Sometimes we get bogged down in marking.

It takes time and it’s hard to simplify.

However, there is one tool we can use that goes a long way to making marking easier.

A method we can adopt that means we still give high-quality formative feedback, albeit without quite as much labour required as is usually the case.

A target bank is a list of ready-made targets we can call on while we’re marking.

Like a scaffold that does a bit of the work for us in advance.

When you’re marking, you can refer to your target bank (strengths banks are good as well).

Identify a relevant target for your learner and drop it into your feedback, amending and modifying as necessary.

Simple.

Here I have a bank for you containing forty ready-made targets covering the areas of:

• Self-Assessment
• Skills of Analysis

If you head to the Assessment for Learning Knowledge Base, you’ll find another 160 ready-made targets and 200 ready-made strengths. All designed to make your marking a little bit easier.

Enjoy!

Ready-Made Targets: Self-Assessment

1. When you finish, go back over your work and assess whether you have met the learning objectives or not. If you have, explain how. If you haven’t, improve it.
2. When you finish, go back over your work and check it using SPS (Spelling. Punctuation. Does it make Sense?). Make any improvements you think necessary.
3. On finishing, identify the areas of the topic you feel most confident with and those you feel you need to do more work on. Make a note of these and follow up on them at the next opportunity.
4. On finishing, make a list of questions you still want answered. Aim to find the answers either at home or in the next lesson.
5. Having completed your work, compare it to the last similar piece of work you did. Identify how you have improved and what you could aim for next.
6. Having completed your work, compare it to previous work you have done. Try to identify common mistakes you are making and target these as an area for improvement.
7. When you have finished, look back over your work and identify three things you have done well and one thing you could improve. Follow up on this target in your next piece of work.
8. On completing a piece of writing, read it aloud. Ask yourself whether it makes sense, if you have communicated clearly, and whether you could have said the same thing in fewer words. Make any changes you need to make.
9. When you have finished, take two different coloured pens. Use one to highlight what you have done well and one to highlight a single thing you could improve.
10. On completing a piece of work, read it through critically. This means you should actively look for ways it could be improved. Once you’ve done this, redraft the work so it’s better.
11. When you finish, look back through your work and identify all the keywords you have used. Check to ensure you have used them accurately. If you have not, change your work. If you have used them correctly, choose two or three and explain how you know this to be the case.
12. When you finish, write yourself an exam-style question based on the topic, along with a mark-scheme. Answer your question and then mark your work.
13. On finishing, make a list of all the new information you have learned in the lesson and all the skills you have practiced. Put these in what you think is their order of importance.
14. On finishing, identify all the concepts you have included in your work. Draw a map showing how these link together. Then, identify whether you could have explained more of these links in your work.
15. When you complete your work, shut your book. Imagine you are a person who knows nothing about the topic. Open your book and read through what you have written. Ask yourself how clear your answers are and how you could make them clearer.
16. Having completed your work, set yourself a target for next lesson. The target should be something that will improve your work and that is focussed on your learning.
17. When you have finished, think back through the lesson and identify the different skills you have used. Note these down and comment on how effectively you have used them. Choose one to focus on and try to improve it next lesson.
18. When you have finished, go back through your work word-by-word. Aim to pick up on any mistakes you have made, however small. Fix each one you encounter, only moving on when this is done.
19. On completing a piece of work, take three different coloured highlighters and indicate which parts you feel are best, which are OK, and which could be improved (or, which you feel you need help with). Focus on the last two each time. Aim to get all your work up to the ‘best’ standard over the course of the term.
20. Create a personal checklist of five things you think you need to improve. Use this checklist to assess every piece of work you do. Once you are consistently doing all the things on the checklist, write out a new one.

Ready-Made Targets: Skills of Analysis

1. Explain your answers in more detail. Demonstrate, using more evidence or reasons, why it is that what you are saying is true.
2. Give examples to support your points. An example connects an abstract idea to the real world, helping your reader to understand more clearly what it is you are saying.
3. Before you begin a piece of work, analyse what it is you are being asked to do. Make a list and check it with the teacher if you are unsure. Then, use it to help you complete your work.
4. Analyse what you are being asked to do by identifying the keywords in a task or question. Having picked these out, make sure you do what it is they are asking.
5. Separate the different ideas you have in response to a question or task. Deal with them one-by-one. This will make your work clearer and more coherent.
6. When you finish your work, compare it with the last thing you did. Identify how your current piece of work is an improvement. If it is not, make it better.
7. Examine ideas and information more carefully. Use these questions to guide you: What are the key elements? How does it connect to other things I know about? Why might it be important?
8. Distinguish between the different points you want to make. Separate them out and deal with each one in turn.
9. When you finish your work, go through and analyse whether you have met the success criteria or achieved the learning objective. If not, improve you work. If you have, explain how you have done it.
10. Compare different ideas in your work. Consider how they are similar or different and what the implications of this might be.
11. When you are writing about a concept, analyse it in more detail. Explain the different meanings it has, or the different ways it can be used. Give examples to support what you write.
12. When answering questions, explain each point you make in detail before moving to the next one. This will help ensure you are analysing things in depth.
13. When given a task, analyse all the separate things you will need to do to be successful. Make a list of these and tick them off as you go along.
14. Before you begin your work, make a quick plan of what you intend to do. When you finish, compare your plan with what you have done. Identify how closely you followed it and whether you need to do anything else (or whether you need to plan differently next time).
15. When we study our next topic, try to pick out which ideas and information are most important. This will help you to focus on the central elements of the topic.
16. Spend more time deciding what particular element of the work you will focus on. This will help direct your efforts toward a single goal, rather than spreading them across a range.
17. When beginning a task or answering a question, consider the different possibilities available. Compare these to the success criteria and identify which is the best one to follow.
18. When you have finished your work, swap it with a partner. Identify something they have done well which you could incorporate in your own work. Go back and improve your work accordingly.
19. Come up with one or two questions you can ask yourself after every piece of work. For example: ‘How clearly have I communicated what I think?’ Use these to keep yourself on track.
20. When comparing ideas or pieces of information, ensure you always give examples to support your points.