A move to social networks!

 I will no longer be regularly posting on this blog. I've decided to move mostly to LinkedIn so write my articles and share my ideas as it will be easier to distribute to my followers on those networks. 

I may from time to time write things here in the future, but I'd recommend linking up with me here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jharnwell/.

Mobile Phone Bans - What we should have learnt from National Prohibition

The idea was a noble one, prohibit the sale of Alcohol in the United States and you can reduce crime, solve social problems and improve health among other worthy endeavours. Whilst there may have been a decline in the consumption of alcohol, the unintended side effects were disastrous, with a dramatic increase in organised crime and violence. Whilst prohibition may not have caused the increased criminal activity, it was certainly an easy place for criminals to turn to to make a quick buck as there were plenty of buyers. There's always a way of getting around prohibition.

The ban on mobile phones has begun! Perhaps mobile phones will be different and schools should ban these devices. The Victorian Education Minister James Merlino recently announced a ban to take effect from the beginning of 2020. There is already a ban of mobile phones in NSW government primary schools. In searching for the purpose for these draconian bans on mobile phones, the main argument rests on increasing incidents of cyberbullying. Now, anything to curb cyberbullying and the sad outcome for some individuals sounds like a move in the right direction. Even Michael Carr-Gregg seems to support this move. However, we need to consider a little more about the fact that the majority of cyberbullying happens when children feel safe and anonymous in their own homes late at night - regardless of whether they name themselves or not. They are far less likely to be a digital bullying during the school day. Therefore, this being the main reason cited, I fear that the policy will be a failure.

Unfortunately, when we take away freedoms, there are unintended consequences that we should turn our minds to. This move to institute a state-wide (or country-wide?) ban on mobile phones in classrooms undermines the expertise that teachers demonstrate within the profession. Surely, the power to allow or disallow phones should lie with the individual teacher, with support from the school to enact their plans for their classroom. Isn't this covered under the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers? Standard descriptor 4.5.2 states that Teachers are to "Incorporate strategies to promote the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching" - how can they be trusted to do this with a mandated phone ban?

Teachers do use mobile phones productively in class. There are countless ways that a teacher can engage with students using a mobile phones, whether it is through students creating a video to respond to some content or simply to participate in a kahoot online quiz. It's not all roses though, there are challenges, but with support of the leadership in schools, surely we can navigate these. One of the biggest challenges is students contacting their parents throughout the school day by sms or even calling them. We need to partner with parents to stop this type of communication - things aren't necessarily that urgent.

How will students respond to the ban? The good kids will not have their phones, but I can assure you that many other students will find ways around the system. It doesn't take long or much creativity to recognise that students can take their phones into the toilets to get them away from teachers - potentially the last place we would want them to have their phones!

However, I can't finish an article like this without some advice for families, for what is a serious problem in our society, increasingly in our young people - that of cyberbullying. Schools have a place to educate students and their parents, but parents ultimately have the responsibility given that this usually happens outside school. I can offer two places for help in this area:

1. eSafety Commissioner has put out some useful resources in Australia on how to stop cyberbullying
2. CommonSense Media - you can see the video below, but there is a wealth of information for parents on how to be proactive (or reactive if necessary) in this area.

Isn't teaching the heart of the job?

When teachers enter the profession, they are interesting in helping students to learn, having an impact and because they love teaching and helping children develop. Why is that paperwork appears to be taking over our profession? A few statistics from the most recent ASCD Educational Leadership article - (Source: National Teacher and Principal Survey, National Center for Education Statistics)

38.2: Average weekly hours teachers are required to work by contract

27.4: Average weekly hours teachers spend delivering instruction

53.3: Average weekly hours spent on all teaching and other school-related activities

How is that teachers only spend approximately half their time 'working' delivering instruction?

My experience with using OneNote Class Notebook

You can watch the full tutorial below to see how to setup OneNote for use with a class. In brief, it sets up a content library that the teacher can add to and the students can, a private space where teachers and students can work together and a collaboration space where the teacher and all students can work.

