DVD Handbook Essential guidelines, commentary, summaries and advice to accompany the DVD
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DVD Handbook
Essential guidelines, commentary, summaries
and advice to accompany the DVD
OUTSTANDING
Formative Assessment
A ‘Lesson Study’ focus on one outstanding teacher in
challenging circumstances, Seamus Gibbons
HANDBOOK CONTENTS
Pages 1-6 1. Outline of the different aspects of formative assessment.
Pages 7-10 2. Summary of the DVD, for each part, with clip lengths.
Pages 11-15 3. Shirley’s commentary throughout the DVD, including
what to look out for in each clip.
Page 15 4. Discussion suggestions.
Pages 16-24 5. Shirley’s observations of the lessons, to supplement
teachers’ own observations.
Page 25 6. Resources from Seamus’s lessons:
Page 26 The level 3 and level 5 versions of a balanced argument.
Page 27 The 2 Level 5 ghost story openings.
Pages 28-32 The top secret lists of information about the teachers for
calculating range and mode.
Pages 33-35 The mild, spicy and hot challenges given to the class for the
finding percentages lesson.
Page 36 The displayed success criteria for what makes good writing.
Page 37 The slant poster.
Page 37 The growth mindset poster.
Page 38 The peer assessment poster.
1. Outline of the different aspects of formative assessment
Formative assessment became high profile in the UK Black and William as a process of learning which takes
after Paul Black and Dylan William were commissioned place minute by minute during the learning. Here are
by The Assessment Reform Group (a group of academics the key elements, a combination of their findings and
dissatisfied with the focus on summative assessment at my own ongoing findings drawn from my action
the time) to review the literature and present their research teams:
findings to policy makers. The aim was that it would be
clear that it is a focus on formative assessment that • A learning culture, where pupils have self-belief and
raises standards, rather than copious summative know how to learn and teachers have high
measures. They focused on 300 studies, wrote a 60 page expectations and belief that all pupils can succeed
article and published a summary of their findings called • Pupil involvement at the planning stage
‘Inside the Black Box’. Their conclusion, that formative
assessment raises standards but also creates lifelong • Pupils knowing learning objectives and generating
learners could not be ignored, and formative assessment success criteria
began its journey. • Discussion about what excellence looks like
Very soon it also became known as ‘Assessment for • Effective questioning
Learning’. Over the years there has been a great deal of • Talk partners and classroom discussion
confusion about what formative assessment actually is,
with some people, even countries, seeing it as any kind • Effective self, peer and teacher feedback
of assessment that helps the learning. So a test, for
The following pages outline these elements. These will
instance might be seen by some as formative if the
be particularly helpful if you are new to formative
information is used to move children on. This muddle
assessment and want to get the most out of watching
has not been helpful and it is a pity the word
the lessons.
assessment was used at all to describe this vital learning
process. The true conceptual framework was outlined by
A learning culture people with a ‘fixed’ mindset will only tackle tasks which
they know, in advance, they will succeed at. People with
I have drawn on the work of Carol Dweck who is the a ‘growth’ mindset not only willingly tackle difficult tasks,
main authority on self-esteem. She established a simple but thrive on them. I have given examples of the two
framework (2000) which has given us access to the years mindsets below in terms of their characteristics and the
of research about how children feel about themselves repercussions. Our aim, of course, must be to develop a
and their learning. What matters the most, in terms of growth mindset for ourselves, for all adults involved in
motivation, is whether we see ability as ‘fixed’ (an entity working with children, for parents and all our pupils.
learner) or ‘growth’ (an incremental learner). In short,
The ‘fixed’ mindset
Characteristics of a ‘fixed’ mindset Repercussions
My intelligence is a fixed trait – I have a certain amount I worry about how much intelligence I have and it makes me
of it and that’s that. interested in looking and feeling as if I have enough.
I must look clever and, at all costs, not look stupid.
I feel clever when things are easy, where I put in little Effort, difficulty, setbacks or higher performing peers call my
effort and I outperform my peers. intelligence into question, even if I have high confidence in
my intelligence, so I feel stupid.
I need easy successes to feel clever. Challenges are a threat to my self-esteem so I won’t engage
with them.
I don’t want to have my inadequacies and I will withdraw from valuable learning opportunities if
errors revealed. I think this might happen.
Even if I’m doing well initially, I won’t be able to cope I readily disengage from tasks when obstacles occur.
with a problem or obstacle.
1The ‘growth’ mindset
Characteristics of a ‘growth’ mindset Repercussions
Intelligence is something I can increase through my I am keen to work hard and learn as much as I can.
own efforts.
I acknowledge that there are differences between I believe that everyone, with effort and guidance, can
people in how much they know and how quickly they increase their intellectual abilities.
master things.
I love to learn something new. I will readily sacrifice opportunities to look clever in favour of
opportunities to learn something new.
I am excited by challenge. Even if I have low confidence in my intelligence, I throw
myself into difficult tasks – and stick with them. I set myself
goals and make sure I have strategies to reach them.
I feel clever when... I am fully engaged with a new task, exerting effort to master
something, stretching my skills and putting my knowledge to
good use (e.g. helping other pupils learn).
People with a fixed mindset need to constantly prove shameful, but a sign that they need to work harder or be
their ability, proving that they are special or even helped to find new strategies. By giving children greater
superior, whereas people with a growth mindset believe access to tasks (i.e. increasing the level of support within
that intelligence can be developed through learning, the task itself ), for instance, children instantly have
something which brain research has proved to be true. greater access to the success criteria used in formative
assessment.
