What happened as a result of the teaching?
The teaching and learning is designed around the principles of formative assessment: Assessment Online ‘Assessment for Learning in practice’
Melissa has worked hard from the beginning of the year to set up a learning focussed environment where processes and protocols gradually shift the locus of control to allow greater ownership of the learning by students, with a shift of responsibility from teacher to students. She achieves this through:
The students are fully involved in self and peer assessment through the use of peer response groups, where they give each other feedback and feedforward on a specific piece of writing. They have been trained to use this process from the beginning of the year, and will undertake the conversations every two or three weeks. In this task, the students have been engaged and motivated to write an explanation of how their cupcakes rose, through the use of baking powder. The context is authentic, they have an audience for their writing, and they have selected their purpose. They analyse their own, and each other’s writing to consider what they have achieved and where they go next.
Watch video clip 3: Peer response
Questions for teachers:
Published on: 15 Feb 2016
‘With appropriate teacher guidance and feedback, all students should develop strategies for self-monitoring and collaborative evaluation of their performance in relation to suitable criteria. Self-assessments might involve students examining and discussing various kinds of evidence, making judgments about their progress, and setting further goals.’ (NZC p38)
The influence of peer group responses- Stephanie Dix and Gail Cawkwell (PDF 442KB) An article by Stephanie Dix and Gail Cawkwell, University of Waikato.
