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No More Marking Webinar with Daisy Christodoulou

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If someone asked you to guess their height, how accurate do you think your estimate would be? How about if two people asked you to say who was taller? Which question would you find easier to answer?

This highlights a crucial fact about humans, which is that we are not very good at making absolute judgements (estimating someone’s height). However, human beings are very good at making comparative judgements (comparing two people’s heights to see who is taller). In August this year, Teach Well were delighted to host an alumnus webinar, led by Daisy Christodolou of No More Marking, to learn a bit more about comparative judgement. Daisy highlighted this example as an analogy for how we currently assess students’ writing in English, and how this could be approached more effectively and efficiently through comparative judgement.

As a standard practice in English, each teacher marks their student’s writing responses using a marking rubrik, to assess whether the student’s writing meets the relevant standard set out. Some moderation may be done by groups of teachers, but around 95% of responses will only be seen by one teacher. Comparative judgement involves teachers comparing two students’ writing responses side-by-side and simply judging which one is better, left or right. This process (which takes about 20 seconds on average) is repeated multiple times by multiple teachers, so that all student responses are seen 20 times.

We know that the workload of English teachers is sky high, and marking is a large contributor to this, but what if it didn’t have to be? Instead of each teacher individually reading and marking each student’s writing, using an assessment rubrik, followed up by moderation, Daisy suggests comparing two pieces of writing to decide which one is better (in a much shorter time frame than traditional marking) and then repeating this several times. As a result, students’ writing is ranked and awarded a comparative score against all other students. This process has been proven to not only reduce the margin of error in marking, but also to significantly reduce the length of time needed to mark students’ work.

In this webinar, Daisy ran us through a simple demonstration of comparative judgement (available on the No More Marking website) and also assigned us some actual student responses to compare. After we completed the exercise, we looked at the level of accuracy we achieved in ranking and scoring these responses, and it turned out this bunch of novices did a great job, far better than the accuracy of large assessment organisations! Daisy led us through how to set comparative judgement up, upcoming Australian projects, the levels of membership available to schools (yes, there’s a free option), how to give effective whole-class feedback and how to teach good writing skills, based on common issues seen in thousands of student responses.

A secondary English teacher who attended the webinar said “This workshop was fantastic! Comparative judgement is such a logical and time-saving way of marking, and we should all be using it more. Daisy also provided some practical, easy to use methods for improving students’ writing that nicely align to the strategies taught in the Masterclass. The workload of an English teacher is always so high so anything we can do to lighten the load is something worth listening to!” Once again, we would like to thank Daisy for so generously sharing her time and expertise with us.

We will be following this up with another No More Marking webinar in early 2024, led by Jeanette Breen, who will introduce comparative judgement, and discuss the No More Marking Australian project launching in February 2024. Even if you already attended the webinar in August, you are more than welcome to attend this one too, particularly if you are interested in getting involved in the 2024 school year! You can register for the session here.

Teach Well to deliver professional Early Childhood Education learning support to Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools  

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We are delighted to announce that we are partnering with Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) and Ochre Education to support teachers in delivering high-quality mathematics resources for F-2 students across Victoria.

Working from a robust research and evidence base, Teach Well is collaborating with MACS schools as they implement Ochre’s new F-2 Mathematics lesson resources and Daily Reviews. Feedback from MACS teachers was that workloads were high, and teachers wanted more high-quality mathematics resources to create more sustainable workloads, whilst promoting equity and excellence across their schools. The Teaching for Impact in Mathematics (TIM) Series, delivered by Teach Well, is a tailored, professional learning series that will support teachers and leaders to build more high-impact instruction into their classrooms and schools, to accelerate learning for all students in mathematics.

The TIM Series workshop day will cover some key aspects of student learning, including:

  • An introduction to the Science of Learning
  • How to achieve a full participation classroom
  • How to effectively check for understanding in the classroom
  • The key componentry of high-impact lessons
  • How to best utilise the principles of spaced practice and Daily Reviews

The TIM Series will include an in-person workshop in Melbourne for teachers (and an additional workshop for school and mathematics leaders), as well as a self-reflection and video feedback cycle, and structured opportunities to collect and reflect on student outcomes data along the way. A big congratulations to the MACS team on the roll out of the innovative approach to the TIM Series. We look forward to working alongside MACS schools in 2024 for the benefit of all teachers, leaders, and students.

Using Elastik to Create Longer Cadence Reviews Webinar

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When do students (and their teachers) find out they can’t retrieve or apply grade-level content? In many instances, teachers and students are left wondering if they truly know key content right until they sit an assessment. At this point there is so little time to address any gaps and move students forward in their learning. It is exactly this kind of challenge that longer cadence reviews can address.

Barak Rosenshine’s ’Principles of Instruction’ not only states that we should ‘begin a lesson with a short review of previous learning’, but that we should also ‘engage students in weekly and monthly review’. We know from the research that providing students with spaced, retrieval practice is vital for ensuring strong encoding into long-term memory. We also know that some teachers will decide on a different cadence for their reviews, (fortnightly or bi-termly instead of weekly or monthly) so at Teach Well, we refer to these as Longer Cadence Reviews.

