Giving feedback takes time.

You have to mark learners’ work, assess what they’ve done, and then come up with a response that helps them understand what they’ve done well and what they need to to improve.

There is one way to speed it up though.

While still maintaining the highest quality of formative feedback.

If you have a target bank on hand (or a strengths bank, for that matter), you have a scaffold that does some of the work for you.

A target bank is a list of ready-made targets you can slip into your written feedback.

Sometimes exactly as they are, sometimes with tweaks or edits to personalise them.

Here I have a bank for you containing sixty ready-made targets covering three areas:

• Thinking Deeper
• Developing Creativity
• Precision and Accuracy

You can use the targets as they are, or modify them to suit your purpose.

Either way, some of the work is already done for you.

Making it easier to give feedback and to speed up your marking.

Plus, to go alongside, you’ll find another 140 ready-made targets and 200 ready-made strengths at the Assessment for Learning Knowledge Base.

Enjoy!

Ready-Made Targets: Thinking Deeper

1. What do you think your target should be and why?
2. How can you develop your work beyond what you are doing at present? Why will this be an improvement?
3. Our next topic is X. Find out what you can about it and be ready to tell me about this in future lessons.
4. Pick out all the subject-specific concepts you have used in your work so far. Explain whether you think you have used them correctly or not.
5. Create an exam question based on our topic. Then, write a model answer.
6. How could you use what we have learned in other subjects/the future/your own life?
7. Before you begin your work, write down what you expect to communicate. Use this as a guide and, when you have finished, as a way to assess what you have done.
8. Consider a range of viewpoints in your work. Put yourself in the shoes of other people and examine how their perspectives may be similar or different to your own.
9. Evaluate the arguments you make. Identify their strengths and weaknesses. For example, ‘A key strength of this argument is …’
10. Aim to develop a critical mindset in relation to the subject. Approach ideas with the attitude: ‘How accurate is this? What is the evidence for it? How does it relate to what I already know?’
11. Ensure your work progresses logically from start to finish, however long it is. The connections between each part of your work should be clear and coherent.
12. Use a dictionary and thesaurus to ensure you are using language accurately. Check the meaning of words and whether or not you are using them the right way.
13. Make connections between the ideas we look at in lessons and the real world. This could include, for example, current news stories, or the jobs people do in society.
14. Where possible, break down questions into sections and deal with each thing they ask in turn.
15. Identify the command words in a question (these are the words that ask you to do something, for example: discuss, examine and contrast ) and ensure your answer does what these words require.
16. Problematize the concepts we look at. Demonstrate through your work how their meaning can be contested. For example: ‘freedom’ means different things to different people for different reasons.
17. On finishing your work, write a rationale explaining why you have answered as you have. Detail the choices you have made and why you have made them. If this leads you to rewrite some of your work, that is OK.
18. When you finish your work, write an extension question based on the topic. Then, answer the question.
19. Compare and contrast different concepts we look at. Identify the relationships between the concepts and whether they are compatible or in conflict.
20. When finished, come up with two or three questions about the topic to which you would like to know the answers. For homework, research the answers.

Ready-Made Targets: Developing Creativity

1. In your work, try to develop connections with other subjects. Look for opportunities to make links. This demonstrates your understanding of how the curriculum is interconnected.
2. Before you answer a question or complete a task, consider the different options available to you. Identify which is most suited to what you are trying to achieve and then follow it through.
3. When you have completed your work, look back over it in search of connections you could make. Rewrite some of your answers so they include these new connections.
4. Choose an idea we’ve looked at that you find interesting and explore it in your work. Look at it from different angles; try connecting it to different things; test out its use and its relevance.
5. Develop your answers by pursuing your ideas as far as they can go. Explore the implications of your thoughts on different scales: small, medium, big; local, national, global.
6. Combine the ideas we look at with your existing knowledge. By linking concepts together you can discover new ways of thinking about them.
7. When answering a question or completing a task, consider the alternative options you could use. This could mean the alternatives available before you start, or those that become apparent part way through your work.
8. Vary your work by using alternative methods of answering questions or completing tasks. For example, supplement your written responses with pictures or diagrams.
9. When thinking about how to answer a question or how to complete a task, identify a nugget of an idea you think has the potential to be interesting. Once you have found your ‘nugget’, work on developing it and exploring it in your work.
10. Try to pick out the central ideas in a question or task. Once you have these, consider how you can develop them creatively in your work. This could be through making connections, through trying out different possibilities, or through following the ideas in certain directions.
11. What is your style? Before you begin a piece of work, think about how you will make it your own. Style does not mean going over the top. It means finding a way of going about things that combines your personality with your technical skills.
12. Try answering questions in a variety of styles. Consider what style might be most appropriate given the nature of the task.
13. Take risks in your work. This can include: trying new approaches; focussing on specific areas of interest; making connections beyond the subject.
14. Take risks by trying to push your ideas further. For example, if you are analysing an idea, take that analysis further by extending it to related concepts and real-life situations.
15. Make comparisons in your work between the ideas and information we look at and other things you know about. Use these comparisons to think creatively about the ideas and information.
16. Compare what we study with what you know about the world already. Search for similarities and connections and try to weave these into your answers.
17. Aim to be independent in class. Take decisions on your work and follow them through. This will help you to create responses that are your own, rather than ones that follow a pre-set pattern.
18. Aim to be original when responding to tasks or answering questions. Consider how you could give an answer or response personal to you and your way of thinking.
19. Use different viewpoints as a way to think creatively about the ideas and information we study.
20. Try to develop your answers in new and original directions. Consider how you might take the ideas and information we look at and put you own ‘spin’ on them.

