RAG123 as formative planning

I'm at risk of becoming a bit evangelical about RAG123 marking, but despite repeated pleas for balance to my enthusiasm on this I've still never EVER found anyone who has tried it that doesn't find it both beneficial to them and students and NOT a drain on their workload. Also so far nobody who has tried it has told me they are stopping! (or maybe they've both stopped RAG123 and stopped talking to me too!)

If you don't know what I'm talking about with RAG123 then see my earlier posts here, here and here. And also this post from Mr Benney (@Benneypenyrheol), who is almost as enthusiastic about RAG123 as I am!

Without a doubt for me, moving from what I would have classed as "good" marking every 2-3 weeks with formative comments to daily RAG123 has improved my practice, AND reduced my overall marking & planning workload.

Fomative marking becomes formative planning
A really important aspect is that having seen the books after one lesson I can react in the next one. I change/tweak plans, I target questions, I provide extra support, I revisit topics, I go and have a chat with specific students.

The students know I am responding to what they did in the last lesson - they link my reponses in the next lesson to their actions in the last, and this also shapes their actions in the next.

I'm finding that I don't need to give a worked example and model it as part of marking - this can be done as a natural part of discussions in my next lesson, writing it while marking serves no extra benefit.

I also don't necessarily need to write specific questions in response in their books - so long as I react in the lesson content and they know what they should be doing next (but that doesn't always need to be written down while marking). Yes this brings with it some issues in terms of evidence of feedback when doing a book trawl, but come and talk to my classes - I challenge anyone to find a student that doesn't know what they need to do to improve.

So they know what to do to improve, how does RAG123 do that?
Is it possible that all students really need to DO to improve is "put enough effort in and try your best to achieve the learning objectives in each lesson" and perhaps "let your teacher know when you haven't understood something"?

If I write in a student's book "you need to improve your algebra skills" exactly how does it help them really? If they struggle with algebra then just telling them that they need to improve it is basically just stating the obvious and misses a vital element of how to improve.

If I correct some work and give a model answer without other explanations/support, etc then that could just be showing them how to solve that problem, not addressing the misconception that caused the original error.

However if I am shaping lesson tasks to help them with their algebra skills then really what they need to do to improve is to put in as much effort they can to the tasks that I am guiding them through. They know that so long as they are putting in plenty of effort and trying to do the tasks I am planning they will make progress, because the plans are based around what they have shown me they can do and therefore what they need next.

Therefore I believe the single most important bit of feedback in RAG123 is the effort grade (RAG for us, but others do it differently). That's the bit the student has direct control over. If they are trying hard then it's up to me to design tasks that maximise learning. However if they're not trying hard then the key step for improvement may well be just try harder first.

I do give them other pointers too, they do get written comments, but often they are very short, and backed up with verbal discussion.

Errors don't accumulate
The most significant thing for me with RAG123 is I can see clearly if a class, a group of students or an individual is working at the level I expect for them. If not I can do something about it. However with RAG123 I do something about it next lesson, not in 2 weeks when the misconception has compounded to make bigger errors, or when the student has completely forgotten the thought process that took them there. Really importantly it's before we move off a topic, so I can re-teach or revisit aspects before leaving them.

For example I could draw the following graph for understanding over time with "traditional" marking - by this I mean big detailed feedback done once every 2-3 weeks.

Before you say it, yes I know learning is non-linear, but lets think of this as a rhetorical picture!

The important part is that with traditional marking, corrections must be big if the student drifts from the intended understanding. I may be exaggerating a bit and it may well be that the traditional marking does close any gaps perfectly between intended and acquired understanding, but equally it may not fully close the gap, simply because it's not timely enough. It's also harder to then check again that the gap has closed - does that happen in the next 2-3 week cycle? That may be too late.

By contrast a RAG123 graph might look like this

Obviously I'm idealising - I like RAG123! But doesn't it make sense that lots of little corrections stand much better chance of getting back or staying on target than fewer bigger ones?

