“Assessment is the single most powerful influence on learning” (Boud, Cohen & Sampson, 1999, p.413).

All assessment impacts on children’s’ learning however, our recent seminar focused on formative assessment. Formative assessment can be defined as a cyclical process in which teachers share responsibility with their students about their learning. This can be carried out through various assessment strategies including sharing learning goals, effective questioning, self and peer evaluation and valuable feedback.  From these four key assessment strategies the teacher can modify their teaching to enrich their pupils’ learning. Therefore, formative assessment creates an environment for in-depth thinking rather than rote learning. (Clark, 2005,p.5; Heritage, 2010, p.7; Cowie and Bell, 1998,p.1; Black and Wiliam, 1998).

(The cycle of assessment)

Although, as mentioned above, all forms of formative assessment are valuable, due to my KS2 experiences on placement, this blog will consider self and peer assessment and evaluate the potential challenges within these forms of assessment.

I witnessed a range of self-assessment strategies from thumbs up or thumbs down, pupils traffic lighting their work, to children writing a comment about their learning in a purple pen. Self-assessment inevitably allows a pupil to consider their progress in relation to their learning objectives (Black and Wiliam, 1998, p.6). However, one challenge I noticed was when pupils were traffic lighting or writing a comment about their work they focused on the complexities of the task rather than the intended learning outcome. Hence, their self- assessment became a rather futile exercise (Black and Wiliam, 1998, p.6; Clark, 2005, p.114). This may have been due to my lack of reminding them or because of the way the learning objective was delivered. My school operated a whole-school system of children writing a “Can I” statement in their books as the lesson’s learning intention. Although, this was effective in highlighting the learning objective, it could also be seen as a repetitive and tedious exercise. Whereas, in hindsight, they could have generated their own success criteria, for example, by looking at their next steps or evaluating a well-written model of text and discovering the features (Clark, 2005, p.9). Furthermore, as discussed in our recent seminar the learning intention could have been delivered in different parts of the lesson rather than at the start and the plenary. This, in turn, should aid pupil’s self-assessment because they are constantly referring back to the learning objectives rather than just focussing on the difficulties of the task.

This issue overlapped into peer assessment, where pupils made general comments on their peer’s work rather than relating comments to the learning intention. The main form of peer assessment I witnessed was verbal. Frequently, a child would read aloud a piece of work and the class commented with praise or constructive input.  Considering, Vygotsky and other social constructivists argue that learning is ingrained and expanded on through peer interaction, peer assessment is vital in the classroom (Shepard, 2000). However, peer assessment has to be carefully managed so that pupils do not see this process as humiliating or punishing. Hence, a learning environment has to be created where all pupils’ opinions are valued and peer feedback is seen as insightful rather than critical (Shepard, 2000; Clark, 2005, p.114). This takes careful consideration and class management by the teacher. My class teacher used to reward constructive feedback and ask the original pupil if they agreed with their peer’s evaluation. In my own teaching practice, I aim to develop an insightful culture to ensure my pupils can effectively learn from each other.

Therefore, in my future practice, to ensure self and peer assessment are valuable I need to enable children to understand the learning intention by delivering it in inventive ways so peer and self-assessment are against criteria rather than random exercise. Furthermore, my classroom culture should encourage feedback through praise and suggested improvements over harsh criticality.

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References

Boud, D., Cohen, R. and Sampson, J. (1999) Peer learning and assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 24(4), pp.413-426.

Clarke, S. (2005) Chapter 1 in formative assessment in Action: Weaving the Elements Together. London: Routledge.

Heritage, M. (2010) Formative assessment: making it happen in the classroom, London: SAGE.

The aim of my computing lesson, delivered to thirty Year 5 children, was to create a simple algorithm for an unplugged activity. The lesson was linked to the KS2 computing national curriculum which states that children should understand simple algorithms using logical reasoning. The lesson revolved around Scratch as the previous assessment of the children showed although they were familiar with the commands their sequencing was often not achieving the required outcome. Their main task was to write down the commands of how the Sprite would move across the island (shown below). However, they were given laminated copies of the map so they could physically move the laminated Sprite to understand exactly what their commands meant.