Strategies for developing a growth
mindset - for teachers, parents and all Praising effort and achievement rather
involved in education than ability or personal attributes
Praising children’s intelligence harms their motivation
Modelling a growth mindset and their performance. Children love to be praised for
We need to model our own growth mindset and love of their intelligence and talent, but if this is the norm, the
learning by emphasising processes of learning, the minute they encounter an obstacle their confidence
importance and excitement of meeting challenges, drops. If success means they are clever, than failure can
putting in effort and using strategies which help us only mean they are not. This hooks them neatly into a
learn. We need to teach children that intelligence can be fixed mindset. Examples of praise comments which
developed. We need to transform ‘difficulty’ into ‘new or focus on effort and achievement rather than ability and
deeper learning’ and avoid sympathy when children help create a ‘growth mindset’ culture are as follows:
encounter failure or difficulty. We need to show
enthusiasm about challenging tasks and ensure that Well done! You are learning to…..
failure is followed up by celebration of what has been
Fantastic! If it makes you think it means you are
learnt by the experience in terms of new strategies
learning.
needed. By doing this we help ensure that challenge
and effort are things that enhance self-esteem rather
Mistakes help us learn.
than threaten it.
Remember –you don’t know yet!
Teachers with a fixed mindset often give lower achievers
less demanding work in order to preserve their self- Every time you work hard you are growing your brain
esteem, making sure they succeed, telling them how a little more
clever they are and dooming them to fall further behind.
This approach also ensures that they will only feel There is a copy of the growth mindset poster on
successful when they can do things easily. Seamus’s classroom wall towards the end of this
handbook, which gives child friendly characteristics of
With a growth mindset, you tell pupils the truth. If they a growth mindset.
don’t have skills or knowledge or they are
underachieving, this is not a sign of something
2Pupil involvement at the Learning objectives
planning stage All learners need to know learning objectives in order to
The tradition has been that teachers plan lessons away have a chance of succeeding. Two things seem to
from the children, sometimes asking them what they matter: learning objectives should be decontextualised
already know about the subject matter but paying lip (e.g. write an account rather than write an account of an
service to their involvement. By involving children at the underwater world) and authentic (what you really want
planning stage, their interest and motivation is increased them to learn). Teachers often stick to the National
and their achievement is greater because of this Curriculum language when maybe their real learning
ownership. intention for a lesson is slightly different. Once the
learning objective is clear, success criteria and
The key elements necessary for quality involvement are: everything else follow much more easily. An unclear
learning objective, for instance, might be ‘to learn how to
1. What they already know/can do make a cake’ if what is really intended is ‘to be able to
write instructions’.
2. Immersion in the subject matter
As learning objectives became the norm in the UK there
3. Presenting them with the skills coverage appeared a myth that the first words uttered should be
the words of the learning objective and it should always
4. What they would like to learn be written on the whiteboard before the lesson starts.
Although the learning objective might be appropriate at
Successful strategies for establishing prior knowledge the beginning of the lesson (often in mathematics), its
include: appearance before children’s interest is captured can kill
their interest. What matters is that children know the
• Breaking down the topic into various headings and
learning objective at the point at which they are going
asking what they already know about each part (e.g.
to be judged.
for a study of minibeasts what do they know about the
lifecycle of a butterfly, the habitat of ants, what
different minibeasts there are, what insects eat
etc. etc.)
• Giving children resources to explore to see what they
know (e.g. electrical components/magnets and metals)
• Showing a picture with a statement (e.g. a picture of a
Stone Age house and a statement ‘This is a Victorian
house’ Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons)
• Children’s discussions and responses should give a
clear idea of prior knowledge and impact on not only
content but also pitch.
Immersion is usually an afternoon of various input, often
laid out in the hall, for children to get a broad idea of the
content, giving them greater chance to think about what
they would like to learn (e.g. for a topic on India: video,
food tasting, saris, music etc. For a science topic they
might be given materials to explore or a difficult task,
which will lead to them seeing what skills they need to
be taught (e.g. can you make a plant grow sideways?)
Presenting skills coverage is an important stage, because
otherwise you can end up with lots of random ideas
rather than links with the skills you want to cover. Once
children have these, either in child speak or learning
objective form, they can match their ideas, co-
constructing activity ideas with the teacher.
3Success Criteria aspects needed in a science conclusion or they might be
Success criteria are a breakdown of or ingredients of the things that you could include (e.g. the possible elements
learning objective. For closed learning objectives they in a good characterisation). Using success criteria has
are often chronological and are always compulsory (e.g. had a major impact on both teaching and learning, but
the steps in a mathematics algorithm or the ingredients mainly in equipping pupils with the tools to be able to
needed for instructional writing). For open learning self and peer assess.
objectives they can be compulsory elements, such as the
Broad key skills produce broad success criteria so it can often be necessary to take each of the success criteria in turn
and make those the focus of a lesson or series of lessons. ‘Persuasive writing’ would be a good example of this, where
each element is worthy of a number of lessons:
To write a persuasive Letter to local MP • A statement of your viewpoint
argument • A number of reasons for this with evidence
• A number of reasons from an alternative standpoint
• Attempts at striking up empathy with the recipient
• Recommended alternative action
• A summary
• Reasoning connectives
We could take ‘striking up empathy’ for instance, present pupils with two contrasting examples of persuasive letters, one
which empathises well and one which doesn’t and get them to analyse the pieces in order to generate success criteria
for empathy. We might find ‘flattery’, ‘mentioning something the recipient is personally connected with’‘appealing to
his/her better nature’ and so on.
In order to have maximum impact, Pupil generation of success criteria:
success criteria: We have learnt that success criteria must be generated
• Need to be known, in a basic form, by teachers first. by pupils to have maximum impact. There are now
several very high quality techniques for not only getting
• Should be the same set for all learners in a class – children to generate success criteria, but also to help
differentiation by access should be sought via the them understand what excellence looks like for the
amount of support provided within the activity. learning objective in focus.
• Must be generated by pupils, or they have little Effective techniques
meaning and less impact on learning.
• Doing it wrong at the visualiser – they will want to
• Can be used across the curriculum, including social correct you!
skills, thinking skills etc. • Presenting something incomplete (e.g. an
incomplete invitation).
