Clarity in the Classroom: Using Formative Assessment for Building Learning-focused Relationships

Author(s): Michael Absolum

Teaching Professional Development | Teaching Resources

Supporting students to be confident, enthusiastic and effective learners is a central purpose of education. We want students who have high expectations of themselves as learners - students who set goals for their learning and who work with their teachers to construct enjoyable, challenging learning pathways. We also want teachers who have the skills to help their students achieve those goals. Clarity in the Classroom is designed to help teachers create the relationships and processes that lead to effective teaching and learning. Using clear explanations of the key attributes of research-based, effective classroom practice, the book seeks to answer some of the questions that teachers continually grapple with -'How can I best meet the learning needs of my students?' and 'Where do I find the time to do all that is expected of me in order to do this?'Full of practical suggestions and examples, Clarity in the Classroom will help busy teachers to: build mutually beneficial, sound relationships with their students; assess and build on what students already know; develop well-structured lesson plans with clear learning intentions; develop strategies to encourage further learning in order to achieve set goals; understand and maximise students? motivation to learn; and encourage students to think reflectively about their learning to enable them to build on that learning and to identify and resolve problem areas. Contents: Overview; Relationships For Learning; Being Clear About What Is To Be Learnt; Assessing For Learning; Promoting And Supporting Further Learning; Reflecting On Learning; Where To Go Next With Learning; Planning For Learning; Building Partnerships With Family


Product Information

For educators in the UK in 2009, this book could not be more timely. Even in England, where the government has been clinging to external tests despite the mounting evidence of their long term failure to transform learning, the disasters of the SATs in 2008 has led to the start of their demise. Now teachers and schools can begin again to focus on what matters in the classroom. Two key messages are central to Michael Absolum's book: the first is suggested in the title, Clarity in the Classroom, as teachers spell out for their students the expectations and criteria for successful achievement. The second message, a pre-condition for the first, is the primacy of relationships. Students need the will as well as the skill to improve their work: the relationships between teacher and students, and among the students themselves, are at the heart of students' necessary belief in their capacity to learn. The content is pertinent, clear and well-argued [and] 'Try This' sections encourage teachers to take the practical steps they will need if habits are to change and be sustained. At the back of the book are some 'masters' for teachers to copy and use immediately. This is a book for practitioners, based on sound research and its feet firmly planted in real classrooms. -- Ruth Sutton, assessment consultant 20090201

Michael Absolum is a principal consultant at Evaluation Associates in New Zealand, where he has directed their successful professional development programme for schools and teachers since 1995. Prior to that he worked as a teacher, as an educational psychologist in both England and NZ, and with the Education Review Office (the NZ equivalent of OFSTED), becoming interested in the problems associated with raising student achievement levels, particularly of underperforming students.

Overview; Relationships For Learning; Being Clear About What Is To Be Learnt; Assessing For Learning; Promoting And Supporting Further Learning; Reflecting On Learning; Where To Go Next With Learning; Planning For Learning; Building Partnerships With Family

General Fields

  • : 9781869710699
  • : Hachette New Zealand Ltd
  • : Hodder Moa
  • : 0.65
  • : August 2006
  • : 246mm X 191mm X 15mm
  • : New Zealand
  • : October 2009
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Michael Absolum
  • : Paperback
  • : 371.1020993
  • : 228
  • : Teacher training
  • : Photographs, diagrams and tables