1. National Curriculum,
Feedback, Deep
Thinking with bonus
Rich Tasks
Simon Borgert
HT Maths Coffs Harbour High School
2.
3. A Higgs boson walks into a church. The
priest stops the particle and says, "We
don't allow your kind in here." Undeterred
the particle responds: "But without me,
you can't have mass."
4. A Higgs Boson walks into a bar and asks
everyone to take part in an act of
penitence. "What are you doing?" asks the
barman. "Giving mass."
7. What we do know.....
• Not before 2014 implementation...
• 2nd draft on BoS website
• Curriculum Collaborations Working
Groups / Forum
• Impact of realignment?
9. An opportunity...
To refocus on
• learning needs of 21st century
• the continuum of learning K - 10
• learning across the curriculum
• differentiated learning
• quality teaching
• planning, programming & assessment
10. Improving student
performance
• If our aim is to improve student performance,
not just measure it, we must ensure that
students know the performances expected of
them, the standards against which they will be
judged, and have opportunities to learn from
the assessment in future assessments.
(Grant Wiggins, 2002)
12. What is feedback?
• Feedback is information about how we have
performed in relation to a stated goal.
13. What is feedback?
• Feedback is information about how we have
performed in relation to a stated goal.
• Feedback tells us what did or did not happen:
14. What is feedback?
• Feedback is information about how we have
performed in relation to a stated goal.
• Feedback tells us what did or did not happen:
– You were aware of where other players were
positioned and made use of that knowledge when you
had to dispose of the ball.
16. How do you like your feedback?
Formative or Summative?
17. What is effective feedback?
Effective feedback provides:
• information about what happened or was
done
• an evaluation of how well or otherwise the
action or task was performed
• guidance as to how performance can be
improved.
18. Principles of effective
feedback
• Is specific and avoids vague comments.
• Is varied in its method of application.
• Uses models showing desired outcomes.
• Shows a valuing of student work.
• Uses marks or grades only some of the time.
• Provides time for students to act upon advice.
• Enables students to know how they will benefit.
19. When does feedback occur?
• Feedback can occur at any point in the
learning cycle:
– while students are working on a task
– while students are presenting a task
– at the end of the task.
20. Features of effective feedback
• Acknowledges success and provides an
indication in several areas where improvement
could occur.
• Is accessible – must be able to be read and
understood.
• Students are made aware of the purposes of
feedback.
21. Effective feedback in action (1)
• Teacher comments should focus on
improvement in future tasks.
• ‘Comments like “Use paragraphs!” are useless
– if I knew how to use them, I would have
done so.’
• Effective comments are clear, succinct and
related to the specific learning intention.
22. Effective feedback in action (2)
• There is no one appropriate way of providing
feedback to students. Rather, the nature of the task
and the context of the work in the particular learning
area should determine the form in which the feedback
occurs.
• In some learning areas, moderate and focused praise
is essential in building student self-confidence.
23. Effective feedback in action (3)
• peer correction can be an effective strategy
• peer assessment/feedback needs practice and
teacher guidance
• peer assessment/feedback helps make students
more reflective of their own work.
24. Effective feedback in action (4)
• Some learning areas require ongoing and
regular student-teacher dialogue, with
feedback to guide students through smaller
key developmental steps.
• In other learning areas, keeping the balance
between feedback about content or knowledge
and feedback about process is crucial as
feedback often needs to correct key
misunderstandings.
25. Effective feedback in action (5)
• When giving verbal feedback, use of a positive tone
of voice, with regular indications that the teacher is
listening, enables the students to feel at ease and to be
willing to actively participate in the dialogue.
• Avoid damaging self-esteem – concentrate on the task
rather than the student.
26. Possible feedback strategies (1)
• Work with students to ensure understanding of the
meaning and application of assessment criteria prior
to their commencement of a task.
• Use wall displays and checklists which identify what
is being sought in the learning.
• Give verbal feedback while students work on a task.
• Model the standard of work required and frame
feedback in relation to this.
• Ask older students to maintain learning journals.
27. Possible feedback strategies (2)
• Develop agreed symbols for annotating student work,
to focus on improving work.
• Where appropriate, use self-adhesive notes to give
quick feedback, without devaluing the student’s work,
especially in the case of major projects.
• Encourage older students to write a learning intention
at the outset.
• Consciously focus on highlighting successes.
• Use marks or grades sparingly, not constantly.
