Taunton (+ secondary)
All teachers had co-constructed process success criteria for transferable skills. These are now stuck in children’s books at the ends of lessons. They have more ownership of the criteria. Success criteria are written on A3 sheets and put onto the working walls. Children refer to them constantly.
One teacher has different success criteria for different ways of solving a maths problem – children then choose which way works for them.
All teachers were unpicking criteria from high quality examples to raise children’s understanding of quality. One teacher had split the question into 2: What makes it good?
What makes it correct? Children now know what to aim for.
Different success criteria were co-constructed for the different text types. Deconstructing and analysing texts made it clear what should be included. This has led to greater motivation.
One teacher had an editing table, which children rotate to, where children’s needs are met and their writing is improved.
All teachers were now asking children to write titles in their books rather than the long LI. This has made their attitude to the lesson much better. One teacher was dismayed that the school’s policy was to differentiate the success criteria which she felt was holding children back.
Some teachers were limiting the success criteria to 3 things in English to give more clarity and focus.
One teacher described co-constructing a graph by careful questioning to draw out the criteria. This gave ownership to the children and they were then able to use these to self-evaluate and peer assess.
Making deliberate mistakes when modelling the success criteria was useful in giving students clarity.
Two teachers now ask children to write a title in their books instead of the long learning intention. This is good to see if the children know what they are learning about.
All had decontextualized learning intentions for skill – with a week-long learning intention taking the criteria daily. Transferrable skills can be linked.
All had co-constructed success criteria using good and bad examples, 3 examples of varying quality which all achieve in different ways, so the analysis helps they see what excellence looks like but also how the success criteria techniques in writing are just tools and they have to go beyond simply including these. Children are able to be more selective of what they are going to choose from the success criteria.
Asking children how they want their reader to feel when they write has added to their quality. Focusing on the impact before they write and following and choosing success criteria has had a huge impact on the quality of their writing.
I use two pieces of writing, one which meets the success criteria only and is quite basic, and the other which is more detailed and includes excellence. Children then use a poster (generated by the class) with what to check for.
We use S success criteria (have I met this?)
E excellence (have I included this?)
M myself (proof read to myself)
P edit (my partner and I edit together)
Teachers had reduced the words of the LI in children’s books which had quickened the pace.
Model texts had been used to co-construct success criteria which engages the children and reinforces the LI. They can also now see that there are different ways a piece of writing can be good.
Giving a bad example to analyse pre-empts the mistakes children might make.
Asking children to find evidence of the success criteria had stopped them just ticking them off and made sure they understood.
Some teachers said ‘We are going to’ rather than calling it the learning intention.
Co-constructing meant that children were more likely to remember the criteria and recognise what is needed in their work.
Easing the Cognitive Load
All teachers are using working walls to give children more references and retrieval.
Instead of printing off PP slides, it was felt that jotters were more appropriate for the environment (less wasted paper).
Silent modelling something new caused silence in the whole class, very focused with more time for children to take in the task. This has had a huge impact on children’s learning.
Taking notes – children who struggled to be engaged were now much more focused. Children were keen to write notes and have taken pride in this.