Tag Archives: feedback

333. Resource of the week

Just a quick resource for you today and apologies if you are already using this!

Plickers

Not some new ‘youth slang’, but an amazing online tool. Students have an individual card with each side labelled A, B, C or D. You ask a multiple choice or True/False question, they hold up their card with their answer at the top, you scan the class set of cards.

Image credit: Plickers.com

It really is that simple and here is what to do to get started:

  1. Create a free account at www.plickers.com
  2. Download the app to a portable device with a camera (phone, tablet etc)
  3. Print out the cards
  4. Allocate the cards to your class on the website
  5. Stick the cards in your students’ books
  6. Set a question
  7. Scan the cards

I have a tablet device that I use for school purposes as I keep my phone for personal use. The only problem I had was my android tablet doesn’t have a light source or as high quality camera as my phone, but we sorted that by having students move to a brighter part of the room for scanning. Instant feedback with no handheld devices!

Finally I have to say a huge thank you to Mr L, our trainee teacher, for introducing this to the Department.

331. Personalised student/parent feedback

How did I do in the test?

We get that question all the time. Is that a good result? Is it bad? Where did I come in the class? In general I never answer any of those questions, instead I have a little one to one chat as I’m handing out papers or in subsequent lessons.

But what if you’re not there to have that interaction?

I had that problem this summer. We were due to give our end of year test results back to students on the same day I was on a school trip. I couldn’t give the results out early and I didn’t want to make my class wait. If they were just given their test results or papers back, that would be a feedback opportunity missed. What to do?

I ‘wrote’ a letter to each student.

I use the word ‘wrote’ in the loosest sense. I mail merged their results and targets into Word, using my markbook spreadsheet as the data source. That addressed the facts element. The bigger picture for the class was the interesting part. If you search for ‘DESMOS’ box plot, you will find a sample box plot. If you replace the data with your test results, you will obtain a box plot of your results. I put my box plot into the master document and hit merge:

Each student recieved a personalised letter, in an envelope, in my absence. I could even give results to the students who were on the trip with me.

The letters were a big hit with my class. They liked that I had gone the extra mile for them, even though it took under 20 minutes. In the subsequent lesson we could get on with the test review without lots of questions about numbers and grades.

It got me thinking – could I use this idea in other ways?

I have refined the format (the initial letters served their purpose, but we’re basic) and have since used variations on this for other assessments and at Parents Evening. Parents Evening was particularly useful as I had all the target and assessment data, key exam dates, class summary box plots for the last two tests, suggested GCSE revision resources and a reminder of what the new GCSE grades mean. I didn’t have to keep refering to my mark book as all the relevant information was in front of me and the parents didn’t feel the need to make notes. I had very few questions about set changes as they instantly got a feel for where their child was within the class, but without any rankings. Several said that they wished all subjects would produce information sheets like this.

I could also give the personalised sheets to students whose parents couldn’t attend or email them home. It was a very useful tool for getting identical information to those families who are apart, but are equally supportive of their children. When the Head of Year asked for a brief summary of a student’s progress, as they were meeting with a parent on Parents Evening, it was already done.

Of course, the great thing is that I will only have to do a minor update for the next Parents Evening saving me even more time!

The next time you have to give out and/or discuss data with students or parents, try this. It really improve the experience.

312. Class Commentary

I don’t know about you, but going over higher level questions (eg A-Level) after a test can be a frustrating time. The students never seem to fully engage because they think they know it all – even though they do get things wrong! What if I could offer you a way to review the test and incorporate an understanding of exam board mark schemes?

Image credit: www.sri.com

Preparation

  • When you mark the test clearly indicate on the paper which questions students got fully correct.
  • Alternatively get your students to do this.

Set Up

  • List the question numbers on the board
  • Starting with the highest number (usually the hardest questions) students volunteer to answer the questions on the board by putting their name next to a question number. In this way the brightest students who got the tricky questions right can’t volunteer to do the easier questions, allowing other students a chance of success.
  • Long multi-part questions could have more than one student.
  • You can also allocate a calculation checker and algebra checker if you have spare students

Task

  • Bring up each student to go through a question on the board.
  • Whilst they do this you can do a commentary of where marks are allocated by the markscheme, alternative methods and misconceptions.

I did this activity with a Year 12 group whilst reviewing an A-Level paper and it was a such a better use of time. The students were more engaged and I could interact with the class on a much more productive level.

256. Health Warning!

Test reviews/reflections … possibly one of the dullest type of lesson! I ask my students to write a list containing three topic specific things they are proud of, three topic specific things that could be improved upon and any ‘Maths Health Warnings’.mathswarning

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What is a ‘Maths Health Warning’?
I’m glad you asked!
They are silly mistakes, mild misconceptions, badly managed arithmetic and not reading the questions. They are bad for your mathematical health because a minor error at the start of a solution can cripple your chances of correctly solving a problem. These errors can infect any topic from grade G data to A* trigonometry.

I discuss common mistakes and it is up to pupils to decide which health warnings they need – this usually involves highlighter/feltpens and circling/starring the issue.

Examples
Having recently marked topic tests from grade E to A, here is a list of transferable mistakes:

  • Not reading the question!
  • Mismanaging negatives
  • Not using the correct equipment for diagrams
  • Expanding brackets correctly and simplifying incorrectly
  • Mishandling decimals in calculations
  • Not reading the question (it happens a lot)!
  • Rounding the calculation too soon
  • Rounding incorrectly to decimal places/significant figures
  • Typing a calculation into a calculator incorrectly
  • Forgetting there are only 60mins in an hour
  • Not using 2dp for money
  • ….this list could get rather long!

Once students start identifying these types of errors themselves, they become more aware of them in their classwork, homework and assessments. This results in improved understanding and progress.

Next steps

You might want to generate your own ‘Maths Health Warning’ stampers or stickers. You could put warnings in your students books and ask them to identify the error.