• Need to be constantly referred to by pupils and ticked
off for closed skills. • Presenting something incorrect (e.g. a mistake in a
calculation) for children to discuss
• One success criterion can be used as the focus for a
• Presenting one excellent product and asking children
lesson, broken down into further success criteria.
to identify the features (in writing not
secretarial features).
• Presenting one good and one not so good product for
children to compare. Vital to show more than one
excellent example to avoid children being constrained
to one style.
• Eavesdropping their discussions about what should be
included in a …. and writing them up as you listen.
4Once success criteria have been generated by pupils, To ensure quality talk in the classroom:
they can be made into A5 cards, A4 sheets in folders,
• Pupils need to have thinking time to answer a
posters on walls, stored on Interactive Whiteboards/in
question but discussing with a talk partner during that
SMART notebooks etc. and used whenever that skill
time or using mini whiteboards makes the thinking
recurs. Pure, decontextualised learning objectives lead to
time more productive.
generic success criteria, which can be used in any
context, so this should be the aim when generating • Talk partner discussions need to be very focused and
them, otherwise their shelf life is too short and pupils do not too long (e.g. 30 seconds to come up with one
not see the vital link between and within subjects when thing you can see in this writing/ 1 minute to think of a
skills are transferred. good simile for a cat/ 2 minutes to decide what has
gone wrong in this calculation) to avoid pupils losing
In writing, success criteria provide a basic framework, but momentum and going off task..
should not detract from what good writing consists of.
• Teachers need to avoid asking for ‘hands up’ because
Looking beyond the wow words and similes is the route
the same few children are always first with their hands
to children understanding what makes a good piece
up, do most of the answering and most of the class opt
of writing.
out of listening and thinking as a consequence.
In mathematics, some teachers have found that getting • Random talk partners is the most effective
children to create their own individual success criteria organisational device (techniques follow in the
for a skill once they feel they know it has been extremely feedback section) which need to change either weekly
successful. Random examples can be discussed at the or fortnightly. Pupils appreciate the fairness factor and
visualiser and children asked to improve their success get to appreciate the rich variety of social and learning
criteria. This has led to us seeing that the most experiences they encounter because of the frequent
important time for feedback in mathematics is at the change.
individual pupil generation stage, where their
• Strategies need to be put in place to ensure quality
misconceptions can be clearly visible and able to be
talk, such as sharing of the rationale and surveying
discussed and improved.
opinion regularly about the impact of talk partners
from pupils’ point of view; using ice breaking activities
By comparing two contrasting examples, and further
when partners change; generating success criteria for
excellent examples for close analysis, children get to see
good talk and good listening; using these to discuss
what a good one looks like, another essential
how well pupil talk is developing and finding ways for
component of formative assessment. Excellence is
pupils to self and peer evaluate their paired talk.
shared before the children work independently,
enhancing their own chances of success. Magpieing • Teachers need to avoid asking too many closed recall
ideas and words is encouraged. questions and ask more worthwhile questions which
will extend pupil understanding and begin lessons in a
more productive way, also revealing misconceptions
which can then be taken account of.
Talk and discussion
• Responses to children’s responses need to be sensitive
The emergence of talk partners was a direct result of the and respectful to establish an ethos of confidence to
studies which showed that not enough ‘wait time’ give one’s opinion, whether that is right or wrong.
(Rowe, 1974) was given for children to answer questions
and that ‘dialogic talk’ (Alexander, 2004) was a missing
component in the classroom. The ‘hands up’ culture was
also excluding many children from thinking. Let alone
answering. With random talk partners changing every
week, teachers have also been able to move towards
mixed ability learning, with children learning from each
other, linking with 20 years of research which shows that
grouping children has very little impact on their learning
and causes damage to children’s self-esteem (Sutton
Trust and Hattie, J. 2009).
5Effective questioning learning so far and show it under the visualiser for all to
see. Children look for the successes and where an
An effective start to a lesson is a feature of good improvement can be made, then use this modelling to
formative assessment: capturing interest and immersing help them make their own improvements in their work
children immediately in the subject matter, often as they go along.
establishing how much they know at the beginning of
each lesson. A range of questioning templates has Instead of children swapping work, cooperative
emerged as teachers have experimented with this, improvement is more effective, with two children
including: focusing on one book between them, discussing
together, with the author holding the pen and reading
• The range of answers (What does a plant need to their work aloud and penning the discussed
grow? Soil, light, chocolate, sand, water, coke. Discuss). improvements.
• The statement (Goldilocks was a burglar. All the elements of formative assessment come into play
Agree or disagree? Say why). as the feedback happens. The learning culture of a
growth mindset is vital for children to want to strive for
• Right and wrong (Why does this bulb light up and this improvement and look forward to their work being
one not?). critiqued by the whole class. The success criteria are the
key focus for discussing best bits and improvement
• Odd one out (Which of these shapes is the odd needs. Talk partners discuss the visualiser work and their
one out?). own work cooperatively, articulating their thoughts and
learning from each other.
We need to plan worthwhile questions which will
deepen and further pupil understanding, rather than ask
them to recall a simple fact. References
Alexander, R. (2004) Towards Dialogic Teaching, Dialogos UK
Questioning of children Black, P. and William, D. (1998) Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards
through Classroom Assessment, London: King’s College School
Seamus has a very powerful way of questioning of Education.
individual children throughout a lesson, making them
Clarke, S (2008) Active Learning through Formative Assessment,
repeatedly articulate their understanding. He organises
Hodder Education.
the classroom so that he can position himself directly in
front of children when he questions them, holding eye Dweck, C. (2006) Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,
Random House.
contact and making them feel he is really listening to
them. He uses a number of probing questions, even if he Dweck, C. (2000) Self-theories: their role in motivation, personality and
knows what the child means, forcing them to think development, Psychology Press.
about how to articulate their answers and thus deepen Hattie, J (2009) Visible Learning, Routledge.
their understanding. His questions include: Rowe, M.B. (1974) Relation oif wait-time and rewards to the development
of language, logic and fate control’, Journal of Research in Science
• What are you going to include? Teaching, 11, 4, 292.
