My Tenets of Leadership (and Life)

I studied and trained in the Korean martial art of Tae Kwon Do for about 13 years, gaining a 2nd dan Black Belt along he way. Unfortunately a recurring knee injury alongside training times that are incompatible with my current job has basically stopped me doing this for the last few years. However there is an aspect of Tae Kwon Do that stays with me.

"What are your values?"

A reasonably common interview question. Or perhaps "what are the important qualities of a leader?"

When first contemplating a management interview in my engineering career I needed to think about these questions, and after a while (probably as part of a Tae Kwon Do training session) it occurred to me that I already knew 5 key terms that just about summed up my thoughts and key values. They are taught as the 5 tenets of Tae Kwon Do...

Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self control, Indomitable spirit.

No matter how much I think about it I have never been able to beat this as a set of 5 values for a leader, or for day to day life for that matter. I'd like to break them down and explain how I think this applies to leadership (though I'll admit that in many ways they're fairly self explanatory).

Courtesy

At all levels, in all contexts, treating people as I would like to be treated. Giving people the chance to do the right thing. This means allowing time for them to come round to proposals, not just writing them off if they don't respond positively straight away. Making sure I don't shoot the messenger if something goes wrong. It also means giving people a voice in shaping changes that involve them, and being polite, saying please and thank you. I try hard to avoid making unreasonable requests and try to remember that others may have different pressures and priorities in their lives than I do. Delegate genuinely, if I pass on responsibility then let them get on with it without interfering.

Integrity

Being true to myself. Never asking others to do something that I wouldn't be willing to do. Uphold high standards in all aspects of professional life. Don't compromise on my principles to get an easy ride. End each day knowing that I have tried my best, even if I've not achieved what I set out to do. Basically make sure I can look myself in the eye when I do up my tie in the morning.

Perseverance

Work hard, particularly when things are difficult. Mistakes will be made and problems will occur, but it's more about how I deal with these challenges than debating the causes of them. When faced with a setback I try to be the first to start planning for recovery. If that doesn't work, I have to try again, and again.

Self control

Don't micro manage, I need to be willing to step back and allow others to lead where they have greater knowledge or skill. I need to make sure I don't over estimate my own abilities, and not over commit myself or my team. Even when things get frantic I try to keep a level head. At least give the outward impression of remaining calm when under pressure - a team will use the responses of their leader as a cue. When all are under stress (e.g. Observations/inspections) a good leader needs to set the tone for the department - if I'm clearly massively stressed then the team will be too. Conversely if at these times I can be outwardly calm and take time to offer help/support others it is a real sign of strength and the team will perform better as a result.

Indomitable spirit

Being brave! Taking on a challenge. Not being intimidated by reputations or titles, or even by expectations or normal modes of working. Remembering that my views are just as valid as everyone else's. Take risks by following my instincts and arguing my case when I need to.

Overall I struggle to beat these 5 core values. I have come back to them at various points in my life and have always found it useful to consider whether a particular course of action fits with them - best fit is always the best decision. They might seem a bit cheesy or contrived, but this really is how I see it. Feel free to ignore or comment as you see fit...

Effect size and #RAG123

I first decided to do a trial of RAG123 in November, as described here. My thinking was that if it worked I'd share it more widely. The results were so positive that I've actually never stopped using this approach since - it's become a vital part of my marking and feedback approach, but also forms a massive part of my planning too. If you're new to it all and need a fuller description of RAG123 then see this post.

The result of just giving it a go for a week in November was that I have really struggled to find clean and clear objective data to compare a before and after to assess the impact of RAG123 on pupil progress. While I am confident that students like it, I like it, and it feels beneficial, it would be nice to have some proof that it's actually beneficial.

