
discussed above the quality of teaching will
grow and student success will grow with it.
Quality drives quantity.
between who understands the lesson and
who does not. A further step then occurs
when the peer tutoring provides individual
instruction for the red light students. By
using tools such as sociograms to promote
compatible groups, more differentiation
is added. As the teacher’s practical
knowledge of formative assessment
grows, and the overall knowledge of the