Our third Magic Monday 2 presentation was courtesy of acting Head of English Adele Corrigan who shared with us a few quick and easy ways to check student progress.
First we heard how Adele uses “The Blob Tree”
At the beginning of a lesson
- Introduce an idea, skill or topic at the start of the lesson.
- Pupils colour the blob man that represents their feelings about the idea, skill or topic at the start.
- Pupils should write next to it reasons why they have chosen that particular blob man.
In the middle / end of a lesson or both
- Ask them to colour a blob man that represents their feelings now.
- Again, get pupils to write next to it why they have chosen that blob man.
- You should see progress in their confidence about a particular topic and if not, you know who to work with.
Next up was an idea taken from the book “Perfect Assessment for Learning” by Claire Gadsby called “Explain it to a five year old” which is exactly as it sounds.
Here’s an example of how Adele uses it in English:
Adele then went on to share one of her favourite self-assessment techniques that her students use mid-way through a piece of writing called “Cream of the crop”
…an idea which she has developed further to include a quick progress check sheet which students can use during peer or self assessment to record:
- What’s Good and Why
- Even Better If
Cream of the crop progress sheet
To finish, Adele shared a strategy she employs over a longer period of time, rather than just one or two lessons: Whole class bingo
The concept is simple, where the teacher records the desirable characteristics on a laminated grid, which each student is given a copy of. When an action has been completed it is simply crossed off – bingo style. Voila!
Thanks to Adele for sharing these simple, easy to implement strategies.
Belmont Teach 