One of my favourite teaching moments happened in a Year 8 Humanities class in my previous school. This particular group of students had been together for Year 7, so it’s fair to say that they knew each other pretty well, both personally and academically. As I’d had them for the Year 7 integrated studies program (English, Humanities, and Habits of Mind), I knew them well too. They knew my expectations of them, and knew I would continually push them to succeed.
Halfway through our study of Medieval Europe, I decided to change the way I would approach the assessment task while remaining in line with the rest of the cohort. Having attended an in-depth, multi-session PD on learning tasks, mastery grids and the cycle of teaching and learning, I felt…