The pupils’ learning was supported by a whole class demonstration were we pretended the classroom was the island and the class had to move a volunteer to the correct places by choosing the correct Scratch blocks. This gave them a clear visual input of exactly what each command did hence increasing their repertoire of commands whilst demonstrating exactly how precise their commands needed to. Both are essential in understanding how to code and program (Turvey, Potter and Burton, 2016).

In addition, the pupils’ learning was supported by working collaboratively in pairs. Vygotsky argued the construction of knowledge depends on social interaction and a pupil’s ‘zone of proximal development’ can be aided by problem-solving with capable peers. Moreover, by discussing ideas, being challenged and voicing opinion an authentic learning experience was created. (John and Wheeler, 2008, pp.39-40; Cernochova, 2015, p.72). This, in turn, should deepen pupil’s logical reasoning because they have to explain exactly why their algorithm would work to their partner.

In hindsight, the lesson should have included technical language. Turvey, Potter, Burton in their book state the recent National Curriculum contains specialist language specific to computer science such as algorithms, sequencing, debugging and many more  (2016, p.116).  However, although the children understood they were creating a sequence they had never heard of the word algorithm or debugging. Therefore, I believe I should have used and explained these specific terms for the children to gain a better understanding of the language in computing.

Another aspect of the lesson I would have altered is at the end we carried out peer feedback but this lost the pupil’s attention as by this point the majority of the class understood sequencing. However, if I showed them problems in a sequence and they had to solve them this would have expanded their computational thinking into debugging. Furthermore, Berry’s 2013 guide mentions using selection which refers to instructions depending on certain conditions being met. Furthermore, repetition with instructions repeating on a loop. For the higher ability children in the class, the sequencing task was too easy and they understood the precise nature of the commands with ease. Therefore, an extra unplugged input of repetition and selection would have expanded their learning. For example, a pedestrian crossing problem if it is safe they can cross the road but if not it repeats back to the start (Turvey, Potter and Burton, 2016, p.120). This would have expanded the higher abilities logical reasoning in this lesson.

In spite of the adaptations I would make to this lesson in the future it did increase the children’s familiarity with scratch commands and taught them the precise nature of an algorithm. Therefore, in the next lesson when they used Scratch to create a story about their sprites they were able to create more complex commands and explain exactly what their sprite would do before pressing on the start button.

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References

Turvey, K.,  Potter, J.,  Burton, J. (2016) Primary Computing and Digital Technologies: Knowledge Understanding and Practice (7th Ed.), London: Sage.

Cernochova, M. (2015) “Philosophy and Computing”, In Willaims, L. (Ed). Introducing Computing: A guide for teacher. New York: Routledge.

John, D., Wheeler, S. (2008) The Digital Literacy Classroom: Harnessing Technology For the Future. New York: Routledge

How many times have you heard an adult claim “oh it’s because they’re kids” or “they’re just kids”? When observing children it is evident that children behave differently to adults but, Goswami argues children do reason like adults but they lack metacognition skills. From my observations I have seen teachers ask children to reflect on their thinking whether this is traffic lighting their work, asking them to explain their thinking to the class or asking why they think that. For example, in a computing lesson, using the motivating computing programme Scratch involving child-led creation, the teacher asked the children to explain what their sprites (characters) would do before showing the rest of the class. Therefore, the children had to understand what they had created, how it was going to work and their thought processes behind their creation. The National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs and the National Scientific council on the Developing Child in one of their papers claim children considering how they think enables cognitive flexibility. Cognitive flexibility allows us to apply different rules in various settings, ‘think outside the box’ and consider things from a multiple of perspectives. Having these abilities results in children being more likely to succeed in school. Therefore, in my teaching practice, I need to ensure children use self-reflective practices from traffic lighting their work, asking “why they think a certain way” and other techniques. This in turn, should begin to allow children to gain metacognition skills and be more effective in their work. However, this may be a struggle due to time pressures in the curriculum hence it has to be carefully considered in my planning (Larkin, 2009).