Will it work for any subject?
I honestly don't see why not. Most people I talk to about this respond initially with "well it might work for maths but we mark things differently." Actually I know people using it in science, RE, English, MFL - how much more different can you get?

If you think it might work then why not try it? If you think it won't work why not try it anyway - within a week you'll know your students better than ever!

Actually you don't even have to do it daily - every 2 lessons or every 3 lessons with self assessment every lesson would still be beneficial.

I should stop sounding quite so much like a salesman on this - and my next post will be on something other than RAG123 - I promise!!

However, seriously, if you don't like RAG123 please let me know - I'm keen to understand its limitations and put some balance to my sales pitch on this!

Highs, lows and hopes

I realise it's a bit of a cliche at this time of year to write a post reflecting on the year just gone and hopes for the future, however here's mine!

High points of 2013

1. Discovering twitter for CPD - Quite simply this has transformed my practice, made me more reflective and encouraged me to try new things. Started in April with no followers - ended 2013 with just shy of 500 - and I'm flattered by every one. To be honest though I don't care about the followers - for me what's most important is that hardly a day goes by that doesn't include spotting some kind of new idea that I can apply in my classroom or department
2. Blogging for CPD - as with twitter, blogging has transformed my practice and made me much more reflective. Also with a growing readership and the feedback I get from it I have become more confident that the things my department and I are doing are good. In fact in many cases we seem to be right at the front of new developments, which is really exciting. I started my blog from scratch in April, and ended the year with over 16500 page views, covering literally every continent. I know this is small compared to some education bloggers, but in truth I'm amazed and flattered that anyone reads it at all! I find the reflective side so powerful that I honestly think I'd continue if nobody read it.
3. Discovering the #RAG123 approach to marking. This was a late discovery in 2013, in fact I only started it at the end of November. However the benefits I have seen and the positive feedback I have had from everyone who has tried it makes it one of the most important things that has happened to my professional practice since I started teaching. My books are now better marked than they ever have been, students, SLT and Ofsted have given positive feedback on it and I've not had to take a single book home to mark since November (AND I actually feel more in control of my workload than ever as a result of this).
4. Delivery of a second consecutive year of school record GCSE results, breaking into 70% for the first time in the school's history for A*-C (by reaching 76.8%). This was a real vindication of the hard work my department have been putting in, and the improvements in general morale and confidence within the team since this result has been delivered just can't be beaten.
5. Life beyond school. I've taken better control of my work-life balance since September, though a recent Ofsted visit didn't do it any favours! As part of this I've been able to spend more time with my family, and have even managed to take part in my first cyclocross season in 20 years. I'm now looking forward to more family time and cycling through 2014 and hopefully will be able to be a bit more competitive in next winter's season!

Lows of 2013

Fortunately I've had very few of these at a personal level.

All teachers will be able to identify a student or students who didn't quite reach your hopes for them. If you can't do this then either you're truly awesome or you're not being optimistic enough for the students! I can think of a few this year... An A-level student who had the potential for an A if they performed to their true best in an exam, but who misread a question and dropped to a B. A GCSE student who turned a corner in attitude and behaviour just too late to make enough difference and just missed out on a grade C. There are a few others in a similar vein too.... I know I did my very best for them, but it's always a little disappointing when an aspiration doesn't quite match the reality. I wish them all the very best for the future.

I was disappointed when a poorly judged briefing by some of our senior team caused a big setback in the morale of my department at the start of the summer term. Fortunately the other good things that we have been doing meant that we bounced back faster than most in the school. However it was truly shocking to me how quickly the team morale nosedived following only a few misjudged words, and how much conscious effort it took to turn it back round.

A bit left field this but I was also really disappointed when Lance Armstrong finally admitted his doping offences. His initial story of cancer recovery to win the Tour De France the first time was incredibly significant to me due to it coinciding with the diagnosis and recovery from cancer of one of my very close family. While in the end I can't claim that I was still a believer in Armstrong's "squeaky clean" status, the breadth and depth of his admissions and the clear and blatant lies he told in such a public way to so many people was astonishing and extremely disillusioning.

