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Critical Evaluation

of Learners’

Learning

NMWCTE ITT

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Our vision:

To educate, support and motivate students to become excellent and

creative teachers, who will inspire and empower all learners to reach

their potential

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1. Foreword

2. John Hattie and Carol Dweck

3. The Principles of Critical Reflection

4. Reflective Language, Quantification, Sentence patterns, Quality of the

evidence.

5. The Critical Reflection Cycle

6. Using Bloom's Taxonomy for critical reflection

7. Lesson Evaluation

8. Progress Tracker and detailed evaluation of your teaching

9. Reference List

Contents

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1. FOREWORD

This booklet is intended to help you to evaluate your lessons critically, in order to improve

your teaching, and its impact on learning. You will have to evaluate your lessons in writing,

analysing the learners' progress, what was effective in terms of teaching and those areas that

require further development.

Please use the 'Lesson Evaluation' sheet at the end of the Pro-forma for each lesson you have

planned and taught. This will lead you to think critically about the learning. You should

consider this, and refer back to the learning objectives identified in your plan.

Once a week, you will be evaluating your teaching using the 'Detailed Evaluation of your

Teaching’ sheet which will then be sent to your University tutor.

You will also be filling the 'Progress Tracker', reflecting critically on your targets and your

progress and also, on the way in which you have been able to apply your Literacy and

Numeracy skills in developing the learners’ literacy and numeracy skills.

All these elements should be considered in your lesson plan. However, the most important

element is to reflect critically upon is the impact you have made on the learning. You should

do this by:

Evaluating the learning, against the Learning Objectives.

Reflecting on what did the individuals and/or groups learn?

Deciding what evidence formed the basis for the evaluation?

Considering the impact of pedagogy and teaching strategies on the learning.

Appraising evidence of Literacy/Numeracy/Digital Competence skills development.

Analysing evidence of increased use of Every-day Welsh and the development of

key/subject specific Welsh terminology.

Our objective is …

To address the Strategic Plan of the North and Mid Wales Centre of Teacher Education

which notes:

“Students will demonstrate effective critical thinking skills and the ability to

plan lessons effectively by drawing upon critical evaluations of lessons that

are focussed on the quality of the pupils’ learning.”

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2. JOHN HATTIE AND CAROL DWECK

When evaluating teaching and learning, Carol Dweck’s work on ‘Growth Mindset’ (2012)

can be considered, namely the idea of thinking positively about what we do and how we can

build on our experiences. Also relevant is John Hattie’s work on the eight mind frames.

Growth Mindset - Carol Dweck

As adults in the classroom, we must understand that we ourselves are learning every day,

with the learners. We must take an active part in our (continuing) professional development,

reflecting constructively on the learning and teaching.

Developing a Growth Mindset (adapted from Dweck, 2012)

INSTEAD OF … THINK LIKE THIS…

I'm not able to do this I’ll try it in a different way

It will do Is this my best work?

I cannot improve on this How can I improve?

I've made a mistake Mistakes help me learn

My friend is succeeding I can learn from him

I will never be clever I shall work hard to improve

I give up I will try another way to succeed

I do not like hard work I want to challenge myself

John Hattie’s Work

We should consider this quote from Hattie (2012, p1):

‘Know thy impact’

The essence of John Hattie’s work is that every educator needs to reflect on their impact of

his or her teaching on the learning. He describes eight mind frames that teachers should

consider in their work in the classroom, when planning, teaching and reflecting on their

teaching (Hattie, 2012. p182-189).

“Mind Frame 1 – The fundamental task of the teacher is to evaluate the effect of their

teaching on students’ learning and achievement.

Mind Frame 2 - The success or failure of learners is about what the educator is doing (i.e.

the impact of teaching on learning).

Mind Frame 3 - Teachers should talk and think more about learning than teaching.

Mind Frame 4 - Teachers should think of assessment as feedback on their impact.

Mind Frame 5 - Dialogue should be central in a class, rather than monologue.

Mind Frame 6 - Teachers should enjoy challenge.

Mind Frame 7 - Teachers should believe that their role is to develop positive relationships.

Mind Frame 8 - Teachers should share the language of teaching and learning with learners

and parents so that they understand what learning is. In this way, they can identify the next

steps on the path of learning.”

