Making marking easy(er!)
Butterfly
Why do we mark?
• So we know how well the students are doing
and what we need to do to get them to
improve
• So the students know how well they are doing
and what they need to do to improve
Problems with marking
• A confession.........
• Why don’t we mark as
much as we should?
• (NB Mr ***** does
mark [he marks very
well!])
The dreaded non-negotiables....
•
•
•
•
....are impossible (because I don’t
know what they should look like
in real life.....)
Non-negotiable 1: Learner and
teacher dialogue has to be visible
in written and verbal forms
Non-negotiable 2: Target setting
Non-negotiable 3: Feedback is
conveyed in a way that is
understood by that individual
learner
Non-negotiable 4: Planned
reflection time (self/peer
assessment)
What do they look like in
practice?
Tip 1: Planning for marking (NN1)
• What do I want students to learn in a
particular lesson? (learning objectives)
• Have I chosen a task that will assess if they
have learned this?
• Do the students know what I want them to
do? (learning outcomes)
• Do the students need to produce a lot of
written work? (quality Vs quantity)
Tip 2: Marking during the lesson (NN4)
• Marking doesn’t all have to be done after the
lesson
• Red pen walk: mark work as you check it in
class
• Green pens: come prepared with extra green
pens and train the students to do it!
Tip 3: Marking after the lesson (NN2
and NN3)
• Little and often: ten minutes everyday is easier than 50
minutes every week or 100 minutes every fortnight
• Plan it into your week (not as an afterthought)
• Ticks and comments: which is appropriate where?
• Did the students achieve the learning objectives that you
planned? (i.e. Did they complete all parts of the task that
you set them?)
• Any (parts of) learning objectives not achieved can be put
on the A5 target sheet (NN2)
• What clear simple questions could you ask them to further
develop their understanding? Scaffolding and breaking
down LOs. Can be used to extend learning too for those
students who successfully completed the task (NN3)
Tip 4: Students won’t respond to my
marking!?!? (NN4)
• Do you give them an opportunity?
• Do they know how they should respond?
• Give them an opportunity: fortnightly ‘student
challenge’ starter (green pen activity). Make
sure the students know what you want them
to do – NN4
Tip 5: Using summative assessments
formatively (NN2, NN3, NN4)
• End of unit tests: why do
we do them? (weighing a
pig doesn’t make it
fatter.....)
• Peer marking and target
setting (NN2, NN3, NN4)
• Formative marking by the
teacher (NN2, NN3)
• Student response to
formative marking (NN4)
Examples
• Following slides are examples of a mock exam
marked formatively by the teacher (red pen)
and students responses to these comments
(green pen)
Non-negotiable 1
Learner and teacher dialogue has to be visible in written and
verbal forms
How can I do this?
• Write any learning objectives that students
work shows they did not achieve in their A5
target sheets
• Ask questions to test understanding of
learning objectives or to stretch their
understanding on individual pieces of work
Non-negotiable 2
Target setting – Learners are provided with learning objectives at the
beginning of the lesson, success criteria for particular tasks and targets for
improvement that are linked to levels/grades
How can I do this?
• Make sure
– you know what you want the students to learn in each lesson
– you have planned a task that will assess what the students
should have learned
– the students know what they have to do to complete the
task
• Mark end of unit topics with formative comments /
questions
Non-negotiable 3
Feedback is conveyed in a way that is understood by that
individual learner. The language of feedback links to the
learning needs of the pupils
How can I do this?
• Write targets (by either you or the
students) as simple questions using
language that the student understands
(think Bloom’s taxonomy)
Non-negotiable 4
Planned reflection time (self/peer assessment)
How can I do this?
• Getting students to mark each other’s
work and set each other targets (takes a
bit of practice but does work)
• Get students to respond to formative
comments in green pen by giving them
a ‘fortnightly challenge’ as a starter