Twilight CPD18.10.16

Assessment of LearningDeborah Plowright and

Ben Howard

Checking for UnderstandingI have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other

great artists. John Steinbeck 1955

Checking for Understanding

The bread and butter

of great teaching.

What methods do you already use?

Individually, think about how you already check for understanding in lessons.

Write one method on each piece of card; complete as many cards as you can.

Have 3 minutes do this!

Share your methods in your groupYou will have thought of a range of methods.Please sort them into two groups.1. Those requiring a degree of teacher planning

and preparation.2. Those requiring minimal or no preparation.

The good news!

Many effective techniques for checking understanding, require minimal preparation.

We will look at more of these techniques in a while.

The Big Picture

How can learning move on unless we know what

students already understand?

Identify key points to check understanding in Schemes of Learning.

The Research Graham Nuthall ( The Hidden Lives of Learners)Effective teaching is when ‘students learn what you intend them to learn’,Doug Lemov (Teach Like a Champion)‘the most salient characteristic of a great teacher is her ability to recognise the difference between “I taught it” and “they learned it.”’ Andy Griffith and Mark Burns (Teaching Backwards)Are you like Columbo or Clouseau when questioning students? i.e. Are you a great questioner that is hard to fool? Or do you question ineffectively and are easily fooled into thinking that your students have learned what we wanted them to?

Thinking again about our own practice

Look at the list of possible activities for checking understanding.Please fill in those you use or have used. Include an example of where it can be used in your subject and identify those you may want to find out

more about.

• Stoplight Method

• Twitter Exit Tickets

• Teacher Toolkit

Practical Tips and ideas

Limits of ‘thumbs up’• We will all be aware of using the ‘thumbs up’ technique?

• What are its limits?• On a mini-whiteboard, explain why one of the other activities from

the list (or one of your own) is better than using ‘thumbs up.’

• Stand up, identify someone you have not talked to yet today, and share your thoughts. Move around again.

Share with the whole group

Further advice and techniques• Look again, or for the first time, at the

teaching and learning bulletin from October 2015.

What three things will you try in the next week to improve the way you check for students’ understanding?