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This is an interesting paper presenting many interpretations of approaches to assessment. One of the most stark statements for me is in the opening paragraph, that students do not necessarily learn what they are taught, something, we as facilitators of pupil learning, must remain cognisant of at all times. Black and Wiliam (ibid.), in this paper, emphasise that formative assessment (AfL) is not just a set of tools or tests, but a dynamic, ongoing process that helps students understand where they are in their learning, clarify where they need to go, and support them in working out how to get there. The focus being on the process of improvement; what actions students and teachers can take to move learning forward. Wiliam links this directly to self-regulated learning, where students actively choose strategies to improve understanding (e.g., re-reading, self-quizzing, peer discussion); monitor their own progress; adjust their approaches when something isn’t working; and use feedback as a tool for growth. Black and Wiliam (ibid.) posit that ‘Anyone—teacher, learner or peer—can be the agent of formative assessment’. In my own classroom I engage both AfL and AoL practices. Reflecting on this paper I can see opportunity to further extend the practices of AfL in particular, by helping students develop the skills to take control of their own learning such as understanding success criteria; learning to self-assess and peer-assess accurately, engaging in productive dialogue about learning, and building confidence to make decisions about next steps.
This is a link for 6th class pupils – a version of “What I would like my teacher to know about me” https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOgC4Ec6H5wKTMUayStZqihysJgdSM1Dtd8FANjgjqHJxLZg/viewform?usp=dialog
I agree Louise that the integration of Google Meet with Google Calendar is a gamechanger in our time-stretched work days. You make a very good point in relation to transparency and visibility of Google Groups and the importance of this to support effective communication in school.
Our first engagement with Google Classroom was when we were required to pivot to remote learning during the pandemic. While many colleagues, myself included, were anxious about this new, albeit necessary approach, we were pleasantly surprised by this tool. We have maintained engagement with Google Classroom ever since, though at a minimal level. This course has really inspired me to embrace Google Workspace tools to enhance teaching, learning and assessment in my classroom. I envisage using Google Slides to promote greater collaboration among students including real-time collaboration. Google Slides interactive feature would mean I could embed videos to support or guide pupil research. In addition, I can leave real-time feedback for pupils directly on the slides.
Google Groups would be really useful for posting information on assignments as well as announcements and updates. This would eliminate any scenarios where pupils forget or mislay class information. Pupils are familiar with this from the remote learning period. As an extension of this, I will now encourage pupils to post questions, engage in discussions and share resources.
Google Meet is very useful for real-time teaching during any school closures, but where I would like to extend the use of this tool would be inviting guest speakers to join our classroom virtually. In doing this, we would not be limited to local guest speakers, but could invite speaker from overseas which would bring a whole other dimension to the classroom!
The slide deck I have created is called ‘A Journey Through Time’. Pupils find themselves in Ancient Egypt and in groups, using their knowledge of this ancient civilisation, they must find their way home.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NybbjoEyUR-yisIYdowaMu8t9Qk-RDBHO2xe7pvbPVw/edit?usp=sharing
Completely concur Colm with the importance of real-time feedback for our pupils. The immediacy of our response to our pupils is crucial. Further, learning from ‘corrections’ is, I believe limited, whereas engaging pupils in dialogue through feedback on their work assists with deeper understanding. In many ways what we are doing here is feeding forward!
A great activity for senior classes Norma. I have always found when pupils are given agency over an activity such as the bake sale, they embrace it with such a high level of enthusiasm and collaborate so well to achieve their agreed goal. I really like the inclusion of the individual accountability piece where pupils report to their team on their work. By holding each other mutually accountable, they are learning that collaboration equals success!
The skill I have identified as an area of focus for 5th and 6th class level is collaboration. This will be done through a class debate on the theme: ‘Shopping Local Can Co-Exist with Big Retail’. The school is located in a suburb with a small local shopping centre. Less than 2km away is one of the largest shopping centres in the country. Once pupils have been assigned their side, they will be invited to generate a document individually where they note their ideas/reflections for key arguments. Pupils will be further subdivided into smaller groups and then asked to share their ideas with their group. Team members will be invited to comment on the documents created. Once the team have agreed 6 key arguments they will then be required to source supporting evidence using Google Chrome and Google Meet. It is intended that they would use both synchronous (GMeet) and asynchronous (email) communication methods to set up and host an interview with a local retailer and/or a national or international retailer. Once both teams have identified their key arguments and gathered evidence to support these arguments, they would then set about preparing their speeches. An extension of this activity would be to use powerpoint to support their debate and use multi-modal communication such as integrating clips from a video of the interviews conducted.
Redesigning Education: Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century is a very interesting read particularly when reflecting on the new Primary Curriculum Framework. The Primary Curriculum Framework acknowledges and contributes to the learning journey that all children are on. The framework builds on the principles and themes of Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework (NCCA, 2009) and connects with the learning experiences provided in Junior Cycle (DES, 2015). The curriculum framework therefore is a response to the changing lived experiences of children and therefore the changing needs of children in Ireland since 1999.
