DIRT : MARKING AND FEEDBACK

Mathematics
and Science Dpt

DIRT IN PRACTICE

Good

practice on
the use of

DIRT.

In my classroom, students have access to a variety of hands-on
activities that create curiosity and direct their learning. Students get the
opportunity to put their skills into practice while incorporating technology
to enhance their learning experience. I use differentiated learning and
total participation techniques to ensure that each learner under my care
has a fair chance in the learning process because I appreciate that all
students are unique and have specific learning needs and styles.

Further, formative assessment coupled with immediate and
actionable feedback is a key component that ensures that
learners fully appreciate learning and meaningful use of
acquired knowledge.

Feedback
that feeds
forward.

Marking

Marking pupils’ books is part of our
professional duty. Routinely reading,
checking and monitoring pupils’ books
connects us to their learning and helps
to ensure that they care about the work
they produce.

It shows pupils that we value their
work and provides us with crucial
on-going information about how well
they are learning.

It also enables us to

monitor the

completion of

class-based and

home learning tasks

In order to help with workload and
consistency, staff may wish to use a
SCIS check sticker for this kind of light
marking:

Inform learners
about the
marking criteria

Feedback

Feedback is specific information
given to the learner about their
performance relative to learning
goals.

It should aim to (and be capable
of) producing improvement in
pupils’ learning.

Peer feedback

Peer feedback (sometimes referred to
as ‘green pen marking’) should also be
a regular part of classroom practice.

BE

KIND

BE

SPECIFIC

BE

HELPFUL

Directed Improvement
and Reflection Time
(DIRT)

There are many different tasks that pupils can do during DIRT. It
depends on what they got wrong or missed out in their assessed
work. The following list is by no means exhaustive:

• Redrafting of a whole piece of work

• Redrafting of a section of the work

• Redoing something (for example a graph)

• Answering a question / questions

• Editing.

Feedback should be
given and followed up
with DIRT in accordance
with the MnF policy
every 4-6 weeks, or after
every topic

What should pupils be
doing during DIRT time?

CASE

1

Effective use of DIRT to
develop more
disciplined learners:

No DIRT means
no gap is closed:
learning has not
moved forward.
Marking time is
wasted

without giving up time for DIRT we
are

picking

up

errors/omissions/misconceptions,
commenting on them, but not
allowing pupils to address them;
we have flagged up a learning gap
but

not

given

pupils

the

opportunity to bridge it. Closing
this gap in learning must be
prioritised.

CASE

2

Can you be

able to justify

when the

correct order
of operations
has not been

used?

students are asked to
take a few moments and
jot down:

●3 ideas or issues
from what was
presented

●2 example or uses for
how the ideas could
be implemented

●1 unresolved area /
muddiest point

3-2-1 Format

How does it work?

● Use 3-2-1

Format to
transition into
class discussion.

● Student can

complete 3-2-1
as individuals,
pairs, or small
groups.

Think-Pair-Share

2. Students reflect on and write
brief notes for one minute in
response to the question.

3.Students pair up with someone
sitting near them and share their
answers verbally for two to three
minutes. Alternatively, they may
also work together to create one
best answer.

4. Randomly choose a few pairs of
students to give 30 second
summaries of individual or joint
answers.

How does it work?

1.Pose a question to students.

On

exam

preparation

Open Ended

What are your biggest takeaways?