The teachers chose to focus on improving written feedback to better support student learning in writing. They gathered initial data that showed their feedback was not focused on lesson objectives or criteria. The teachers then worked to define effective teaching and learning, set clear objectives and criteria for lessons, involve students in constructing criteria, and provide more verbal and example-based feedback. This new approach helped students take ownership of their work, self-assess using criteria, and achieve learning goals with less reliance on written comments alone.

1. St Andrews Middle School Critical Inquiry Critical Inquiry Critical Inquiry Presented by David Taylor and Glen McKay

3. What was the issue? Lack of effective written feedback to support student learning in writing.

4. Why did we choose this issue? Didn’t think that the feedback we were giving was effective. Weren’t giving much written feedback because we didn’t know what to do. Wanted to get this right to support students. To become more accountable in our teaching.

5. What initial data did we have? Ticks “ Good work” “ Excellent” “ Spelling wrong” Warm fuzzies Not focused on the lesson objective

7. What changes did we make to our teacher practice?

8. Before we could make changes to our feedback we had to work out what effective teaching and learning was. teaching and learning was. teaching and learning was. Read readings Teacher modeling by colleague Went on ATOL course Looking at others students work Marking students work with other teachers

9. The actual changes we made: Setting objectives for each lesson Co-constructing criteria with class Get students to mark against the criteria Get the students to annotate by highlighting and writing notes. Broke the learning down into smaller steps. Learning criteria kept on paper and displayed. Displayed exemplars of work. Made links between different styles of writing. Feedback to students is now more verbal.

11. How has this impacted on student learning and achievement? Students ‘own’ their work Understand what needs to be done to achieve ‘ Mark’ own work Help each other Have examples to model Self paced Students using criteria to write More focused on learning Questioning is related to criteria. More willing to ask questions and discuss work with teacher. More on task writing. More capable students able to asses their own learning as they were learning.

12. What have I learnt from the critical inquiry process? Once the criteria for learning is identified, especially if it is co-constructed, systems are in place to support students learning. The students are able to feedback independently on what they can do and what they still need to work on. Written feedback is a minor aspect of the feedback process. All feedback is criteria based. Makes learning and teaching easier. We now have to use this knowledge in other curriculum areas.

13. You can’t have student learning unless the teacher knows what the outcomes look like!