Assessment and Computing - A Practical Guide to Teaching Computing and ICT in the Secondary School - page 78

Questioning
Teacher questioning will probably form the greatest element in your assessment
toolkit, and you need to ensure that you think through your question pathways
before you arrive at a lesson. How much detail you plan will be a personal decision,
but at first, it is always helpful to plan questions, extensions to those questions,
hints if you get no responses, and to whom you may first address the question to
ensure that it elucidates and consolidates learning. Asking mostly closed questions
with just simple 'yes' or 'no' type answers will not stretch learners. More open
questioning demanding higher-order responses - questions such as, 'What
advantages can you see in that approach?' or 'How do you think data capture ought
to be organised?' - will generate more higher-order thinking. You can ask other
group members to add to or clarify an answer: 'Can you add anything to that?' or
'Can you explain that in more detail for us?'
Try to ensure that you distribute your questioning fairly throughout the class,
making sure that even the quieter pupils get a turn (keep a record of who you ask
so you can target particular individuals, ensuring all have been asked across a
sequence of lessons). Such questioning can be a valuable form of assessment for
learning, and it will undoubtedly inform your teaching, but you are unlikely to be
able to record all individual responses or attainment. However, you may occasionally
note an unusually perceptive comment, or when someone repeatedly avoids
answering.
Questioning is an expert skill and you should read more on this.
Task 4.7
Questioning
Arrange to observe a teacher who is known to be skilled at questioning.
Make a note of any questions aimed at eliciting higher-order responses as
opposed to simply maintaining accountability or managing learning.
• How did the teacher deal with pupils who fail to answer?
• How did the teacher support weaker pupils' attempts to respond?
• Did the teacher keep any records of the exchanges?
MAKING ASSESSMENT MANAGEABLE
Assessment becomes manageable when it is focused, targeted and appropriate.
Within a sequence of lessons opportunities for informal and formative assessment
should be built into the lesson planning. Self- and peer-assessment should take
place on an ongoing basis, with diagnostic assessment occurring at regular intervals
to inform progress and identify needs. By involving pupils in their assessment, the
whole process becomes more meaningful to them and definitely more manageable
for you. In other words, the nature of assessment changes from something we do
to the pupils to something we do with them.
There will be times when it is appropriate to assess the whole class, and other
times when it is more useful to concentrate on smaller groups of pupils or
individuals, for the purposes of target-setting. Careful consideration of what is
being assessed, together with an understanding of why it is being assessed at that
time, enables the strategic deployment of appropriate assessment techniques.