A prompt from Mr Benney..
I had been fairly content to just carry on with using RAG123 and accept that a clean data set was lost to me. However then Damian Benney (@benneypenyrheol) not only picked up RAG123 but then did this fantastic bit of work on a 5min Research plan for RAG123 (here), including crunching some data to work out an effect size of 0.73. (yes effect sizes need to be used with caution, but it's an indicator to go along with all the other feel good positives)

With this great data and apparently massively positive outcome to inspire me I revisited our departmental spreadsheets to see if I could find some clean comparable data. With a bit of searching I found what I was looking for. 2 parallel year 8 classes, nominally of similar ability, one taught by a teacher who started to use RAG123 early, and another who started later. This meant there was one full assessment that RAG123 was pretty much the only difference.

Results for comparison
The two groups have done 3 assessment tests so far this year - they sit identical tests during the same week of term. Scores are out of 50, and the mean scores for the two groups are as follows:

As can be seen in tests 1 and 2 the groups achieved broadly similar scores at or around the low 30s, but in test 3 group 1 takes a step up to 37.1.

Same teacher with/without RAG123
Group 1 had "normal" feedback, marking and planning up to test 2, but their books were marked and lessons planned using RAG123 for the content of test 3. Taking the step change of +4.7 marks from the average of tests 1 and 2 to the test 3 level, and dividing by the standard deviation calculated across all 3 tests (8.1) we get an effect size of +0.58. A really pleasing figure.

It's worth also noting that the standard deviation for test 3 on its own is just 6.4, compared with 7.4 and 9.3 for tests 1 and 2 respectively. As such the average score is better, and it is also less variable, in fact the lowest score on test 3 is 5 marks higher than on test 1, and 10 higher than test 2! This lower variability in scores is echoed in interquartile range, which is 9 marks for test 3 compared to 12.5 and 11.75 for tests 1 and 2.

In summary the results for test 3 suggests that RAG123 has had the following effects when group 1's performance is compared with its own prior results:

• Raised the average mark by almost 5 marks, so almost 10% better (note median mark rose by almost 6 marks)
• Made the group's marks more consistent as demonstrated by a reduced standard deviation and interquartile range.
• Had an estimated effect size of +0.58

Different teacher with parallel groups with/without RAG123

This one is probably slightly sketchier, as there are more variables at play given 2 different teachers and different classes, however I'll have a go...

Group 2 was in receipt of "normal" feedback, marking and planning through all tests 1, 2 and 3.

For group 1 the mean score for the first 2 tests is 32.4, with a standard deviation of 8.4. For group 2 the equivalent mean for the first 2 tests is 31.8, with a standard deviation of 6.6. As such without RAG123 I'm broadly taking these two classes as performing at a comparable level.  (note I fully acknowledge that there is a relatively large discrepancy between test 1 and 2 for group 2 - which could make this bit of analysis a bit uncertain - what can I say, it's real data and all I've got for this analysis. If you want to ignore this data then feel free! I believe what may have happened is that group 2 were shocked by their poor scores in test 1, put more effort in test 2 and took their foot back off the gas in test 3.)

Group 1 scored on average 4.1 marks higher than Group 2 in Test 3. The standard deviation for both groups combined in test 3 was 6.9, giving an apparent effect size of 0.59.

In summary the results suggest that RAG123 may have contributed to the following effects when group 1's results are compared with those of group 2, which is nominally a parallel set, and has comparable prior results:

• Raised mean mark by about 4 marks, approx 8% (note median mark was actually 7 marks higher)
• Given an estimated effect size of +0.59
• However given the greater variability in marks for group 2 there is a level of uncertainty in this data.

Visible progress

Perhaps more powerful than all of these cold hard stats though are the colour progress charts we use for these groups (colours indicate progress to target). I've tweeted these kinds of thing before but it's quite stark when you compare the two groups in this particular study...

Group 1 looks like this: (red, yellow & orange are below target, green, blue and purple are on or above)

Group 2 looks like this: (red, yellow & orange are below target, green, blue and purple are on or above)

In terms of perfomance to target it is clear that group 1 are doing MUCH better in test 3 than either group has ever done.

Overall effects

As an overview all the data analysed so far supports the feel that RAG123 is effective. I'm sure the data has holes in it, but ALL data collected in education has that because it deals with individual students and individual teachers, and it is impossible to completely eliminate other factors from the experiment.