• What do you mean by... The Sutton Trust (2011) Toolkit of Strategies to Improve Learning,
CEM and Durham University.
• Tell me more about that...
• Give me one example...
Feedback
We have moved a long way since the days of teachers
taking children’s work away and marking it. We now
know that the more immediate the feedback the better,
and that most marking has very little impact on
children’s progress.
We are now aiming for continual review during lessons,
stopping lessons at intervals to take one random child’s
62. Summary of the DVD
Introduction
Length of clip Summary
9 mins 34 secs Shirley introduces the DVD and Seamus Gibbons,
explaining purposes and suggested use, using a ‘lesson
study’ approach.
Literacy: Balanced argument
Parts Length of clip Summary
Part 1: clarifying success criteria. 7 mins 5 secs Overview of the day and lesson, then success criteria
bingo game in which children revise the criteria for a
balanced argument, explaining and giving examples.
Part 2: comparing examples to 10 mins 28 secs Seamus compares his own piece, written when he was
discuss excellence. 11, with a Level 5 piece from last year’s class. Children
discuss the differences.
Part 3: summarising the learning. 2 mins 27 secs Children give Seamus improvement suggestions for
his balanced argument.
Growth mindset, success criteria, discussing examples
Seamus reflects. 4 mins 7 secs
of excellence.
Literacy: Ghost story opening
Parts Length of clip Summary
Part 1: question starter. 2 mins 33 secs Children discuss what makes them want to read on
in a book.
Part 2: comparing excellent 5 mins 27 secs Children compare 2 excellent openings, deciding
examples. which is better, looking beyond the success criteria
Part 3: mid-lesson learning stop. 4 mins 45 secs A randomly chosen child’s opening is discussed at
the visualiser.
Part 4: cooperative success and 5 mins 43 secs Children, in pairs, give feedback to each other, and
improvement. then make improvements.
Seamus reflects. 6 mins 21 secs Raising expectations, looking at excellence,
cooperative feedback, marking.
7Literacy: Guided reading
Parts Length of clip Summary
Part 1: Revising success criteria 5 mins 41 secs The children revisit and modify their success criteria for
and SPIQ: summarise, predict, guided reading. They explain the meaning of SPIQ,
identify and question. giving examples.
Part 2: Vocabulary and 2 mins 7 secs Children discuss the meaning of some words.
predications. They then look at a text and make predictions.
Part 3: Seamus as teacher. 6 mins 24 secs Following the SPIQ format, S directs the reading,
identification of new words and questioning of the text.
Part 4: Pupils as teacher and 5 mins 21 secs This time the SPIQ format is pupil led. The group reflects
reflection. on how well the success criteria were met.
Seamus reflects. 2 mins 28 secs The impact of formative assessment in test results and
attitude to learning, learning from each other.
Art: Collage
Parts Length of clip Summary
Part 1: Recap previous lesson. 1 min 42 secs They revisit their previously drawn personal value
symbols, which will be the basis of their collages.
Part 2: Comparing examples to 4 mins 3 secs Miss Nicole, the student, and Seamus present their own
discuss excellence. collages for the class to compare.
Part 3: Pupil generation of 5 mins 21 secs Children co-construct the success criteria. S helps them
success criteria. see the difference between what makes a collage and
individual creativity.
Part 4: Beginning the collage. 2 mins 9 secs Seamus gives each child a pack of collage materials.
Children use the success criteria to begin their collages.
Part 5: Mid – lesson learning stop. 2 mins 1 sec Several collages are brought to the visualiser
for feedback.
Part 6: Improvement suggestions. 2 mins 18 secs Children write improvements for Seamus’s collage.
Seamus reflects. 2 mins 38 secs Peer cooperative improvements, talk partners, mixed
ability, effective questioning.
8Mathematics: Range and mode
Parts Length of clip Summary
Part 1: Question starter and 4 mins 21 secs To see current understanding, children discuss: ‘The
incorrect example. average of 6,7 and 8 is a prime number. Agree or
disagree?’ An incorrect calculation from last year’s class
is discussed.
Part 2: Teaching the skills. 4 mins 58 secs Seamus explains the range and mode and children
work on some examples.
Part 3: Pupil generation of 7 mins 17 secs Children write individual success criteria then randomly
success criteria. chosen children show these at the visualiser.
Improvements are suggested then all children review
their success criteria.
Part 4: Practising the skills. 2 mins 23 secs Secret envelopes under chairs contain more lists of data
to calculate the range and mode.
Part 5: Summarising the learning. 2 mins 12 secs Children are given an ‘exit card’ on which they do one
final calculation, which will get them out to play.
Seamus reflects. 4 mins 8 secs Growth mindset, pupil – generated success criteria, the
effect of ability grouping, learning from each other, use
of the visualiser.
Mathematics: Finding percentages (first lesson)
Parts Length of clip Summary
Part 1: Recap and question starter. 4 mins 21 secs Seamus gives an overview of the learning so far, then
children discuss ‘70% of 800 is greater than 60% of 900.
Agree or disagree?’
Part 2: Teaching the skill. 3 mins 10 secs Seamus links fractions with percentages.
Part 3: Generation and 10 mins 4 secs After more practice, children write their own success
improvement of success criteria. criteria for finding percentages, then make
improvements after one child’s criteria has been
discussed at the visualiser.
Part 4: Challenge choice and 5 mins 39 secs Children choose to do either ‘mild’, ‘spicy’ or ‘hot’
learning stops. maths challenges.
Part 5: Summarising the learning. 1 min 58 secs Children decide ‘top tips’ improvement advice given
an incorrect calculation.