I have used the Content Library quite heavily in my instructional process. I will project the OneNote Notebook on the screen and use my pen to write directly on the page. Students prefer hand-written items rather than text (unless there is lots of text) as it helps to link into one of the fundamentals of teaching - the relationship between the teacher and the student. I have sometimes had students who have had the OneNote Notebook open in front of them on their laptop so that they can zoom in/out and go back to previous parts of the canvas. I'm very glad that it updates with 15 seconds to their screens.

One problem that I've encountered are the different versions of OneNote. I use OneNote 2016 (i.e. the standard traditional PC application). Many students who click on the link (especially if they are using a mac) end up using the online version of OneNote, which means that it has not synced offline for them. Sometimes students end up with the new Window 10 OneNote App, which seems to be working better than it used to.

I have used the Collaboration tool a few times, but have learnt the importance of clear and directed messages to students as it quickly becomes an opportunity for students to vandalise (a word used by one of my colleagues). When in a demonstration session with some staff, I could not resist the temptation to myself get off track very quickly 'collaborating' with colleagues. What I have learnt form this is the importance of having students play with the tool before they need to use it educationally. I would give students 2 minutes to 'collaborate' on drawing making a face or a house, so that they can just play and do silly things and get that out of their system. It then makes it easier to transition to the serious use of the notebook. This is exactly the same as my brother's technique when taking photos of children - this is the serious photo and then we'll take a silly one afterwards.

I'm yet to sufficiently use the individual student parts of the notebook, but have learnt with others that it is designed to sync individual worksheets (eg a few pages) rather than 100 page booklets as the syncing doesn't really work that well.

What a great tool personally for my own organisation, but also to engage students and get them collaborating well.

Telstra Mobile Protect - lock down you child's telstra mobile or home broadband

Through a handy little web portal, you can quickly and easily lock down websites or hours of access to the internet for mobile devices or the home internet. Quick and easy to setup.

It also includes Social Network Protection  which allows you to receive alerts if there is possible cyber-bullying, offensive language or contact with strangers.

For more information, watch the quick video below (for mobiles) or visit the Telstra https://www.telstra.com.au/broadband/extras/broadbandprotect

Stressed and anxious students not just in our schools, also in our universities @NewsAtNESA @ABCNews24

As reported by ABC News 24 (here), a new report has found that two-thirds of tertiary education students suffer high levels of stress.

Is this a surprise? No!
We have seen students in our Schools with increased stress, anxiety and depression. The responsible body - the NSW Board of Studies, then BOSTES, now NESA - has put into place a system where students who suffer from mental illnesses are not disadvantaged. We give students extra time for examinations, rest breaks, readers and writers if required. Are we setting up students for failure - if not at university, then maybe for life?

Let me be clear, I am not advocating for discrimination against those with disabilities (particularly mental health) but I don't think we've got it quite right that everyone is on a level playing field. Is it fair for an employer to look at a student's Year 12 transcript and ATAR and expect that they are perfectly capable of fulfilling a job position only to find that they need extra time to complete the task? Or finding out that they can only write up a report, if they have a writer for them?

Whilst it is still unknown why anxiety and depression has increased in our youth (yes it is diagnosed more, but it is also more prevalent), the root cause of this remains a mystery. Until we find the underlying cause and problem with our society, we will not fix this problem and we are doing a disservice to the young people in our care and the employers looking for new employees based upon an HSC that doesn't disclose extra provisions.

In response to the video on twitter, @soggyduck has noted that they were stressed in the past. @gibbonwalk expresses concern over the future employment of the stressed uni students.

This is one of the most important issues of our time.

Schools should not be democratic! Teachers are experts! @hornsbyadvocate

The Hornsby Advocate has written an article questioning undemocratic Schools. Now, whilst I agree that student voice is important and can increase engagement the premise of the article is a bit wrong.

Why should our school's be democratic?