The data shown here undoubtedly supports the fact that RAG123 improves progress, both when the teacher is kept constant and marking changed or when the test & type of class is kept constant. Taking Mr Benney's study into account that's 3 analyses that show effect size a good step bigger than 0.5. Whether the effect size is really 0.58, 0.73 or another value is probably beside the point...

 The bottom line is it's demonstrably beneficial AND it's better for overall workload!!

Once you get started with RAG123 it just feels right. The students respond really positively and REALLY value the little comments and dialogue that develops with the teacher. We've even had one student choose to make a child protection related disclosure by writing it down in their maths book - In later discussions it became clear that they chose this route because they knew their maths teacher reviewed their books daily and would respond to it! Clearly this is a sad situation for the child, but they're now getting the help they need and it's a powerful endorsement of the relationship that RAG123 helps to build.

As a further example of the kind of thing RAG123 can do here is one student's self assessment comments from Thursday this week:

He knew he'd not worked hard enough and was honest enough to both say so and apologise. (In truth though he had done more than quite a few others, and I'd have probably given him an amber for effort, but I very rarely raise a pupil's self assessed effort level - if they think they could have worked harder then who am I to argue!)

On Friday he arrived in lesson with a completely different attitude, completed masses of work and left me this comment:

I didn't give him a sanction for lack of effort - he self assessed and knew he needed to improve on yesterday... He then delivered on it! This kind of self reflection and reaction is commonplace for RAG123 marking.

What's stopping you?

Frankly if you're still skeptical that RAG123 is worthwhile then I have to wonder what more evidence is needed!!

If you've not tried it yet I strongly urge you to give it a go. 4 months since the #RAG123 hashtag was created and I'm losing track of the number of people using this approach. However I've still NEVER found anyone who has tried it that says they want to stop. In fact I've NEVER had anyone who has tried it say it is anything other than beneficial on all levels!!

For those of you that have tried it - if you've got data of before/after that could be analysed it would be really interesting to see that too!

As always all thoughts & comments appreciated....

Outstandingly ordinary

A few days ago I had one of those spine tingling lessons that just 'worked'. This kind of thing is the life blood of teaching - it's a perk of the job you can't properly relate to non-teachers. A lesson that clicks makes all the hard work we put in worth it. Frustratingly though it's really difficult to predict when these sparkling lessons will happen. Sometimes they are the result of massive and meticulous planning, but at other times they can be a complete surprise and happen despite patchy planning. In all honesty the one last week was a complete surprise - the planning I put into it was nothing special and really did not deserve the results it delivered for me or the class, particularly given the context/timing of delivery.

"Can we have a fun lesson sir?"
Picture it for a moment... a middle ability year 9 group, in the very last lesson on the last day of half term - they're are about to have a week off and want to wind down, frankly so do I! They came in with the predictable "It's our last lesson sir, can we have a 'fun' lesson", which was met with my equally predictable response of "Of course it'll be fun, we're doing maths!" Up my sleeve I had nothing more than their first ever lesson on trigonometry...

No gimmicks*, nothing flash, no student lead discovery, no card sorts, no videos, no animations, no movement around the classroom, just a basic lesson where I tell/show them something and they then practise it. You could even describe it as a chalk and talk lesson - I explained what trig is, what it does, and showed them some worked examples, and then gave them some time to have a go at it themselves while I moved around the room offering support and checking progress. At the end we self assessed by checking answers and the students did a RAG123 rating and comment. (*Alright I did use a chalk pen to write SOHCAHTOA on all of their desks before the start, but they've seen me do similar before so I don't count it as a gimmick!)

By the end of the lesson the whole class had made massive progress; they could ALL use trigonometry to find a side length in a right angled triangle by selecting the correct trig ratio and correct calculation to do. This is something which NONE of them could do at the start (I had asked at the start - nobody had even heard of trig before other than perhaps something mentioned as 'really hard' by a parent or older sibling).

