Assessment
Assessment
Assessment plays an important role in the learning process as it helps inform next steps in learning. Our teachers assess regularly in all subject areas. At Woodlesford, we do not believe in testing pupils for the sake of it. We believe all aspects of learning, including assessment, should be meaningful and have a purpose to it. Learning should be about the development of skills and knowledge and our approach to assessment is based around this.
Pre assessment
Pre assessment is an important tool in the process of learning. At Woodlesford we use it to ensure we understand what our pupils already know and what they would like to find out. A template can be used in most subjects for teachers to gauge a clear understanding of the depth of skill and knowledge in relation to a specific subject.
This tool also acts as a means of ensuring that our learners are self-propelled in their approach to learning.
Iterative Testing
We recognise and understand the importance of revisiting previously learnt concepts.
Teachers look to embed learning through our Iterative Testing approach. Iterative testing is essentially checking prior learning through fun and meaningful tasks which can come in the form of a quiz, review, wordsearch or many other pupil friendly approaches. To develop skills and knowledge, it is important to ensure we look at prior learning and understand any gaps. Our learners understand why they complete these activities and see them as a way of challenging themselves on a regular basis.
We want to improve pupil recall in all aspects of the curriculum as we know that pupils learn by making links to ideas and subjects. Iterative testing is not just about understanding the core subjects, it is covers every aspect of our curriculum and most importantly, our pupils love it!
In the classroom, like in all aspects of life, we shouldn't be entirely surprised by our pupil's struggle to recall yesterday’s lesson. Indeed, it’s an inevitable and perfectly natural part of the learning process. Our job is to interrupt this forgetting, by prompting the children to retrieve information from memory. It’s for this reason that, as part of our curriculum design at Woodlesford, we’ve embedded regular iterative testing into our curriculum design.
Below are some examples of how we check for embedded knowledge across our curriculum
Super 6
Super 6 is the next step on from iterative testing. In many subjects we use this approach to again look at ensuring learning is well embedded by checking regularly. Super will differ slightly in some subjects in terms of when it occurs, yet the idea is the same. Pupils will be given 6 key questions about prior learning. 2 will focus on their current area of learning, 2 will focus on an area they recently completed and 2 will focus on an area of learning from a previous year or Key Stage. This helps teachers to track what pupils know and remember and ensures that the building blocks for future learning can be established.
End of unit quiz
We build on from the Super 6 questions when we revisit these at the end of the unit. Subject leaders have thought carefully about what they want children to know and remember and this is the basis of our Super 6 end of unit quiz. This allows teachers to track the progress that pupils make in a fun way. It also helps to inform misconceptions and gaps in learning that may need to be revisited.
Pupils will have the chance to demonstrate their understanding in preparation for their next unit of work.
Learning By Questions - https://www.lbq.org/
Our UKS2 pupils use another excellent tool daily to look at misconceptions and to also ensure that learning is embedded. Why is this LBQ helpful? It provides the class teacher with in the moment assessment information data. This appears on screen as the pupils complete tasks so that clear modelling can take place if required. Not only this, but instant feedback is also provided on screen so that pupils can reflect and maintain a level of independence and pace to their learning. This diagnostic approach also means that collaborative working is encouraged, so that learners can work at their own level whilst cascading information. This approach has been very successful, and we have begun to use this approach across several subjects. Most importantly, our pupils love it! Here are some examples of the pupils using this tool.
We grow together, we learn together, we achieve together.