Middle Years 

Learning from an Assessment Task

Last week was a busy assessment week for the Middle Years students, with many subjects completing tests and/or having assignments due.

When assessment tasks are returned, the common focus for students is on the outcome or grade. Comments such as “what letter grade is this?” or “what mark does this get?” are often the first response. 

While this response is normal and understandable, the next step of learning from their test or assignment is a key step that can easily be missed during the emotional response to their given result/grade. To learn from any mistakes, students need to spend time reviewing their answers, reviewing any feedback or solutions from the teacher, and reflecting on these. Some key reflection questions for students to ask themselves are:

1. What did I do well?
2. What would I do differently if I did this task again?
3. What will I need to review before the End of Semester examination? 

I encourage students to not just bask in the glow of doing well in an assessment task (or alternatively wallow in the negative feelings of doing poorly), but to take the next step of reviewing and reflecting, as this is what matters most when learning from experiences. Finally, if they are still unsure, make time to catch up with their teacher to review the test/assignment.

Make sure you learn from your assessment tasks – review and reflect after each task is returned. 

Reminders 

Year 7 and 9 NAPLAN practice is on Thursday 24 March. Please bring your laptops fully charged on the day.

Mr Ben Hawthorne

Head of Middle Years