General Introduction
This blog is part of my Differentiation and Adaptive Teaching Knowledge Base.
I use the terms differentiation and adaptive teaching synonymously. To me, they are the same, as genuine differentiation has always involved adapting your planning and your teaching to meet the needs of the learners in front of you.
For me, differentiation is all the practical strategies, activities and techniques teachers use to personalise learning.
For ease, we can break that down into my five categories of differentiation: Activities, Questioning, Words and Writing, Things the Teacher Can Do and Things You Can Ask Learners to Do or Use.
This blog falls into the category of things you can ask learners to do or use, also called self-scaffolding.
Model Answers
Model answers can come from one of three sources.
They can be provided by learners, with the teacher collecting examples during the course of the year.
They can come from the teacher, who has the skills necessary to construct model answers for any of the work they ask learners to do.
And they can come from examination boards – should you be teaching a course at GCSE or A Level.
Wherever they come from, model answers remain in essence the same.
They are a demonstration of how to complete a task or respond to a question.
They will not necessarily be the only way, but they will be a model way – that is, a way that meets the success criteria and which the teacher would want their learners to follow.
By providing learners with model answers, you help them to understand what questions and tasks are asking for.
To the teacher who has planned the lesson, this is obvious.
To learners, however, there is often ambiguity.
You can use model answers in many ways.
What remains the same, is that the models act as scaffolds learners can use to make sense of the learning, and to guide them in their own response to the task.
Here are five strategies for you to consider.
Model Answers: Strategy One
Give each learner a copy of a model answer.
Ask them to read this through and to identify three things they think are good.
Invite learners to share their thoughts with a partner, and to see if they have identified the same three things.
Set learners off on a task.
Encourage them to use both the model answer and the good things they identified as tools to help them be successful in the activity.
Model Answers: Strategy Two
Learners work in pairs. Each pair receives a copy of a model answer.
Learners read this through.
The teacher displays three discussion questions on the board.
Pairs work through these questions, making a note of their thoughts.
When sufficient time has passed, the teacher facilitates a whole-class discussion.
Different pairs share their thinking.
The teacher collates the most pertinent points, scribing these on the whiteboard.
This remains up and visible during the task.
Learners can use the collated wisdom of the class, along with the model answer, to help themselves be successful with the activity.
Model Answers: Strategy Three
Learners work in pairs. Each pair receives a copy of a model answer and a mark-scheme.
Pairs read through the answer and use the mark-scheme to assess it.
They should discuss their thoughts until they agree on what they believe to be the correct grading.
When sufficient time has passed, the teacher shares their own assessment of the model answer.
Learners compare this to what they produced.
The teacher explains how they applied the mark-scheme to the model answer, helping learners more deeply understand the process of assessment.
The teacher sets learners a related task.
For this, they can use the model answer and the mark-scheme as supporting tools, helping to scaffold the work they produce.
Model Answers: Strategy Four
Learners work in threes. Each group receives a copy of a model answer.
Groups must analyse the model answer and to draw up a set of guidelines the class could use when completing a similar task.
The goal here is for learners to think in depth about what the model answer shows and why it is good.
They must then use this to create a set of guidelines that they, and their peers, can use as a scaffold when completing tasks of a similar type.
You can develop this approach by segueing into a whole-class discussion during which different pairs share their guidelines.
From here, you can come up with a set of class guidelines and then get learners to use these when completing future work.
Model Answers: Strategy Five
Learners work in threes. Each group receives a different model answer.
Groups are asked to create a short presentation in which they focus on three of the best things about their model answers – examples and explanation are, of course, obligatory.
When sufficient time has passed, ask groups to pair up.
Each group has three minutes to deliver their presentation to their peers.
It can be helpful to provide a structure for groups to follow:
- Explain your model answer
- Share the three things that stood out for you
- Outline why these were good
- Provide advice on how to create similarly good work in the future
How can using model answers help you to differentiate?
Model answers provide all learners with a clearer understanding of what a task or question is demanding.
Therefore, they help all learners to achieve more than might otherwise be the case.
Model answers minimise ambiguity for less-able and less confident learners.
They provide a path that these learners can follow.
Model answers give all learners an insight into possible ways of ordering, synthesising and communicating ideas and information.
Regardless of a learner’s starting point, they will be able to take something away from a model answer.
The strategies above illustrate how you can use model answers as scaffolds.
There are multiple ways you can encourage learners to take model answers and make use of the insights they demonstrate in their own work.
