Whole Class Feedback Q and A

Whole Class Feedback Q and A

Some of the questions on here are very relevent to the general use of Whole Class Feedback, however some are specific to the systems we have in place at our school.  Just to note:  We are only trialling Whole Class Feedback currently.  These are just my personal thoughts on how it's working for me after a term using it.  I am no expert!

Here is the WCF sheet I use:

 What is it?

Whole Class Feedback is a move from regular marking in children’s books to more instant and specific feedback. Having used it for half a year now, it’s evident that the feedback the children are getting is much more effective than when I was writing lots in their books.  A teacher will teach normally but the change is how they ‘mark’ the work.  Using a Whole Class Feedback sheet the teacher looks through books making notes on a range of things (see sheet).  The key is being specific i.e. feedback based on the learning objective (this is no different to what we currently do). 

If someone asks a child about how their teacher helps to improve their work as there are no comments in the books, what will they say?

We would expect that over time the children will be able to say, “My teacher looks at our books each night, we then start every lesson talking about the work we have done.  We then have time to move our learning on if we did really well or have help with something we didn’t quite understand.  This is our FIT session!”

How does FIT work?

After a teacher looks through the children’s work, they should make notes on the Feedback sheet.  Part of the feedback sheet is called FIT.  This is where the teacher writes the key activities that need to take place at the start of the next lesson (for 10/15 minutes).  These activities will always either address misconceptions in groups, individually or move children’s learning on through an independent task.  The moving on activity MUST move the children’s learning on and not just be a tag on activity to do while misconceptions are being addressed. 

How do TAs fit into this?

TAs are a very important part of the FIT session for me.  I use TAs in my feedback time to either work with a small group on a similar misconception or to helicopter and address 1:1 needs of individual children.  The TA either speaks to the teacher before the lesson to see what their FIT focus is or looks at the feedback sheet the teacher has written which will state their role during FIT.  If there is no TA, then I undertake the above activities during FIT. 

What about the others who have no misconceptions?

These children will have an activity to undertake which moves their learning on.  If it is writing, for example, they may read through their work and make editing changes to their work or have another peer read through and edit with them.  For maths, for example, the activity may be a reasoning or problem solving task based on the previous day’s work.  It’s up to the teacher but it MUST move the learning on.  The expectation is, because these children have been able to succeed in the objective from the day before then they should be able to undertake the activity independently.  

What evidence of FIT is there?

I always make my children do their FIT activities in green pen which they also use to do any self marking.  They know that green pen is all about feedback and moving learning on.  They put the title FIT in their books at the start of each lesson and this is where they carry out the tasks for the first 10 minutes.

Can this work in KS1?

Yes! Possibly even better than at KS2.  Children’s reading is generally weaker in KS1 (call me Sherlock Holmes) so written feedback in books would then often need to be talked through with the children.  If this talking through is happening any way, then why not cut out the written feedback bit and then you’re essentially doing FIT time.  I think FIT would have to be adapted slightly in KS1.  You may want to have group activities for your FIT time as well as using the TA.  Loads of schools use it effectively in KS1.

Does this work for English?

Yes! If you are doing build up work to a piece of writing covering, say, SPAG elements then it works exactly the same as a maths lesson would.  The key is always marking against the objective.  If there are 20 different misconceptions in an English lesson then I would suggest that your objective is too broad.  Longer pieces of writing that go into writing portfolios would continue and using the writing grids is effective for those pieces as the child gets fairly individualised feedback.  Longer pieces of writing in the English books will still be based on a certain objective so WCF will still be relevant. FIT activities still work in English, for example a good one to use is ‘Spot the error’ as this is a good way of getting the children to edit their work.  Your FIT task for a group could simply be, check your work for errors “I know there are some.” This gets them to think critically about their work and edit appropriately. 

What if the feedback is very individual?

As previously mentioned, if you have a large amount of different misconceptions in a lesson then I suggest you look carefully at the objective for the lesson (or even your own teaching!).  One lesson shouldn’t cover loads of objectives.  Bigger pieces of writing in portfolios will address misconceptions based on a build up of objectives taught prior to the big piece of writing.

What about big writes?

Big writes in portfolios would be the same as now and will allow for the teacher to see progression through writing.  Continuing to use the writing grids will support your future teaching. 

Does it work with foundation subjects?

Definitely! These are the subjects, if we are honest, where you are more likely to write the same things in lots of different books.  Why do this?  Use the feedback sheet and address common things on there.  For me, my feedback in foundation subjects has improved massively through using this method. 

How does this work for when HLTAs are covering?

HLTAs are more likely to write common statements in children’s books when marking so essentially it’s the same as for foundation subjects.  I think this could save our HLTAs time but more importantly empower them further feedback wise. 

We use maths tracking grids, how do they fit into this?

This was a massive bonus that by accident I discovered.  Because my Whole Class Feedback sheets have the lesson objectives written on the top of each one when it came to highlighting grids all I needed to do was go through the sheets and if a child isn’t mentioned in any of the misconception boxes then I highlight their grid.  There was no need to sift through books in order to highlight grids at the end of each unit.  Saved me so much time! 

Any further questions then please ask.