How can I improve this answer sir? Don’t ask me, ask the ‘Guru’.....
Recommend on Google+
Before Christmas we carried out our mock GCSEs for Year 11 students. So this month we’ve been returning papers to the students and learning lessons from the experience. Here is a great way of handing over to the students the responsibility of reflecting upon their own performance and how they can improve, whilst at the same time getting students who have performed well in a particular question to understand why so that hopefully they can do it more often in future. It’s built upon the principle that within a class of students, they all have the collective knowledge and ability to help each other.
I took our mock Business Studies paper, and identified 4 or 5 key extended questions (3 marks to 6 marks) that I wanted the students to review, both in terms of knowledge and exam technique.
I then reviewed the marks & answers given by students to these questions and identified 4 ‘gurus’ for each question who had performed really well. Their task was to provide advice and let students who hadn’t done so well review the ‘guru’ answer and compare it to both the mark scheme and their own answer to identify what they hadn’t done successfully in comparison to the ‘guru’.
What I loved about it was that in a class of 18 students, 9 of the students had the chance to be a ‘guru’ at least once. It wasn’t the same old A grade target students. I had two students who are working at D/C borderline and produced brilliant answers on Just In Time stock control at McDonalds and who got to be ‘gurus’. It really built their confidence whilst getting them to think why they’d done so well.
Students then were directed to specific ‘gurus’ for 5 to 7 minute reviews of each question, armed with a pen, their mock paper and a printed table on which to note their findings. This had a row per question and two columns, one for knowledge and one for answer structure and technique. A table was set up in each corner of the room for the 4 ‘gurus’ and on each was a mark scheme for the questions being reviewed.
The lesson was topped with a review of results by unit to date and with an update on their current predicted based upon their mock result and previous results. It was tailed with them summarising their findings in to a progress review sheet to put in the front of their folders.
The students loved it & I loved it - one of my best lessons with that group. Why not give it a go…?
blog comments powered by Disqus
