Step 4: Create a driving question that presents students a rationale for meeting transfer expectations This may be viewed as an optional step, but it is critical in presenting the learning intention as important for learning. Driving questions positioning the learning intention as a question rather than a statement and often show students one or more contexts (or situations) in which they will engage to meet the learning intention. Driving questions are usually presented to students at the beginning of a unit to frame their learning. Example: How do we apply multiplication of fractions [when converting units in chemistry to demonstrate the relationships between quantities]?
Step 5: Receive feedback from colleagues to ensure alignment of learning intentions and success criteria Before building other parts of your unit of work, such as tasks and activities, ask colleagues to review your work and look for the following: • • •
Learning intentions: Does the learning intention require deep and transfer learning? Success criteria: Do the success criteria align to surface, deep, and transfer? Are the success criteria devoid of contexts and tasks? Driving Question: Does the driving question align to the learning intention? Does it require surface, deep, and transfer learning to answer?
Process Success Criteria To further develop skills in the creation of success criteria, aim to have students measure their learning via processes or what they need to do during their learning. Consider the following process success criteria examples: Learning Intention: To be able to multiply two-digit numbers using the column method Success Criteria: Remember to… • Estimate a ball park answer first • Multiply in the units column first and carry any tens • Then multiply the tens (don’t forget to add on the carried number) • Check your answers Learning Intention: To be able to use effective adjectives. Context: Jungle description Success Criteria: Remember to… • Make sure the adjectives come before a noun • Use adjectives that tell the reader something they don’t know (don’t say wet water!) • Use our adjective wall to help you • Help the reader imagine what you are describing by using your senses These examples of process success criteria told the students both how you would assess their work and guided them to achieve the learning intention. To shift some of our less visible mindframes beliefs, explore co-constructing criteria with your students. Ways that this can be incorporated into your teaching include: • • • •
comparing two contrasting examples (good and poor) analysing two or more excellent examples and drawing out their features analysing what is missing or what has gone wrong in an example demonstrating the steps involved OR, demonstrating how not to do something 15