Hopes for 2014
With headings as per my resolutions proforma (see this post), here are my intentions for 2014...

• Continue: Blogging and using Twitter for CPD - it has had such a positive and energising impact on my professional life that it's definitely worth the time it takes.
• Stop: Working so much at weekends. I still spend too much time on work tasks over the weekend, and this harms the time I spend on other activities and with my family - I started cutting this down from September 2013, but it needs to reduce further through this year.
• Start: Really embedding SOLO into my practice - initial experiments have been positive, I now need to shift it into core practice rather than something just touched on every now and then - it'll be more meaningful and relevant to the students that way, and I'll get better at it too.
• Take a risk by: Organising a teachmeet or other CPD event for people beyond my department and school. If you're interested in attending then watch this space....
• Improve: My marking dialogue by further developing RAG123 with my classes - I've noticed that students interact with it more as they become more familiar with it. I want this to continue.
• Persevere with: Trying at least one new thing in my classroom per week - it's too easy to slip into old tried and tested methods, and at times it takes a concerted effort to do something different. There are loads of ideas out there - I need to make sure that I remember to keep doing this.
• Enjoy: Life in all it's guises! It's about more than just work..!

I hope you had a good 2013 and that 2014 will be successful for you too - I'd love to hear of your resolutions and how you progress with them!

Using SOLO in a maths classroom

I've blogged on SOLO before (here and here), and it's still very early days in rolling this out beyond a few experiments, but it's working and developing...

Here are a few of the things we've been trying...

SOLO to structure revision:
The hierarchy of understanding that SOLO brings is a natural match to structuring revision. In helping my year 9 middle ability group to prepare for a test I put together some  sheets that tried to help them to collect and organise their knowledge & skills.

I used SOLO to guide them trough it:

• Prestructural - do they remember that we've covered that topic?
• Unistructural - can they remember one fact about it?
• Multistructural - can they remember any more facts about it?
• Relational - can they combine these facts to answer some questions about it?
• Extended Abstract - are there any links to other things that will help them to remember the key points?

I didn't want to guide them too much so I left most of the boxes blank, but gave example questions for them to complete in the Relational box, so they could prove their understanding. A completed sheet looks like this:

I tried this with the class with only a limited explanation of the stages - just presented them with the sheets and encouraged them to use their notes or other resources in the room to help get from Prestructural to Relational, pushing to Extended abstract where possible. The students reacted in a really positive way - they really liked the way they could demonstrate increasing understanding. The weaker students also liked that they could demonstrate some understanding even if they couldn't get all of the way to the bottom of the sheet. They recognised that they needed to find more of the multistructural facts and link them up in order to answer the questions posed. As a result I will definitely be using this approach again with this group.

More advanced revision
I have also started using a similar approach with my year 13 group. Initially this was a relatively informal process, with the SOLO icons scribbled on the board and student lead notes being made in class. Like this:

Following the success of the year 9 sheets, and a good response from the A-level students I've now got to the next step and created some proper A-level revision sheets - like this:

Tried it out with yr 13 on Friday - again a really positive student response, meaning I'll create more.

SOLO as a problem solving tool
I've also used SOLO a few times to help students to solve unfamiliar problems. For example without actually teaching anything about arc length or sector areas I put this slide up on the board:

The class then followed a "Think, Pair, Share" type activity to generate enough facts, individually and as a whole class. They then linked them up to allow the problem to be solved.

The second slide (arc length) needed much less discussion as the class had already accessed the key facts, and reached the solution more quickly.

Form there, without me actually telling the class how to do it at any point in the lesson, they all went on to confidently answer a range of questions relating to arc lengths and sector areas.

SOLO as a starter
We've also looked at using SOLO to collect prior knowledge on a topic at the start of a lesson. This can be really useful with a new group, or when coming across a topic that you've not touched on with a group before. Just put the icons on the board, write the topic name next to the prestructural blob and then see what facts the students can give to you and what links they can make between the facts.

SOLO as a Plenary
Part way through a lesson or at the end - just ask the students where on the SOLO taxonomy they think they are, how they know that and what they need to do to move to the next level - they soon get the hang of the icons and the conversations are great.

