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To
produce a pack of assessment for learning
materials and activities for
Key Stage 3 Science teachers, including ICT
resources. |
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School:
Greenbank High School, Southport |
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Fellow: Lyndsy Newton
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Email: lyndsy@blueyonder.co.uk |
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Aims |
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Due to recent advancements
in the Key Stage 3 strategy, and on the basis
of OFSTED findings throughout my LEA, I decided
to focus my Gatsby fellowship on assessment
for learning within Science lessons. My main
aim is to produce a pack of assessment for
learning materials and activities for Key
Stage 3 Science teachers, including ICT resources. |
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I feel that assessment for learning is an
important tool for both teachers and pupils
and whilst I am aware of the many demands
placed on teachers, I don’t want it
to become ‘another one of those things
that we have to fit into lessons’. I
hoped that my project would firstly provide
me with a better understanding of assessment
for learning and secondly allow me to produce
a set of resources that could be easily integrated
into lessons with the maximum benefit to those
involved. |
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The story so far |
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I have spent a lot of time in the initial
stages of my project determining what is meant
by assessment for learning (AFL). There has
been a lot of research done in this area and
working through this has been an extremely
interesting and useful yet somewhat mammoth
task! In addition to this investigation I
have spent a great deal of time talking to
colleagues about their experiences and observing
good practice. I have held discussions with
members of my own faculty and colleagues throughout
the LEA, including LEA consultants. I have
been given a whole school responsibility for
AFL working closely with our assistant head
teacher, which has provided me with a brilliant
opportunity to observe the work of staff throughout
our school. Having the chance to engage in
these discussions and observations has been
one of the most enjoyable aspects of my project
so far. Unfortunately not enough value is
placed on other teachers as a resource and
I think there is a danger during everyday
teaching that staff ‘get stuck in their
own classroom’ and don’t always
have the opportunity to share good practice
with others. |
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Having decided on a personal definition
of AFL, I have set about designing and trialling
materials with my classes. In my original
plan I stated that I would start with designing
activities for year 7 classes. This year,
however, I am not timetabled to teach any
year 7 pupils so I changed my plan slightly
to start with year 9. I decided to design
an activity to be used at the start of each
QCA unit. This could be used to inform planning
of the unit and to help with progression throughout
the year and between key stages. I also decided
to design two more activities – one
for during and one at the end of a unit. When
designing the materials I had to research
what type of activities would be suitable
and how I could probe the pupils understanding. |
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One thing that I hadn’t considered
when I first started the trials was that I
would need to train the pupils in the use
of the materials. The pupils themselves pointed
out to me that it’s actually really
difficult to assign levels to a piece of work
without practice. Because of this, I also
would like to design one activity for each
year group that introduces the use of the
materials and provides the pupils with a definition
of AFL and an insight into why we will be
using the materials. |
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The main difficulty that I have found has
been managing my time between my project and
my normal timetable. It has been great to
get out of school and to spend my time working
on my project, however I have seven GCSE classes
and a year 9 class that will be working towards
their SAT’s and I am starting to feel
guilty if I miss their lessons because of
a course or meeting. Other than that things
seem to be going well and the work that I
have done is seen by all in the department
to be very useful and useable. I am currently
in the process of evaluating the materials
used with year 9. The feedback from the pupils
has been good so far. They seem to be enjoying
the activities that I have created and more
importantly perhaps, they are finding them
useful. |
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The next steps |
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My next steps are to fully
evaluate the materials used so far by gaining
feedback from both pupils and staff. I will
then go on to design activities for year 8
and year 9, trial and evaluate these. I hope
that my materials will allow the pupils to
be more aware of their own progression in
science and help to engage them with their
own learning. The ultimate success of my project
will be seen at the end of the year when I
will be able to compare the pupils’
achievement with their target grades. I am
currently planning an INSET afternoon for
all staff in my department to share with them
the research I have carried out and to introduce
my materials to them formally. I also need
to decide how my resources can be used with
an interactive whiteboard and start to assemble
these ICT materials. |
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