Assessment for learning cracked!
Available to download in Word.doc format, so they can be edited, in PDF format, or on CD (special order by email or phone request only).
WMG stands for What Makes Good? This is an acronym used for success criteria for achieving the learning objective, also variously known as WILF (What I'm Looking For), WIN (What I Need), Steps to Success or a Learner's Toolkit. These appealing labels in English and mathematics have been professionally designed with beautiful photographs to form the backbone of your planning, saving time and reducing stress.
You can use WMG Labels on your Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) to set the scene for your lesson and refer to when modelling. Also download and print out the labels to put on your working wall, stand on desks or paste into pupils' books. With space for 'next steps' in work, WMG Labels help teachers and pupils look forward to future achievement while reflecting on past work, completing the assessment for learning loop.
WMG labels take the strain out of lesson planning and preparation. They help learners understand ‘What Makes Good?’ No more struggling to get your success criteria right! Children love them because they taste success and because the labels themselves are attractive. They are far more effective in supporting your teaching and developing learning than other stickers on the market. Other labels or stickers on the market don’t work electronically, don’t include learning objectives, don’t give the success criteria in enough detail and don’t develop next steps in learning effectively. Black and Wiliam talked about the importance of ‘specific feedback’. (See below). These labels support all aspects of assessment for learning. If you use them it’s difficult not to teach an outstanding lesson!
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| Ofsted praise the labels!
 The clarity of the written learning objectives and success criteria meant that the teachers here were able to plan effective, meaningful learning where children made good progress. Our lead inspector was impressed with the quality of the children’s recorded self and peer assessments using the WMG labels. The labels from this website were an excellent resource and support for the teachers here. We will definitely be continuing to use the materials.
Kate Magliocco, Headteacher, St Cyprian's G.O. Primary School, Thornton Heath |
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WMG Labels and the forthcoming review of the Curriculum
WMG labels will be even more valuable in introducing the new reforms, whatever they turn out to be. Although the labels are written to match the strategies, they were essentially created to support teachers who are designing their own schemes of work. They provide the structure and already cover all the suggested objectives. You just add the exciting activities! The labels will be adjusted for terminology as and when necessary.
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I think your AfL resources are great! The teachers are really enthusiastic.
Linda Harvey, Headteacher, Beaumont Primary School, Purley.
AfL labels are going really well, teachers love them!
Tammy Lawlor, Headteacher, St Joseph's Infant and Nursery School, Croydon. |
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What do you get for your money?
English
Currently there are approximately 300 English labels, covering Year 1 to Year 6. There is at least one label for each of speaking and listening, reading and writing in each unit of the poetry, non fiction and narrative strands. In many cases there is more than one label, especially in writing. This depends on the content of the unit. The labels are, in the main, A5 size; so you can either use them electronically or print them out to stick in books or stand on desks. There is an option to download two to a page to save on paper costs. A few labels are A4 in size, simply because there was too much information to get them into A5 format. Each English unit is also accompanied by a really useful IWB electronic intro page that summarises all the objectives for each unit. (If you want the children to participate in identifying their own criteria, introduce it later as a checklist and/or use for end of unit assessment.) All labels are style/genre based so that they stand alone or link directly to the Framework.
Mathematics
There are also approximately 300 mathematics labels, again covering Year 1 to Year 6, and corresponding to the seven strands in the Framework. Each of these is in A5 format. There are no IWB intro sheets as the integration of the strands in the current blocks made this quite complex. However each label will serve as an IWB intro on its own. All the labels are written to stand alone and for progression and continuity through the year and across year groups. Nevertheless, it should be quite clear how they link to the Framework.
To access all available labels, please subscribe to my services.
The theory
(Extract from the one-stop learning and teaching framework. Read/download the whole article there.)
Black and Wiliam carried out a thorough investigation into research on raising standards in the classroom. The study was called Inside the Black Box. It established that the only proven effective means of raising standards in the classroom was via effective formative assessment. The most important point they make is:
"Greatest measurable gain in learning is dependent upon specific teacher feedback to the learner on how to improve"
Further work was done by Black and Wiliam and by Shirley Clarke and other practitioners and researchers and their ideas were taken up and integrated into the Assessment Reform Group. They have since been successfully expanded and promoted nationwide and given the collective title Assessment for Learning (AfL or A4L)
The main elements of Assessment for Learning are:
- Formative assessment that concentrates on establishing where the learner is and where the learner should be next
- Specific shared learning objectives
- Lesson modelling
- Questioning
- Feedback polices that promote specific positive feedback for the next stages of improvement
- Self-assessment (linking to metacognition)
- Peer assessment
Assessment for learning sits at the top of the personalised learning pyramid and it is undoubtedly the key to effective focused teaching and learning.
To access all available labels, please subscribe to my services.
Conditions
The licence entitles you to download as much as you need for your school. There is no set limit but there is an expectation that use will be reasonable. Your school name will automatically be printed on the bottom of all labels that you download. I reserve the right to revoke immediately the licence of any school allowing access or usage outside their own premises.
Acknowledgement
Many thanks to Laura Worrall, deputy head of Hayes Primary School, Croydon for assistance in writing the Key Stage 2 narrative units.