How are you using SOLO?
Do you have any comments or suggestions - I'm really keen to know how others are using SOLO in maths and in other areas - please comment or drop me a line on twitter.

Spreading #RAG123

UPDATED Feb 2014 - presentation updated for delivery to Teachmeet Solihull, including more recent feedback from people trying it and an "FAQ" section...

The original form of this presentation was created for sharing at Teachmeet Oxford in December 2013. I never actually delivered it due to an Ofsted inspection that happened at my school which meant I couldn't attend the Teachmeet.

I've now updated the presentation, which also includes the positive Ofsted feedback on the RAG123 approach to marking.

Find the powerpoint slideshow here

My original & most recent posts on RAG123 can be found here, and here

If you try or share RAG123 please let me know how it goes, positive or negative - comment here, send me a tweet @ListerKev or use the #RAG123 hashtag.

RAG to riches!

Sorry for the awful title - couldn't resist it!

This is simply a follow up to last week's post (found here) about RAG123 marking....

Quite simply this approach to marking has been such a revelation to me that I can't shut up about it. Two weeks in and I still can't see a downside...

Key points:

• Books are rated Red, Amber or Green for effort and 1, 2 or 3 for understanding after EVERY lesson. Ideally students self assess this and you then review.
• Limited extra formative comments/corrections can be made but the emphasis is on keeping the process quick - remember that you can make a note and talk to a specific child or group in the next lesson rather than writing a big response.
• A full class set should take between 5 and 15 minutes depending on the class size and the number of extra comments you make.
• The books don't have to be reviewed on the same day, just before the next lesson.

Benefits seen for pupils:

• Students REALLY value the feedback. They read a lot into the RAG effort grades and appreciate the differences between working hard to make progress with a difficult topic (e.g. G3) and cruising with an easy one (e.g. R1).
• All but the very least engaged/most challenging students respond to low effort grades by increasing effort without the need for sanctions/rewards - those that participate in low level disruption reduce and stop this because they want to "get a green today". Other actions would need to be taken for the most challenging, but they stand out so much more they may come round with a bit more time.
• Effort put into covered lessons is much higher when the class know that their work will be reviewed before their normal teacher sees them again. As a result covered lessons are more productive.
• Students become more aware of the effort levels they are putting in and how that links to their understanding - they see success, want more of it and continue to try harder.
• Students know that if they write a comment or question their teacher will see it and can respond either verbally or in writing in the very next lesson - student/teacher communication improves massively.

Benefits seen for staff:

• It actually reduces workload!! 
• It's so much easier to find a large number of 10 minute marking slots in a week than it is to find a block of 2 hours to detail mark a class set of books.
• Much better understanding of what each individual student has actually DONE in each lesson - makes a big impact on planning for the next lesson and differentiation becomes more specific.
• Faster response to student misconceptions/misunderstandings or lack of effort minimises the negative effects and maximises class progress.

Negatives:

• I've still not found ANY!!
• To date I know of around 20 people doing this and not a single person has said it harms their workload or doesn't benefit the students.
• In fact so far EVERYONE who has tried it has only seen benefits both for themselves and their students!

In the last 2 weeks I've had my usual HoD timetable of 22 lessons, plus I've observed and fed back on 9 lessons from across my department meaning that my workload should have been stretched really thin. However by using RAG123 I've ended the week with ALL of my class books marked after every lesson and I've not taken a single book home to mark.

I encourage everyone - just try it, even if it's just for one group initially. If you don't see a benefit within 3 lessons with that group please let me know - I need a more balanced view of this!!

All comments/feedback welcome as always! 

RAG to clean up marking

Marking and feedback is a perpetual challenge for a teacher. We've done lots of work developing this in my department but a lot of that has been on processes for checkpoint feedback - something that happens once every few weeks. We've come a long way as a department but the ongoing conflict between good marking and the time taken to do it always tugs at the wrong side of the work/life balance

However in a fantastic example of how Twitter can spark ideas and contribute to ongoing CPD I read this post recently (as recommended by Alan Patel in this string of tweets...)

