Post on 26-Dec-2015
Presenter: Dylan Wiliam
Embedding Formative Assessment: Practical Techniques for K – 12 Classrooms
“Nothing has promised so much and has been so frustratingly wasteful as the thousands of workshops and conferences that led to no significant change in practice when teachers returned to their classrooms.”
Fullan and Stiegelbauer, 1991
A model for teacher learning
• Content, then process• Content (what we want teachers to change):– Evidence– Ideas (strategies and techniques)
• Process (how to go about change):– Choice– Flexibility– Small steps– Accountability– Support
Practical Techniques
Content: What we want teachers to change
Where the learner is going
Where the learneris now
How to get the learner there
Teacher
Peer
Student
Practical Techniques for Embedding Formative Assessment
Clarifying, sharing, and
understanding learning
intentions
Engineering effective discussions, tasks, and activities that elicit evidence of
learning
Providing feedback that moves learners
forward
Activating students asresources for one another
Activating students asowners of their own learning
TECHNIQUE #1: Start with samples of work,
not rubrics, to communicate quality.
Where the learner is going
Where the learneris now
How to get the learner there
Teacher
Peer
Student
Practical Techniques for Embedding Formative Assessment
Clarifying, sharing, and
understanding learning
intentions
Engineering effective discussions, tasks, and activities that elicit evidence of
learning
Providing feedback that moves learners
forward
Activating students asresources for one another
Activating students asowners of their own learning
TECHNIQUE #2: No hands up, except to ask a question.
Where the learner is going
Where the learneris now
How to get the learner there
Teacher
Peer
Student
Practical Techniques for Embedding Formative Assessment
Clarifying, sharing, and
understanding learning
intentions
Engineering effective discussions, tasks, and activities that elicit evidence of
learning
Providing feedback that moves learners
forward
Activating students asresources for one another
Activating students asowners of their own learning
TECHNIQUE #3: Focus on the reaction of the students,
not the feedback.
Where the learner is going
Where the learneris now
How to get the learner there
Teacher
Peer
Student
Practical Techniques for Embedding Formative Assessment
Clarifying, sharing, and
understanding learning
intentions
Engineering effective discussions, tasks, and activities that elicit evidence of
learning
Providing feedback that moves learners
forward
Activating students asresources for one another
Activating students asowners of their own learning
TECHNIQUE #4: Peer feedback – two stars and a wish.
Where the learner is going
Where the learneris now
How to get the learner there
Teacher
Peer
Student
Practical Techniques for Embedding Formative Assessment
Clarifying, sharing, and
understanding learning
intentions
Engineering effective discussions, tasks, and activities that elicit evidence of
learning
Providing feedback that moves learners
forward
Activating students asresources for one another
Activating students asowners of their own learning
TECHNIQUE #5: Make self-reports consequential.
Process
How to change
Choice
For most teachers, the greatest benefits to students are likely to come from teachers becoming even more expert in their strengths.
Flexibility
Teachers will need to modify ideas developed by other teachers to make them work in their own classrooms, due to differences in teaching style, but also recognizing that there are differences from school to school and class to class.
Small Steps
Teacher change occurs slowly, not because teachers are resistant but rather, it is genuinely difficult, because high-level performance in a domain as complex as teaching requires automatizing a large proportion of the things that teachers do
Accountability
In developing their practice, teachers should develop those aspects of their practice that is likely to be of most benefit to their students; in other words, they should be accountable to the evidence about what is likely to benefit students.
Support
Creating ‘supportive accountability’ can be done in a number of ways.
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