Whole-class feedback lists can save you a lot of time while also providing personalised feedback to all the learners in your class.

Having marked a set of books, instead of writing formative feedback in those books, turn the various comments you would have provided into a list of targets.

This list should encompass all the learners in your class – every learner should be able to pick out at least one item on the list and see it as relevant to them and their work.

Next lesson, return learner books and display the list on the board.

Explain that you have marked learners’ work and that the list is a summary of your feedback.

It contains all the comments you feel are appropriate to the class as a whole.

Invite learners to read through the list, to look at their own work and to identify which target is most appropriate for them.

As this is happening, circulate through the room so you can observe which targets learners are choosing.

If a learner chooses an inappropriate target, or one that is too easy or too hard, then advise them to select a different one.

When all learners have identified a suitable target, provide some time in which they can act on these – by redoing a section of their work, for example.

This is again a good opportunity to circulate.

You can offer learners support and guidance, pose questions that stretch their thinking, and model successful target implementation for them.

Here are two examples to demonstrate.

Example 1: Literacy

The teacher marks a set of books and then creates the following list, which they display on the board at the start of the next lesson, as they hand back the books:

1. Decrease the length of your sentences.
2. Look up spellings you’re not sure of.
3. Use punctuation to break up longer sentences.
4. Make sure you stay in the same tense.
5. Look for different ways to start your sentences – don’t always use ‘I’.
6. If you start writing in the 3^rd person, continue writing in the 3^rd person.
7. Include more detail in your writing – try describing more things.
8. Use a thesaurus to select a wider range of words.
9. Make sure you always write in sentences.
10. Look at where you have used capital letters. What could you change?

Learners are given a chance to look through their books.

The teacher then invites them to examine the list and decide which target is most relevant to them.

If more than one target is relevant, the teacher asks learners to select the one they think is most important.

Time is then provided in which learners can act on their targets.

The teacher circulates, offering support.

There are a couple of variations we can mention here.

First, the teacher might decide not to circulate.

Instead, they could identify in advance a handful of learners who will benefit from one-to-one support.

They would then use the target implementation time to support these learners.

Second, instead of leaving it to learners to select a target, they could write a number in learners’ books, with this number corresponding to the target on the list that is appropriate for them.

In this formulation, the teacher reads through the books, creates the list, then goes back and writes a number at the end of each learner’s piece of work.

Example 2: Geography

The teacher marks a set of assignments, produces the following list, and displays it on the board as they return learners’ work:

1. Use specific examples to illustrate your points. Help the reader understand why your argument is persuasive.
2. Evaluate the arguments you use. Identify their strengths and weaknesses – or use different arguments to critique each other.
3. Go into more detail in your work. Explain your ideas in full – imagine that the reader has no clue about the topic and needs you to help them out.
4. Avoid slang language and include more technical language. Try to write like a geographer, using the language of geography. Focus on using the terminology we’ve been learning.
5. Compare different ideas in your work. Show the similarities and differences between them. This helps demonstrate your ability to analyse key information.

The list is shorter than in the literacy example because the nature of the assignment means learners are making similar errors across the board.

The teacher uses the list as a tool to not only help learners improve the quality of their work in a general sense, but also to help them draw it closer to the demands of the mark-scheme.

As part of this, they share the mark-scheme with learners and explain how the different targets relate to different sections, as well as how they are indicative of high-quality work more widely.

This approach helps learners to better understand why they should improve their work and what impact implementing their target is likely to have.