***ASSESSMENT***

Thread 🧵

Assessment is the bridge between teaching and learning. When effective it provides rich information to determine how much and how well students have learnt the intended curriculum.

In classrooms, assessment is an integral part of teaching. All interactions with students during a lesson are a potential opportunity to gather information to monitor students success against the intended curriculum aims.

What are we doing Longdendale High School?

/1 The first step is to establish what are the core principles to assessment. We define each principle, outline why it’s important and model how this looks in the classroom. We create a shared common language for clarity and consistency.

/2

Reflecting on 7 months of Headship

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‘You don’t know what it’s like until you’re sat in the chair’

A few people told me this leading up to starting my first headship and it’s so true.

I read all the books, talked to experienced Heads and was completing the NPQH but nothing really prepares you for when you’re sat in the chair.

Jim Smith’s recent post on LinkedIn got my thinking about the importance of holding the line and my first 6 months as a Headteacher.

‘Leadership isn’t just about setting a vision, it’s about standing firm when it matters most.’

Laying the foundations for a culture shift in a school is only the beginning. You can have a really clear vision but without the buy in it becomes nothing more than words on paper.

I left school last night after another brilliant week and proud of what staff and students have achieved so far.

So, what have I done with the team to move beyond the paper?

/1 I knew it was important to get to know the school community.

I met with every member of staff in the summer term to understand Longdendale from their perspective.

I quickly picked up common threads from all staff and students which provided a focus for change.

I wanted everyone to feel listened to and involved in the next step of the journey.

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***CATCH UP PROCESS***

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A few people have asked me about our catch up process to support students when they return from a period of absence. This is how we approach it…

The first step is through our morning routine supported by tutors who are provided with attendance data from the previous week.

This happens on a Thursday for years 7-8 and a Friday for years 9-10.

If a student has been absent during that week the tutor will issue a return to school form and a catch up form.

The return to school form is completed by the student and they return it to a box in reception.

1/2 Our attendance team check the return to school forms and flag any concerns to our pastoral and safeguarding team.

***CODIFYING FEEDBACK***

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What are we @LHS_HighSchool doing to codify feedback and create opportunities for students to feedforward?

All too often feedback doesn’t create opportunities for students to feedforward and allow application to different contexts from across the curriculum. It ends up looking at isolated components / composites creating a disconnect between what has been learnt and the extent to which students are successful with applying knowledge.

How are creating clarity and consistency across subjects when students are demonstrating their proficiency in applying knowledge to the subject disciplines?

How do we create opportunities for students to respond and act on the feedback?

@mel_mwicks @MissCole279

Read below 👇 STEP 1

Curriculum development time is important to provide opportunities for subject experts to decide what powerful knowledge to assess at different points in the curriculum.

After deciding what to assess we need to decide what success looks like through clear success criteria.

Our Mastery Application Tasks have the same structure to their success criteria within a subject so that students become familiar with how to be successful within the discipline they are studying. This also means that the curriculum becomes the progression model.

Here’s an example from English.

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***TEACHING AND LEARNING***

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To improve the use of teaching and learning techniques in the classroom we need to define them “this is how we do it here” and make it common practice across the school.

When implementing T&L techniques their success relies on this clarity and creating opportunities for teachers to deliberately practice.

What have we done @LHS_HighSchool?

STEP 1

We have identified 10 core T&L techniques.

/1 STEP 2

Once we had established our core techniques we created our T&L
handbook to create clarity and support implementation.

Our techniques are a combination of @Doug_Lemov TLAC and @teacherhead @olicav @WALKTHRUs_5 techniques.

We have defined the

What?
Why?
When?
How?

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***SCAFFOLDING***

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Teaching is a complex activity with lots of factors interrupting learning.

Scaffolding is a strategy that allows teachers to be responsive during lessons to support students to move towards the same end goal.

The route each students takes can look different.

1/ The challenge is to decide which scaffolding tool to use with a student at the right time.

There are lots of different scaffolding tools we can use in our classrooms to support students. These will range from low level to high level.

2/

***ASSESSMENT***

Assessment is the bridge between teaching and learning. When effective it provides rich information to determine how much and how well students have learnt the intended curriculum.

In classrooms, assessment is an integral part of teaching. All interactions with students during a lesson are a potential opportunity to gather information to monitor students success against the intended curriculum aims.

What are we working on @LHS_HighSchool ?

Thread

/1 The first step is to establish what are the core principles to assessment. We define each principle, outline why it’s important and model how this looks in the classroom. We create a shared common language for clarity and consistency.

/2

***SCHOOL VALUES***

Thread 🧵

“Culture is taught not caught”

All schools have a set of values and in most cases the values are on shiny posters, websites and in policies.

When schools are values driven they are “lived not laminated”
@MaryMyatt

School values provide the foundation to help build a strong culture.

But, how can schools achieve this?

