How will we know what we have achieved?
Sharing responsibility for learning means taking young people into one's confidence and actively involving them in the process of reflection, repetition and feedback necessary for learning.
(Alexander, 2001, p. 79)
You and the pupils should collect evidence to show what has been learned and achieved. You will already have some material from the classroom activities carried out which you can use for assessment purposes. There are various ways you can carry out additional assessment and evaluation, including self-assessment at the end of a topic, such as asking the pupils to carry out the same activity as at the start of the topic - the brainstorm or picture activity - and then compare results.
The activity on the right gives you the opportunity to try out some ideas.
Activity Resources:
- Images
- Interactive
- Sound
- Text
- Video
Activity
- Use one of the activities below with your pupils, as a way to self-assess a recent topic you have been working on.
- Discuss with the pupils afterwards the effectiveness of the technique, and whether they enjoyed it and would like you to use it again. You could ask colleagues to try out some of these activities too.
Feedback forms
Click on the Text icon for the 'Groupwork feedback' forms (Steiner, 1993, pp. 58-9), which pupils can fill in. You might want to devise a similar form for use with older pupils.
Instant scoring
At the end of an activity, lesson or course individuals are asked to rate their performance in one or more areas from 0-5. The areas to be rated can be suggested by the teachers or pupils and written on the board. For example, to what extent did I take part in the lesson? To what extent did I concentrate? The numbers are then collected and the average range calculated. When presented, these figures provide instant feedback and encourage everyone to improve.
Evaluation wheel
Ask groups to select criteria for evaluating their performance in a course or subject, preferably at the start, and come to an agreement about the main criteria - not too many. Each criterion then becomes a spoke on a wheel with zero at the centre and ten on the edge. Pupils then assess themselves on each of the criteria by marking a spot on the spoke.
Circle time
The class sits in a circle. Go round the circle, allowing each pupil to speak uninterrupted in answer to a question or to complete the stem of a sentence, for example 'One thing I have learnt about (this topic) is ...' or 'One thing I have learned how to do while working on (this topic) is ...' Pupils can pass if they wish. There should be no interrupting.
Interview
Pupils interview each other in pairs about what they have learned. Prepare the interview questions, and the system of how to record the responses, with the whole class before you start.
Journals
Pupils fill in a diary on a daily or weekly basis or as a one off, as appropriate. This records their views on the topic and their thoughts on what they are learning.
