Preparing students for high stakes exams

Professor Robyn GilliesDr Mary Rafter

Workshop STAQ/QAMT

23-24 November 2017

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Purpose of the workshop

1. To establish a shared understanding of how high-stakes exams affect teachers and students2. To briefly examine how the syllabus documents can inform exam preparation3. To explore some strategies that address emotional and pedagogical issues

What do you find stressful?

Here’s a test!

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Anxiety Toolkit

Thinking Shifts to overcome Excessive HesitancyEntertain the idea that your actions might have positive consequencesThe tendency to predict your actions will have negative outcomes is central to anxiety problems. Instead try prompting yourself to think of the best possible outcome.

Experiment: For an action you’d like to take, try articulating both your feared negative outcome and an alternative possible outcome. If you continue to practice this skill, it will start to become a habit.

Feared outcome = ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Alternative outcome = ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Important: When you practice using new thoughts, eventually those new thoughts will start to become more automatic

Teacher: How could you help students to reinforce those new success beliefs?

Thinking Shifts to Navigate Rumination and WorryAnxiety and rumination form a feedback loop where one causes the other. First you need to identify it. Why did I do this instead of that? It can be a bit like daydreaming in that we can get lost in it without realizing it.

Experiment: Jot down a list of different topics of rumination you’re prone to. The following are some ideas to get you startedReplaying memories of experiences of failure from the past. For example ………………………………………………..

Replaying comments about you or someone you know on Facebook/social media ……………………………………

Teacher: How can you help students recognize that they are criticizing themselves? Note: Break the loop: take action, capture ideas, ask questions

Thinking shifts to Overcome Unhelpful Perfectionism

Thinking that it has to be perfect all the time or it will be a disaster is counterproductive.Experiment: Ask yourself if the either/or perfectionism trap is a problem for you? Do you avoid thing you think you can’t do really well? …………………………………………………………………………

Teacher: How can you encourage students to shift from a Performance focus to a Mastery focus?Note: The goal is to master this skill set.

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Thinking Shifts to Become More Relaxed About FeedbackWhen you’re in anxiety mode it’s easy to think of feedback as hurtful. You may actually find out that you’ve done something well. You may find that you get new insights on how to progress further.

Experiment: Think of one specific instance in the past when negative feedback was actually useful to you. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Teacher: How can you ensure that feedback you provide to students helps them?Note: constructive, timely, short, specific

Thinking shifts to Overcome AvoidanceAre you a freezer, flyer or fighter? We’ve evolved these mechanisms because they’re useful for encounters with predators. Most people are prone to one of the three responses.

Experiment: Once you’ve identified your type think about a situation you’re facing currently in which you are acting to type. What’s an alternative strategy you could try? ………………………………………………………………………….

Teacher: Can you recognize these different types in your students?Note: repeat a successful maneuver, before you leave, show me you can, next action (short, simple, small, slow), use technology

Total Behaviour Concept

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Cognition (thinking)Physiological reactions

Action (doing)Affect

Feeling Action

ThinkingPhysiology

Reality Therapy – WDEP Worksheet

CommentsWantsWhat do you want?What do you want instead of the problem?What is your picture of a quality life, relationship, etc?What do your family and friends want for you?What do you want from counselling?DoingWhat are you doing? (Acting, thinking, feeling. Physiology)When you act this way, what are you thinking?When you think/act this way, how are you feeling?How do your thoughts/actions affect your health?EvaluateIs what you are doing, helping you get what you want?Is it taking you in the direction you want to go?Is what you want achievable?Does it help you to look at it in that way?How hard are you prepared to work at this?Is your current level of commitment working in your favour?Is it a helpful plan?PlanWhat are you prepared to do/think differently that will take you in the direction you want to go?Are you clear about what you are going to do?Is it achievable?How will you know you have done it?Can you start doing it immediately?Is it in your control?Are you committed to doing it?

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Discourse

Talking helps clarify thinking. Students may need guidance on how to talk to the teacher and each other. Students tend to use more discipline specific language when talking to the teacher but may need structure or reminders to use the vocabulary associated with the task.

Possibilities

Take turns talking for 1 minute each to explain …o A makes a statement. B agrees (saying so) but may add more information or ask questions to clarify

or disagree, giving reasons. Any student may be called upon to share their discussion points.

Answer questions or solve problems as pairs, taking turns to lead. Answer alternate questions or problems and then explain to the other their thinking or how it was done,

step by step. Interviews/conferences either with each other or one-on-one with the teacher Group responses to quizzes – random speaker to respond for the group.

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7 Strategies to promote learning

Where am I going?

• Clear, understandable vision of the learning target

• Examples and models of strong and weak work

Where am I now?

• Regular descriptive feedback during the learning

• Students self-assess and set goals for next steps

How can I close the gap?