Mathematics: Lesson review
Parts Length of clip Summary
Review of lesson between 6 mins 56 secs Watching the video footage, we discuss whether the
Seamus and Shirley. children have real understanding and what could be
done to improve this.
9Mathematics: Retaught findings percentages
Parts Length of clip Summary
Part 1: Question start. 1 min 5 secs Children find 7% of 500 on whiteboards to
verify competence.
Part 2: Reteaching the skill. 6 mins 55 secs After explaining that he watched the footage and
wants to ensure their understanding, S focuses on
finding 1% first and children knowing the purpose of
each step.
Part 3: Improving success criteria. 5 mins 16 secs Children edit their previous success criteria.
Part 4: Challenge choice and 2 mins 31 secs Children choose a differentiated challenge. They end
summary. the lesson by writing a text message to Seamus explain
how to find percentages of whole numbers.
Seamus reflects. Questioning, the impact of formative assessment,
introducing formative assessment.
Conclusion
Length of clip Summary
2 mins 16 secs Shirley shows this year’s results for Seamus’s class and
lists the key aspects of the teaching and learning in his
classroom to reflect on.
103. Shirley’s commentary throughout the DVD
Introduction The first DVD and my book ‘Active Learning through
Formative Assessment’ give more detail and can be
My first DVD, The Power of Formative Assessment, ordered on my website. The website also has pages of
featured ten teachers from my action research teams practical feedback from teachers in my learning teams
demonstrating a range of strategies –lots of clips, lots of as well as links to other resources.
specifics. This new DVD is quite different: it focuses on
one outstanding inner London teacher of 11 year olds, So, how did I find Seamus? I received this email from
Seamus Gibbons, bringing all the elements of formative him on September 11th 2011...
assessment together over a range of lessons.
The main purpose of this DVD is to provoke discussion, Dear Shirley
and video is the next best thing to watching a good
teacher teaching.‘Lesson study’, in its pure form, consists I thought you might be interested to know about our
of 2 teachers planning a lesson, the staff watching and recent Year 6 S.A.T's results from my Year 6 class. I have
critiquing the lesson at a micro level, then the lesson adopted a lot of strategies from your book (especially the
being replanned and retaught. The focus should be the quality assurance) and it has had a huge impact.
learning. For the purposes of this DVD, however, I am Working in an Inner London school in Westminster (over
focusing on how the teaching impacts the learning. We 90% EAL) we got:
traditionally spend a great deal of time talking together
about education away from the classroom. Lesson study • 93% L4 and above writing. We got 44% the
we know has a significant effect on pupil achievement previous year.
–teachers watching and discussing someone teaching.
• 29% L5 writing, compared to 0% the previous year.
The second purpose of the DVD is to show how • 93% L4 and above reading, compared to 66% the
formative assessment, with all the elements brought previous year.
together, looks in the hands of a very successful teacher
over Literacy, maths and an art lesson. The way Seamus • 90% L4 and above maths, compared to 85% the
teaches is not the only way to do it, of course, but a previous year.
great deal can be learnt from analysing any teacher’s • 59% L5 maths, compared to 22% the previous year.
lessons, more so from an exceptional teacher.
These results, in a class with a high percentage of EAL, 2/3
The handbook, containing summaries of the lessons, male (a lot of whom struggled with behaviour and
copies of the slides and posters from Seamus’s concentration) and a high percentage of S.E.N exceeded all
classroom accompanies the DVD and can be targets set by the local authority.
downloaded from my website:
By the children breaking their learning down into smaller
www.shirleyclarke-education.org
steps and using W.M.G (success criteria), developing growth
Formative assessment consists of the following mindsets and knowing what 'excellence' looks like; they
elements, which we know not only raise standards but have been able to make outstanding progress (as well as
make children into lifelong learners: quality marking and other strategies). They left as
confident learners and ready to tackle the challenges they
• A learning culture: a growth mindset and learning will face in secondary school.
from each other.
• Involving pupils in planning.
• Sharing learning objectives, often after capturing I was astonished by these results, and I know SAT results
interest first. are certainly not the only measure of successful
learning, simply a by-product of it, but I wanted to see
• Pupil generated success criteria. him teach. I videoed him for a day in the classroom and
• Effective questioning and talk partners. decided within minutes of watching him that this would
be practice many teachers would find useful to watch. I
• Self-peer-teacher feedback: aiming for continual know this means that we only see 11 year olds learning,
review and on-the-spot improvement making. but formative assessment applies to all ages and by
focusing very closely on one teacher with one set of
children, a great deal can be learnt which can be applied
or modified for younger or older children.
11The school is St.Stephen’s School in Westminster, in an To get the most out of watching the lessons I suggest
area of social deprivation. There are 29 children in the the following:
class, with all but 3 children having English as a second
language and a total of 11 different first languages. 1. Listen to my pointers before each part.
There are 12 children identified with special educational
needs and the range of achievement in Literacy and 2. Watch part 1, jotting down everything you see which
Mathematics by the end of their last class was from level makes the learning successful.
1 to level 5, level 4 being the government expectation
for most 11 year olds. 3. At the end of that part, make groups and pool
your findings.
The lessons we see are minimally edited, with all the
children involved. There are 2 extra people in the 4. Look at my observations of it via the menu and see
classroom –Miss Nicole, a GTP student who had how they compare with yours. Do they match up?
previously been a learning support assistant in the class, Did we both miss things?
who spent 3 and a half days in the room and Mr. Jones,
5. Open up the discussion to the whole group,
the class teaching assistant for one and a half days a
articulating all the key elements and any implications
week –by coincidence all the filming happened on their
for your own practice.
days! The children change their seating every week, as
they change talk partners, and you will see the 2 extra 6. Continue in this way with each part of the lesson,
adults always sitting in the corners of the room, working following the same pattern.
with whoever is sitting there that week. This meant that
all children were either supported or stretched at some 7. Finally, listen to Seamus talking about his journey in
time with those adults. formative assessment.
