I Love Marking

No, really.

‘The most important thing you do as a teacher.’ Phil Beadle

‘Marking is an act of love.’ David Didau

Why?

• ‘Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent.’ Doug Lemov

• If you don’t mark and at least read EVERY word they write, then you are embedding bad habits.

• ‘Perfect Practice makes perfect.’ Vince Lombardi

My Classroom

Mark every day (if possible)

• Class jotters on pupil desks

• Cup of tea

• Get marking…

• Every jotter at least once a week

Marking is…

• Feedback

• Differentiation

• Planning

Ten Minutes of Gritty Editing1. Use the correction code on page

12 of your diary to correct errors2. Use a dictionary or thesaurus if

necessary.3. If you finish, change three words

of your choice or add in three words.

Rule 1: you must remain silentRule 2: you must not stop workingRule 3: you can ask only one questionRule 4: that question must be written on a post-it note; then you put your hand up

The best three• Collect in work of class• Read through only, no marking.• Using the success criteria set, choose the best

three. • Photocopy them and give a set of three to each

group.• Group try to explain why these three have been

chosen, re-emphasing the success criteria.• Have another go…

Anonymous Feedback

1 • Excellent use of dialogue throughout• You managed to include two minor sentences in your

opening• I don’t see a simile here

2 • Good use of first person narration in paragraph one• Your adjectives add to the tension of the story• Can you see where you’ve missed a question mark?

3 • Your use of emotive language in the second paragraph is excellent

• The colourful imagery works really well here.• Your punctuation of dialogue needs to be improved.

Numbered questions

• As you read, in the margin write a circled number where you see problems.

• At the end of the work, write that number with a question (ALWAYS A QUESTION) and leave enough space for them to write a detailed answer.

• On return, in class, students spend a period answering the questions.

• Then and only then can they think about redrafting.• Ensuring that they have acted on your feedback.

Exam Practice

• In English, we have Close Reading/ Interpretation exercises in ALL years

• But relevant to all subjects• While marking, make sure you give the grade like this:

1/2 4/4 2/5 etc.• When you hand the papers back, allow time – a whole

lesson? – for students to go and find someone who got a a better mark than them.

• Learn from others.• It is the conversation about how they got those

answers which is more powerful than teacher feedback

What is the point of marking?

• Feedback?

• Differentiation?

• Planning?

• The best way to get to know what your pupils have learned

What is the point of marking?

• Pick up on sloppy presentation from the start

• A genuine understanding of them as learners

• You don’t work harder, you work smarter

• If you spend more time on feedback than they do, you need to stop. NOW!

Great resources

• How to Teach by Phil Beadle

• The Hidden Lives of Learners by Graham Nuthall

• Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn by John Hattie