This blog is based on the session I delivered at the Team English
National Conference 2019. The full set of slides and handout are available at
the end of the blog.
This is specifically focused on how we support pupils self assessing extended reading and writing responses.
Most teachers would recognise that it is important for
pupils to be able to self assess their work; pupils need to be able to evaluate
if their responses are successful independently, especially in a world of 100%
exams. Self assessment is also important in regards of teacher workload. We
cannot give meaningful feedback on every piece of work that a pupils produces.
Time spent ‘marking’ everything is time which is then not available for thoughtful
planning. Teachers’ time is not an infinite resource. Work-life balance is
important and happy teachers are better teachers. Therefore, we need to ensure
that pupils can meaningfully self assess their own work. Yet, this does not happen
without careful thought and planning on our behalf.
Problems and pitfalls
with self assessment
-Pupils don’t have the knowledge and skills to evaluate
their own work effectively
-It is seen as less valuable than other forms of marking/
feedback
-It is rushed (usually at the end of the lesson)
-It is not carefully planned/ part of the curriculum/ SOW
Showing pupils the ‘why’
Often pupils don’t ‘buy into’ the concept of self
assessment. It may be that pupils see the ‘what’ before the ‘why’. Simon Sinek
in his TED Talk argues that in marketing, companies often fail by focusing on ‘what’
they do rather than ‘why’ they do it. He argues that customers buy into values
and beliefs rather than the end product. Therefore it is important for
companies to ensure that they are clear about the purpose of what they do. Is
this true of teaching? With self assessment pupils are aware of the product-
picking out targets or writing what they need to do to improve- but don’t
necessarily engage with the purpose of this.
As teachers, I would argue that we need to be much better at
articulating the purpose of self assessment- the ‘why’.
The self assessment
culture in the classroom
Ultimately, the culture of a classroom drives the behaviour
and behaviour produces results.
It is important to reflect on the culture of self assessment
and consider whether this culture drives ineffectual behaviours and therefore
produces ineffectual results.
We need to keep articulating the core purpose of self
assessment for pupils:
‘You need to be able to take ownership of your learning so
you can spot success independently.’
Self assessment is
essentially metacognition
To
undertake meaningful self assessment we need to show that it is a process that
is intrinsically part of the whole process, not just something done at the end of
a response.
Broken
down, the process needed might look something like this.
A
misconception may be that this kind of metacognition is something which is
independent from the teacher, however, pupils are unlikely to have these metacognitive
processes innately, rather these thought processes need to be articulated and modelled
explicitly until they become behaviours.
How can we plan to support
effective self assessment?
Take
the following question based on an AQA Paper 1 Q2. It is important to think
carefully about what we skills or knowledge pupils will need to demonstrate to
craft a successful response.
As experts, we can assess a response and make an accurate
judgement as to whether pupils have met these criteria. However, as a novice a
pupil would struggle to do this. However, we can reword these concepts in a way
that makes it much easier for a pupil to recognise success. It will never
replace the value of your feedback, but if they are able to do this it will
most likely enable them to produce a much better response than if they didn’t.
Therefore, for this question I might design my success
criteria in this way:
With repeated modelling and practice, pupils will be able to
use this to improve their answer.
The process I would follow in my lesson might look something
like this:
Therefore, the process of self assessment should not be seen
as merely a ‘plenary’, but an active part of the whole task.
Self assessing
writing
I would argue that pupils find it more difficult to self
assess their writing. Yet, being able to proof read and improve their writing is
a hugely important skill. For writing I take a slightly different approach.
Here is an example of a self assessment criteria that I use
for descriptive writing:
As with a reading response, I would model and annotate any
of the features I expect the pupils to demonstrate on the board and pupils
would copy this down as a model they can refer back to.
I would also give pupils much more time to self assess a
piece of writing, ideally as a starter during the next lesson as having time
away from their work helps build the critical distance necessary to assess
their own work.
As pupils get more confident with this I allow pupils to
create their own ‘success criteria’, or annotate their work with the technique
they have used and the effect they were trying to create. This helps pupils see
the connection between being a reader and a writer.
Here is an example of a piece of transactional writing
completed by one of my Y9 pupils:
‘Top tips’ for
effective self assessment
-Start small- get pupils to assess a few things well
-Keep the format the same to reduce cognitive load
-Allow enough time for the task to be done properly
-Model the process
-Allow for repeated practice
-Use metacognitive language- articulate your thought process
when assessing work
-Be careful with your language- don’t just reward success,
success is also being able to spot errors
But… we need to
support an effective self assessment culture in school
-HODs and SLT need to be on board
-School leadership needs to value this as a form of feedback
and support teachers
-Book scrutinies/ policy need to recognise this
-Teachers need to share what works well and be trained in
what effective self assessment looks like
-Effective self assessment doesn’t happen on its own- it
takes hard work but is valuable
An electronic copy of the slides and handout are available here. I am happy for you to share as long as I'm credited for the work:
TENC2019 Self Assessment Resources