There are 2 Literacy lessons: a balanced argument and
ghost story openings, as well as a guided reading
session in which we see the children leading the session. Literacy
There is an art lesson which focuses on using their
personal chosen values to create a collage, with all the Balanced argument
aspects of formative assessment evident. And finally As this is the first time you see Seamus teach, you will be
there are 3 maths lessons: range and mode and then an inundated with strategies which you then get to see
interesting sequence of lessons for finding percentages. repeated and developed in subsequent lessons.
You see the first percentages lesson, then a discussion However, now is the time to jot down everything you
between Seamus and I about how the learning went, see which makes the learning successful so you can
then his reteaching of that lesson, based on our track the strategies through the lessons.
thinking. This shows the benefits of ‘lesson study’
although the best scenario is of course that more than Part 1 Look out for the elements of formative
one teacher plans and teaches the lesson and that more assessment: the growth mindset culture, how he
teachers get involved in the discussion. reinforces success criteria in the bingo game, his
questioning to the class and to individuals. Also other
The structure of the DVD is organised to help with things: how he starts the day and the lesson, how the
professional development meetings and I’ve used the seating is organised to enable his questioning, how he
same ‘lesson study’ style format that I use on my one keeps them focused, how he keeps them motivated.
day courses, after people have seen clips of Seamus
teaching, which teachers have found useful. Each lesson Part 2 New things to look for: how he helps them
on the DVD is preceded by some comments from me to understand exactly what excellence looks like, the
help you to focus because each lesson is different from importance of context, his relationship with the
and complimentary to the others. I’ve split the lessons children, the significance of his displays around the
into parts and before each part I’ll give you some walls, his tracking strategies.
pointers on what in particular to look out for. After each
lesson there is a slide of my observations of the lesson Part 3 Finally, Seamus often ends lessons with a task
then some thoughts from Seamus about the key issues. which helps him see what they have learnt. What are the
successful elements of this final task?
12Ghost story openings Part 1 How necessary do you think pupil generated
success criteria are for guided reading? Decide how far
Comparing excellent and not so good old pieces of work the success criteria influence the success of the session.
is a great way to get children to see what a good one
looks like. In this instance, Seamus compares 2 Level 5 Part 2 Notice how Seamus gives children control and
openings. Look for the benefits in looking beyond how and when he intervenes.
features which merely satisfy standard test criteria.
Part 3 How far is the continual repetition of the
Part 1 How lessons begin is an important part of structure of the session allowing children to be
formative assessment. What does Seamus gain from confident in their learning? How important is this?
starting with this question and hearing what they have
to say? How important is humour and context in his Part 4 What factors need to be in place for all children
approach? to be able to lead a session as you see happening next?
What qualities do you see between the children?
Part 2 Keep track of the questioning of individual and How pleased does Seamus look knowing that he is no
pairs of children which run throughout his lessons. How longer needed?
significant do you think this is in what makes these
children achieve such a high level? Is there a pattern in
his questioning?
Art
Part 3 Feedback is at its best when it is immediate. How
does Seamus achieve that here? Jot down all the Collage
elements that make up a successful mid lesson learning
Formative assessment is first and foremost about the
stop at the visualiser. Notice his emphasis on identifying
learning process, relevant for all subjects. Here we see a
good writing, not necessarily test criteria.
lesson on collage, in which children use their previously
Part 4 Cooperative improvement is more effective than designed value symbols. Some key messages are given
swapping books. Improvements are made there and about the fact that success criteria for art can only focus
then, by both children together, rather than writing on skills, not the quality of the creation.
advice which has to be followed up later by a child on
Part 1 Notice how Seamus often gets children to
their own.
discuss previous learning but recaps himself rather than
asking them to articulate. What is the advantage of this?
How does he use the interactive whiteboard to enhance
Literacy the learning? Here and elsewhere?
Guided reading Part 2 Discuss why you think Seamus shows them more
examples of good collages.
Seamus uses a format for guided reading that he
discovered is widely used in New Zealand: S P I Q Part 3 Watch how he gets the children to generate the
pronounced spike, which stands for summarise, predict, success criteria. Notice the separation of art skills and
identify and question. He devised the clicking or noise creativity and how that appears in the success criteria.
signal for unison reading of words and he also decided
on the role change, where the pupils become the Part 4 The classroom is full of chairs and children so
teacher and he becomes a pupil. resource preparation is key. Seamus gives out bags of
collage materials. Would you still do this if the classroom
Although this group is in the library to help the audio for was bigger and allowed for more movement?
the video, they are usually in the classroom, with the
furniture rearranged into groups. Now that all children Part 5 How do the mid lesson learning stops influence
are trained in the SPIQ format, Seamus is able to have all what children do next or what they learn?
groups running their own tables at the same time in the
way you see here, while he sits with just one. Part 6 Too often work is left unfinished, but here
children are reassured that they will be able to continue.
This is the only time that Seamus has ability grouping, Keep a note of all the techniques Seamus uses to
although sometimes he groups them according to integrate summative assessment into the plenary.
interest in the content of the book.
13Mathematics After this discussion Seamus retaught the lesson, with
now added insight after watching and discussing it: the
Range and Mode value of lesson study.
The breakthrough for me in watching Seamus’s maths
Watch lesson 1 first, noting the good things, as before,
lessons was the realisation that the most beneficial
but also any indications of shaky understanding. Then
feedback in maths is during the pupil generation of their
listen to key excerpts from mine and Seamus’s
own personal success criteria after they have practiced
discussion. Then watch the reteaching of the lesson and
the skill. Their level of understanding is revealed through
note the improved understanding.
the way they write the success criteria so that is the
obvious time to look for success and make
Lesson 1
improvements. Once the maths has been completed it’s
difficult to make the feedback go beyond right or Part 1 Note the instant engagement as before, and the
wrong, but at the success criteria stage there is a real quality of discussion between the children.
chance of picking up misconceptions and working on
the understanding. Watch feedback at the success Part 2 Throughout this lesson, how far do you think
criteria stage happen in this lesson and in the there is real understanding? Where do children seem
percentages lessons. unclear? Notice the continued reference to ‘SLANT’
(sit up, listen, ask questions, nod your head, track
Part 1 What is gained at the beginning of this lesson the speaker).
from giving children a quick calculation at the start?
