Assistant Principal / Leader of Pedagogy
Mr Stephen Chapman
O'Connor Catholic College
What does success look like?
What does success look like? Now, that is a really good question!
At O’Connor, we work hard every day to help students understand how to answer this important question. It’s one of the most important aspects of each lesson. Students, if you know what success looks like in your learning you are much more likely to strive to achieve it. Parents and carers, perhaps you could ask your child at home if they know what success looks like in the classes that they had that day? How did they go? Did they achieve success? How do they know? All of these questions are part of what’s called visible learning. That is, can the students see what they are learning? Is it clear to everyone involved?
Importantly, success will look different for each student. This is an extract from our Vision at O’Connor: Everybody can learn, not always at the same time or in the same way and we strive to create learning opportunities for all.
I wrote about The Worthwhile Lesson in my newsletter article last time. Here are two parts of it that are particularly relevant to What does success look like?
These descriptions are written from a teachers perspective. It is important that students think and ask about these as they work through each lesson. Do I know what success looks like? Am I achieving success? Where do I go to if I need help? This last question for students links to the next part of the worthwhile lesson. Student and self-assessment.
It’s not only the teacher who can help students move their learning forward. The notion that the teacher is the sole arbiter of the quality of student work is gone. Students can assess their own work by comparing what they have done to marking criteria or success criteria. Also, friends and peers are equally able to assess each other’s work, as long as they know what success looks like. Often these opportunities are formal and organised by the teacher. But for me, the most powerful way peer assessment works is when it is not formal. I have seen more and more examples of students asking each other for feedback as they work through learning tasks and assessments, just because they want to help each other.
John Hattie is an educator and researcher and is renowned around the world as an expert on knowing what works in education. He says that we, as teachers, need to be clear with the students regarding what is being learnt (Learning Intentions) and what success will look like (Success Criteria). There is no place for “secret teacher business” where the teacher is the only one who knows what’s going on. Below is an excellent video of John discussing the importance of students knowing what success looks like.
I love the analogy John talks about in this video. Imagine asking a group of students to play Australian Football (AFL) who know nothing about the game, but not telling them the rules or how the game works. These students would give up really quickly. This is what it is like for students who don’t know what they are learning or what success looks like. At O’Connor, the teachers tell the students what the learning intention is and, most importantly, what success looks like in the end.
Professor John Hattie
Also, I was talking to a student in a Year 9 class the other day and asked the question “Where can you go to if you need help?”. He said the teacher told him earlier “.......... has a really good example of what this task looks like if it is done well. Go and see her if you need help”. That student had earlier walked over and asked that girl for her opinion on his work. The teacher just kept working with other students. What a great use of time!
In my walks around our great school, I have seen numerous examples of students and teachers talking about what success looks like for them. This positive talk that is so clearly focused on learning is inspiring for us all.
Mr Stephen Chapman
Assistant Principal - Leader of Pedagogy
Never stop learning; for when we stop learning, we stop growing - Jack Lewman
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