For the record I fully acknowledge this is teaching a process and not a deeper understanding of trig at this stage, however to expand on this requires a bit more discussion which would take me away from the central point of this post. I promise I'll return to that theme with a future post...

Big grins
They all left at the end with big grins having experienced success with this skill, many thanking me for the lesson, and I am optimistic that they will be able to recall and build on it after half term (though we'll have to wait and see). What's more, despite the apparently dry content I had not a single comment/complaint about not doing something 'fun' (usually student code for playing some kind of brainless game or watching a film), and they were all engaged and working hard throughout the lesson. 

Not that I'm hung up on levels but to give some perspective for those non-maths folks out there, this class have target levels in the range of high level 5 to low level 7. Trigonometry is rated as level 8, and as such this is a topic that should stretch even the best in the class. By most predictions it shouldn't have worked - surely they weren't in the mood for this at the end of a long half term? Surely they needed something more 'engaging?'

Only ordinary

I'll re-emphasise, this was their very last lesson before a week off, at the end of a 6 week half term. Frankly if a student teacher had suggested doing this lesson at that timing of the week/term I may well have questioned their judgement, but it worked! Basically against all the odds given timing in the day, week, term, and pre-conceptions about 'good' activities a completely ordinary, very traditional lesson had delivered outstanding outcomes. 

I'm not writing this to proclaim myself as some kind of super-teacher, I think I'm fairly ordinary. This lesson on paper had no right to be as successful as it was given all of the factors going against it. I certainly wouldn't suggest it could fall into a category of "outstanding" as planned, I guess it could even be viewed as "requires improvement" as planned.

What made it work?

It actually took me a while to realise the significance of this lesson in terms of my relationship with that group. When I was planning the lesson I'd not even questioned that they might not be up for it, but afterwards it struck me that it was by no means a certainty. I had to think it through a bit, and in the end I came to the conclusion that this lesson was just one in a long string of basically good lessons, which is something they are now completely used to....

All about habits

I'm suggesting that what made the real difference with this group in this lesson, and what gave me the confidence to plan it in this way given the context, is a track record of ingrained habits and expectations (both from me and the students).

I've been teaching this group since July, and they know that I have high expectations for them. Since November I have been using RAG123 marking with this class. As a result they know that I will review their work and respond to exactly what they have done in each lesson. This means their effort levels are consistently good - they don't like to get reds! I also know them very well now as a result of RAG123 dialogue, and know the kind of support each student is likely to need during a lesson like this.

I have always made it clear to them as a class that I won't let their target levels limit what I teach them, or put a cap on what they can achieve; as a set 2 they are taught the exact same content as our top sets. All of the topics we have covered this half term have been level 7 or 8, and they have experienced success with them. In our last assessment test the entire class (27 students) scored at least one sub-level ahead of their target, all of them were level 7 and above, and 6 were in level 8. The chart below shows their progress in tests since September:

Over time this class have developed a trust with me that difficult topics will be broken down, I'll review what they've done in lessons via RAG123, revisit it, re-teach it and practice it with them when needed. In a lesson the class know they need to listen during an explanation, and can ask questions when they need to. They know I will target questions during these explanations to check understanding. They also know that they will have a level of control in the difficulty of the practise I ask them to do, via star rated questions that allow them to push harder or go easier depending on their confidence.

None of this is outstanding on paper - it's just 'good' teaching, nothing fancy.

Outstandingly ordinary
I don't think I've ever once tried to plan an 'outstanding' lesson for this group, but I always aim for my practice with them to be consistently good. I think that's what they're responding to, and that's why they're making outstanding progress.

I've blogged previously on the idea of basically good teaching being a foundation for outstanding outcomes - see this post. Also see this post by David Didau (@LearningSpy) which I think explores a very similar area.