I see this as one of the biggest issues in education today. Educators are not respected by society, parents or students for the fact that they are professionals and they are experts. Everyone has been to school, so surely everyone knows how to teach. Right? Wrong! Students do not have the power (and should not!) to choose the teachers at their school. Schools and leadership in schools are responsible for ensuring that quality teaching occurs and teaching and learning that is most effective may not be the same as what young inexperienced children would choose.

Until society recognises that it takes incredible skill to get students to learn, we will not have an education system or international test scores like the top nations.

Government weakens its random inspection of 'at risk' schools by HALF @NewsAtNESA

NESA (The NSW Education Standards Authority) is fulfilling it's promise to conduct at-risk, random inspections. Last year, they promised inspection of 26 schools (18 government, 4 independent and 4 systemic) This year they have announced that they will only target 13 schools, looking at two main areas:

• Child protection, anti-bullying and complaints/grievances
• Quality of teaching and student learning

I commend NESA on the selection of these annual priorities and the move into greater scruitiny over teaching and learning. It is important that for Australia to educate well for the next generation that the students are well taught and progess significantly in their learning. It is not good enough for schools to simply have students in class, we must teach them too!

NESA will randomly select 13 schools instead of 26 in 2017

See the NESA Update here: http://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/about/news/official-notices/official-notices-detail/inspection-of-govt-and-non-govt-schools-selected-randomly-in-2017

Assignment Fatigue - the next big problem for HSC students

It seems like a great idea, reduce student stress by reducing 'high stress, timed exams' and introducing a mandatory assignment for all students in many courses. There will be 'depth study' focus tasks in all Science courses, assignments in the Maths courses and multi-modal presentations in the English Courses. I can't even guess what the requirements will be for other courses as they are published.

So the question comes, when would a school choose to run an assignment for students? Surely not Term 3 (the last term of the HSC year) as this is when schools typically run Trial HSC exams. Most likely not Term 4 (the first term of the HSC year) as students have likely not covered enough content, which leaves students facing a number of assignments in Term 2 and Term 3 of their HSC year. How will students cope with this when they already struggle to manage the balance between work, rest and play? (Yes, the Mars slogan!) More important, how will school's work to resolve this by managing student workload and spreading out tasks? Leave your thoughts in the comments.


Assessment and Reporting Requirements can be found here: http://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/about/news/news-stories/news-stories-detail/stage-6-syllabuses-course-guides-assessment-and-reporting-requirements

The best tool for formative assessment - the humble clipboard!

You've probably got a few of them sitting around your desk and have used them for various activities over time, but have you considered the power of the humble clipboard for assessment?

To be able to adequately assess each student in the class, we need to see what they are doing - observation is still one of the best assessment strategies, because it allows us to delve deeper with each student by asking them questions to see if they truly understand a concept or whether they are parroting back what they have heard. Think of all those questions you ask in class, by the time you walk out of the room and walk to your next class you've forgotten most of the comments students have made a clipboard provides the opportunity to quickly capture those golden moments.

Surely the advent of technology has allowed an easier way to capture this? With all the great things that technology has done, it cannot improve on the speed and ease of using a pen and writing on a piece of paper as you walk around the classroom, that is of course unless you have a Tablet style device and a Pen that mirrors writing on paper anyway!

Of course for all this to work, you are hopefully still not talking 80% of the time (like the research has shown) and have moved to let the students do most of the talking!

What to have on your clipboard?
There is a strong argument to have blank writing paper and that is all, after all, it is easy to set things up. Without too much work though, you can create a single sided A4 sheet with 2 columns - each student's name in the first and space to write in the second. You may like to include their photos at the start of the year. You may be tempted to take this a step further by having criteria that you can tick off and whilst this seems like a great idea, experience tells me that this is not sustainable as you would have to set up a new sheet every lesson. Stick with the simple class list and room to write - set it up once and print a whole heap.

For more info on how you could use clip-boarding, see the video below from TeachingChannel.

Assessment Tools to drive Learning in your class (no ICT required!)

A few days ago, I published an article on ICT tools to assist with assessment for learning. Here are some other techniques worth investigating that don't require ICT. Future posts will detail some of the benefits and cautions with using these techniques.