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The focus of his message is that we, as educators, should constantly evaluate our impact on

learning and in doing so we can further develop our skills for the benefit of the learners and

raise standards in the classroom.

When we as educators evaluate our work, using evaluative phraseology, we can also teach

these skills in the classroom to develop independent learners who will take an active part in

their own learning.

3. THE PRINCIPLES OF CRITICAL REFLECTION

(This section is taken from the Master in Educational Practice site, available on the

Welsh Government’s Learning Wales website)

“What is critical reflection?

Critical reflection focuses on the process of reflecting on real experience. We have to recall

and describe the experience factually, considering it in terms of effectiveness and then

learning from the experience, experimenting and applying what has been learnt. It is an

active response to experiences and a study of what happened and of how to build on the

experience.

Barlett, 1990 states that:

“Asking “what and why” questions gives us a certain power over our teaching. We could

claim that the degree of autonomy and responsibility we have in our work as teachers is

determined by the level of control we can exercise over our actions. In reflecting on the

above kind of questions, we begin to exercise control and open up the possibility of

transforming our everyday classroom life.

How are reflection and research linked and why do they matter?

“As practitioners it is often difficult to switch off and not think about what has happened

during the school day. Reflecting, or mulling things over, is very much part of a teacher’s

professional make-up, whether thinking about why a child misbehaved, the outcomes of a

staff meeting or simply how to fit everything in!

The importance of reflection to practitioners has a long history. It can be traced back to

John Dewey (1933) who defined reflective thinking as active, persistent and careful

consideration of existing beliefs or knowledge. He contrasted this with routine thinking in

which decisions are based on factors such as tradition, habit and what is expected by the

institution. His ideas were developed by many others, notably Donald Schön (1983) who

introduced the idea of reflective practice to describe the use of reflection as a means of

coping with unpredictable, complex situations in professional contexts.

Reflective practice goes beyond describing what happened by looking forward in a structured

way, consciously stopping to think how things might be different in the future. As Biggs and

Tang (2007) explain: it is a bit like looking in Snow White’s mirror, moving the viewer from

the state of what-is, to the more effective what-might-be.”

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4a. REFLECTIVE LANGUAGE (taken from ‘Grading Accurately and Consistently’)

When completing the weekly evaluation, you should use 'evaluative language'. The booklet

‘Grading accurately and consistently' offers guidance on this on page 6.

1: OUTSTANDING

2: GOOD 3+: REQUIRES SOME

IMPROVEMENT

3: REQUIRES MUCH IMPROVEMENT

4: UNSATISFACTORY

innovative, outstanding, excellent, high quality, independent, at all times, very creative, totally flexible, exceptional, very strong ability, very imaginative, advanced, full understanding, judicious, very effective, consistently high, very confident, skilled, of the highest order, superb, a very high standard, tactful, extending, far above expectations, an asset, critical…

constructive, suitable, lively, beneficial, comprehensive, consistent, good, good use, consistently good, with some guidance, useful, effective, valuable, capable, confident, good ability, successful, thorough, fairly independently…

suitable, at times, satisfactory, effective/fairly effective, apt, robust, average, with guidance, secure, adequate, enough, valid, increasing understanding, with some assistance/guidance is satisfactory, confident at times, some assistance, some consistency, relevant, appropriate, some cases, some examples, developing, generally…

at times, beginning to demonstrate, with assistance/guidance; constant supervision, with guidance, under supervision, partial understanding, begins to exhibit, beginning, contributing, beginning to gain confidence, usually, fairly adequate, is aware, some understanding, some examples, basic, trying, occasionally, starting, starting to show, beginning to develop satisfactorily/adequately…

inappropriate, unsuitable, ineffective, inefficient, inadequate, inconsistent, lacking confidence, no/none, weak, poor, even with guidance/assistance/supervision, fails, failure, does not…

QUANTIFICATION almost all With a few

exceptions majority over 60% minority Under 40%

most 90% or more half 50% few under 20%

many 70% or more about half Close to 50% very few under 10%

Examples of reflective writing

Most learners in the class are making good progress in learning historical facts.

