Designing Quality Learning:
Clear Learning Intentions and
Steps to Success
DRAW A HOUSE ACTIVITY
Subject
Learning
Intention
Context
Steps to Success (What you
need to do to achieve the
learning intention). These
are planned, determine the
adult modelling focus
Select
Art
To use line
and tone
effectively
Sketching
houses
appropriate pencil
depending to match type of
line and tone
 Angle the pencil to create
thicker or thinner line
texture for walls and
windows
Apply hatching techniques
to shade front door
Coverage
“We have got to do a lot few things in school. The greatest
enemy of understanding is coverage. As long as you are
determined to cover everything, you actually ensure that
most kids are not going to understand. You’ve got to take
enough time to get kids deeply involved in something so
they can think about it in lots of different ways and apply it –
not just as a school but at home and on the street and so
on.”
Howard Gardner
“Teachers have to take risks in the belief that investment of
time in formative assessment will reap rewards in the
future, whilst ‘delivery’ and ‘coverage’ with poor
understanding are pointless and even harmful.”
Black and William
Coverage and Learning Intentions
1. Don’t spend too much time on ‘knowledge’ learning intentions. Knowledge
that is not being used is easily forgotten. No matter how interesting the lesson
is, we cannot ensure that knowledge will be remembered. Spend more time
on skills and concepts in which the knowledge is being used. (information
retrieval. Writing accounts, designing experiments).
2. Decide which learning intentions in a long list are most significant. Relinquish
those learning intentions that will be revisited, learnt through natural life
experiences or are small and trivial knowledge points.
3. Don’t get children to do endless exercises or sums or sentences which take
up valuable learning time. Do two or three examples only, then go through
these with the class. More will be learnt and less time spent.
4. Create a whole school culture to show that your priority is to achieve maximum
learning rather than maximum coverage. Lengths of units in long term plans
can remain the same, but teachers should be able to follow the points above in
deciding how best to facilitate learning within that timeframe.
Spend a few minutes briefly discussing which of these issues is the
most pressing for your school
Different types of learning intention
1
Bits learning intentions
(skills, concepts or knowledge)
Application learning intentions
Mathematics: To use repeated
addition to solve number
problems
Mathematics: To solve division
problems using any method
Science: To know how to
conduct a fair test
Science: To be able to design
and write up an experiment
correctly
Different types of learning intention
We need a balance between the two types
of lesson all the time. This means
planning skills, concepts and knowledge
lessons punctuated by application
lessons.
Getting learning intentions right
Muddled
“To make a list of what a pet needs”
Children more likely to be focused on the pet because the context is more
tangible than the abstract intention.
Teacher also more likely to be focused on the pet than the list making
Clear
“To be able to make a list”
“Today we are going to learn to be able to make a list. We could make a
list of lots of different things – like what clothes we are wearing, books we
have read ….”
Examples of learning intentions
Before….
After …
Muddled learning
intention with context
Learning intention
Context
To be able to write a
version of Little Red Riding
Hood.
To write an opening of a
traditional text
Little Red Riding Hood
Write a short account
about
how you kept occupied on
a journey.
To write a short account Select items to keep you
occupied on a long journey
with reasons
Describe a friend.
To create an effective
characterisation
Describe a friend
Displaying learning intentions
“In a study of 72 schools where teachers were sharing learning intentions
verbally the children were asked whether or not the teachers had shared the
learning intention with the class. All but the brightest children denied they were
being given learning intentions although some did say they were being given
some activities ‘for the SATs’.
I then asked the teachers to display the learning intentions for eight weeks and
re-interviewed the same children. The difference was astonishing. All children,
across the ability range, talked about the ‘learning intention’, explained how
the teacher wrote it up on the board and even giving me examples of learning
intentions for that day. Brighter children said it helped focus and not get
distracted. Less able children said they looked up at the learning intention –
and especially the success criteria – to remind themselves of what they should
be doing.”