I really liked the colour coded dots idea described in the post - but it didn't feel detailed enough - is amber due to lack of understanding or lack of effort? Then it occurred to me that we already have a marking guide in my department that we use for homeworks. Colours (Red, Amber Green) are used to indicate our view of the effort made, and numbers (1,2,3) are used to indicate accuracy/understanding shown. As such G1 is excellent effort and understanding where R3 is little effort and no understanding. Note it is possible for students to work really hard and not understand (G3), or to fully understand but put no effort in (R1) - these are important distinctions.

A trial was born
For the whole of last week I decided I would mark all books after every lesson using RAG123 codes. The emphasis was on a quick temperature check, perhaps an extra comment/correction here or there. As such a full set of 30 books takes between 10 and 15 minutes.

I'm keen to emphasise that at the start of the week I was not sure if I could sustain this, or if it was worth it. Thoughts like "15 mins per lesson, that's over an hour for 5 lessons worth" kept creeping in - had I bitten off more than I could chew?

However I know many primary colleagues routinely mark everything that their class produces in a day - if it's possible for primary why not for secondary?

I thought is was worth a try to see if it was even remotely possible. I'm a HoD - I teach slightly fewer lessons than the rest of my department - If I can't make it stick I certainly can't suggest the rest of the department try it! (For reference though I tried this in a week that I'm also carrying out our school's lesson observation round - as such many of my PPA periods have been taken up with obs, feedback or paperwork associated with this.

Alongside me @robewilliams79 also tried this, and he teaches a full timetable. He has been just as successful and is just as positive about this.

Once I'd done the first round of RAG123 marking in each book I explained the process to the students and from then on they have been scoring themselves with a RAG123 at the end of each lesson (often with a comment to explain why they have given themselves that rating). I am now just reviewing their self assessment and agreeing/disagreeing as needed - with occasional comments of explanation as appropriate.

Time to do it
I'm surprised to say it's actually quite easy to fit this in to a working week!

Firstly the fact it only takes about 10-15 mins for a full set means that it can be squeezed in at various times of the day. Unlike an extended detailed marking session that might take 1 or 2 hours of concentration this can be done in any 10-15 minute window you find during the day. For example I found myself with a spare 10 minutes before registration on Tuesday so whizzed through my year 9 books. I dashed through my year 11 books in an otherwise unused dead 15 minutes between the end of the school day and a staff briefing. On Friday I rounded off the week by doing 3 sets of books inside 45 minutes (I was interrupted 4 or 5 times during that) - This meant I have zero marking to do this weekend.

I am actually finding that the short, sharp nature of this allows me to make much better use of my PPA time or other fragments of hours that dot around a working week. Also the satisfaction of knowing that all books are 100% up to date is massive.

Quality of feedback
You're probably thinking that RAG123 isn't detailed enough feedback for the students to find useful? However because I've seen their work each day I can react directly with my planning for the next lesson, or with an extra comment or two. For one student who managed to fly under my radar and do almost no work in one lesson (despite outwardly giving the impression of working) I could make sure I gave him some real focus in the next.

Vitally because it's instant it's not about reviewing habits or errors that have compounded over a period of time - it's about responding quickly, with timely interventions to ensure things stay on track.

It also makes a real marking dialogue possible as the students know that you can respond quickly. This is a great example of a dialogue this week as a result of this process...

Her initial self assessment of G2/3 - my response and question, her response and my follow up all happened within 24 hours! This is not the only example.

Pupil view
This is simple - they love it! The speed and directness of this simple feedback connects to them really clearly. I've found it's really motivated groups that can be guilty of cruising a bit. When a group of students arrive saying "I'm definitely going to get a green today" and "yeah me too" you know you've made a connection.

One group were being a bit distracted so I reminded them mid lesson that at the end I was going to ask them to RAG123 their work. I just asked them to consider if they felt they would be able to honestly write G or even A if they continued with their current effort level. The final 25 minutes of that lesson saw a marked increase in effort across the class.