• Make use of student self-assessment or peer
28. Lamington’s anyone?
Katie and her sisters, Julie and Sylvia, arrived home from school
one afternoon. Katie was hungry so the first thing she did was go
to the kitchen to find something to eat. On the kitchen table was a
plate of Lamington fingers along with a note from her mother:
“Gone to the shops. Please share the Lamingtons with your
sisters. Iʼll be back soon.” Katie was so hungry that she quickly ate
one-third of the Lamington fingers on the plate. A little later, Julie
came into the kitchen, found the note and the Lamingtons and ate
one-third of the Lamingtons on the plate. Finally, Sylvia came into
the kitchen, found the note and the Lamingtons and, not realising
that her sisters had already eaten, ate one-third of the Lamingtons
on the plate. When the girlsʼ mother came home, she found 8
Lamington fingers on the plate. How many Lamington fingers were
originally on the plate? How many Lamington fingers did each girl
eat? Explain how you solved the problem.
29. Lets have a go at
deeper thinking...
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/kevin-slavin-how-algorithms-
shape-our-world
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/one-is-one-or-is-it
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-folding-paper-can-get-you-
to-the-moon
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-many-universes-are-there
30. or as a flipped lesson
http://ed.ted.com/on/2Mrr8ODB
31. Some Rich tasks...
• All available on my blog -
• http://simonborgert.wordpress.com
• Got any to share?
Talk about whether it will be one stage / year at a time etc?\nMinister will determine timeline for implementation\nRoles for state, regions and schools\n
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Improving student performance\nLet’s put this professional development module in context: WHY are we so concerned about feedback and the quality of feedback?\nThis quote from Grant Wiggins is one way of summing it up: If we wish to improve student performance, then there is certain information that students need to have and, very importantly, to act on.\n
What is feedback?\nThis is a simple definition of feedback – Feedback is information about how we performed in relation to a stated goal.\nFor example, a member of a sports team might receive feedback about her performance as a team member and her contribution to team success (the goal):\n– (Click to animate.) ‘You were aware of where other players were positioned and made use of that knowledge when you had to dispose of the ball.’\n
What is feedback?\nThis is a simple definition of feedback – Feedback is information about how we performed in relation to a stated goal.\nFor example, a member of a sports team might receive feedback about her performance as a team member and her contribution to team success (the goal):\n– (Click to animate.) ‘You were aware of where other players were positioned and made use of that knowledge when you had to dispose of the ball.’\n
What is feedback?\nThis is a simple definition of feedback – Feedback is information about how we performed in relation to a stated goal.\nFor example, a member of a sports team might receive feedback about her performance as a team member and her contribution to team success (the goal):\n– (Click to animate.) ‘You were aware of where other players were positioned and made use of that knowledge when you had to dispose of the ball.’\n
What is feedback?\nThis is a simple definition of feedback – Feedback is information about how we performed in relation to a stated goal.\nFor example, a member of a sports team might receive feedback about her performance as a team member and her contribution to team success (the goal):\n– (Click to animate.) ‘You were aware of where other players were positioned and made use of that knowledge when you had to dispose of the ball.’\n
\n
What is effective feedback?\nFeedback on its own does little to assist students to improve their level of performance.\nAs well as indicating what they did and did not do, effective feedback includes evaluation and further guidance. That guidance might be specified or implied, or it might be elicited from the students by asking questions designed to get them to suggest ways in which they can improve.\nTo return to our sporting example. Here is an expanded piece of feedback (next slide).\n
Principles of effective feedback\nIn addition to providing information, evaluation and guidance, effective feedback will also adhere to certain principles.\nIt will have specific relevance to the established goals of the learning experience. Students will be well aware of the qualities expected to be demonstrated in the task or performance, and feedback will occur in relation to these. Students will know how they will benefit if they act on the feedback. \nEffective feedback comes in many varied forms, all of which will be used by teachers at some time, for example, verbal, written, immediate (on-the-spot, as it happens) or distance (the work is taken away and ‘marked’). As a matter of access for all students, feedback should be made available in more than one form.\nEffective feedback is supported by examples or models that illustrate performance. \nEffective feedback values student work by refusing to concentrate only on the negative aspects of a student’s performance. It acknowledges the positives and confirms the possibility of, and direction for, improvement. Writing corrections all over a student’s work does not value it.\n Marks and grades are not provided for every piece of work. Indeed, the research of Black and Wiliams in the UK asserts that assigning grades is counter-productive in terms of encouraging student learning. School policy, however, will determine practice in this regard.\nMost importantly – again as pointed out by Black and Wiliams – feedback is not effective until students have acted on it. Teachers must therefore ensure that students are given time and the opportunity to do this.\n
When does feedback occur?\nFeedback commonly occurs during a task, while students are working to complete it, and is part of the process of informal assessment for learning. This kind of feedback is most likely to be verbal, and addressed to an individual. Where a group or a class are experiencing the same difficulties or misunderstandings, the feedback could have a wider audience.\nIn some cases, feedback can occur while students are presenting a task. During an oral presentation, for instance, teachers or peers might ask questions or make comments. These questions or comments might be ones that confirm for students that they have prepared soundly and are well in control of the content of the presentation, or they might point to gaps in understanding or preparation or delivery.\nFeedback also occurs at the end of a task, and this is the kind of feedback that is the main focus of this presentation. \n
