WRITTEN BY ALICE VIGORS
Understanding the difference between the verbs describe and identify, for example, is key to designing learning that supports a students level of content knowledge and ability to work critically and creatively with that knowledge in a range of situations. It is also beneficial when designing assessment for, as and of learning experiences, as the learning students have undertaken and applied should be the learning that is assessed.
Take for example the following NSW Stage 1 syllabus outcome and example content descriptors.
If we zoom in on the verbs used in the outcome and begin to explore what this means for our students we will see that each verb has the following meaning:
When we examine the two example content descriptors designed to support students to achieve the understanding and responding to literature outcome we can see that the verbs used have the following meaning:
Transferring from the syllabus to planning
At this point in the process it is important for teachers to recognise how these verbs will support the development of thinking within the classroom and the kinds of supports that may be required for students to be able to successfully engage with that type of thinking.
For example, asking students to identify the sequence of events that make up a narrative requires students to notice, name and list in order the events that occurred in a narrative text. This type of thinking is very different to the skills of comparing and contrasting, which asks students to look for things that are similar and things that are different about characters in a text. Utilising tools and structures to support this process will be key to developing the thinking capabilities of the students in our classrooms,s such as utilising the thinking routine See Think Wonder to support students to compare and contrast characters in a Stage 1 text.
Planning for these opportunities, helps teachers to be intentional about supporting the thinking of students, as well as recognising when supports and structures are needed to provide all students the opportunity to be successful during the learning process.
Transferring from planning to learning
As educators, we need to explain the type of thinking students are required to use during a learning task, as well as highlight a sound example of what this thinking looks like in order to be successful. This also means students need explicit guidance and practice in knowing how to think in different ways and be able to apply this to a variety of everyday situations.
It is important to remember that the success criteria we provide or co-construct with students directly links back to the learning intentions. When students have success criteria at hand, they are more informed about how they will be assessed. Consequently, they are better able to assess their own and others’ work to identify successes and areas for improvement.
When presenting a learning intention to students it is important to discuss the language as well as highlight the kind of thinking the verb is asking of them. Using butcher's paper to deconstruct a learning intention supports students to better understand the language being used and the thinking required.
The success criteria then breaks down the process students need to perform in order to be able to compare and contrast the characters in the text. Personally I use no more than four success criteria to reduce the cognitive load for my students. You can see a direct link between the learning intention, success criteria and the thinking routine scaffold that I am utilising to support student thinking. This is intentional. The scaffold allows me to clearly see how student thinking is unfolding, it allows me to identify and pinpoint areas students are achieving and areas to further develop.
By decontextualising the learning intention and success criteria, teachers are able to utilise the same one using different content, ensuring that students become more familiar with the language, expectations, types of thinking and can then apply it to different contexts and in this worked example, to multiple pieces of literature.
This allows teachers to make ongoing, informed decisions about a students ability to, say compare and contrast characters in a text, with multiple worked student samples to support that professional judgement. Reflection Activity
We are now going to stop and reflect on our own practice through an activity - What’s the verb got to do with it?
Our intent for learning today is to reflect on the effectiveness of our learning intentions and success criteria. In this activity you will be reflecting on a learning intention and accompanying success criteria you have planned (or maybe already taught) over the past two weeks, examining the effectiveness of these in relation to the clarity it provided to students and how intentional we were in noticing, naming and scaffolding the development of student thinking. Take a moment now to read through the following learning intention and success criteria for this task before commencing.
Once you have undertaken this activity, add a comment below to share how your reflection on the effectiveness of your learning intentions and success criteria.
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AuthorHi, I am Alice. I am a primary teacher and leader in New South Wales, Australia. I have been teaching for the past 14 years in both the Public and Catholic school systems. I am passionate about supporting and mentoring colleagues to think deeply about their efforts to cultivate thinking and learning opportunities for students. Read more Archives
August 2023
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