In addition, to children lacking metacognition skills Goswami states an important argument in education is whether a child’s brain has the same structures of an adult brain and hence need enrichment and multi-sensory environments. Before, studies (Felder and Silverman, 1988) have focused on a uni–sensory approach defining people into visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learners (VAK). However, how can a child learn to ride a bicycle just through audible learning? Goswami argues against this model, stating teachers need to actively encourage multi-sensory environments because learning depends on different regions of the brain being stimulated from visual, memory, perceptual and many more. This is supported by various academics from Sham and Seitz’s research, Blomer & Froyen’s research and others. I have observed this change in paradigm in the classroom. For example, in a Math’s lesson number symbols are used alongside resources, real-life examples, videos and games to ensure children’s understanding from a multi-sensory approach. In a National College for Teaching and Leadership report of one school exploring a multi-sensory approach in maths in Year 4 with a 12-week Numicon project. They found children’s confidence improved significantly in maths.

However, this is a very small-scale study in one school and therefore is not generalizable. In spite of this, I have observed children’s understanding of a concept become clearer if they use resources such as numicon or comparing the maths to a real life example or practicing their timetables in a partner game. Furthermore, with the other research stated above multi-sensory learning environments should be aimed for in the classroom.

In conclusion, I aim to include time for children to self-reflect to improve their metacognition skills and to have a multi-sensory classroom environment to ensure effective learning is achieved.

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References:

Felder, R.M. and Silverman, L.K., (1988) Learning and teaching styles in engineering education. Engineering education, 78(7), pp.674-681.

In 2014, Ofsted stated low –level disruption in the classroom was deeply worrying and having a detrimental impact on pupils learning.  Pupils’ negative behaviours are often spoken about in the press and effective behaviour management is crucial in every school. Therefore, as a trainee teacher, it would be impossible not to know that effective behaviour management is a fundamental skill but, acquiring it is still daunting. This blog will discuss three behaviour strategies I have observed and want to implement in my own classroom.

The recent lecture by Pivotal Education was inspiring and reassuring. I have seen many of the techniques discussed being implemented by my class teacher. One main example is differentiating behaviour management. There are two boys in my class with very complex needs and they need different approaches in handling their behaviour than the rest of the class. Child X often sings and talks creating background noise whilst the teacher is talking. The teacher deals with this behaviour mainly by ignoring it otherwise, it escalates. Furthermore, by engaging with the behaviour humorously or by involving the child directly into the activity Child X will often calm down.  In comparison, if a child without these complex needs were carrying out similar levels of disruption they would be sanctioned. This is not to say, Child X is never sanctioned but the behaviour displayed to warrant a sanction would be considerably different in comparison to maybe a quieter child. Therefore, I need to know the needs of the children in my class and exactly how to respond to reduce the risk of poor behaviour escalating (Southhall, 2015, p.143).

However, if the focus was always on negative behaviour than positive behaviour would rarely be acknowledged. I have observed my teacher effectively awarding children for good behaviour and instilling them with a sense of pride. This may be awarding them a house point, verbal praise or giving them a flamingo cushion. In my school, they have a “have a go Flamingo” and “a give up pup” to encourage children to have a growth mindset. This is essential as if a student believes their abilities are fixed and unchanging when faced with a challenging situation they can exhibit helpless behaviours (Schober, 2001). Furthermore, the children are required to complete exceptional work to earn the flamingo cushion. This incentive, although related to a pupil’s work, is implicitly linked to behaviour.  This is because the Children who are not focused on the task or unwilling to try because they believe their ability is unchangeable are in turn more likely to exhibit negative behaviours and are unlikely to produce quality work. Therefore, this incentive encourages pupils to adopt positive behaviours in the classroom and ensures these behaviours are not taken for granted (Southhall, 2015, p.145).

My class teacher has a very calm, kind but assertive manner hence the children respect her. This was emphasised in the lecture by saying we should not be too aggressive or passive as teachers. Rogers (2015, p.57) stated that confidence is crucial when a teacher communicates to a group of pupils especially whilst integrating rules and routines in the classroom. I believe gaining this manner will be very challenging as a trainee teacher because I may be unsure about the curriculum, inexperienced in dealing with unexpected questions and scared about my delivery of a lesson. However, if feeling panicky, stressed or angry then it is unlikely that I would be able to diffuse the situation hence the negative behaviour would escalate (Southhall, 2015, p.148) Therefore, it will take a conscious effort to display calm body language and confidence when I probably will be feeling the complete opposite.

