Sharing learning outcomes and success criteria

Sharing learning outcomes and success criteria

Program for the session • Check in: introductions, aims and outcomes • Sharing existing practice (write, pair and share) • Generating outcomes and success criteria (carousel workshop) • Generating outcomes and success criteria (debrief) • Using outcomes and success criteria in practice (physical activity) • Check out: evaluation, next steps

Sharing learning outcomes and success criteria How can we do it more effectively? What are we talking about? Why is it important? Why can it be difficult?

What do we mean by ‘assessment for learning’? “In this paper, the term ‘assessment’ refers to all those activities undertaken by teachers, and their students themselves, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. Such assessment only becomes ‘formative assessment’ when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching work to meet the needs.” Paul Black and Dylan William ‘Inside the Black Box’

Assessment for learning is about three things… • Gathering information about your learners’ learning • Analyzing that information • Using your analysis to inform your teaching to help your learners learn more effectively

Four practical areas • Sharing learning outcomes: being clear about what students are expected to learn and that they know what they have to do to be successful • Asking better questions: using questions that cause thinking and giving students more support to answer them • Making feedback count: improving the quality of verbal and written feedback you give to students • Promoting assessment by students: developing peer and self assessment to help students to give each other feedback as they are learning

Formative assessment has four crucial elements 1. Students being clear about what they know/understand or can do now – the current level of performance 2. Students knowing what they need to achieve – the desired level of performance 3. Teachers knowing what help they need to give to students so that they can bridge the gap themselves 4. Students actually using that help to bridge the gap for themselves

We are learning to… • Deepen our current understandings about how sharing learning outcomes and success criteria can work in practice in the classroom • Identify practical ways which can help you improve your practice

We will know we have been successful if… • There is a high level of open and honest discussion • You find the session interesting and/or enjoyable • You deepen your understanding of how to use outcomes and success criteria more effectively • You find at least one practical “take-away idea” you can use in your classroom

Draw a house

Draw a house marking scheme • When marking your partner’s house please follow these guidelines: • Roof 20 points • Chimney 5 points • Smoke coming out of chimney 5 points • Windows 5 points each (maximum 4) • Door 10 points • Garage 50 points • Front drive 30 points • Patio 60 points • Swimming pool 100 points • Give your partner a score out of 300

Advantages of sharing outcomes and success criteria • Students are clearer about how to go about the task • Students are more focusedon task • Students will persevere for longer • The qualityof students’ work improves • Behaviorespecially time wasting tactics at the start of lessons improves • The dialogue between students while they are working is more likely to focus on the learning intention rather than their own interests • Students become automatically self evaluative • Marking is easier • Shirley Clarke

Carousel activity (page 4 in the handout) • Write down two or three learning outcomes on the topic you have been given. • Add one or two more to the existing list on the same topic. • Check if the outcomes are well expressed in child speak and not too broad or too specific and change them if necessary. • You should now have at least one good learning outcome now. Develop some success criteria for it and make sure they are well linked to the learning outcome, but avoid using the same words as the learning outcome.

A good learning outcome... • Is well-expressed in child-speak • Is not too broad or too narrowly focused, not too short or too long term • Is at the right level for the learners (just beyond what they do on their own) • Contains words associated with learning (e.g. know that, understand, know how) • Is closely linked to the success criteria that help the learner to achieve it

Good success criteria… • Are well linked to the learning outcome • But avoid using the same words as the learning outcome • Emphasize the process of learning where possible –what learners specifically need to do, to know or to think about to produce the end product • Where they do describe an end product or a performance, give details about what will make that product or performance effective or successful

First attempt Primary example – reading Learning outcome: I am learning to read words I find difficult. Success Criteria: I know what to do when I am stuck at a word.

Second attempt • Learning Outcome: • I know what to do when I am stuck at a word. • Success Criteria: • I sound out the word (child speak for phonics). • I see if it looks like a word I know (child speak for word patterns – ball, call, wall, etc.). • I read the words around it (child speak for context clues, train arrives at the s…..). • I look at the picture (child speak for picture clues).

First attempt Secondary example – modern languages Learning Outcomes: “We are learning to be able to use common words and phrases to talk about ‘les vacances’ in French.” Success Criteria: “I know what strategies to use to develop my vocabulary on ‘les vacances’.”

Second attempt • Learning Outcome: • I know what strategies to use to develop my French vocabulary. • Context: • ‘les vacances’ • Success Criteria: • I can find words and phrases in the list that I know. • I can cluster like words and phrases together. • I can explain to my partner why they are the same. • I can tell my partner why theirs are the same. • I can sort out all the words and phrases into five like groups.

The terminology can get in the way outcomes grades expectations strategies for success evidence of success intentions aims objectives targets success criteria levels

We are talking about sharing three kinds of information on a regular basis with our learners and doing so as clearly and explicitly as possible…

The learning outcome, intention or objective What students can expect or are expected to learn by the end of the lesson or series of lessons This can be thought of as the ‘goal’ or the ‘end’– the reason why they are doing a specific task or undertaking a particular piece of work. What are we intending to learn from doing this task?

The success criteria or evidence of success This is the evidence both students and teachers will need to know whether or to what extent they have been successful. They describe “what both the teacher and the student are looking for in the product the student produces or the performance the student gives.” How will we know we have succeeded in learning?

The success criteria or strategies for success The success criteria can also be descriptions of the strategies learners might use to produce the end product or be able to give the performance. In this sense they can be the means to the end. What do we need to do to succeed?

The concept of learning outcomes and success criteria needs to be disentangled from the idea of standards, grades and levels.

Write learning outcomes and success criteria at the same time • It helps you to decide which is which • How they fit together • How they relate to the activity

Writing learning outcomes forces you to be clear about what you really, really want students to learn: • Closed skills? use quotation marks • Open skills? write complex sentences • Knowledge? know what latitude and longitude are • Concepts? understand the importance of healthy living • Applications? how to use Pythagorean theorem

Spot the difference! “Know the basic life processes common to humans and other animals” might become… • “We are learning to be able to tell what is alive and what is not alive.” • Success criteria: • We know that there is no one way of telling whether something is alive or not alive. • We can put things into one of three categories: alive, once alive and now dead, or never been alive. • We can explain our thinking in writing. • We can describe the “rule” or “reason” we used to decide whether something is alive or not alive.

Devising success criteria makes you really, really think about what will best help students learn and when they need that help… • Strategies for success • Evidence of success • Before, after and/or during the task

We are learning to: • be able to juggle three scarves Evidence of success: • We can juggle three scarves cross throwing • We can do this for at least ten seconds • We can still do it after a period of time has elapsed

Strategies for success: • I held the scarves palms down. • I started with the hand with two scarves in it. • I concentrated on the throwing and said to myself ‘throw, throw, throw….” • I kept time to the music. • I threw across and flicked them high. • I caught the scarves palms down. • I caught the first scarf just before I threw the third one. • I picked up the scarves I dropped and kept going.

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Sharing learning outcomes and success criteria