Many of the learners concentrate on their tasks and solve problems effectively. The work of many of the pupils shows satisfactory progress in their ability to solve numerical problems. Comments in the learners’ workbooks indicate that the majority of learners in the majority of tasks are achieving well with only a few achieving excellently.

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SJ a RT need to improve their basic spelling. The Yellow group made good use of the higher-order reading skills but the Blue Group should practise these skills further and apply them across the curriculum. Sentence patterns that can be used Xxx has led to... As a result of xxx, the standards of xxx have risen xx% since… Since establishing xxx, xxx has improved according to… Observations on xx show that establishing xxx has changed/lead to... The impact of xxx is that xxx has improved... Improvement was seen after... The influence of XXX can be seen in the improvement/progress achieved... XXXXX indicates that (a quantitative word) of the pupils are/have … as a result of … XXXXXXXX shows that (a quantitative word) of the lessons / plans are …

4b THE QUALITY OF THE EVIDENCE

Any evidence needs to be suitable. Qualitative or quantitative evidence can be used e.g. an

increase in marks (quantitative) or evidence of improvement in quality (qualitative). You can

use:

Learners’ work (evidence of better understanding).

Mentor feedback.

Assessments (marks, grades, progress against Learning Objectives, Success Criteria

or skills).

Reports on lessons.

Verbal feedback on lessons.

4c. HOW OFTEN?

Learning must be evaluated throughout the lesson and in writing following EACH lesson

taught by the trainee.

The impact of teaching on learning must be evaluated once a week, using the Progress

Tracker pro forma. (See the Appendix.)

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5. THE CRITICAL REFLECTION CYCLE (based on Gibbs reflective cycle in Bassot,

2013, p.58)

1. THE EXPERIENCE

What happened?

What kind of an experience was it?

Describe the experience

Were there factors outside my control?

2. REFLECTING ON THE

LEARNING

What was I aiming for?

What did the learners learn?

What is the evidence?

What are the strengths and areas

for development in terms of the

learners?

3. REFLECTING ON THE

TEACHING

What effect did the teaching

strategies have on the learners?

Which strategies were

successful?

Which were less successful?

4. REFLECTING ON THEORY

What did I learn from the

experience?

How has it contributed to my

knowledge and understanding?

What have I learnt to apply to

other situations?

5. PROVISION

What can I do differently?

Are there new strategies I could use

to ensure learning is more

successful? (Higher order/deeper

learning/higher level?)

6. EXPERIMENT

How can I use my evaluations

to plan the next steps in their

learning?

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6. USING BLOOM'S TAXONOMY FOR CRITICAL REFLECTION (adapted from

Pappas, 2010)

Bloom's Taxonomy and

links to the Reflection

Circle (cycle)

LEARNING TEACHING

REMEMBER

(THE EXPERIENCE)

What did the learners do?

What did I do?

UNDERSTAND

(REFLECTING ON THE

LEARNING AND

TEACHING)

What were the most important

elements?

Did the learners achieve the

learning objectives?

In addition, did they achieve the

Success Criteria?

Which strategies were

successful and why?

Did I facilitate achieving

the LO? Did I achieve the

teaching target?

APPLY

(REFLECTING ON

NEW THEORIES AND

IDEAS)

Were the learners successful in

applying skills to the situation?

Where could they use these

skills again?

What happens next?

Why?

What would be the best

thing for...?

Could I use these

strategies again?

ANALYZE

(REFLECTING ON THE

LEARNING AND

TEACHING)

Were there any obvious

patterns in the learning?

What was the impact of the

teaching on the learning?

What was the impact of

my strategies on the

learning?

EVALUATE

(REFLECTING ON

LEARNING,

TEACHING, THEORY)

How good was the learning?

(Higher order/deep

learning/higher level?)

What needs to be improved?

Does anything need to change?

What will have the most

impact?

How successful was...?

What needs to be

improved?

CREATE

(DELIVERY AND

EXPERIMENTATION)

What are the next steps for the

learners?

What should be planned for them?

What needs to be included in

the next plans?

Learning Journals (adapted from Bassot, 2013)

A Learning Journal is a valuable tool to develop your ability to reflect critically. Keeping

daily notes can help you to reflect on the teaching strategies that have had a positive impact

and led to learning, or it can be a way to remember events. The daily notes can be used as an

additional source of evidence when completing the evaluation sheet in the ‘Progress Tracker’.

