Getting to grips
with learning intentions
and success criteria
An online workshop
With thanks to TEAM Solutions AtoL team
Who will find this workshop useful?
•
Teachers
•
Syndicates / departments
•
Assess to Learn (AtoL) facilitators
How to use this workshop
•
To update, review and/or reflect on formative assessment practice.
•
As a focus for professional development in exploring assessment
for learning.
•
To support AtoL programmes in schools.
The learning intention for this workshop
Learning intention
To learn to construct learning intentions and success criteria.
Success criteria
I can:
• identify open and closed learning intentions
• separate learning intentions from their context
• construct learning intentions and success criteria in my own
subject area
Why use learning intentions?
Using learning intentions helps students develop a picture
of what is expected of them from the learning.
“Many pupils do not have such a picture and appear to
have become accustomed to receiving classroom teaching
as an arbitrary sequence of exercises with no overarching
rationale…
When pupils do acquire such overview, they then become
more committed and more effective as learners: their own
assessments become an object of discussion with their
teachers and with one another…”
Black & Wiliam (1998) P10
Clarifying terms
All these terms mean the same thing:
• Learning intentions
• Learning outcomes
• Learning objectives
Learning Intentions defined
What are we going to learn?
Learning intentions may be written like this:
• We are learning to …
• To be able to …
• To understand / explain / discuss etc
• Today we will be able to …
Separating the learning intention from the
context
If learning intentions are not written clearly the result may be:
• a mismatch of lesson focus with activities
• an inappropriate focus
• awkward success criteria that don’t fit the learning.
By separating the learning intention from the context students can
apply the skill or concept in a number of different contexts.
It is also much easier to write success criteria for de-contextualised
learning intentions.
Examples of learning intentions with and
without the context (Clarke, 2005)
Learning intention with
context
Learning intention without
context
Context or activity
To present an argument for
and against vegetarianism
To present an argument
including ‘for’ and ‘against’
positions
Vegetarianism
To produce a questionnaire
about shopping patterns
To be able to investigate the
distribution of an economic
activity
Interviews with family about
where they shop and how
their shopping patterns have
changed
To order numbers to 10
To order written numbers
Numbers to at least 10 using
number cards
Clarke, S. (2005). Formative Assessment in Action: weaving the elements together.
Learning Intentions: what students thought
they were learning (Clarke 2005)
Learning intention
with context
What students
thought they were
learning
Learning intention
without context
What students
thought they were
learning now
To write instructions
to make a sandwich
“I would learn how to
make a sandwich”.
To write instructions
(A sandwich)
“We would be
learning to write
instructions.”
To know why Samuel
Pepys is important in
understanding the
events of the Great
Fire of London
“We would be
learning about what
happened and what
he wrote. We would
also learn how to put
a fire out”
To know how primary
sources help us to
find out about the
past (Great fire of
London, Samuel
Pepys)
“We would learn to
find out about how
other people lived.”
From Clarke, S. (2005). Formative Assessment in Action: weaving the elements together.
Concept and knowledge learning objectives
Concepts are the big ideas that are explored over time. They need to
be broken down when writing learning intentions so that learners
can see how the day’s learning relates to the overall learning
intention.
Learning intention
To understand the importance of a healthy diet.
The long-term over-arching concept
To understand the importance of a healthy diet.
Its broken down version for today
To understand the impact of protein.
The process involved
To use information retrieval skills.
Success criteria – why are they important?
How do we know we have met the learning intention?
When success criteria are used …
• the learning becomes more explicit
• students can confirm, consolidate and integrate new knowledge
• future learning is scaffolded
• students can see what quality looks like.
Types of learning intention and success
criteria
Not all learning is the same so not all learning intentions and success
criteria are the same. There are:
• Closed skills – teaching of skills, concepts, knowledge
• Open skills – application of skills, concepts, knowledge
Closed skills
Closed skills are either right or wrong.
Success criteria for closed skills are either the steps involved or what
you need to remember to achieve the learning objective.
Learning intention
To share a quantity into a ratio.
Success criteria
I can:
• add the parts e.g. 2:3 2 +3+5
• write each ratio as a fraction 2/5 : 3/5
• multiply each fraction by the whole e.g. 2/5 of 20.
Open skills
Open skills are neither right nor wrong.
Lesson objectives need examples and discussion about quality.
Learning intention
To understand and explain the use of musical instruments and
elements in programmatic music.
Success criteria
I can:
• create a balanced 3-section composition
• use tone, pitch and dynamics to reflect the events and mood of
the story
• use instruments creatively.
The success criteria provide a ‘menu’ of devices that will help to
produce quality work, where not all need to be included.
An example using Languages (Te Reo)
Achievement objective (concept)
To communicate, including comparing and contrasting habits and
routines.
Learning intentions (developed from concept)
I can:
• communicate about daily routines (context – school day)
• compare my daily routine with that of someone else
• contrast routines with what I like to do in my free time.
Each of these may be broken down further…
Learning intention
To communicate about daily routines (context – school day).
Success criteria
I can:
• use vocab associated with morning routines
• construct simple sentences associated with routine
• use ‘ka’ to relate a series of events
• use words and phrases to join sentences.
An example at senior level (Te Reo)
Achievement objective
To give and respond to information and opinions, giving reasons.
Learning intentions
I can:
• research my topic using the Action Research guidelines
• write a persuasive essay.
Learning intention
To write a persuasive essay
Success criteria
I can:
• write a paragraph introducing the topic and expressing my opinion
• write a paragraph stating a reason that supports my argument with
examples
• use linking words and phrases that we have studied before to
enhance my essay for example:
» kaore e kore – no doubt,
» ehara ehara – on the contrary.
» Ka haere whakamua, Me hoki whakamuri – to go
forward you have to look at the past
• write a concluding paragraph re-stating my opinion with supporting
reasons.
Keeping the learning to the forefront
Learning intentions and success criteria need to be readily
available to students.
Think about ways this could be done in your classroom:
• For the class
• For individual students
References
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1999). Assessment for learning: Beyond the
black box. Cambridge: University of Cambridge.
Clarke, S. (2005). Formative assessment in action: Weaving the
elements together. United Kingdom: Hodder Education.