Part 3 Notice the importance of children sharing their
Part 2 Before children can write their own success ideas about their success criteria. Decide which aspects
criteria in maths, they need to know the steps involved. of the success criteria are perhaps unnecessary.
What are the important elements of Seamus’s
teaching here? Part 4 Seamus has mixed ability throughout his lessons,
with excellent results. Notice how the challenges are
Part 3 Look for significant moments as children structured and what they have in common. Also look for
compose and improve their own success criteria, how he checks children’s choices and gives them
especially in his interaction with individuals. Notice the flexibility to change. What other factors do you think
use of the visualiser and random choosing during the would need to be in place for this system to work
lesson. What is the advantage of random choosing for really well?
who comes out to share their work?
Part 5 Demonstrated here, giving children an incorrect
Part 4 Preparation of context is as important as the calculation or incorrect success criteria to put right is a
skills being taught and applied. Imagine the impact if good strategy for beginnings or ends of lessons, to
the children were now just given more lists of numbers gauge current understanding.
from which to calculate the range and mode.
Part 5 Here’s another technique for summarising
the learning and providing recorded summative Review of the lesson
assessment information for the teacher in a quick and
innovative format. You now hear Seamus and I discussing the key points
about this lesson, accompanied by the footage we refer
to. Think about how you would go about reteaching the
Finding percentages lesson after such a discussion.
Now we have 2 lessons following a ‘lesson study’ Retaught percentages lesson
approach. Although it appears that children know how
to find percentages in the first lesson, Seamus and I were Now we have Seamus’s reteaching of the finding
not convinced that they would be able to remember the percentages lesson. Jot down the main differences and
steps long term. On watching the footage of this look for increased understanding.
together, we looked carefully at children’s expressions,
Part 1 Seamus begins with a question again in order to
where there was confusion and where they didn’t always
establish that the children know how to find
answer his ‘does everyone understand?’ questions. Our
percentages of whole numbers.
discussion led to thinking that, for every step in the
success criteria, children need to be able to say why you Part 2 What are the key points in his reteaching that
have to make that step and maybe there didn’t need to you feel help the children develop deeper
be so many steps anyway. understanding?
14Part 3 Look especially at Devon’s editing of his success
criteria and Seamus’s questioning. Notice how often 4. Discussion suggestions
Seamus asks for children to be entirely explicit, even
though we know what they mean by what they say or The structure of the DVD is organised to help with
write. professional development meetings and I’ve used the
same ‘lesson study’ style format that I use on my one
Part 4 We now see another device for getting
day courses, after people have seen clips of Seamus
summative assessment in a recorded form, but also with
teaching, which teachers have found useful. Each lesson
a meaningful context. Keep a list of these devices and
on the DVD is preceded by some comments from me to
add to them from your own ideas.
help you to focus because each lesson is different from
and complimentary to the others. I’ve split the lessons
into parts and before each part I’ll give you some
Conclusion: final discussions pointers on what in particular to look out for. After each
lesson there is a slide of my observations of the lesson
I suggest that after watching and discussing all of these then some thoughts from Seamus about the key issues.
lessons and listening to Seamus’s commentary there
could be a general discussion about the factors which To get the most out of watching the lessons I suggest
you believe make Seamus’s children exceed the following:
expectations to an exceptional level. The SAT results for
this class were even higher than Seamus’s last class: for 1. Listen to my pointers before each part.
writing 96% L4 and 44% L5, for reading 96%L4 and 63%
2. Watch part 1, jotting down everything you see which
L5 and for mathematics 93% L4 and 56% L5.
makes the learning successful.
Think about:
3. At the end of that part, make groups and pool your
• The learning culture and how it manifests itself. findings.
• The way in which children talk to each other. 4. Look at my observations of it via the menu and see
• His questioning of individuals and pairs – what are the how they compare with yours. Do they match up? Did
exact questions he uses? we both miss things?
• Talk partners: how often the children are asked to talk 5. Open up the discussion to the whole group,
and what he does during that time. articulating all the key elements and any implications
• The seating arrangement and its significance in his for your own practice.
questioning routine.
6. Continue in this way with each part of the lesson,
• The use of success criteria. following the same pattern.
• The use of the visualiser.
7. Finally, listen to Seamus talking about his journey in
• The discussion about excellence. formative assessment.
• Cooperative feedback: children in pairs looking for
excellence and making improvements there and then.
• The beginnings and ends of lessons.
• The messages on the walls and how they are used.
• Pace and focus.
• His relationship with the children and his expectations
of them.
• How children feel in his lessons.
• Mixed ability.
• Use of adult support.
• Preparation of resources and choice of contexts
for learning.
• Seamus is passionate about children’s learning,
especially for those children who might not be in the
best circumstances – how do you know this?
155. Shirley’s observations of the lessons
1. Balanced argument
Formative Assessment General teaching
Part 1: Clarifying success criteria
• Gives overview of the day for big picture. • Arrangement of the room means he can face children
when he speaks to them individually, holding eye contact
• Reviews learning journey for a balanced argument to
and making them feel he is only listening to them.
make today’s learning clear.
• Effective questioning of individuals which makes them
have to explain fully:
What do you mean by... • Good control ‘I can see Samir’s ready’ etc.
Tell me more... • Good pace.
Give me an example...
• Refers to the growth mindset (learning culture). • Repeats what children say so everyone can hear.