• Fist to Five Feedback or thumbs up, thumbs sideways, thumbs down - https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/getting-instant-student-feedback
• Exit Tickets - https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teacher-assessment-strategy
• Twitter Style exit tickets - https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/quick-student-assessment
• Using clipboards for informal assessment - https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/informal-assessment-strategies
• Fist of Five - https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/getting-instant-student-feedback
• Discussion - https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/assess-listening-speaking-skills-ousd
• Maths Journals - https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2016/05/24/math-journals-as-formative-assessment/
• Four corners - http://wvde.state.wv.us/teach21/FourCorners.html
• Stoplight - https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/daily-lesson-assessment
• Index cards and 'My Favourite No' - https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/class-warm-up-routine

Assessment Tools to drive Learning in your class

In working out whether the tools below will work for you, consider the following:

1. What type of question would you ask students?
2. When would this technique be appropriate to use?
3. What is the benefit of this technique?
4. Can this relate to the learning intention of the lesson?

Here is a list of free ICT tools that can assist with assessment for learning. Future posts will touch on some of these, their benefits and difficulties.

• Kahoot - https://kahoot.it/
• Formative - https://goformative.com/
• Office Mix - https://mix.office.com/
• Zaption - http://www.zaption.com/
• Edpuzzle - https://edpuzzle.com/
• Geddit - http://letsgeddit.com/
• Lino - http://en.linoit.com/
• Padlet - https://padlet.com/
• ThatQuiz - https://www.thatquiz.org/
• Quizlet - https://quizlet.com/
• A Web Whiteboard - https://awwapp.com/
• Poll Everywhere - https://www.polleverywhere.com/

Why we should give students quizzes every day

There are many benefits to regularly quizzing students. What I mean by this is the 3-5 questions at the start of a lesson. This can be very beneficial to students in their learning as they can get regular feedback on their progress, the depth of their knowledge and if they have any misconceptions.

This regular use of quizzes had been shown to reduce test anxiety (Agarwal, D'Antonio, Roediger III, McDermott, & McDaniel, 2014). It is important to note that this should be a regular routine part of your lesson and not pop quizzes which not only increase stress but are in nature designed to catch students out. The use of these quizzes should be to build confidence in the students own ability because that is a key ingredient to future success.

What to do with the marks?

Even the very nature of this question undermines the very purpose of quizzing regularly. Students need to see assessment as  assisting students in their learning. But  to answer this question upfront, there are several different approaches that you can take. It is worth considering which approach you will take as there are benefits of being consistent.

• Students mark their own work
• The teacher marks the quiz during the lesson
• The teacher marks the quiz after class

The results students get can be used for multiple purposes:

•  They can be shared with parents on a learning management system in real time
• They can be for students information only
• They can contribute to the students final grade (consider not including the worst three results, which could also assist in dealing with absent students)
• They can contribute to a students work habits grade on a report card

How to provide feedback

The benefit of these quizzes is that students can get frequent feedback on their progress. You could consider the following ways of providing feedback:

• Go through the top few errors the next lesson (this will take a large amount of your lesson time)
• Record a video (flipped learning) that students can watch depending on which question they got wrong.
• Have students work in pairs to resolve any difficulties
• Students can complete them in OneNote Class Notebook so that you can start marking immediately and provide individual feedback

What types of questions should you ask?

• Open-ended questions can help to assess student actual knowledge and understanding of the content and also reveal any misconceptions.
• Questions that assess the basic straightforward content as opposed to questions that require students to apply their knowledge  to a new and unfamiliar situation (this helps to build confidence). Applying knowledge to common situations that have been covered in class is fine.
• Multiple choice questions - As these are often time consuming to write consider using an open ended question that had been on a previous quiz and use common misconceptions as the distractor answers. After students attempt the quiz, you could let them work in pairs or groups to compare their answers - students will quickly be able to argue why their answer is correct over the other options.
• Short answer questions - anything that takes the students too long to complete defeats the purpose of this type of quiz.

