Feedback and Formative Assessment

'Professor John Hattie found that Feedback has more effect on achievement than any other factor. Professors Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam of Kings College London spent four years studying and reviewing research into feedback which is closely linked to 'formative assessment'. They concluded in agreement with Professor Hattie that formative assessment has a huge effect on learning quality. It has been found to add the equivalent of two grades to students' achievement if done very well.'

Extract from Teaching Today, Geoff Petty


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Location:College St,Winchester,United Kingdom

Applying differentiation

Differentiation can applied to both to the curriculum and the learner:

CURRICULUM
There are three areas of curriculum that can be differentiated(CPP):
- Content
- Process
- Product

Content:
Content is what the teacher plans for learners to understand and the ways the learner will gain access to the necessary knowledge and skills.
To differentiate content the teacher can:

1) provide multiple resources at differing levels
2) mediate one text on multiple levels e.g.
3) use a variety from different sources to address the VAK learning styles

Process:
Process refers to the activities students engage in in order to gain an understanding of the subject or learn a new skill.
To differentiate according to purpose, teachers can:

1) vary the amount of support given to students
2) give learners choices about how they express what they learn
3) provide varied assignment options at differing levels of difficulty
4) tailor assignments to learners own interests.

Product:
The product is the end result, the output learners create to demonstrate what they have learnt. Teachers can differentiate according to product by:

1) providing a grid showing how assignments will be assessed
2) vary the types of resources learners can use in preparing products.
3) allow students to design their products based around set goals.
4) allow students to express what they know in varied ways.

LEARNER
These are the three learner characteristics teachers can take into account when planning to differentiate

- Readiness
- Interest
- Learning Profile

Readiness:
Refers to the prior understanding and preparedness learners have at the start of study, what learners bring to the classroom. Students require different levels of difficulty. Teachers can:

1) make the task more or less familiar (add or remove information or resources)
2) add or remove peer conferencing, instruction and models for the task
3) add 'good and even better if . . ' comments to feedback

Interest:
Interests refer to students 'taste buds'. teachers can align topics with the pursuits that satisfy the learner. Taechers can:

1) provide wide variety of choices of topics and products
2) provide a variety of avenues for learner exploration of a topic
3) Allow learner-designed options.

Learning Profile:
All students, no matter how they are grouped, have their own uinique interests, abilities, styles and levels of readiness. Gardner's theory dilineates the following categories of student bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, Verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, naturalistic, visual-spacial and musical! Teachers can:

1) provide a choice of space for activities
2) present info in a variety of ways (video, handout, lecture, peer-to-peer talks)
3) provide learning opportunities in various modes (musical, visual, movement etc)

Source: www.jamesguilford.com

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The Differentiated Classroom

DfES identifies three aspects of differentiation:

• by task: setting different tasks for pupils of different ability
• by outcome: setting open-ended tasks, allowing pupil response at different levels,
• by support: giving more help (perhaps via an LSA) to certain pupils within the group.

I prefer this definition by Carol Tomlinson:

A differentiated classroom provides different avenues so that students have multiple options for:

• acquiring content - taking in information,
• processing or making sense of ideas, and
• expressing what they learn through developing products

Specifically, differentiated instruction is:

• active teaching and learning (creating a product, reviewing and feedback)
  
• more qualitative than quantitative
• aimed at offering multiple approaches to content, process, and product
• student-centered (building on existing constructs)
  

A blend of whole-class, group, and individual instruction

Teachers in differentiated classrooms begin with a clear and solid sense of what constitutes powerful curriculum and engaging instruction. Then they ask what it will take to modify that instruction so that each learner comes away with understandings and skills offering guidance in the next phase of learning.

Essentially, teachers in differentiated classrooms accept, embrace, and plan for the fact that learners bring many commonalities to college, but that they also bring the essential differences that make them individuals. Teachers can allow for this reality in many ways to make classrooms a good fit for each individual.

Source: Adapted from The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners, by C. Tomlinson, 1999, Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.