index cards
Originally uploaded by kparra
I have been encouraging my pupils to practise condensing notes on to index cards, as a way of helping them to revise. I am prticularly keen to get them thinking visually, and spatially, So, I got my second years to try drawing a simple sketch map of South America on to an index card, set up in portrait layout. They had to add in some key points-major cities, the Andes, the Amazon, Equator, Tropic of Capricorn, etc-all from memory. They had several minutes first to look over their atlas first. The standard was very wide ranging-some were very accurate and detailed, others naive and barely recognisable as South America, with little sense of scale or relative position. That’s not a criticsm of the pupils, but an indication of how different children process and retain spatial data. I shall upload some images of their maps over the weekend. One thing I wanted to find out was, whether there was a significant difference in the mental maps of boys and girls-my first impression is that there was… but I need to check each pupil’s index card carefully first. To be continued…………
We received a letter to say that our younger son, Fraser, will be part of the random sample to take part in the SSA for Maths and Core Skills. The survey studies what pupils across Scotland know and can do in certain subjects at important stages of their education. As the accompanying information sheet sets out, the SSA aims to collect accurate, up to date information that will allow the Government to plan and deliver policies to benefit all pupils, understand some of the factors which influence attainment and achievement and to target resources.
SSA was introduced in 2005 as part of Assessment for Learning, since when it has surveyed:
English language (2005)
Social subjects (enquiry skills) (2006), and
Science, science literacy and core skills (2007).
Full details can be found here.
class work 001
Originally uploaded by jmmcdgll
I have started a gallery of classwork on Flickr. I ‘ll put up a selection of pupil work, ranging from drafts to fair copies which can be annotated to highlight useful comments. This fits with the aim of formative assessment, which is to use feedback effectively to encourage further learning. By showing examples of good practice, this can also help provide pupils with models they can adopt.