“We learned to blend colours!” rather than “We painted rainbows”
Rationale for the learning intention
“Children need to know why they are covering
the learning intention at all…..a few moments
spent asking children their ideas was thought
to be more motivating and helping the learning
process to be more effective.”
Teachers asking children
School world
T: Why are we doing this?
P So that you can do it better than you did in September
Analytical
T Think generally, why are we doing this?
P Thinking things through before you do them is a good idea
Social
T Why have we done this today?
P So you don’t do it to anyone else
Practical
T So why are we doing this?
P We need to know about money
Key Points
1. Delivery and coverage with poor understanding is pointless
2. There are 2 main types of learning intention:
•
Knowledge, concepts and skills (taught specifics)
•
Application (the applying of the first within the whole context)
3. Alternating the two types of learning intention furthers the learning
4. Learning intentions need to be explicitly separated from the context of
the activity, except for knowledge, where the context is part of the
learning intention
5. Children need to know how all the learning intentions for a unit of work fit
together
6. Share learning intentions and success criteria in simple ways so that
children see the purpose
7. It is useful for children to know the real life rationale for their learning
Success Criteria
For some time, many teachers mainly
focused on success criteria around end
points and products, using phrases like
‘by the end you will have…’. The
Gillingham study revealed that
‘product’ success criteria were
relatively unhelpful for children
compared to ‘process’ success criteria.
Examples of ‘product’ success criteria which
are less helpful for children
Learning intention: To be able to use papier mache effectively
Success criteria: Everyone to have made a bowl
Learning intention: To be able to identify odd and even numbers
Success criteria: Your answers will be correct
Learning intention: To write an effective characterisation
Success criteria: Someone who reads it feels like they really know the person
Learning Intentions With ‘Process’ Success
Criteria
Learning intention: To be able to use papier mache effectively
Success criteria: Remember to:
•Tear up paper
•Cover it with paste
•Smooth it around object evenly
Learning intention: To write an effective characterisation
Success criteria: Include all or some with examples:
•Hobbies and interests
•Attitude to themselves and others
•What makes that person your friend
Key Features of Success Criteria
• Success criteria need to be planned in advance
• Planning success criteria leads to more focused
activities and less over planning
• Success criteria needs to be generic for all
children, regardless of the task, as long as they
can access the same learning intention. (Maths
is the exception in some cases)
• Brief and succinct
• Summary of what has been agreed with
children to give them ownership
• Quality comes from the teaching and feedback,
not the success criteria
“Once success criteria are visible in the room
(90% of what the brain remembers is derived
from visual images), children often look up
while they are working to check that they are
on task. Whenever I work with adults now, I
only give tasks if they are accompanied by a
success criteria.”
Possible Changes To Planning Format?
Learning
Intention
Context
Success
Criteria
(what you
need to do
to achieve
the learning
intention)
Organisation
Notes for
(activity,
future
resources,
planning
differentiation
in brief)
Examples
Subject
Learning
Intention
Context
Literacy (Y5) To write
The Jungle
complex
Book
sentences
Success Criteria (What you need
to do to achieve the learning
intention). These are planned,
determine the teaching of the
lesson and are gathered from the
children and written up just
before they begin work
Use
appropriate connectives
Include main and subordinate
clauses
Vary the position of the
subordinate clause for effect
Examples
Subject
Learning
Intention
Context
Literacy
(Y2)
To be able Making Jelly
to write
instructions
Success Criteria (What you
need to do to achieve the
learning intention). These are
planned, determine the
teaching of the lesson and are
gathered from the children and
written up just before they
begin work
Write
everything in correct
order
Use bullet points, numbers, or
first, second etc
Use imperatives (bossy verbs)
Use scaffold sheet
Examples
Subject
Learning
Intention
Context
Numeracy
(Foundation
2)
To be able Farm
to count
Animals
in two
sets using
practical
aparatus
