Developing Expertise

1. Preparing for Success in School
Developing Practice:Teachers’ Standard 4
To plan and teach well structured lessons

2. Outline and Aims
To review your areas of strength and
consider aspects for further development
in relation to setting clear learning
intentions and success criteria
To consider the principles of formative
assessment;
Learning Intentions
Learning Outcomes / Success Criteria
How this links to pupil learning and
assessment

3. •What is a learning intention?
• What should an effective learning
intention do?
•A learning intention describes what pupils
should know, understand or be able to do by
the end of the lesson or series of lessons.’
(Learning Unlimited, 2004)

4. We are all familiar with using learning intentions. However some of
us use different terms for them, including: learning objectives,
learning goals, or learning aims.
• In AfL, the word intention is used purposely because it puts greater
emphasis on the process of learning rather than the end product.
• A learning intention is simply a description of what you want the
pupils to know, understand or be able to do by the end of a lesson.
What is the focus?
• It identifies new learning for the pupils and it focuses on
transferable skills, so pupils can make connections between their
learning and other areas of school and life, take the learning away
and apply it in other contexts.
• A key issue for student teachers is that they confuse the learning
intention with the task.

5. Some Key Principles: Sharing Learning Intentions
o Identify what pupils will be learning (new skills/ transferrable
skills) e.g We are learning to…….
o Explain the reason for the learning (This is because…)
o Share the learning and the reason with pupils at the beginning
of the lesson or activity.
o Present these in language that pupils can understand.
o Revisit the learning intention throughout the activity/lesson.

6. Reflect on placements and the feedback you received
How systematic have you been in doing this –
particularly at the beginning of a lesson or
activity?
Are you writing learning intentions in language
that pupils can understand?
When you have presented learning intentions,
have we tended to focus on what will be
produced rather than what will be learned?

7. Key steps to framing and delivering
learning intentions
• Be clear and specific about learning intentions and the reasons why these
are important things to learn
• Break down learning intentions and translate them into meaningful and
manageable language
• REMEMBER THE IMPORTANCE OF USING CHILD-FRIENDLY LANGUAGE
• Introduce and share learning intentions appropriately at beginning of the
lesson.
• Structure lessons so the pupils can focus on and revisit the learning
intention through approaches such as questioning, peer- and self-
assessment, written and oral feedback and plenary sessions.

8. Some problems with learning
intentions/objectives
Too often the focus is on what children will be
doing and not what they will be learning.
What is the transferable skill children will be
developing?

9. Learning Intention or Context?
Before After
L.I muddled with context L.I Context
To be able to write a
version of Little Red
Riding Hood.
To write a version of a
traditional text
Little Red Riding Hood
To write about a journey I
have had.
To write a recount. A journey
A school visit to Holy
Island.
To describe a friend. To create an effective
characterisation
My friend

10. When stating the Learning Intention explain
what children will be learning, do not just focus
on what they will be doing.
•Learning Intention: What are we learning?
To write an effective characterisation.
•NOT
(Activity) What are we doing?
Write a description of your best friend.

11. ACTIVITY:Writing Learning Intentions
Activity Learning Intention Context
Give a speech for or
against smoking
To present a point of view
in a persuasive way
Speech about smoking
Draw a bar chart to
show how pupils in
our class come to
school
To present information
graphically
Bar chart on types of
transport used to get to
school
Work effectively in a
group to design a
leaflet to promote
healthy eating
To be able to work
effectively in a group
Healthy eating leaflet
Reflect upon your learning intentions from
your second placement…

12. Success Criteria
•Consideration of whether the skill being taught is ‘open’ or
‘closed’ (right or wrong).
•Product criteria – the end product
•Process criteria – how the learning intention will be achieved
•A study by Shirley Clark revealed that ‘product’ success criteria
were relatively unhelpful for children compared to ‘process’
criteria.

13. Product Versus Process…
•‘Product’ success criteria are unhelpful e.g. ‘your answers will be
correct’. They focus on end points or products. They are what the
teacher wants and don’t indicate for the children how the
learning objective will be fulfilled. ‘I’ll know it when I see it’
approach that leads to being reactive rather than proactive.
•‘Process’ success criteria are helpful. They explain how the
learning objective will be achieved. Children are actively engaged
in the process of learning. They act as an aide-memoire of
necessary ingredients.

14. Success Criteria
Product Success Criteria:
Learning Intention: To use papier-mâché effectively
Success Criterion: Everyone will have made a bowl
Process Criteria:
Learning Intention: To use papier-mâché effectively
Success Criteria:
I will remember to:
•Tear up the paper
•Cover it with the paste
•Smooth it around the balloon evenly

15. Effective Success Criteria…
• are linked to the learning intention
• are specific to an activity
• are discussed and agreed with pupils prior to undertaking the
activity
• must be visible so children can look up and check during the
lesson
• provide a scaffold and focus for pupils while engaged in the
activity
• are used as the basis for feedback and peer-/self-assessment

16. Learning Intention:
We are learning to write a narrative.
Activity: Write a ghost story.
I will be successful if:
• people enjoy reading my story and
• it frightens them.
I will be successful if:
• set the scene in the opening paragraph
• build up tension/suspense
• use spooky adjectives and powerful verbs
• end with a cliff-hanger
Effective Success Criteria
Clear success criteria can support you with the planning of the lesson – e.g. with this
lesson you can use the success criteria to support your teacher input and MODEL the
process.
It also supports the assessment process, both for the teacher and for self/peer
assessment.

17. Experiment with writing process based success criteria to
support children achieving the learning objective
We are learning to…
present an argument.
We are learning to…
calculate the passing of time
in 5-minute intervals.

18. Possible examples
We are learning to…
present an argument.
We are learning to…
calculate the passing of time
in 5-minute intervals.
Remember to…
• include opening and closing
statements
• give reasons for and against
• use evidence to support
• use language to persuade
Remember to…
• count from the minute hand
• stop where the minute hand finishes
• count in fives
• go clockwise

19. Effective Process Success Criteria
Effective criteria will:
• Be written to support understanding
• Include examples
• Be short
• Be clearly laid out and visible
• Relate to the learning and not the task
Effective use will be when pupils:
Know their purpose
Use to:
- support learning
- act as a reminder
Use as a check-list

20. How does all this support children’s
learning and progress?
Knowing what is required to meet the learning intention helps
learners to:
• Keep track of what has been done and what still needs to be done
• Know the expectation of the teacher
• Start to self evaluate against the criteria, seeking help where needed
(“this bit was fine…, this bit I’m not quite sure about…, because…”)
• Be in a position to mark their own work or co-operate with a
response partner
• Confidently work with others who share the same criteria

21. Assessment: Grading Against the Standards

22. Bibliography
• Clarke (2005) Formative Assessment in Action – Weaving the Elements
Together
• Clarke (2003) Enriching Feedback in the Primary Classroom
• Black (2003) Assessment for Learning – Putting it into Practice