What are some sources of evidence your students have access to?
Are they able to use that source of evidence to describe
what they have understood or learnt,
what they haven’t yet understood or learnt, and
what they might do next?
We think back to the Friday spelling tests of the 1980s (if you weren't born yet, imagine a test that was marked with ticks or crosses). It was very clear to us which words we had right and which words we had wrong…but there was limited consideration of how we might use that information to decide what to do next.
Evidence is defined here as any source of information that can be used to determine if learning has happened and make decisions to cause further progress and learning.
What are some sources of evidence your students have access to?
Idea 1: Some previous examples
Throughout our Micro Moves we have provided multiple examples of evidence sources and tools teachers can put in place to help students SEE if they have understood or learnt what it was they were intended to learn.
Micro Move #1 Making Quality Talk Clear includes criteria that students could use to self-assess and set goals. What was the evidence? Their conversation with a partner.
Micro Move #2 shows students using evidence from their own learning to self-select or indicate what they need to work on next. What was the evidence? Learning they had been engaged in during the lesson.
Micro Move #4 Heat Maps shows the use of success criteria and colour for students to self assess and has the potential for goal setting. See an example in Figure 1.
Figure 1
Micro Move #6 Varied and Multiple Sources of Evidence provide examples of evidence generating tasks and assessments, all of which could be used by students.
Micro Move #9 Artefacts to Support Quality Talk shows the use of hexagons for students to visually share what they recall and discuss and to add more information throughout a lesson. All generating evidence for students to make sense of.
Idea 2: Sorting Success Criteria
What if, after an assessment you asked students to sort their current understandings and learning into particular categories? Figure 2 shows students self assessing against test questions and other evidence they have. The categories are the Key of 1 to 4. What might this look like in your context? How might a student use this evidence?
Figure 2
Another idea!
You might like to try these prompts in Figure 3. Listen out for student responses and justifications of their progress. What do you notice that they notice about evidence generated in the lesson?
Figure 3
What are the sources of evidence your students already have access to?
How might you begin or continue using them?
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