• Use of 3 ways of randomly choosing who speaks:
Lollysticks. • Displays around the room are mostly concerned with
Numbers on backs of chairs. learning: at front is big display of What Makes Good – the
success criteria for the lesson.
Computer randomiser.
• Repeated use of talk partners.
• Asks children to say what their partner said, which
focuses their listening.
• ‘Track the speaker’ asks that everyone face the person
speaking at the time.
Part 2: Comparing examples to discuss excellence
• Compares excellent with not so good as a way of • Uses meaningful context of his own writing as a child.
analysing excellence.
• Returns to the success criteria repeatedly. • Use of humour.
• Makes sure he talks to the children equally. • Clicking fingers for all to say the next word –
good focusing device.
• Makes levels transparent. • Exemplary use of the interactive white board.
• ‘Can anyone develop on Alice’s point? ‘ is a respectful • ‘You told me..’ hands back responsibility to the children.
way of getting all he wants to hear.
• Gets children to summarise their learning in different • Great relationship with the children, seen in ‘Your mum’s just
ways to reinforce what excellence looks like. your mum’ moment.
• Is very specific when asking children to explain the • ‘Don’t go for the first thing –it’s going to be the most OBVIOUS’
difference ‘Show me exactly where a connective could (this mantra is repeated in most lessons).
go in this piece’.
Part 3: Comparing examples to discuss excellence
• Gets children to offer improvements on his piece to • Motivating context of commenting on the teacher’s work.
help them see how to improve their own.
162. Ghost story opening
Formative Assessment General teaching
Part 1: Question starter
• Focuses on what makes good writing beyond • Use of humour in his introduction.
technical features.
• Talk partners used for every question.
Part 2: Comparing excellent examples
• Compares 2 Level 5 openings, so that excellence can be • Use of clicks for all to join in keeps them focused.
highlighted for aspects beyond test criteria.
• Asks talk partners to say why they chose the piece so • Returns to Michel’s point - doesn’t forget him.
they need to extend their thinking.
• Underlines excellent sections of the preferred piece • Emphasises the difference between showing and telling
on the whiteboard as a model for children’s own in writing.
paired marking.
• Compares phrases from both pieces (e.g. the difference • Reinforces hands down.
between how the night is described in both) rather than
simply picking out all the best things in one opening.
• Waits several seconds for a child to think and answer –
doesn’t jump in.
Part 3: Mid-lesson learning stop
• He reminds them of the purpose and function of pink • He summarises the lesson so far to keep them clear about
and green marking: best bits and improvement points. the purpose.
• He models the marking strategy by having random • Repeat of ‘most obvious’ mantra.
children at the visualiser with the class analysing
their work.
• Seamus talks to children at the visualiser while the class
is discussing the work, so that that child gets feedback.
Part 4: Cooperative success and improvement
• Children are asked to make improvements on the spot • Seamus allows a child to start her opening again, but asks
rather than simply giving advice to be followed up later. her to keep the best bits: respects her decision.
173. Guided reading
Formative Assessment General teaching
Part 1: Revising success criteria and SPIQ
• There are success criteria for guided reading. • They revisit the SPIQ structure of guided reading
(summarise, predict, identify and question).
• Children are invited to extend and qualify the
success criteria.
• Seamus asks ‘What do you mean by?
’ To make children’s explanations even clearer.
Part 2: Vocabulary and predictions
• Use of the word ‘magpie’ to show that excellence is • Good vocab starter given jumbled meanings to join.
shared and anything good can be borrowed.
• Asks children to say what their partner said –
aids listening.
Part 3: Seamus as teacher
• Reminds children they need to be alert as they might • Clicks fingers for unison next word – keeps focus.
be asked to continue at any time.
• Control is given to children as they ask a question of • Children are encouraged not to ask a question which is
the text and can choose who answers it. ‘the most obvious’ (a repeated phrase in his lessons), so
they have to think more deeply.
• Use of talk partners. • Subtly helps Devon look up a word.
• Uses the SPIQ format to give a clear repeating structure
to the guided reading sessions.
Part 4: Pupils as teacher and reflection
• Transfer of control made possible because of the clear • Polite conduct within the group.
structure of the sessions.
• Children take over clicking or noise making.
• Children clearly enjoy being the teacher and casting
Seamus as the pupil.
184. Collage
Formative Assessment General teaching
Part 1: Recap previous lesson
• Recaps on their learning journey for making
the collage.
Part 2: Comparing examples to discuss excellence
• Compares excellent with not so good examples of • Reminds them of their definition of a collage: hands
collages to enable pupils to see what excellence looks responsibility to them, so they will be now deciding whether
like and to generate their own success criteria. their definitions are good enough.
• ‘Track the speaker’ to keep them listening.
Part 3: Pupil generation of success criteria
• Uses more than one example of excellence for them to • Emphasises and repeats the important point that
decide success criteria, to help them see what the creativity in art is key and needs to be individual – the
collages have in common and how there is more than success criteria will be only those things that make a
one way of achieving excellence. collage a collage rather than to dictate content.
• Children write their own individual success criteria. • Has another class mantra:
• He snowballs pairs into 4s to compare success criteria. ‘Do we want to be just as good as these?
No!’
• Group improvements are made on the success criteria.
‘What do we want to be?’
‘Better!
Part 4: Beginning the collage
• Tells them their timescale so they are not rushing.
• Each child has a pack of collage materials, so they will have
choice but not waste time: well prepared.
Part 5: Mid-lesson learning stop
• Has random children sharing their work at the visualiser • Seamus corrects the child who says ‘sticked’ by repeating her
and in pairs. By stopping they will be able to be inspired sentence but using the word ‘stuck’ in its place. Good
by others and think about improving their collage as EAL support.
they go.
Part 6: Improvement suggestions
• Post –it note technique to get children to summarise • Meaningful context of giving suggestions to the
their understanding of the success criteria. teacher’s collage.
• Post-it notes are already stuck on their tables ready for
them to write so no time is wasted.
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