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Clarity about the learning
For students to progress confidently and be responsible for their learning, it is essential that both teacher and students have shared clarity about what is to be learnt. They need to be clear about the big picture of the learning, and the day-by-day learning steps towards it.
For students truly to be able to take responsibility for their learning, both teacher and students need to be very clear about what is being learnt, and how they should go about it. When learning and the path towards it are clear, research shows that there a number of important shifts for students. Their motivation improves, they stay on-task, their behaviour improves and they are able to take more responsibility for their learning.
Absolum, M. Clarity in the Classroom, 2006
The essential components of clarity:
- learning Intentions
- relevance
- examples and modelling
- success criteria
- checking for understanding
When there is shared clarity in the classroom, both teacher and students are able to describe:
- what is to be learnt - using learning intentions
- how the learning intention relates to the “big ideas” or global intentions
- how the learning is relevant
- how students will go about the learning
- how students will know it has been learnt - using success criteria with reference to exemplars, examples and modelling.
When these are in place, what exists is a partnership between teacher and students:
- Planning reflects student need.
- Learning intentions and success criteria are jointly constructed.
- Learning intentions capture the depth of learning at an appropriate level for each student.
- The teacher has sufficient depth of understanding of the specified curriculum and its progressions of learning to work with any student to identify his/her next learning step.
As fundamental to the success of the learning and teaching process, the teacher frequently checks students’ understanding of the intended learning and whether it meets the students’ expectations and needs.
Download this powerpoint presentation for further professional development.
Clarity about the learning(2)
(PowerPoint 1 MB)
References and readings
Absolum, M. (2006). Clarity in the classroom. Auckland: Hodder Education. pp 76-95.
Clarke, S. (2001). Unlocking formative assessment: Practical strategies for enhancing pupils’ learning in the primary classroom. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
Duffy, G. (2003). Explaining reading: a resource for teaching concepts, skills and strategies. The Guilford Press, New York. pp 102 -108.
Marshall, B & Drummond, M.J. (2006). How teachers engage with Assessment for Learning: lessons from the classroom. In Research Papers in Education, Vol 21, no 2, pp 133 – 149.
Rust, C., Price, M. and O'Donovan, B. (2003) 'Improving students' learning by developing their understanding of assessment criteria and processes‘. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, vol. 28, no. 2, pp 147-164.