A few other considerations:

• Design a quiz template that you use for the quizzes, so that students come to know what to expect and be comfortable and relaxed with the process.
• Quizzing is best done as a review activity rather than immediately before or after teaching a piece of content, thus a quiz of the prior days work does not gain the same benefits - (McDaniel, M. A., Agarwal, P. K., Huelser, B. J., McDermott, K. B., & Roediger, H. L., III, 2011/2). Whilst there may be some benefit to quizzing the day after you have taught something, for consolidation, it is important that this is not eh only type of quizzing that you do.
• Make sure that whatever you decide to implement is sustainable and manageable within your context.

References:

• Agarwal, P. K., D'Antonio, L., Roediger, H. L., III, McDermott, K. B., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Classroom-based programs of retrieval practice reduce middle school and high school students' test anxiety. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 3(3), 131–139. Retrieved from http://psych.wustl.edu/memory/TELC/Agarwal_DAntonio_Roediger_etal_2014.pdf
• McDaniel, M. A., Agarwal, P. K., Huelser, B. J., McDermott, K. B., & Roediger, H. L., III (2011/2). Test-enhanced learning in a middle school science classroom: The effects of quiz frequency and placement. Journal of Educational Psychology. Retrieved from http://psych.wustl.edu/learning/documents/mcdaniel_jep.pdf

How students can win at the 'study game' - don't discount the use of laptops

Assessments are an opportunity for each student to show themselves and their teacher the wonderful things that they have learnt, understood and can now apply to a variety of questions. I know that when facing exams it may not quite seem like it (I just sat a 2 hour exam in some study that I am doing!) And yes, they also provide marks for reports and authorities.

Playing the long-term game

Whilst it may seem to a student that cramming will pay off in the short term by quickly storing information in their short-term memory, this will not assist them with the end of course Examinations.

How to regularly revise

Research has shown that revision that involves some processing of the information – such as creating a mindmap, creating a summary of a summary, or aligning pictures or diagrams to understand complex ideas helps to develop deep processing and hence retention of information in the long-term.

Don’t plan to cram!

It’s important to practice writing out answers to questions with pen-and-paper and not solely rely on the use of a laptop. In fact, research has shown that when taking notes, students may take too many verbatim notes using a laptop, particularly in the tertiary lecture setting. To overcome this and get the benefits of collaborating with peers whilst studying, students should print their notes, and then type up a new summary of those notes and add pictures to assist recall. By simply remembering one key word, the brain often recalls much of the associated information with the key term.

It is through the organisation, synthesis and summarisation of content that students learn best.

Khan Academy announces a new partnership - brings lots of new free apps!

Khan Academy has today announced that they have acquired Duck Duck Moose, a created of children's apps and they are now free. To see the full list of apps, visit the app store.


My son has loved More Trucks for quite some time. Below are a few educational ones that I'll draw your attention to:

Chatterpix (and Chatterpix Kids) allow simple creativity with photographs for children, such as to make a photo of a person talk, add stickers and fun.

Duck Duck Moose reading. There is also a Maths app and many other educational subject specific apps.

BOSTES is no longer, the NSW Education Standards Authority is taking over! What this means for you...

What's in a name change?

So, the name is going to change. We have only had "BOSTES" for a few years (since 2014), with the merging of the "Board of Studies" and "Institute of Teachers" in NSW. At this time, the organisation went through a lengthy process of rebranding everything with their new 'orange books' logo. They are now turning around and putting more money into rebranding once again as they become the "Education Standards Authority" (ESA).

What is the change in powers for Registration and Accreditation?

1. Reduce the administrative burden of School Registration

2. It appears that Principals will have more power (and responsibility) to certify the existence of documentary evidence.

3. They seek to increase the number of random and risk-based audits in Independent, Systemic and Government Schools.

Will anything change in the way Curriculum is implemented?