The Preparation for Teaching and Learning for Primary and Special Schools guidance document published by the Department of Education in 2021 addresses one of the key elements of the Hallissey, Butler, Marshall and Hurley (2013) paper – that ‘educators are attentive to students knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs’. As educators, we agentically consider relevant knowledge of the children and their prior learning, which curriculum areas we prioritise and progress day to day in our classes, and we agentically choose our pedagogies.
Marc Prensky is an internationally acclaimed speaker and education consultant. Known as a ‘practical visionary’ and coiner of the terms ‘digital native’ and ‘digital immigrant,’ his paper ‘The World Needs a New Curriculum’ is well worth a read (link below)
https://marcprensky.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Prensky-5-The-World_Needs_a_New_Curriculum.pdf
The Tapscott (2008, pg 26) quotation speaks to pupil agency which is a central feature of our new PCF. In all recent DE communications, the terms pupil voice, pupil agency, pupil participation and pupil leadership are all front and centre.
I completely concur with Niamh and Colm re the impact of Google Classroom on the school’s SSE process. Google Classroom for assessment supports the gathering of evidence (SSE Step 2), makes the analysis of that evidence easier (SSE Step 3) and together with the Google Gradebook, supports the monitoring and evaluation of the impact of agreed SSE actions (SSE Step 6). Further, where it is identified that certain actions are not meeting the identified need of the school/class, then the SSE steps can be revisited to address this. This promotes ongoing engagement with the SSE cycle, keeping the process live in the school.
One of the key messages of SSE is the promotion of reflection and collaboration among colleagues as a way of working to support whole school improvement. Google Classroom enhances both reflection and collaboration when embraced by the whole school.
The benefits of Google Classroom to students’ learning are multi-fold. As a central hub for all resources, assignments etc., it promotes greater classroom organisation. This also supports those pupils who struggle with organisational skills. Lessons are enhanced through the use of integrations such as the teacher-led Notebook LM. As a senior class teacher, I can see the benefit of creating an interactive study guide and/or a podcast-style audio overview for my students.
Features including threads, discussions, collaborative projects and announcements encourage greater pupil interaction both in class and remotely, promoting a highly collaborative learning environment.
The Gradebook is an excellent feature and the greater efficiency of grading assignments addresses the myriad of pressures on teachers and also means pupils are getting ever more timely feedback.
Parents are hugely positive about the GC, specifically their ability to monitor their child’s progress. In my experience, it has brought about a stronger partnership and understanding between home and school.
The SSE six-step process is not simply a process but a way of working: identifying a priority need, meeting that need and monitoring and evaluating the impact of the actions taken to meet that need. Implementation of the collaboratively agreed actions on the school SSE plan should take place in every classroom. As a teacher it is important to engage in ongoing monitoring to ensure that the actions agreed by the school are meeting the targets set. It would be important to feed back to colleagues both informally and formally, sharing best practice and also discussing opportunities for improvement.
Developing my own skill and use of Digital Technology in the classroom and integrating digital technologies with teaching, learning and assessment can only enhance the children’s learning experience and ultimately their learning outcomes. The resources in the Google for Education Teacher’s Centre link very well with the principles and competencies espoused by the new Primary Curriculum Framework and the DEY vision (DL Framework) for our learners to become engaged thinkers, active learners, knowledge constructors and ultimately global citizens.
Teaching Resource: Applied Digital Skills
Link https://applieddigitalskills.withgoogle.com/c/middle-and-high-school/en/research-and-develop-a-topic/overview.html
This is a super resource which I would use with my 5th and 6th classes. The objective is to research and develop a topic through the application of critical skills in testing sources for credibility. It speaks to key principles of the new Primary Curriculum Framework (Engagement and Participation; Learning Environments) and the Key Competencies (Being a Digital Learner) – developing critical thinking and digital collaboration.
This resource is applicable to many areas of the curriculum. I would introduce it as an extension of a lesson in SESE where pupils would collaborate in pairs to generate a ‘fake’ article on the topic discussed in class. This pair work would involve digital collaboration using Google docs. The collaboration skill would require pupils to discuss i) how to include discrete ‘fake’ elements to the article and ii) agree the format they would take to write the document collaboratively. Once the work would be complete, pupils would share with other paired pupil groups to discuss and identify the ‘clues’ which would indicate that their articles are not credible. Pupils would add their arguments to the ‘comments’ in the document.
Following some engagement with this resource using class-based curriculum themes/topics, I would then look to age-appropriate real world scenarios where false information is presented on a social media platform. The objective here is to generate awareness among the pupils about how information shared cannot be assumed to be credible and to build critical thinking skills and tools for the children to use to ascertain truth versus falsehoods.