Comment-only marking

Leader’s agenda

1. Start

   1Introduction

   5 min

   1. a.
      Make sure lesson observation partners are sitting next to each other.
   2. b.
      Hand out the agenda.
   3. c.
      Share the learning intentions of this workshop. We are learning to:

      • share successes and failures, and support each other
      • give students comments that will move their learning forward
2. +5′

   2Starter activity

   5 min

   1. a.
      Ask each teacher to think of something that happened in a lesson this year that made them smile. Each teacher has a maximum of 30 seconds to tell the group what it is, and no one can ‘pass’.
   2. b.
      Use the stopwatch to keep time, and choose respondents at random (e.g. name cards). Everyone must be involved in this activity.
   3. c.
      When it is not their turn, the teachers’ role is active listening.
3. +10′

   3Feedback

   25 min

   1. a.
      Ask everyone to open their personal action plan. Explain that each teacher sends you a copy of their plan (“Copy my plan”, on their device) so you have a record of what they said they would do between sessions and can follow up next session.
   2. b.
      Ask each teacher to write about a technique they have tried since the last workshop and complete the first section of the plan (two minutes). It helps to have their personal action plan from the last meeting to hand.
   3. c.
      Choose someone to be the challenger and give them the role of the challenger sheet. During the feedback, the challenger’s role is to challenge the feedback each teacher brings, getting everyone to think about formative assessment with questions like:

      • What’s formative about that?
      • What did you do with the information you collected?
      • How did this alter your teaching?
      • How did this benefit student learning?
   4. d.
      Give each person two minutes to share with the group, choosing teachers to feed back at random (e.g. name cards). As each teacher feeds back, the others actively listen, then discuss the points raised if there is time. Everyone must be involved in this activity.
4. +35′

   4Comment-only marking

   20 min

   1. a.
      Explain that we are going to look at how we can improve our feedback to students through the comments we write on their work. Remember that the research evidence shows that if we put a mark or a grade on work as well as a comment, students take little notice of the comment.
   2. b.
      Distribute handout 2.5.1 (Comment-only marking) and read through the first section, emphasising the five bullet points.
   3. c.
      In threes, teachers talk about which comments they believe are most helpful for students and why, and which are least helpful and why. Then each trio writes a comment that they regard as helpful. They have ten minutes for this before a whole-group discussion.
   4. d.
      After ten minutes, bring the whole group together and discuss the comments each trio has suggested as helpful. Point out that it is easy to criticise others’ comments, but not always easy to write helpful comments for students.
5. +55′

   5Personal action planning

   15 min

   1. a.
      Using their personal action plan, each teacher chooses one or two techniques they are going to use during the next month, and what they will do less of (teachers will need pushing on this).
   2. b.
      Pair-share: each teacher spends two minutes sharing their plan with their partner, then they swap.
   3. c.
      Give out the peer lesson observation sheet for the teacher and the observer to use. Both keep a copy as evidence for performance management – there will be no centrally held copies.
   4. d.
      If necessary, explain the peer lesson observation sheet with an example like this:

      • The focus is the technique I plan to use in the lesson, and I can ask my observer to collect up to three types of evidence. For example, if I am trying to improve peer assessment, I may want the observer to note whether all students are clear about the success criteria, whether students are working cooperatively in pairs or groups, and whether students make progress because of the feedback they receive from their peers.
   5. e.
      Ask pairs to arrange when the peer observations will take place (they can be for a whole lesson, or just 20 minutes at the start, middle or end of a lesson). Ideally teachers will by now have peer observed up to four lessons and had four peer observations themselves, giving them up to eight pieces of evidence of cooperative work, and maybe coaching.
   6. f.
      Choose two or three teachers at random (e.g. name cards) to share with the group what their partner is planning.

   Your school’s technique menu: choose one or two

   Teachers tick theirs in their own action plan, on their device, and copy it to you before they leave.

   • Strengths and weaknesses discussion
   • Model papers
   • Choose-swap-choose
   • WALT, WILF, TIB

   What each technique looks like in class
6. +70′

   6Summary of learning

   5 min

   1. a.
      Ask everyone to name something that someone else said in the workshop that they found interesting or useful.
   2. b.
      Choose teachers at random (e.g. name cards).