Long view
Clearly one week is far from a detailed trial but the benefits seen in that week make me want to keep going and share it further. So far for me the benefits appear to be:

• Improved attitude and motivation across all of my KS3 and 4 classes
• Improved depth of understanding of what each student has done each lesson - a real eye opener!
• Faster reaction to mistakes and misconceptions evident in written work
• Faster reaction to students cruising or opting out of aspects of lessons
• My planning has improved & become more closely targeted as a result of better understanding of the student's progress and understanding
• Better use of time during the day as spare 10 minutes can be used effectively for marking and feedback.
• In a 50 minute PPA period 3 sets of books can be reviewed and feedback given!
• Feel generally happier about workload as the pile of marking is much less daunting

Downsides are relatively few - think it just needs a commitment and a decision to do it. Note I'm not saying that all books have to be marked on the same day as their lesson, just that they should be given a RAG123 before the NEXT lesson with that group - depending on the timetable that could give a few days to find the 10-15 minutes in. Admittedly it may not always be possible to do this after every lesson, but missing the odd lesson is less significant if the pattern is there that most lessons are marked.

Is that all the feedback they get?
No - the plan is still that students continue to get feedback in the form described in this post at least once per half term. This means that in addition to the RAG123 marking I need to find time to do a more detailed mark/feedback once every few weeks - but as I'll have seen the books regularly I already know this will be quicker as I'll already have a much better view of the progress that each student is making. In addition we already have a departmental approach to feedback from all tests and assessments to give formative guidance from them, which adds to the mix of feedback (described in this post).

Overall view
In case you hadn't spotted I'm sold on this - for the first time ever I'm actually enthused by marking - it's become both interesting, worthwhile and relevant. It's moved from something I had to do to something that I want to do. It also makes me reflect on my lessons more effectively as I can instantly get an accurate view of what they actually did as opposed to what I thought they did, and I can link it more closely to the decisions I made during the lesson.

Right now I actually don't see a downside to this - bizarrely marking more often is not more work, it just sounds like it!

As always all comments welcome... add them here or use the #RAG123 hastag in twitter.

Make it visible - colour coding progress

As John Hattie says "Know thy impact" If you don't know what I'm talking about see this video or get a look at one of his really interesting "Visible learning" series of books....

Progress walls
We've previously done this for year 11 but this year we're making the progress of all our classes visible... every classroom now has a progress wall, and on it is a really clear summary of the progress that each class taught in that room.

With a tweak to our departmental spreadsheets we have made it easy to print out these colour charts for all of our classes. The colours represent the most recent assessment grade or level vs target. We use colours to avoid the issue of students worrying about others either seeing their target or their assessment levels. It gives an easy way for staff and students to see both their latest status and their progress during the year. They look like this...

This KS3 example illustrates that some students in this class are well above target, some on target and others well below target. It provokes powerful discussions about what students will do next to improve. I've even had a student who has a well above target blue colour code in their first assessment ask if another colour can be added so they can go beyond blue! (Purple is in the pipeline!)

Progress over time

It  becomes even more powerful when more data is present - You can see from the yr 11 one here that in general the class has made good progress between the two tests shown. 

In fact even when you look at a large part of the year group the colours allow a good judgement of progress, and easy selection of those that appear to be stationary.

The students like it
The next example here is a completed version from last year, the format is a little different as this one was done by hand rather than automated for the current ones. (note this is in advance of the final grades; 95% of this class met or exceed target in the end)

You can see that progress isn't always linear and isn't always secure. That's fine so long as a discussion is had and the students know what to do to improve - this kind of thing has to be integrated with good feedback and support.

Publishing a new sheet with a class always generates a good discussion in the room - the students always want to see what colour they are and then want to talk about next steps. It's also a great thing to refer to when reminding students on the need to revise or do homework!

Visibility helps for staff too - it helps to focus the mind if one student is clearly not making the same progress as others.

If you don't do something like this already then I urge you to give it a go - I suspect the more visible you can make progress the more progress you can make.

As always, all comments welcome...