Success Criteria (What you need
to do to achieve the learning
intention). These are planned,
determine the teaching of the
lesson and are gathered from the
children and written up just
before they begin work
Count
the animals in the first
group
Carry on the counting with the
second group
Move each animal as you count
Examples
Subject
Learning
Intention
Context
Science (Y3)
To know
Shining
the
light
meaning of through
the terms
materials
translucent,
transparent
and
opaque
Success Criteria (What you need
to do to achieve the learning
intention). These are planned,
determine the teaching of the
lesson and are gathered from the
children and written up just
before they begin work
Remember to:
Use the light source
Decide which group the material
belongs to and put it in the right
group
Use the definitions on the
whiteboard if you are unsure
Examples
Subject
Learning
Intention
Context
Success Criteria (What you need
to do to achieve the learning
intention). These are planned,
determine the teaching of the
lesson and are gathered from the
children and written up just
before they begin work
RE Y4
To
understand
the
importance
of religious
artefacts in
worship
Judaism in
the home
Remember:
Name the artefacts
Discuss their use
Explain why they are important
The Talent Code
“Experiences, when you are forced to slow
down, make errors and correct them – as you
would if you were walking up an ice covered hill,
slipping and stumbling as you go – end up
making you swift and graceful without your
realising it.”
Daniel Coyle (The Talent Code)
26
Because…
“Struggle is not optional – it’s neurologically required”
Daniel Coyle
1.Myelin is grown and responds to urgent repetition
2.Myelin is universal meaning we are capable of lifelong learning. One size fits all skills
3.Myelin wraps – it doesn’t unwrap
4.Age
matters – myelin travels in waves
27
Practise Makes Myelin…
“Each time you practice anything, - sing a tune,
swing a club, read this sentence – a different,
highly specific circuit lights up in your mind. The
simplest skill – say, a tennis backhand - involves
a circuit made of hundreds and thousands of
fibers and synapses.”
Daniel Coyle (The Talent Code)
28
Great teaching happens in cycles
What a child is able to do in
collaboration today, he will be able to
do independently tomorrow
Lev Vygotsky
Why do we model?
A key teaching and learning strategy which
scaffolds children’s learning to take them
successfully from what they already know into
new learning
Vygotsky – Zone of Proximal Development
The difference between what a child is capable of
doing independently and what he/she could do
with targeted assistance
For Vygotsky, children learn through cognitive and social
interaction when learning is experienced in activities that
have specific goals
Teachers have the knowledge and this needs to be
transferred to the pupils
At first, the adult has all the language and cognition
necessary to perform the task independently and
successfully. Through modelling (behaviour, language,
process) the adult leads the child to being able to act
independently, competently and confidently
When and What do we model?
• Do you model in every subject?
• How much do we pre plan our modelling?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Deconstruction
Thoughts
Grammar
Values
Problem solving
Learning behaviour
Methods
Skills (e.g. how to use a protractor)
Rehearsal of ideas
Explaining decisions
Talk partner (use TA)
Before modelling . . .
• What do the children already know?
• What do I want them to understand by the
end of this unit/lesson?
• How will the learning activities I have
created enable me to assess the children’s
understanding and what they still need to
work on?
• What prompts/visuals/key phrases will I
use to support my modelling?
Modelling in action
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysxg
3CWv9Qw&safe=active
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9H
yMvtQ7WQ&safe=active
Good practice when modelling . .
.
• Be explicit – demonstrate clearly and precisely the steps
needed
• Should engage learners, generate curiosity
• Include questioning
• Based on review of children’s needs
• Refer to the environment/visuals/images
• Additional adults add value to the modelling
• Is adjusted in light of pupil responses
• Provides feedback
• Think aloud
Over to you . . .
• Dividing a number by 10/100
• To be able to use a subordinate clause
• LI To sort and classify information about
minibeasts
• LI: To know how our area has changed
over the years
What Evidence Would We See On Our
Learning Walls?
What Would the Evidence Look Like in
Books?