The result is that this group are basically in the habit of learning effectively, and they trust me to deliver a lesson that will help them to progress. They also know that they can get help during a lesson, from me, from their peers or from other resources in the room. They can also indicate a need for help in the next by making comments in their books that I'll respond to due to my regular RAG123 marking.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that because this group are in the habit of receiving a diet of basically good lessons, with good feedback, and good dialogue, they are in a place where even a lesson that should be really difficult to deliver can be made highly effective.

This lesson wasn't the first spine tingling occasion with this group, and I don't expect it to be the last as they are working in such a fantastic way at the moment. However I don't think the next one will come from the expense of masses of time planning, or from my delivering whizz bang performances - it will be due to continuing on the diet of basically good.

I'm more and more certain that consistently good for a long enough time is all that is needed for incredible progress.

Comments & thoughts are always welcome.

The first rule of RAG123 club

Sharing best practice requires interaction, but teaching can be a fairly solitary profession - planning lessons alone, marking/feedback done alone, lesson delivery often done where you're the only adult in the room, reflection on lessons done alone.... But why?

I teach in several different rooms across a week (due to a combination of class sizes and the desire to inconvenience myself first before the rest of my team), and as a result my class's books are spread across different rooms. Previously I collected them and took them to the maths office to mark (using RAG123 - see this post), and then returned them to the correct room afterwards. The penny dropped that this was a bit silly so I have started to just sit in whichever room the books are in to mark them, which often means I'm marking in another teacher's room, and something remarkable happens.... we talk and share thoughts about the classes while getting on with our work!..... and this gave me an idea!

Wouldn't it be fascinating to identify a time each week where a number of us got together and just marked our books in the same room? I'm going to propose it next week - just to give it a try. (of course I realise that this does require people to move their books to the designated room, but this is about achieving something more than simply marking the books)

Importantly I'm not going to compel anyone to join in (acknowledge that some might find it excruciating to be in the same room as others for this kind of thing), but I'll identify a room and a time and invite others to "bring your books to RAG123 club"....

The rules of RAG123 club:

1. Tell everyone about RAG123 club!
2. You don't have to come to RAG123 club, but it would be great if you did
3. You don't have to talk/share at RAG123 club, but it would be great if you did
4. You can share anything at RAG123 club - interesting work done by a student, interesting comments, frustrating responses to a task, particular successes, particular failures
5. Feel free to magpie any ideas you pick up via RAG123 club, and let the other person know that you've done it/how it goes

Of course some of you might already do something like this - if so I'd be keen on your thoughts.

Strategy vs tactics

I remember some time ago when I was quite new to the role of head of department I was asked in a meeting about my response to some disappointing mock results that we'd just received. I responded at the time that I didn't want to make a knee jerk reaction to the new results, but wanted any response to be part of a strategic plan. At the time I suspect that the person involved thought that this apparent lack of immediate action was a sign of indecision or weakness on my part.  They pushed me to answer there and then... 'but what are we going to do about it?' I refused to be pushed into a quick response, I wanted it to be considered and therefore definitely the right thing to do, rather than rush a decision that could harm a different aspect of our practice.

The vital difference between tactics and strategy.

People confuse tactics with strategy all the time, but they're different, just like "leadership" and "management" are different.

On my MBA course we had a fascinating lecturer on corporate strategy, unfortunately I've forgotten his name. He was a self made millionaire who had at one point lost it all and re-built his business from the start. His view was that strategy is about knowing yourself, your organisation, your competition, and the environment that you're working in. Once you know these things then strategy is about where you want to get to given all of that contextual information. Not knowing aspects of these things would lead to a flawed or vulnerable strategy, subject to disruption by unexpected inputs. Vitally a strategy should be set over a fairly long term, and be based on a detailed knowledge of the current situation.

By contrast tactics are relatively short term measures or actions. If you link enough of the correct actions (employ the right tactics) then you'll deliver on your long term strategy. However tactics can also be employed to resolve or mitigate a short term problem. The presence of tactics themselves does not imply strategic actions. Mitigation of a short term problem may, or may not serve to support a long term strategy, and in fact it may undermine it completely.