• Evidence of student understanding determines next steps in teaching

• Design focused instruction, followed by practice with feedback

• Opportunities for students to track, reflect on, and share their learning

Strengthening the Student ToolboxDecades of research has focused on evaluating the effectiveness of many promising strategies for helping students to learn. Dunlosky (2013) and colleagues evaluated 10 common learning strategies:

1. Practice testing: self-testing or taking practice tests on to-be-learned material.

2. Distributed practice: Implementing a schedule of practice that spreads out study activities over time.

3. Interleaved practice: implementing a schedule of practice that mixes different kinds of problems, or a

schedule that mixes different kinds of material, within a single study session.

4. Elaborative interrogation: generating an explanation for why an explicitly stated fact or concept is true.

5. Self-explanation: explaining how new information is related to known information, or explaining steps taken

during problem-solving.

6. Rereading: restudying text material again after an initial reading.

7. Highlighting and underlining: marking potentially important protions to to-be-learned materials while

reading.

8. Summarisation: writing summaries (of various lengths) of to-be-learned texts.

9. Key word mneumonics: using key words and mental imagery to associate verbal materials.

10. Imagery for text: attempting to form mental images of text materials while reading or listening.

The BestStrategies differe somewht with respect to the kinds of learning they promote. In general two strategies – practice testing annd distributed practice – appear to the the most effective.

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Test, exam, and quiz are four letter words that provoke anxiety. Regular Practice Tests can substantially boost student performance. Note: Students get sick of practice tests so make them small, frequent and fun.

Distributed Practice involves going over notes at several shorter intervals over a period of time leading up to a test rather than “cramming” the night before. Learning appears to be slower in distributed practice but is more easily retained for longer periods.

The OkInterleaved Practice involves distributed practice but with materials from different topics.Elaborative Interrogation and Self-Explanation involves trying to elaborate on why a fact may be true and then explain to self how this new information is related to current understandings.

The Not-So-GreatRereading and Highlighting do not always enhance long lasting understanding.Summarisation is difficult for students and extensive coaching is necessary for students to write useful summaries. Keyword and imagery have shown short lived benefits or text that are suited to the strategy.

Feedback

“Feedback is among the most powerful influences on achievement.”John Hattie

Most teachers claim they give regular feedback to their students yet the truth is that most students get very little feedback each day. Some forms of feedback are more powerful than others. When teachers give the wrong kind of feedback, it can impede student success.

Feedback is the information that you give to a student after noting how they are doing at something – information that helps them to improve. The aim of feedback is to close the gap between where students are at and where you want them to be.

Praise is not considered to be feedback.

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Feedback How did your students do? How can they do better?

The four fundamentals of Feedback

1. Be focused: Feedback works best when it is focused on helping students achieve a specific goal. The goal may relate to a single lesson, a task that spans several lessons or an individual student. You compare the students’ actual performance to what they must achieve to reach the goal, then you give them insight into how they can close this gap.

2. Be selective: Give your students feedback about a small number of important points. If you give them feedback about too many different things at once, they can easily become mentally overwhelmed (cognitive overload).

3. Be constructive: The aim of feedback is to help students improve. It is helpful to remember this essential point when you are deciding what to say in any piece of feedback. You need to give them honest feedback on how they went; however, you also need to let them know that you believe they can improve and to give them the help to do so.

4. Be willing to discuss it: Feedback only works if students understand and accept what you have told them. By giving your students a chance to discuss the feedback you give them, you enable them to clarify anything they don’t understand. It also shows respect and encourages them to buy into your ideas for improvement.

Feedback is powerful because it lets students know how they are doing while there is still time to adjust and perfect their efforts.

Types of Feedback

Basic Feedback tells students if they are right or wrong, while also providing the correct answer.Generally used for simple tasks but must include two essential elements – information about:

Their current work (right or wrong) The correct answer (which prompts them to think about where they went wrong)

However, for students to be able to do this, they must have already developed some mastery over the material. Therefore you should only use basic feedback with advanced or intermediate learnersIt is also possible to use basic feedback with more complex work. For complex work it involves three steps:

Instructional Feedback tells students what specific things they need to do in order to get it right or to improve their performance in some way. When giving instructional feedback, you move from telling students about their work. To telling them how it could be fixed or improved. Rather than relying on the student to work out where they went wrong, instructional feedback offers concrete and specific information about what they need to do before having a go at a similar task. This explicit instruction is particularly helpful for struggling and novice learners. If necessary, you instruction may involve re-teaching the entire concept, process or material. However, in most cases it involves focusing on the particular things the students need to do differently next time. You then elaborate on this information with details about what, how, when and why.After some explicit instruction it is a good idea to give them a:

Worked example to follow Practice problem that you help them to do

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Telling the student

their answer was wrong

Providing them with the correct answer

Asking them to prove that the answer you gave them is correct

As students become more proficient in a particular area you can shift the focus of your advice from what they need to do in this specific task, to strategies that they can apply across similar tasks in the future

Coaching feedback prompts students to think of ways to improve their work without explicitly telling them what to do. This is the art of using hints and questions to help students. When students learn to monitor, critique and improve their own performance (key meta-cognitive skills), they are likely to achieve better results. While powerful, it should only be used with students who are proficient in the area they are learning because it only offers vague and generalized guidance.

