When we wish to do assessment for learning - to ensure we are teaching efficiently - we often find that our data is inaccurate due to learners’ surprisingly sophisticated copying skills. If we decide to use test conditions to assess learners we may have difficulty ensuring test conditions because of lack of space in our classrooms or lack of cooperation from our learners or we may find that our data is inaccurate because our learners are unable to think clearly in test conditions.
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We make assessment for learning accurate, as each learner is randomly assigned an assessment question, so the possibility of copying is dramatically reduced, and since learners soon spot this, they generally don't even try to copy. We make assessment for learning low stakes, concentrating on what learners know, we appear disinterested in what learners don't know until we are ready to teach them. However once we teach some new learning, we do everything we can - teach on firm learning foundations, remind learners of similar skills they already have, give help , and give feedback - to ensure that the learning becomes embedded learning.
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Since we track the depth of embedded learning, the teacher only needs to assess a topic once, when they return to teach the topic again they will find really accurate assessment for learning data which makes planning teaching much quicker and easier.
The time and effort we spend in collecting the assessment for learning data pays teacher time dividends almost immediately as
- planning is quicker (we know what learners know and so what to teach them next),
- resourcing of lessons is quicker (as practise-learn worksheets are available for each layer),
- assessment is quicker than marking (single code - no other writing),
- we have less behaviour management problems (learners are less stressed and more engaged in learning)
Later we see more benefits
- when we return to teach a topic again we need do no further pre assessment,
- we very rarely teach the same thing again,
- we no longer have pressure to "teach extra lessons",
- we can, on occasions, "activate" low attaining learners as teachers,
- we are less busy in the classroom - so we may have time to do in class assessment too.
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Maths Anxiety can be described as “the panic, helplessness, paralysis and mental disorganization that arises among some people when they are required to solve a mathematics problem” (Tobias & Weissbrod, 1980). https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.753619!/file/Maths_anxiety_strategies.pdf Christie Blazer says "A number of researchers have hypothesized that math anxiety disrupts performance because it reduces students’ working memory, leaving them unable to block out distractions and irrelevant information or to retain information while working on tasks (Sparks, 2011; Legg & Locker, 2009; Ashcraft & Krause, 2007; Cavanaugh, 2007; Beilock & Carr, 2005). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED536509.pdf ... I would add that often low attaining learners already have smaller working memories so for them this is a larger problem to overcome. https://blog.heinemann.com/confronting-shame-in-the-math-classroom Gerardo Romirez: Motivated Forgetting in Early Mathematics. "Educators assume that students are motivated to retain what they are taught. Yet, students commonly report that they forget most of what they learn, especially in mathematics ... this proof-of-concept study suggests that children may deal with threatening classroom experiences by forgetting important course relevant knowledge." |