A value can be defined as something that is important. In schools we see lots of values like -

Respect
Resilience
Aspiration

1/2 When we have our school values we need to define them and use a common definition. Share this definition with all stakeholders and talk about them using this common language consistently.

/2

***NORMALISING ERROR***

Asking questions is an integral part of our classrooms. They provide rich information on what students know and are an important teaching principle to creating the springboard for responsive teaching.

However, when we ask questions not all students want to respond.

A LAG develops.

1/ There are many reasons why this lag might develop between asking and getting a response.

- Fear of failure
- Peer pressure
- Misinterpreting the question
- Not paying attention

2/

***WHOLE CLASS FEEDBACK***

Thread 🧵

Feedback is the shining light for students to know how well they have learnt knowledge taught and applied it to different contexts.

When feedback is too vague (loose), overwhelming or not directly linked to learning intentions it becomes blurry.

1/2 Feedback is most effective when it is hooked onto knowledge taught. This is where success criteria can be helpful to sharpen the lens on how successful the student was against the learning intentions.

Here’s an example -

SC1: The correct sequence of waterfall formation
SC2: The named processes that cause the formation
SC3: How the processes cause the formation

2/

***❔DESIGNING QUESTIONS❔***

Thread 🧵

Teachers are known as ‘professional question askers’. Over the course of a career, teachers may ask over a million questions, ranging from lower-order to higher-order questions.

But, how much time is spent considering the design of the questions asked in our classrooms.

Let’s consider how we can take time to think about the:

ARCHITECTURE
SCOPE
ASSUMPTION

1/2 1. ARCHITECTURE

Vogt said that the architecture of a question refers to its aim. Is the question aimed to generate low or higher order thinking?

When we teach students new knowledge we want to check prior knowledge and might start with a low order thinking question.

***FEEDBACK TO FEEDFORWARD***

Thread 🧵 @SFL2326

@coopbellevue we have been working on implementing our principle approach to feedback to illuminate success and light the path for our students to feedforward.

@amyc_history and the history team have been looking at how to implement this in their classrooms.

/1




As a team we consider how to implement this principle with our core components. This has driven our approach to the endeavour reports.

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***WHOLE CLASS FEEDBACK***

Thread 🧵 #2

Feedback is the shining light for students to know how well they have learnt knowledge taught and applied it to different contexts.

When feedback is too vague (loose), overwhelming or not directly linked to learning intentions it becomes blurry.

1/
Feedback is most effective when it is hooked onto knowledge taught. This is where success criteria can be helpful to sharpen the lens on how successful the student was against the learning intentions.

Here’s an example -

SC1: Knowledge of reasons for or against the World Cup
SC2: Explanation
SC3: Supporting evidence
SC4: Conclusion

2/

***WHOLE CLASS FEEDBACK***

Thread 🧵 #2

Feedback is the shining light for students to know how well they have learnt knowledge taught and applied it to different contexts.

When feedback is too vague (loose), overwhelming or not directly linked to learning intentions it… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Feedback is most effective when it is hooked onto knowledge taught. This is where success criteria can be helpful to sharpen the lens on how successful the student was against the learning intentions.

Here’s an example -

SC1: Knowledge of reasons for or against the World Cup… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

***KNOWLEDGE CHECKERS***

A thread 🧵

Over the last 3 years @KingsWoolston we have created knowledge checkers for our curriculum. A bespoke set of chunked knowledge organisers to provide students’ with the opportunity to review and reflect on knowledge taught.

1/ Each knowledge checker corresponds with a core component of our curriculum to guide students to the correct place for reviewing and reflecting.

How do students use them in and outside of lessons I hear you ask?

Read on…

2/

***SCAFFOLDING***

Thread 🧵

Teaching is a complex activity with lots of factors interrupting learning.

Scaffolding is a strategy that allows teachers to be responsive during lessons to support students to move towards the same end goal.

The route each students takes can look… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… The challenge is to decide which scaffolding tool to use with a student at the right time.

There are lots of different scaffolding tools we can use in our classrooms to support students. These will range from low level to high level.

2/

***STRONG START***

Thread 🧵

The start of a lesson should be purposeful and activate hard thinking as well as establishing a calm and orderly routine.

A quick quiz is a useful way to do this but this is most effective when it’s strategic and not random questions.

1/ Teacher greets as students enter and someone has leadership responsibility to hand out books for the lesson. Students make sure their equipment is out so they are ready for learning. After this, they get on with answering the questions.

2/

***WHOLE CLASS FEEDBACK***

Thread 🧵

All too often feedback doesn’t create opportunities for pupils to feedforward and allow application to different contexts from across the curriculum. It ends up looking at isolated components / composites creating a 1/ disconnect between what has been learnt and the success of pupils applying that knowledge.

In this example, pupils applied knowledge to a question. Then given the opportunity to read their feedback and review success against the initial criteria.

2/