HANDOUT DAY 1

Formative Assessment Cascade Training
(Preschool & Primary): Day 1

Handout D1.S1.H1

Summative and Formative Assessment

Work with your group and decide which statement describes formative assessment
and which statement describes summative assessment. The first two statements are
examples.

1 Continuous and two-way: responds to pupil work and is Formative (F)
presented in conversation. Summative (S)

F

2 Usually summarises information into marks, scores and grades. S

3 Designed to assist teachers and pupils.

4 Assessment of learning

5 Focuses on improvement and progress towards a learning goal.

6 Designed for people who are not directly involved in daily
learning and teaching.

7 Assessment for learning

8 Needs to involve the pupil because the pupil is the person most
able to improve the learning.

9 Final and one-way; presented in a formal report.

10 Usually compares pupil’s learning either with other pupils or the
“standard” for a grade/level.

11 Given at the end of the year or a unit to check a pupil's learning
after teaching.

12 Checks learning throughout teaching to determine progress and
decide next steps.

13 Usually detailed, specific, and provides descriptive feedback in
words and in relation to success criteria that have been set.

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Handout D1.S1.H2

Formative assessment – key concepts

Work in your group to match the teaching strategies to one of the key questions for
formative assessment. Draw lines to show the match.

Be ready to give reasons for your matches!

Where are Starters and plenaries
we going?
Every stage of learning needs starters that activate prior
knowledge (get pupils to see what they already know), and
whole class question and discussion plenaries at the end to
check the progress of the learning.

Quick scans

Quick scans are all-pupil-response techniques that let the
teacher quickly check understanding and progress across a
whole class.

Where is Feedback
each pupil
Pupils need to know: what they are aiming for (goals); where
now? they are now in relation to these goals; and how to close the
gap between where they are now and the goals, that is, how to
reach their goal. Feedback should help at each stage of this
process.

Deliberate practice

Pupils need their learning to be broken down into small steps
with tasks that focus on their indivdiual needs, helping them to
improve specific skills and knowledge. Practice activities can
help this.

Sharing learning objectives and success criteria

Learning objectives describe the new learning that will be
achieved by the end of a lesson. Success criteria are used to
assess the quality of the learning.

Questioning

Questions from teachers find out how much pupils understand,
and encourage further learning to deepen understanding.

How do we Discussions
get there?
Giving pupils stimulating questions to think about and share
with each other in a discussion lets the teacher find out about
pupils’ thinking. Monitoring discussions can help to identify
problems and gaps in understanding.

Exemplars

Examples of language use help pupils understand where
exactly they are going with their learning.

Self-assessment and peer-assessment

Peer and self-assessment opportunities get pupils involved in
the process of checking their progress in their learning.

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Handout D1.S1.H3

Wiliam’s five principles of formative assessment

Dylan Wiliam has formulated five principles that can guide all formative assessment
practices and help teaching become adaptive and responsive.
Read through Wiliam’s five principles below and then discuss in your group the
following questions:

1. What are learning objectives and success criteria?
2. When do pupils produce evidence of learning?
3. Who gives the feedback that moves learning forward?
4. How can pupils help and support each other in their learning?
5. Why do pupils need to be owners of their learning?

Make notes on your group answers so you can share them with another group.

Five principles of formative assessment:
1. Sharing and understanding learning objectives and

success criteria
2. Helping pupils to show what they learned (e.g. pairwork

speaking tasks)
3. Giving feedback that moves learning forward
4. Helping pupils to help and support each other with their

learning
5. Helping pupils to be owners of their learning

Adapted from Wiliam (2018)
See the Teacher Handbook for more information

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Handout D1.S2.H1

Time cycles in formative assessment

With your group, complete the table below identifying the impact for pupils of each
formative assessment time cycle.

Span Short cycle Medium cycle Long cycle
Length
Assessment Within and Within and Across terms or
Method between between teaching units
lessons teaching units
Impact Four weeks to a
for pupils Minute-by- One to four year (or more)
minute and weeks
day-by-day
Assignments Benchmarking
Starters and Practice tests tests
plenaries End of unit quiz End of term/year
Questioning tests & exams
Self
assessment
Peer
assessment
Exit cards

Based on from Wiliam, 2018, p. 51
Refer to the Teacher Handbook for more information

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Handout D1.S2.H2

Strengths and limitations of questioning strategies in
Preschool and Primary teaching

The trainer will be asking questions and using different questioning strategies. You
may need to respond to the questions.

During the questioning you also have this task to do: Think about your teaching and
your pupils. Identify the strengths and limitations of each questioning strategy for
your classroom and record your ideas in the table below.

Questioning strategy Strengths Limitations

‘No hands up’ and nominated
questioning

Wait time and
pose/pause/pounce/bounce

Lollypop sticks

Mini whiteboards

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Handout D1.S2.H3

Pyramid reflection

Think back over this session and write down three key words that are important, two words
that have made an impression, one question you want to ask.