1. Remove duplication of syllabus writing between BOSTES and ACARA. One of the goals of ESA (referred to as 'The Authority" by the BOSTES review, but as ESA by me) is to "Streamline curriculum development process with a more constructive approach to the national curriculum roll-out that removes duplication and expedites syllabus development". This means in essence that the duplication where BOSTES was writing a syllabus re-worked version of the ACARA Australian Curriculum seems quite logical. It made no sense, if the curriculum was truly to be "Australian" for NSW to decide to write their own documents.

The new model will be "adopt and adapt" to reduce overcrowding. This will free up resources (apparently / hopefully) to focus on improving teaching and learning. This will be hard for many in NSW to stomach, but from a holistic perspective, I welcome this change.

2. Future syllabuses will support increased flexibility for teachers so that students can go deeper. Whilst depth is important, it is also essential that we do not deny the value of surface-level knowledge as Hattie would argue.

What will change for Teacher Accreditation

1. For Teachers. The Maintenance of accreditation at Proficient level will be streamlined if schools have a Performance and Development Framework in place (which they must, according to AITSL)

2. For Schools. At present, when a teacher is accredited at Proficient Teacher, there is a detailed checking of documents that occurs by both BOSTES staff and independent consultants. This will be minimised to focus on consistency (which was its original aim) rather than the many man-hours that goes into the current process. In effect the TAA (the School Principal in many cases) will be given more power in not only signing off a teacher's Proficient Teacher Accreditation, but also in validating the documents are completed.

3. For Professional Development Providers. The approval process to become a registered provider (QTC) will be simplified.

For the future...

Recommended for further investigation is:
- HSC Disability adjustments
- Early Childhood educaiton
- VET
- Home Schooling

Click below for links to the review, overview and media release.

Promoting the #DeviceFreeDinner from @CommonSense

There are some places where devices don't belong... and yes the dinner table is one of those! Let's strive for good relationships with our children by having deep conversation over dinner, rather than being 2 adults and 2 children co-habiting the same house!

The argument 15 years ago was about watching television whilst at the dinner table, but it has become even harder now with the mobile phone and tablet devices and it's not just the children! Often it is the example of the parents taking a work phone call at the dinner table, reading the newspaper online or checking facebook that is demonstrated to children. It is a travesty to see a family in a restaurant with all members with heads buried in phones... often with the kids with headphones on just to make sure that no communication happens!

Dinner is not the only place this is an issue, but it is a great place to start. So, will you take the DeviceFreeDinner Challange that Common Sense has put before us?

Sign up for tips to make this a reality: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/device-free-dinner

I certainly don't have all the answers. There are definitely those nights where it is easier to let the tired 5 and 7 year old watch something on their iPad rather than struggle through getting them to eat their dinner and have some interaction, particularly after a hard day at work, but it's important to make the effort!

Training your children in good habits starts at a young age! Do you realise what you are doing and demonstrating at the dinner table?

Washington Post Article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/08/05/can-you-survive-a-device-free-dinner/

Videos from CommonSenseMedia

Why the call to make Algebra optional in the US takes them in the wrong direction!

 One of the myths is that every one of us is going to have to know algebra, geometry, trigonometry in the 21st century, because that’s the way a high-tech age is going. (Andrew Hacker)

Algebra is a core component of Algebra in the US. Andrew Hacker argues that only 5% of the workforce uses Advanced Mathematics in the US, which is the incorrect starting point. It is not the content that is taught in Mathematics that is essential for all school leavers, it is residuals of learning that are key - the mathematical thinking, the problem solving and mathematical literacy that all citizens need. To be fair, Andrew Hacker does focus on a move to literacy; however, how can you promote mathematical literacy without rigorous content as the context in which to teach that literacy? Yes, Numeracy can be taught in subject such as Science and Geography (and I would argue in all subjects, even English), but there also needs to be significant thought in an abstract manner.

We need to focus on the residuals of learning - what is it that students take out of our classes and continue to hold on to long after they have forgotten Pythagoras' Theorem?

What is the impact for Australia?

