5 Live Marking Strategies
We were given freedom to choose our topic for our triad work
this year, I picked immediate feedback which to me meant questioning and
assessment for learning. However, my triad interpreted the topic differently,
and thus my journey with live marking started. I researched what it was, it was
surprisingly difficult to find anything outlining the actual process, but I
understood it to be marking students work in lessons rather than afterwards.
The triad set out with ambitions of a line of students like at Primary school
and you mark their work and get to speak to every student every lesson. We soon
realised that wasn’t feasible, nor is it beneficial for teacher or students. There
was lots of reading about the benefits of live marking, but here are five things I tried
and found useful:
1. I marked every student’s book every lesson
I only managed this with my small year 10 class. At most I have 11 students in the group. They can lack motivation, and they all lack confidence. Going around with a red pen and sitting marking with them boosts their confidence and keeps them motivated, as I visit them numerous times during the lesson I can monitor the effort they are putting in and spot misconceptions early. I can set work targets and make my expectations clear. Students were asking me to come mark their work, and when we go through work altogether on the board students in that class wouldn’t be focused or mark their own work, so me going around with a red pen really was beneficial for the students. It works well for that group and I wish all groups were that small so that more classes could benefit. I tried it with bigger groups, but it didn’t work the same. It became more difficult to monitor students behaviour and effort as I was distracted and there were too many students to manage them in this way.
2. I marked under the visualiser
I did this before our triad work, but normally I would write out answers on worksheets or on the whiteboard as we went through them, questioning different students. This year I tried marking students work under the visualiser instead. I worried about getting students to volunteer their work as I know some students worry about getting the correct answers. Last year I spent a lot of time working on Mindsets in Maths, and I developed a lot of strategies to help overcome this kind of issue. Championing making mistakes as you learn from them, making mistakes myself to show them it is human, discussing mistakes to see why they were made and having a good conversation as a result. Also students who volunteer their work get merits for being brave, and most students want to be brave and get merits! Looking at their work did wonders in terms of discussing what is good about it and reading through, checking their working. It also gives me a chance to praise good presentation and for students to see what good presentation looks like. The student whose work is being marked benefits from direct feedback, but the students in the room also benefit marking their work from me marking their peers. There are still some students who are reluctant to get involved, I’m yet to pick their books but I think I will keep an eye out for a task they have done well on first. Younger students tend to be more outgoing, older students tend to be more private with their work. One of my colleagues had done research on disengaged boys and found live marking boys work engaged boys in lessons. I am looking forward to developing this further in the next half term.
3. Favourite no
This is something I used before, I think it falls into the category of live marking. I found I was doing a fair bit of live marking anyway, it was just nice to focus on developing aspects further. I would normally ask a question and get students to answer anonymously on a piece of paper. I would collect all the answers in and sort them into piles under the visualiser. One pile of correct answers and a pile of incorrect answers. Then I would look at some of the incorrect answers to discuss the misconceptions. I always start with “what is good about this one?” before then going on to discuss where the student had gone wrong. I would then pick out a correct answer to show how it should be done. I love this technique because even with my class of 32 I can collect their answers and sort them in 2 minutes, I know how many students know how to do it, I can see how far away the rest are. Students are happy to do it because it is anonymous, I encourage them to start the question and get as far as they can even if they can’t finish it- there is no pressure because the paper goes in the recycling.
4. Early finishers become markers
When a student finishes the task early, I sometimes ask them to go around with a “Numeracy Leaders” badge and help anyone who puts up their hand. This works well for students who for some reason don’t like bothering the teacher and the obvious benefits of peers explaining to peers. However, I recently tried marking an early finishers work and then sending them round with a red pen and a numeracy leader badge to mark others work. Another student finished not long after so I had two students marking the rest of the student's work and giving feedback – a bit like I do with my small class but making in more manageable by creating more markers!
5. Put the answers on the wall
Another suggestion by a wonderful colleague (thanks Maddie!). If you put the answers on the wall and let the students know, then they can go check their work at any time. Students who aren’t confident can go check they got the first answer correct, and every other if they really need to, immediately after doing it. It means they spend more time practicing and less time panicking if they are wrong or waiting for me to check after every question. It also means students who finish can go check their work as soon as they finish, they can identify if they got any wrong and check their work, then ask you for help if they can’t see where they are going wrong. It gives students independence and frees you up. I’ve done similar in the past by putting answers on the back of worksheets or muddling up answers and putting them in a box so they can see if their answer is there (immediate confidence boost if it is, hand up to ask for help if it isn’t). Students are more willing to try. I find Mathsbox settlers are really good for this too.