One
question I
want to ask

Two words that have made an
impression

Three key words that are important

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Handout D1.S3.H1

Think, Pair, Share discussions

Pupils answer a question first individually, then in pairs and then share their answer
with the whole class.
A Think, Pair, Share discussion is a simple technique that gets everyone thinking
about a topic. There are three stages:

Stage 1: Each pupil writes down his or her
answer to a key question (on language,
personal opinions or ideas, knowledge or
content) provided by the teacher. This gives
pupils some time to think for themselves.

Stage 2: Give pupils time to
compare and discuss their
answers with each other in pairs.

Stage 3: Have a short plenary
discussion with the whole class of
some of the pairs’ answers.

Teachers may need to identify the specific support that pupils need for the activity. For
example, pupils may need a list of words relevant to the topic or model sentences that
can be used in this activity.
As a variation, Think, Pair, Square puts pupils into groups of four to share their ideas
rather than as a whole class discussion. This might be a good way to help pupils
develop confidence and to practise before asking them to contribute to the whole
class. It also gives the teacher more opportunities to monitor and observe language
use in the different pairs and groups.

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Handout D1.S3.H2

The PIES cooperative learning model

Positive Interdependence

Positive Interdependence has two aspects. First of all, it refers to peer support. We
need to ask: does the task we have set for pupils to work on mean that the
success of one will benefit others? That is, have we structured the task so that if
one pupil does well, other pupils will benefit? If so, pupils hope and work for
positive outcomes for each other. In a traditional classroom, pupils do not hope
their peers do well. In fact they may secretly hope others do poorly so they look
good by comparison. In contrast, in a classroom that uses cooperative learning,
pupils are encouraged to support each other. For example, pupils complete a
worksheet together, taking turns to solve a problem while their partner serves as
coach (trainer). They have the common goal of obtaining the correct answers; they
know the gain of one is a gain for the other.

The second aspect to Positive Interdependence is to see whether the learning task
is structured so that no one person can do it alone. We all know the problem of
one or two pupils doing most or all of the work. To make sure all pupils cooperate,
the task must be structured so that a contribution by each person is required for
successful task completion. For example, in Showdown, each pupil does each
problem on his or her own before receiving help. When “Showdown!” is called,
each pupil shows teammates their work, and they begin the process of checking
and coaching each other. In this activity, pupils are encouraged to help each other.

Individual Accountability

Individual Accountability is about making sure that everyone has to make a public
contribution during group work. For example, in Numbered Heads Together, after
the teacher asks a question, each pupil writes her/his best answer and then pupils
compare answers and put their heads together to improve their answers. Finally
the teacher calls a number and pupils with that number share their best answer
with the class. Numbered Heads Together requires every pupil to make an
individual, public contribution on every round (write their own answer and show it
to their teammates), while in some rounds pupils are also called upon to share with
all their classmates. Because Numbered Heads Together requires an individual
public contribution from each pupil, pupils who otherwise would not be engaged
become engaged. Without an individual public contribution required, some pupils
prefer to be safe by not responding and become disengaged.

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Equal Participation

Let’s contrast two different classroom scenarios: one in which the teacher has
planned for equal engagement, and one in which the teacher has not. A class has
been working on vocabulary for families and has made their own family tree. The
teacher says ‘Show your family tree to your group. Ask each other questions about
the family trees.’ The result is predictable: the more articulate pupils, those who
feel more confident and are more outgoing will do most or all of the talking. The
less articulate, those who are shy or less confident will contribute little to the group
discussion. If, in contrast, the teacher has planned for equal participation by doing
Hot Seating, each pupil contributes about equally. With Hot Seating each pupil in
turn takes the ‘hot seat’ for a minute and is interviewed by their fellow group
members; in this case they are asked about their family tree, perhaps for 30
seconds. So, because Hot seating enables equal participation, pupils who
otherwise would not participate become actively engaged.

Simultaneous Interaction

With cooperative learning we want to maximise the level of engagement of each
pupil. Engagement can be interaction (when all pupils are in pairs interacting) or it
can be individual action (when all pupils are doing a task individually at once).

Let’s compare two scenarios. With the traditional approach to reading the teacher
wants pupils to practise reading new vocabulary. The teacher shows word cards
and one at a time, each pupil reads a word aloud so the teacher can evaluate and
give feedback. In practice, this means that each pupil gets a very small amount of
time to practise. In contrast, let’s look at what happens in the classroom of a
teacher who maximises simultaneous engagement by having pupils read sets of
word cards in pairs all at once. With this approach, pupils are seated in pairs,
taking turns reading the words to each other. The teacher circulates, evaluating
and giving feedback. In that situation each pupil reads more word cards, and the
teacher has just as much opportunity to evaluate and give feedback. With a
cooperative learning approach, compared to the traditional approach to reading,
there is much more active engagement per pupil. Whenever we implement the
principle of simultaneous interaction we dramatically increase the amount of active
engagement and opportunity for each pupil to practise.