There is of course some merit to his argument, that for some students applications of mathematics (arithmetic) would be of more benefit than calculus. So, how does all of this sit in Australia? The Australian Curriculum as formed in NSW Syllabus documents has a balance of algebra that is required in the junior years, through to optional courses in the senior years of General Mathematics that focuses on real world applications and the calculus based courses.

The curriculum in NSW is undergoing change at the moment and the increase of statistical numeracy for all students studying a Mathematics course is a welcomed step forward.

See the video where Andrew Hacker argues for reform in his book "The Math Myth":

Source: PBS, 6 August 2016, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/thinking-math-terms-literacy-not-levels/

I'm concerned that the HSC reforms will increase stress and anxiety, not reduce them.

One of the significant aims of the reforms to the HSC that have now been released, was to reduce the stress and anxiety in our senior students.

Do we know what causes the anxiety? I would argue that we have not thoroughly investigated the causes of the anxiety, much of which could be attributable to changes in society and family situations such as both parents working longer hours. If we do not know what causes the anxiety in students and only try and attack the problems students have one at a time through psychologist visits, then we are unlikely to have the impact we desire.

Why less Assessment Tasks could increase anxiety. It makes perfect sense that if we reduce the number of assessment tasks, then we will reduce the anxiety in our students. This may not be the case. To take the extreme view (which has not been proposed) and remove all internal assessment, surely stress would decline. This may be true throughout the year, but stress and anxiety over the one high stakes exam would skyrocket. With 3 tasks in Year 11, the most likely situation is 2 x 30% tasks and 1 x 40% task, which means that each of these becomes increasingly important.

How were assessments different in the past? When I was in school, you did not necessarily know about tasks ahead of time, there was no 'formal notification' and you just showed up and did the task. There were probably more tasks to complete, but each of them was of little importance to the final grade (10%) but useful for bench marking what content you had actually learnt and what you needed to revise (Assessment for Learning).

Surely investigation tasks are great... or are they? In my experience, it seems to be the ongoing investigation style tasks that create the greatest anxiety for students with mental health concerns. There is always something more that they can do to improve, add to and work on an investigation until it is handed in. Where do you start? There are weeks of agonising over a long-term task like this, even if it is restricted to class time.

I applaud BOSTES for trying to reduce stress and anxiety in our students, but I am concerned that the proposed reforms may have the opposite impact.


If you suffer from anxiety, then consult a psychologist of call lifeline on 13 11 14

Do you use quizzes as end points, or just the beginning?

Often we use a quiz, topic test or even an assessment task as an end point. How much have the students learnt? Have the students understood the content? We then quickly move on to the next dot point or the next unit. To compound this, students get their quiz back, see their mark and then make judgments about themselves as people "I did really well" "I'm good at this" or "I'm no good at school" rather than focus on the learning.
Consider the impact that we can have on our student's learning if we can challenge students to assess their own progress. After completing a quiz or test, consider giving no marks to the student, but just feedback. What if the students answer questions such as those below:

• After completing the quiz, how confident are you about the content in the unit?
• How hard did you find the quiz? Very easy / easy / hard / very hard
• Which parts of the content do you think you are still a little rusty on?
• Which parts do you feel as though you have sufficiently mastered?
• How prepared did you feel for the quiz?
• What are some specific questions that you have about the content?
• Is there anything that you'd like to investigate further?

We can use many assessment for learning tools to get quick feedback in the process of teaching, whether it be mini-whiteboards, getting student to write a big answer on their iPad and hold it up, putting a post-it on the board when they leave the room or use digital tools such as Formative or Kahoot.  But, consider how we can reform the summative assessment to focus on learning and progress.

As Year 12 commence their Trial HSC Examinations, consider and disucss with colleagues how you will hand back the papers to your students to get the biggest impact from the significant amount of work by students and teachers that goes in to preparing, sitting for and then marking the Trials.

Looking for a new assessment for learning tool? Consider Answer Pad.

More information on Assessment for Learning tools can be found on the Commonsensemedia Graphite blog - https://www.commonsense.org/education/blog/the-best-formative-assessment-tools-tips-and-lessons