According to Bassot (2013), the main objectives of using a learning journal is to:

1. Record significant features of learning that have taken place.

2. Encourage the educator to identify opportunities for professional development.

3. Explain the impact of the teaching on the learning.

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4. Write about your feelings during the experiences in the classroom.

5. Encourage critical reflection on the teaching and learning.

6. Use the notes as a basis for weekly reflection.

7. Use the notes to instigate discussions with the mentor and tutor.

7. LESSON EVALUATION

There are three sections to this form, which should be completed after planning and teaching.

Lesson evaluation

LEARNING OBJECTIVES (from page 1): The Learning Objectives from the Planning Pro forma (lesson plan?) should be copied here.

Evaluation of Learning (against LOs) LEARNING should be evaluated against the expected learning outcomes, using evaluative language and quantitative elements:

LEARNERS’ TARGETS (carried forward to next lesson) Following your evaluation against the Learning Objectives, consider (with your mentor) what the next targets are for the learners to demonstrate progress.

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8. PROGRESS TRACKER - WEEKLY REVIEW OF TEACHING

See Part 2 of the Progress Tracker (reproduced below). This detailed evaluation of your

teaching must be completed on a weekly basis.

How successful was the teaching? Note the impact of specific strategies. Were they successful/unsuccessful? Note any parts of the lessons that could be improved to ensure that you are meeting the needs of ALL learners. How would you make those changes? Remember to clearly show the impact of your teaching strategies on the progress/lack of progress of learners. Can you refer to relevant research/learning theories to consolidate your opinion when evaluating? (Word count: 300 max)

Your targets following evaluation and the QTS Standards that need to be targeted further:

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Part 3 – Progress Tracker

PROGRESS TRACKER Note the targets set following your weekly professional development meeting with your Mentor. Note the grades that you

receive once a fortnight .The grades awarded will be based on your performance throughout the fortinght, and not on a single observed lesson. Boxes should be extended as necessary; do not be constrained by lack of space.

Progress made in response to grades and targets from the previous week:

Is the trainee a ‘cause for concern’: Yes No Mentor Signature:

_________________

Targets from discussion with School Mentor. Link targets to QTS Standards. (No more than 3/4 targets should be noted)

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Trainee’s action plan in response to targets noted above:

Action Plan – Reflect on each target and outline how you will develop them. You can refer to specific

timescale, relevant research, or different strategies.

Application of Literacy Grade (every fortnight) Comments and Targets:

Here, you must reflect critically on how you succeeded in applying and developing the learners’ literacy skills. (Please also see the

Literacy Guidebook for further guidance.)

Application of Numeracy Grade (every fortnight) Comments and Targets:

Here, you must reflect critically on how you succeeded in applying and developing the learners’ numeracy skills. (Please also see the

Numeracy Guidebook for further guidance.)

Trainee signature:

Mentor signature:

University Tutor signature:

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Reference list

Bassot, B. 2013. How to keep a reflective journal. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Dweck, C. 2012. Mindset. New York: Ballantine Press.

Hattie, J. 2012.Know thy impact. Educational Leadership.[E-journal].70(1), pp18 –

23.Available at http://www.uen.org/utahstandardsacademy/math/downloads/level-2/5-2-

KnowThyImpactHattie.pdf. Accessed 12th June 2016.

Hattie, J. 2012. Visible teaching for teachers. Abingdon: Routledge.

NMWCTE. 2016. Grading Accurately and Consistently. Bangor University.

Pappas, P. 2010. A model for critical thinking. [On-line]. Available at:

http://www.peterpappas.com/2010/01/taxonomy-reflection-critical-thinking-students-

teachers-principals.html. Accessed 12th June 2016.

Welsh Government. 2016. Master’s in Educational Practice Learning Pack. [On-line].

Available at: http://learning.gov.wales/resources/learningpacks/mep/professional-

learning/teachers-as-researchers/how-are-reflection-and-research-linked/?skip=1&lang=en.

Accessed 12th June 2016.

This booklet has been produced with input from NMWCTE tutors, trainees, teachers and mentors. It is

based on the ideas outlined in the Reference list above and is a starting point for further study.