In September this year, Teach Well was excited to host a joint webinar with Elastik, to explore Longer Cadence Reviews in more detail. The webinar covered how to best use Elastik to create Longer Cadence Reviews, saving teachers’ time, whilst providing instant feedback to students.

From the research, we know that effective Longer Cadence Reviews take the form of a low-stakes (or no-stakes) quiz, consisting of grade-level retrieval and application questions, and can help students to develop their own metacognition. They should also include a full teacher debrief, ideally within the same lesson as the review itself. Whilst some teachers might select questions from textbooks or practice exam papers, and others may put together a selection of hinge-point questions, any ability to help reduce teacher workload is worth investigating further.

Dahmen Higgs from Elastik demonstrated how to create different types of reviews, including Daily Reviews informed by PAT/NAPLAN testing data, and also Longer Cadence Reviews. By manually selecting questions from a bank of multiple-choice questions organised by year level, subject and strand, teachers can build short assessments to assign to their students, saving them time in creation and printing, and providing them with an overview of which questions students struggled with to give feedback on within the same lesson. Instant feedback is also provided to students on which questions they answered correctly and/or incorrectly.

A secondary Mathematics teacher who attended the webinar said “As someone brand new to ELASTIK, this was very informative. I think the most useful part was the walkthrough on how to create custom reviews and the fact that it can support teachers to better use data to inform teaching. I really loved Teach Well’s recap of spaced practice and longer cadence review!”

We hope those of you who attended the webinar found it useful and informative, and if you would like more information on using Elastik in your schools, you can find it here. We will endeavour to hold another alumni webinar with Elastik next year, so if you missed out this time, keep checking back.

 

Friday 20th October 2023 is International Developmental Language Disorder Awareness Day

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What is Developmental Language Disorder?

Developmental Language Disorder, or DLD, is an invisible and lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that affects the development of spoken and written language, and social and academic development. People with DLD experience language difficulties in the absence of any known biomedical condition and is estimated to affect approximately 1 in 14 people (7%) – that’s 2 students in every class!

People with DLD have difficulties with language and not with intelligence. While their primary area of difficulty is understanding and/or using language, people with DLD might have co-occurring conditions, such as learning difficulties, ADHD, dyslexia, maths disabilities or mental health issues.

What causes DLD?

DLD has a genetic and biological basis, but there is no known single cause of DLD. DLD is not caused by how parents interact with their children, or by speaking more than 1 language. DLD can affect people from all walks of life, regardless of nationality, culture, or language.

How can you recognise DLD?

People with DLD have difficulty talking and/or understanding language.

Children with DLD might:

  • find it hard to follow instructions, answer questions or understand words and concepts
  • have difficult paying attention
  • struggle to remember what they have been told, or what they’ve read
  • have difficulties learning to read and write
  • struggle to find the right words to express their thoughts and ideas
  • have difficulty organising words and phrases correctly in a spoken sentence
  • have trouble engaging in conversation, recounting events, or telling stories

People with DLD do not look any different from their peers. It is an invisible disability and can be hard to recognise.

What supports are available to people with DLD?

When provided with high quality supports and accommodations, individuals with DLD can achieve social, academic, and professional success. A diagnosis is made by a speech pathologist, however a person with DLD may need support from others, including educators, occupational therapists, psychologists, families, friends, and employers.

How can you support students with DLD in a primary and secondary school setting?

Participants and alumni of the Masterclass Series will be pleased know that so many of the high impact teaching strategies and evidence-based teaching approaches that we discuss in the course are part of the best-practice toolkit for supporting students with DLD in both primary and secondary school settings. Current guidance for best practice includes:

1. Pre-teach key vocabulary.

  • Pre-load students with key vocabulary prior to a lesson, topic, or theme.
  • When pre-teaching vocabulary, make sure that you discuss the pronunciation of words, talk about the syllables, and sounds in words and ask students to practice saying the words.
  • Discuss the meaning of words by providing simple definitions and synonyms, provide and discuss examples and non-examples of the word or concept, and use the word in sentences.

2. Explicitly and systematically teach vocabulary.

  • Support the development of vocabulary breadth and depth, by systematically and explicitly teaching Tier 2 vocabulary and vocabulary needed for instruction, such as ‘compare’ or ‘analyse’.
  • Like when pre-teaching topic vocabulary, when teaching Tier 2 and instructional vocabulary, include multiple opportunities for students to hear and say the word, talk about the sound properties of the word (syllables, phonemes), provide examples and non-examples of the word, and use the word in the context of sentences.