Features of effective feedback\nResearch indicates that choosing to concentrate feedback on one or two expected qualities is more effective than expecting students to respond to feedback on many aspects of the task. \nIt seems obvious, but if students can not read the teacher’s handwriting, then the feedback becomes ineffective. Similarly, verbal feedback needs to be clearly expressed so that students understand it.\nMaking students aware of the purposes of feedback – that it is part of an ongoing dialogue designed to improve their learning and performance – is something that needs to be done in an explicit fashion. The importance of allowing students the opportunity to act on feedback – and creating the expectation that they will do so – is also relevant here.\n
Effective feedback in action (1) \nAt the classroom level, effective feedback will be clear, purposeful and focused on future improvement of student learning.\nComments, whether verbal or written, are ones that clearly indicate what needs to be done in order to improve and how it should be done.\nIrrelevant comments should be avoided. \nPraise of students – comments like ‘Fine!’, ‘Excellent!’, ‘Good!’ – are ‘quick fix’ comments and actually do little to motivate students to aspire to better performance. Some praise is essential, but far more effective are comments that encourage students to higher-level thinking, for example ‘Good! Now, I wonder why you’ve made that comment. What evidence do you have for your point of view?’.\n
Effective feedback in action (2)\nAppropriate kinds of feedback to students will necessarily vary from one learning area to another, and no single kind of feedback will be sufficient for each learning area.\nIn which learning areas, for instance, might it be particularly relevant to focus on building student self-confidence?\n
Effective feedback in action (3)\nThe process of peer assessment or feedback, on the other hand, can be a powerful way of assisting students to appreciate how and why their work is accurate or inaccurate and where they need to improve.\nTo establish a culture of peer assessment in a classroom, however, requires that students are given guidelines and opportunities to practise the strategy. They should be asked, for instance, to identify strengths before moving on to areas in need of improvement; to refer to concrete examples in the student work, rather than simply give an overall impression; to back up their comments with evidence from the student work.\nBecause students who engage in peer assessment are inevitably comparing another student’s work with their own, there is the opportunity for them to become more reflective of their own work. \n
Effective feedback in action (4) \nThis slide describes how other learning areas offer specific opportunities for different kinds of feedback.\nWhich learning areas might be particularly relevant in the case of the above examples?\n
Effective feedback in action (5)\nVerbal feedback has been referred to earlier, particularly when we mentioned the role played by praise in motivating students and encouraging them to reflect on and improve their performance.\nThere are many situations in which verbal feedback is preferable to written feedback:\n it is timely – can be delivered on the spot, as needed\nmisunderstandings can be instantly clarified (many students report not being able to understand teacher’s written comments …)\na dialogue will often provide the teacher with further insights into students’ thinking.\nA very useful professional development activity could involve making a tape or video of a teacher’s class in order to evaluate the quality of the oral feedback.\n \n
Possible feedback strategies (1)\nInvolving students in the design of their assessment (see the professional development module ‘Designing and using rubrics’ for practical suggestions) and making certain that they understand the indicators of student performance will ensure that the feedback has a context within which to take place.\nWall displays and checklists will serve as a reminder of the focus of the learning. Encourage students by referring to these constantly.\nWhen students are not engaged in a task designed to produce a summative assessment, verbal feedback during the task will provide scaffolding for their learning.\nModels or exemplars of the desired performance or elements of the process can be discussed with students prior to their undertaking the task and displayed in the classroom for reference during completion of the task.\nA learning log or journal is one of the strategies to formalise feedback and to encourage older students to reflect on how they will incorporate that feedback into their future learning. Students are regularly given time to write in these journals, which should be periodically read and commented on – in written or oral form – by the teacher. \n
Possible feedback strategies (2) \nTo facilitate student understanding, and ease the burden of teacher assessment, teachers in a particular learning area might decide to develop and use a series of symbols, for example, noting spelling, organisational, reasoning and understanding problems or strengths.\nTo provide feedback on work in progress or major tasks, self-adhesive notes can be more constructive, as well as more encouraging, to the student.\nBy insisting on students developing and writing a statement of learning intention before they begin a task, teachers encourage students to reflect on the purpose of the learning. The learning intention also provides a focus for teacher feedback. (An example of a learning intention might be as simple as: to give my opinion of a story with some supporting reasons.)\nAcknowledgement of student success is an important part of feedback and needs to be consciously implemented.\n Individual learning areas, in the context of a school-wide policy, might consider making decisions about the number of tasks that will be graded.\nAnother professional development module on the Assessment for Learning website will assist teachers with strategies for developing student self-assessment and peer assessment. \n
Work through and then provide feedback on each others solutions\n