Strategy is about more than a vision statement

Often strategies are supported by a long term vision, but you've got to have more than that. If the vision (or mission) statement provides the reason for being, the strategy provides the route towards this.

I've written a bit about sharing a vision/aim, and then breaking it down before in this post.

The importance of time
Tactical responses sometimes have to be quick (e.g. someone is unexpectedly absent, allocating cover and setting appropriate work is a quick tactical response to this need), but they don't always have to be. In fact there is usually more time available than people think there is.

For example if a school goes into a category or is given a poor inspection rating, there is a timeline put in place to demonstrate improvements. In this situation there is often pressure to fix everything immediately, or to demonstrate action by having a clear policy change to cover all points. However, without taking time to really consider the causes of the issues and the environment that they are in this can only be a tactical response. It might work, but as it's not taken account of all the other factors then it might not work, or might not last.

What's most important is that the tactics used are effective and sustainable. Therefore it is worth taking the time available to ensure they are the right ones, that support the long term strategy.

A hypothetical example
Lets say that the quality of marking was criticised during an inspection. The next full inspection will be in 18 months, but the inspection body will return to monitor progress at regular intervals.

Tactical response
An instant tactical response could be to require all work to be marked weekly, using a particular format/terminology. This format/terminology could be drawn from the current best performing department in the school and deployed across all the others. This policy could be checked by regular work scrutiny/book trawls at SLT level, with individual departments and teachers challenged if they don't keep up.

The chances are this would show a step change in marking for the first monitoring visit, but it requires a large amount of energy both at individual teacher and SLT level to ensure it is sustained all the way to the full inspection. With this high level of scrutiny, and inflexible format the teachers involved are likely to feel a high level of stress, which means their morale is likely to suffer, and as a result there may be an increase in staff turnover.

Strategic response
A more strategic response would be to put together a plan. The first step in the plan must be to get a clear picture of where current practice is, and a central agreement of what the ideal practice might look like. It's important to understand what aspects of practice are below standard, and to establish reasons for it. The next step is to identify what options there are to improve practice within each department, perhaps using recent research or best practice from other areas as guidelines. This stage has more inputs from more professionals than the tactical response, which gives more chances of better ideas. Then the changes need to be made, and there needs to be measurement of how effective the changes have been (which could still be SLT level, or it could be done at a departmental level), with further reviews and adjustments as needed. Of course failure to show progress towards improvements or adhere to the plan should still be challenged at a staff or departmental level. However critically this route is not blanket imposed, and it's considered the root causes of the problems in the first place.

The inspection body would initially see little measurable progress on their first monitoring visit, but should see evidence of the plan and progress through it. As time progresses the results should become more tangible, with improvements being demonstrated in future visits as the plan progresses. Since there is much greater opportunity for staff at all levels to influence this kind of approach, they are more likely to buy into it, and that is more likely to make it sustainable.

Overall differences
One is a tactical change - it "fixes" the immediate problem, but doesn't address the cause (in fact isn't remotely interested in the cause - it just applies a one size fits all "solution"). Tactical changes like this usually require extra energy to deliver, because they are additional to normal working practices, not developments of them.

The other one is a strategic change - it looks to move from the current state where there is a problem, to a future state where there isn't one. It takes into account the environment that surrounds the causes of the problem, and the possible impact of other actions on the way. Long term it is more likely that this action can be fully embedded in working practices because it develops from them and isn't added on top.

Leaders need to be brave enough to make time for strategic responses
Basically what I'm trying to say is that while tactical responses may be absolutely necessary in certain circumstances, leaders at all levels should seek to find time for strategic responses wherever possible. Sometimes this might require slower initial progress, and less of a quick fix. It may appear indecisive to those who want it resolved instantly, but the improved robustness and sustainability of the strategic response in the long term is worth this apparent slow start. Often this requires a bit of bravery to say "lets allocate some time to make a plan to improve" rather than "we need to improve so we'll do this".

As ever I'm keen to know your thoughts on this - realise there is relatively little tangible in here, hopefully it's not too preachy!

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!