Texts adapted from Kagan, S. (2018) Structures Optimize Engagement. Kagan Online.

Available online https://www.kaganonline.com/free_articles/dr_spencer_kagan/ASK28.php

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Handout D1.S3.H3

Communication regulators

Communication regulators provide a structure to pupil discussions. They are useful
in a lesson to equalise participation and communication among the members of a
group and to give everyone an opportunity to speak. This then helps to promote
positive communication patterns in the classroom.
For all these activities, it is essential to give pupils some preparation time (time to
think about the discussion topic before the speaking activity begins).

Talking Chips
Place pupils in small groups. Give each pupil a chip (a token) of some kind (for
example, a pen lid or an eraser). If someone wants to talk, they must place their
chip in the centre of the table. They cannot then talk again until everyone in the
group has placed his or her chip on the table.

When everyone has used their chip once, they can take their chip back and
anyone can talk again by placing the chip on the table again.

Response Mode Chips
Give pupils a number of different chips (or small colour-coded pieces of paper) that
each refer to a specific type of response that pupils can make in a group speaking
task (for example, Asking a question, Giving an idea, Giving praise, Responding to
an idea).

If a pupil wishes to speak they must place the appropriate chip on the table,
representing their response mode.

Timed Turns
No one can talk for more than a minute (or another fixed time) in total and there is
a timekeeper for each pupil or for the group.

Hot Seat
One person is placed in the Hot Seat for one minute (or another fixed time) and
answers questions on a given topic from the other members of the group. They
group members can only listen and ask questions.

Pupils take it in turns to be in the hot seat.

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Handout D1.S4.H1

Giving feedback

 How do you give feedback?
 What do you do well?
 How could you improve?
Make notes or draw a diagram in the box to help you.

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Handout D1.S4.H2

Techniques for corrective feedback while speaking

On-the-spot verbal feedback techniques

Explicit correction
This refers to providing the correct form explicitly (directly). Doing this, the teacher also
explains that what the pupil says is not correct: for example, by saying ‘Oh, you mean…”.

Clarification requests
This technique involves asking for clarification (for help understanding something): for
example, by saying ‘Excuse me’ or ‘I don't understand’. In this way the teacher shows that
the pupil’s utterance is inaccurate in some way.

Metalinguistic feedback
Without providing the correct form, the teacher asks questions or comments on
information related to the form of the pupil's utterance. For example: ‘Do we say it like
that?’ or ‘Is this the plural?’ The response is often Yes/No.

Elicitation
This involves the teacher eliciting (getting) the correct form from the pupil. This can be
done by pausing to allow the pupil to ‘fill in the blank’ or by asking the pupil to re-phrase
their utterance. For example:

 ‘It's a....’ (There is a pause to allow the pupil to complete the utterance.)
 ‘Say that again.’

Elicitation asks for more than a Yes/No answer.

For more information see: Lyster, R. & Ranta, L. (1997) Corrective feedback and learner uptake:
Negotiation of form in communicative classrooms. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19, 37-
66.

Silent pointing & gesturing
Draw a correction table on the board. While pupils are talking, point to the type of mistake,
giving pupils a chance to self-correct.

Also use silent pointing and prompts for correction while speaking. Examples are:

 Make a ‘T’ with fingers to illustrate missing ‘the’.
 Show a small word missing by holding thumb and forefinger close together.
 Cross hands over to show wrong word order.

For more ideas see: Mumford, S. & Darn S. (2005) Classroom management: speaking correction techniques.
One Stop English. Available online http://www.onestopenglish.com/methodology/methodology/classroom-
management/classroom-management-speaking-correction-techniques/146455.article

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Handout D1.S4.H3

Find someone who…

Complete your ‘Find someone who…’ form below.

Move around the room. Ask each other questions to find out how much you can recall about
today’s learning.

Find someone who… Name

1. … knows one difference between summative and formative
assessment.

2. … can explain what ‘feed-forward’ means.

3. … knows what ‘wait time’ refers to.

4. … can give an example of a ‘Quick Scan’ technique.

5. … can remember one of Wiliam’s five principles for formative
assessment.

6. … can give an example of a plenary activity to use at the end
of a lesson.

7. … knows what success criteria are.

8. … can explain the three time cycles involved in formative
assessment.

9. … knows the difference between open and closed questions.

10. … can remember the four parts to the PIES model.

11. … can explain what ‘think/pair/share’ refers to.

12. … can describe a questioning technique.

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Handout D1.S5.H1

Learning journal entry 1

Respond to no more than three of the following prompts for your reflection on your learning
in Day 1.

 Today I learned…
 I was surprised by…
 The most useful thing I will take from today is…
 I was particularly interested in…
 What I liked most from today was…

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