Overall, I have been unable to discuss the full complexities of behaviour management. However, I have picked three key issues I believe are essential for effective behaviour management. I hope as a teacher I can differentiate between behaviour, acknowledge positive behaviour and remain calm in challenging situations.

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References

Rogers, B. (2015) Classroom behaviour: a practical guide to effective teaching, behaviour management and colleague support.(Fourth ed.). London: Sage.

Southall, E. (2015) “Behaviour Strategies in Challenging Classrooms”, In Denby, N. (Ed). Training to Teach: A Guide for Students. London: Sage.

Safeguarding’ and ‘Wellbeing’ are not new concepts in schools but I have certainly not entered one without hearing these essential educational buzzwords. Key government policies from The Children’s Act 1989, Every Child Matters 2004, Keeping Children Safe in Education 2016 to individual school policies help inform teachers how to promote pupil’s safeguarding and wellbeing but that does not mean there are not significant challenges whilst doing this.

On reflection from my course’s lecture on safeguarding a key challenge for teachers or trainee teachers, like myself, is E-Safety. K.Turvey J. Potter and J. Burton’s recent book stated that the internet is a creative and useful space for children but it poses constantly changing risks ranging from cyber-bullying to pro-anorexia sites. Childnet reduces these types of issues children may encounter online into four categories: conduct, contact, content and commercialism. Conduct relates to how children need to know who can view their personal information and how to keep it safe. Contact highlights the importance of children knowing people on the internet may not be who they say they are. Some internet content can be inappropriate and harmful to children, therefore, children need guidance on how to search online. Commercialisms refers to marketing campaigns that target children so they can inadvertently spend money online. When looking at this safeguarding issue it seems daunting to me, as a trainee teacher, to know how to protect children online without banning it as a resource completely. However, the KS1 and KS2 curriculum both mention using the internet safely as a key aim. There are key strategies to enforce this including schools having an E-safety policy and a clear reporting system of harmful sites and any incidences. Furthermore, a culture which encourages children to report anything they may have found unsettling on the internet is essential and something I hope to strive for in my classroom. Using child-friendly-sites such as askkids.com and teaching advanced search techniques helps eliminate this risk but having a culture where internet safety is talked about openly is essential for protecting children online (Turvey, Potter and Burton, 2016).

On completing a recommended safeguarding course an issue I, a trainee teacher, had not considered is Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). However, on reading the government’s FGM resource pack I found these statistics shocking “60,000 girls aged 0-14 were born in England and Wales to mothers who have undergone FGM. 10,000 girls aged under 15 have migrated to England have undergone FGM and FGM can be practised at any age but the majority of cases are 5-8-year-olds”. In spite of these statistics and FGM being a serious crime, it is still very difficult to safeguard girls at risk of FGM because the families involved may give no other cause for concern. The main strategy promoted by the government for safeguarding children against FGM is raising its awareness. People involved with children need to be taught the warning signs which range from a girl being withdrawn from PSHE to referring to a ‘special procedure’ to ‘become a woman’. Furthermore, indicators a girl has experienced FGM can range from problems walking, sitting and standing to bladder and menstrual problems( See a more detailed list here). It is reassuring that charities such as the Manor Gardens Health Advocacy are working with schools and the community to reduce FGM. One charity called FORWARD worked with 677 primary school students last year with age-appropriate and culturally sensitive material to educate them about FGM. I have confidence that throughout my teaching profession I will remain aware of this issue and support charities such as Manor Gardens Health Advocacy and Forward.

I hope that this has shed some light on two safeguarding and wellbeing issues I had not previously considered when entering primary schools.

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My name is Amy Giles and I have just started my Primary PGCE at the University of Brighton. I am apprehensive but exhilarated by the prospect of the coming year. This blog will share some of my insights into contemporary issues in education whilst I am undertaking my teacher training.