3. Provide systematic and explicit grammar instruction to support comprehension and expression.

  • Teach students how to construct and expand simple sentences, with a focus on the meaning of each part of the sentence (e.g., the subject of the sentence tells us who or what the sentence is about; the verb in the sentence tells us what the who or what is doing; the adverb tells us how something was done).
  • Explicitly teach sentence combining using coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, again with a focus on the meaning or the “jobs” that the conjunctions are doing in the sentence. For example, “because links the reason”.
  • Use a visual system, such as colour or shape coding to support students’ understanding of sentence constituents and make spoken sentences visual.

4. Support working memory.

  • Reduce cognitive load by keeping instructions and spoken sentences simple.
  • Activate prior knowledge and make links to long term memory.
  • Support retrieval through regular (weekly, fortnightly, monthly) reviews.
  • Teach content in chunks, interspersed with regular retrieval practice and checks for understanding.

5. Support processing of information.

  • Model how to complete tasks, and gradually release responsibility to students by using an I Do, We Do, You Do model of instruction.
  • Allow plenty of time for students to respond. Using pair-shares with elaborative questioning and non-volunteers also allows students the opportunity to practice answering the questions in a supported way.
  • Break tasks into smaller steps.
  • Use visual and written supports whenever possible.
  • Use graphic organisers to help students organise new information and make links with prior learning.

For further information on DLD, see the following recommended links:

Teach Well Alumnus, Jade Foster, wins big at the Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards!

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Masterclass and Instructional Lead Fellowship Alumnus, Jade Foster, has recently been awarded a national Commonwealth Bank 2023 Teaching Fellowship for her incredible work as a primary school teacher and Instructional Coach at Mount Tarcoola Primary School in Geraldton. Jade was one of the inspiring educators recognised and rewarded for their dedication to their students’ education at the Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards, presented by Schools Plus, at Parliament House in Canberra. We recently had a chat with Jade about the award…

Congratulations, Jade!

Thanks! It’s an honour to be recognised as a winner of a Commonwealth Bank Teaching award, supported by Schools Plus. Schools Plus is a national education not-for-profit that believes that every child has the right to the same opportunities, no matter their background or postcode.

You were one of 12 teachers nationwide to receive the 12-month Teaching Fellowship. Which part of this opportunity are you most excited about?

I’m excited about quite a few opportunities over the coming 12 months. Firstly, it has been inspiring to network with like-minded educators from all over the country. I have met and keep in regular contact with the other teaching fellows and we are already sharing resources that would benefit each other’s schools.

I’m looking forward to planning and implementing a strategic project worth $25 000 at my school. The project is still in its planning phase, but it will most likely focus on continuing our journey in improving student outcomes by cultivating a high-impact instruction culture. This could look like developing an instructional playbook, so all staff have a shared understanding of teaching and learning across the school, as well as developing a fine-grained, low-variance mathematics curriculum. I’m also keen to refine our assessment procedures to ensure we are tracking data effectively and making data-informed decisions. It’s been a rewarding experience being mentored by Dr Stephen Brown who is working with me to fine tune my strategic plan to ensure the best possible results for students.

Finally, I’m excited about the study tour in Singapore in 2024. Singapore’s education system is among the top-performing globally, so I’m looking forward to observing classrooms and learning from teachers in Singapore to bring new ideas back to my school community.

You have had a truly transformational impact in your school and the surrounding community, what do you believe helped you grow most as a teacher?

When I graduated as a teacher, I worked at some of the lowest socio-economic schools in my town. Recognising the need for improved teacher efficacy to support the students has been a significant driver for my growth. It has motivated me to continually seek out evidence-based teaching strategies that will positively impact student’s lives. Witnessing the tangible benefits of evidence-based strategies on student performance evokes a profound sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. The Teach Well Masterclass has been invaluable in making that happen!

Feeling valued and respected by my colleagues and executive team throughout my career has been a powerful motivator in helping me grow as a teacher. Their appreciation has reinforced my sense of purpose and has encouraged me to keep striving for excellence.

The constant expressions of gratitude from present and past students and their parents have been a tremendous source of inspiration. This positive feedback reinforces that the work I do is making a positive impact on students’ lives, and this encouragement drives me to continue doing my best.

10 teachers were also recognised at the ceremony with Early Career Teaching awards. What advice would you give to early career or pre-service teachers looking to follow in your inspirational footsteps?

1. Remember your passion and purpose.
We are here for the children – “Every child matters every day.” If something isn’t positively impacting your students wellbeing or academic outcomes, it’s not worth doing.
2. Be a lifelong learner.
Stay up to date with the latest evidence-based teaching strategies, trial them in your classroom, and share them with your colleagues.
3. Build strong relationships.
Building strong relationships with students, parents, colleagues and administrators will positively impact your teaching experience. Be kind, listen without judgement and speak with authenticity.
4. Choose your attitude.
The power to influence your own experiences and outcomes lies within your control. I always approach situations with a positive mindset.

We look forward to continuing our work with Jade and her brilliant colleagues across the Mid-West region, and couldn’t be happier to see her well-rewarded for her incredible hard work and pursuit of excellence.

 

Photo credit: Geraldton Guardian