Making marking easy(er!)

Butterfly

Why do we mark?

• So we know how well the students are doing and what we need to do to get them to improve

• So the students know how well they are doing and what they need to do to improve

Problems with marking

• A confession.........• Why don’t we mark as

much as we should? • (NB Mr ***** does

mark [he marks very well!])

The dreaded non-negotiables........are impossible (because I don’t know what they should look like in real life.....)

• Non-negotiable 1: Learner and teacher dialogue has to be visible in written and verbal forms

• Non-negotiable 2: Target setting• Non-negotiable 3: Feedback is

conveyed in a way that is understood by that individual learner

• Non-negotiable 4: Planned reflection time (self/peer assessment) What do they look like in practice?

Tip 1: Planning for marking (NN1)

• What do I want students to learn in a particular lesson? (learning objectives)

• Have I chosen a task that will assess if they have learned this?

• Do the students know what I want them to do? (learning outcomes)

• Do the students need to produce a lot of written work? (quality Vs quantity)

Tip 2: Marking during the lesson (NN4)

• Marking doesn’t all have to be done after the lesson

• Red pen walk: mark work as you check it in class

• Green pens: come prepared with extra green pens and train the students to do it!

Tip 3: Marking after the lesson (NN2 and NN3)

• Little and often: ten minutes everyday is easier than 50 minutes every week or 100 minutes every fortnight

• Plan it into your week (not as an afterthought)• Ticks and comments: which is appropriate where?• Did the students achieve the learning objectives that you planned?

(i.e. Did they complete all parts of the task that you set them?)• Any (parts of) learning objectives not achieved can be put on the

A5 target sheet (NN2)• What clear simple questions could you ask them to further

develop their understanding? Scaffolding and breaking down LOs. Can be used to extend learning too for those students who successfully completed the task (NN3)

Tip 4: Students won’t respond to my marking!?!? (NN4)

• Do you give them an opportunity?• Do they know how they should respond?• Give them an opportunity: fortnightly ‘student

challenge’ starter (green pen activity). Make sure the students know what you want them to do – NN4

Tip 5: Using summative assessments formatively (NN2, NN3, NN4)

• End of unit tests: why do we do them? (weighing a pig doesn’t make it fatter.....)

• Peer marking and target setting (NN2, NN3, NN4)

• Formative marking by the teacher (NN2, NN3)

• Student response to formative marking (NN4)

Examples

• Following slides are examples of a mock exam marked formatively by the teacher (red pen) and students responses to these comments (green pen)

Non-negotiable 1

How can I do this?• Write any learning objectives that students work

shows they did not achieve in their A5 target sheets

• Ask questions to test understanding of learning objectives or to stretch their understanding on individual pieces of work

Learner and teacher dialogue has to be visible in written and verbal forms

Non-negotiable 2

How can I do this?• Make sure

– you know what you want the students to learn in each lesson– you have planned a task that will assess what the students

should have learned– the students know what they have to do to complete the task

• Mark end of unit topics with formative comments / questions

Target setting – Learners are provided with learning objectives at the beginning of the lesson, success criteria for particular tasks and targets for improvement that are linked to levels/grades

Non-negotiable 3

How can I do this?• Write targets (by either you or the

students) as simple questions using language that the student understands (think Bloom’s taxonomy)

Feedback is conveyed in a way that is understood by that individual learner. The language of feedback links to the learning needs of the pupils

Non-negotiable 4

How can I do this?• Getting students to mark each other’s work

and set each other targets (takes a bit of practice but does work)• Get students to respond to formative

comments in green pen by giving them a ‘fortnightly challenge’ as a starter

Planned reflection time (self/peer assessment)