2.1 Curriculum | Hannah's Land of Learning

The West Lothian Council (2016) makes many valid and founded points regarding the raising of attainment for students. These include effective questioning, improvement feedback, peer tutoring, peer evaluation, metacognition and self-regulated learning. I am going to delve deeper into the specific concept of peer evaluation.

Peer evaluation is described as a method of assessment in which pupils can collaborate and share their learning and original work. This allows for the opportunity of children to understand other’s work and understanding. They then are able to give and receive constructive criticism as well as, and importantly, praise for their efforts and good results. This would be very valuable to use in my practice as it allows for children to learn beneficial transferrable skills in communication. Furthermore, it develops in their social skills and assists in building their character. It is an optimum time for children to learn and value the opinions and understanding of others around them.

Within a classroom setting, I would need to ensure that the peer evaluation is still structured. This would allow me the opportunity to assess and evaluate how effectively children have grasped the learning taught to them. It would be a clear indication of the further learning for the children. While the children are also able to use this opportunity to consolidate and revise their learning.

It would also be good practice to assign groupings according to each child’s specific ability. The West Lothian Council (2016) state that initially children should be paired or grouped with children of a different ability. This allows for the weaker student to receive help from the stronger student. This grouping would need to be done carefully to prevent children feeling ostracised and losing motivation but rather feel encouraged and stimulated in their learning. The second time, children should be paired or grouped with children of the same ability. This provides opportunity for stronger children to also feel challenged and motivated to improve. Careful planning is required to allow children the self-belief and encouragement to succeed.

There are many contexts in which peer evaluation can be done such as check lists for paired or group evaluation, traffic lighting or ‘two stars and a wish’.

My personal favourite method of evaluation lies with ‘two stars and a wish’. It allows children to remain praised and motivated while providing them with some constructive criticism. Providing them with evidence of good work lets them continue with this. While giving them a ‘wish’ allows them to review and correct their errors and gives them the understanding of the requirements for future work and learning.

I feel peer evaluation must be practiced in the classroom regularly. It provides children with the necessary skills and learning which can be used throughout the curriculum. It also gives children the opportunity to share ideas and work collaboratively with other children. Having a variety of methods results in children having the ability to learn from their mistakes and improve their work.

West Lothian Council (2016) Raising Attainment – Improving Life Chances. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/sac43-raising-attainment-improving-life-chances.pdf (Accessed: 15.10.16)

Developing map reading skills is vital within the classroom as it also develops such skills as higher order thinking skills (HOTS). HOTS is a child’s ability to reason, problem solve, judge and think critically. Understanding how to read a map gives children a better spatial reasoning, a greater understanding of the difference between 3-dimensional and 2-dimensional shapes, objects and angles.

Higher Order Thinking Skills

Despite the fact electronics have taken over from the ‘old-fashioned’ paper copy, it is still a vital skill to be able to read, follow and understand the different symbols and illustrations on a map. Even to give and receive basic directions require you to be able to have this knowledge to draw upon. Everyday situations require the understanding of map reading such as the various stops on a public transport route to ensure you get off at the correct location closest to your destination requires the understanding of maps.

This website has effective lesson ideas and concepts to teach map reading skills to children effectively: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/mapping/6430

Despite the value, map reading is often not seen as a good subject to teach as many teachers fail to provide the correct lessons and support for children in their class. Many lesson plans fail to deliver the skills children require to effectively read maps. They fail to provide instruction to make clear the different attributes and qualities of a map. Children then fail to achieve the knowledge and understanding needed for these skills and additionally for the ability to transfer skills into another area.

I believe, when taught correctly, map reading skills is highly beneficial to children. It helps with their ability to analyse, reflect and problem solve. These skills can be transferred to understanding different concepts such as co-ordinates, spatial awareness and graphs. I credit the implementation of new technology and programs which ease the effort and knowledge required to get to an unknown location but i believe these fundamental skills are still vital to a person’s welfare.

Peer Evaluation

Map Reading. Where do I go from here?