Activity 1

Report and reflect on the assessment lesson

Take it in turns to share stories of the assessment strategies you used in your lessons. The sample work you have brought along will be discussed in Activity 3, below.

• How did you collect and assess evidence of pupils' use of the Key Processes?
• What did you learn from this evidence?
• What did pupils learn from the follow-up lesson?
• What are the implications for you mathematics teaching more generally?

Activity 2

Consider the effects of feedback on pupils' learning

In this activity we will consider the use pupils make of different types of feedback and the impact this has on their learning.

Watch the video of Andrew's pupils as they discuss the impact of assessment feedback on their learning.

• Which of their comments strike you as particularly perceptive and important?
• What are the implications of their comments?

Compare their comments with the research quotes given on Handout 5.

• What are the implications of these findings for your own practice?
• What would happen if you stopped giving marks or levels on pupils' work? Why are so many teachers resistant to making this change?
• What are the implications of giving qualitative feedback that "concentrates on specific problems with their work, and gives them both a clear understanding of what is wrong and achievable targets for putting it right"?
• Does this kind of feedback necessarily take much longer to give?

Activity 3

Using the 'Progression Steps' to assess learning

Look at Handout 6. For each task, we have provided progression steps that provide a framework for assessing pupils' use of the Key Processes. When solving a problem, the four processes are interrelated and need not be considered separately, but the framework approach is useful in helping us see how each process is embodied in the task.

• Try using the progression steps to assess your own pupils' work.
• How else might you use this framework to develop your pupils' understanding of the Key Processes?

If you have been unable to collect this work, then you may like to use the sample work provided in Handout 2 for this activity.

Activity 4

Discuss the use of periodic reviews in planning

Day-to-day assessment provides a wide range of evidence of learning, in specific contexts, which shapes immediate next steps.

Periodic review of this evidence gives a clear profile of pupils' achievement across a whole subject and informs and shapes future planning and targets for improvement.

(DCSF, 2008, p. 6)

• Consider how you might incorporate the Bowland assessment tasks into your normal scheme of work.
• How will you periodically collect evidence of your pupils' progress?
• How will you use this evidence to inform future planning and target setting?

Activity 5

Plan assessment strategies for future lessons

Conclude this module by discussing some ways of applying what you have learned in this PD module to the other mathematics lessons that you teach.

• How could you involve pupils in improving your assessment practices?

Assessment should go beyond the teacher giving guidance and feedback. It should be two-way. The final video clip shows the end of Amy's lesson in which she asks pupils to tell her the kinds of feedback that they have found most helpful.