A Situational Approach to FeedbackThe most significant difference between students is their level of proficiency within the area you are currently teaching.

Novice Learners Need instructional feedback focused on the concept and task they are working on, and they need this feedback immediately

Intermediate learners Can benefit from basic feedback, especially when working autonomously.Need instructional feedback focused on strategies that can deepen their learning and help them to apply it in other situations.

Proficient Learners Can benefit from basic feedback, especially when working autonomously. Need coaching feedback to develop meta-cognitive skills that help them to help themselves, and can benefit from delayed feedback.

Note: If a student believes that their success and failure depend on their innate ability rather than their own actions (a fixed mindset), it is always better to use instructional feedback – regardless of their proficiency level.

Getting your Feedback heard“The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

George Bernard Shaw

It’s what your students think your feedback means that is important. It is also important to deal with the emotional side of feedback. You need to communicate that you are giving the student feedback because you care. The message is more likely to be heard when you have already established trusting teacher-student relationships and when you have established a climate where mistakes are welcomed as a natural part of learning.

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The 10 Do’s and Don’t’s of Feedback

Do’s Don’t’s

Be clear about what you want your students to achieve, know and do

Interrupt a student who is trying to work something out on their own

Focus your feedback on what each student knew, did and achieved

Focus your feedback on the student themselves

Only comment on a few things Overwhelm students with too much feedback at once

Compare students work to a set standard that shows progress (or lack thereof)

Compare students to peers

Tell students how they went and give them insight into how they could improve

Tell students what was wrong with their performance without telling them how to

improveCommunicate your belief that the student

can do betterCommunicate that poor or mediocre

performance is all you expect from certain students

Give feedback while students still have time to improve

Only give feedback after formal assessments

Change the way you give feedback to suit the experience level of the student

Limit feedback to grades and summative comments such as good, great and

disappointingLearn from students’ reactions to your

feedbackDiscount students reactions to feedback as

their problem

Discuss your feedback with students Give feedback without allowing students to clarify it

Source: Evidence Based Teaching www.evidencebasedteaching.org.au

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SOLO TaxonomyStructure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy is a model of learning outcomes to help develop a common understanding and language of learning. It allows for students and teachers to:

Thoughtfully design leaning intentions (goals) and learning experiences Identify and use effective strategies and success criteria Provide feedback and feed forward assessment of learning outcomes Reflect meaningfully on what to do next

Associating the levels of SOLO with ‘declarative knowledge verbs’ in the process of ‘constructive alignment’ is fundamental to building clarity, competence and confidence into the process of writing learning intentions. It is worth noting that verb alignments are never absolute. Levelling verbs against SOLO outcomes can be ambiguous and needs to be done in context (Biggs and Tang, 2007). SOLO declarative and functioning learning verbs

SOLO level Verbs

Unistructural define, identify, name, draw, find, label, match, follow a simple procedure

Multistructural describe, list, outline, follow an algorithm, combine

Relational Sequence, classify, compare, contrast, explain causes, explain effects, analyse (part-whole), form an analogy, organize, distinguish, interview, question, relate, apply

Extended abstract Generalize, predict, evaluate, reflect, hypothesise, theorise, create, prove, plan, justify, argue, compose, prioritise, design, construct, perform

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SOLO v Bloom’s

SOLO theory about teaching and learning is based on research into student learning. As such it has many advantages over Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy (Bloom, 1965), which is a theory about knowledge based on judgments of educational administrators (Hattie and Brown, 2004, Biggs and Tang, 2007). Notably SOLO provides teachers with a more straightforward way of using learning verbs to write differentiated learning intentions.

Students should be able to: LI: [verb] [content] [context]

Tools

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http://pamhook.com/solo-apps/hexagon-generator/

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Assessment FOR Learning

Powerful assessment focused on information a teacher gathers about student’s knowledge, understanding and skills to inform their teaching. Teachers provide feedback to students about their learning and how to improve.

Assessment FOR Learning:

is part of effective learning

focuses on how students learn

is central to classroom practice

is a key professional skill

is sensitive and constructive

fosters motivation

promotes understanding of goals and criteria

helps learners know how to improve

develops the capacity for self-assessment

recognizes all educational achievement

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