Ready-Made Targets: Precision and Accuracy

1. Ensure you specify exactly what it is you mean. Avoid generalisations or talking vaguely about a topic. Be specific. Give examples that show precisely what you are trying to say.
2. Tailor your answers to what a question or task is asking. Avoid straying into other areas or going off-topic. Remember: better communication is more precise.
3. When you have finished a piece of work, analyse how accurately you have used keywords and ideas from our subject. Use definitions, examples and source material, such as textbooks, to help you.
4. Try to consider how the context in which you are using key concepts may influence their meaning. Concepts tend to vary in meaning depending on where, when and for what purpose they are being used.
5. On completing your work, look back over it and analyse whether you are being consistent in your use of ideas. Is there variation between sentences, paragraphs and the overall piece? If so, try to correct this.
6. Before beginning a paragraph, consider what points you will make, how they will connect, and how they should be ordered. This will help ensure you communicate your meaning more accurately.
7. Practise using the key concepts and ideas we are looking at in lessons. This includes writing about them, talking about them and, where possible, doing them. Doing this will help you to use them with greater precision.
8. Before you start a piece of work, consider what key ideas are going to be important. Having done this, analyse whether they are the correct ideas for this piece of work. If you are happy that they are, use them. If not, change them.
9. Aim for clarity. Clarity involves simplicity and precision. Go over any work you complete. Ask yourself: Is it easy to understand? Is it precise? Is it clear? If not, make the necessary changes.
10. When you have completed a piece of extended written work, rewrite it so that the same meaning is conveyed through fewer words. This will make your work clearer and more precise.
11. Aim for your work to have coherence. Sentences should connect; paragraphs should link; the associations possessed by the things you write about should be made clear.
12. Whenever you complete a piece of work, read it aloud. As you do this, consider these questions: Do the individual parts make sense? Do the individual parts connect in a meaningful way? Have I made myself clear? If you answer ‘no’ to any of these questions, go back and improve your work.
13. Remember that writing, speaking and doing all grow from what you are thinking. Look at the work you produce and ask whether it is as close as you can get to what is going on in your head. If it is not, work out how you can close the gap.
14. When you complete a piece of work, ask a partner to read it aloud to you. While they are reading, analyse how accurately it reflects what you were trying to say. Then, make any changes you feel necessary.
15. Make regular use of a dictionary. Have one nearby while you are working. Do not assume that your understanding of words is totally reliable. Use the dictionary to check. Doing so will improve your work.
16. Before you begin your work, identify who the audience is, what the purpose of the work is, and what the success criteria are. This will help you make good choices both in the planning and in the execution.
17. Think carefully about the skills you are using in lessons. Pick out examples of where you have done well and compare these to the times you have struggled. Use your findings to help you make improvements in the future.
18. Identify the skills, relevant to the subject, you are best at. Having done this, analyse why you are good at them. Use this information to help tailor your future work and learning toward your strengths.
19. Familiarise yourself with the success criteria/mark-scheme for our subject. Then, focus on applying it to your work.
20. On completing a piece of work, compare it to the success criteria/mark-scheme. Analyse how close your work is to the ideal. What could you do to close the gap?