Knowing How I Learn

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band A.

I name the task as easy or hard but I do not say what made it that way.

I use the easy/tricky/stuck words but I apply them to the topic ('maths is tricky') rather than to a specific recent task.

I can name a piece of work or task I did recently as easy, tricky, or stuck, and describe what made it that way.

I name the task and what made it that way, and I distinguish between the task being tricky for me and the task being tricky in general.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band A.

I say 'help' in general terms but cannot point to a specific thing that helped on this task.

I name something that helped but it is something good about the task ('it was fun') rather than something that helped me learn it.

I can name one thing that helped me learn the task — a person, a tool, a quiet moment, or something I tried.

I name what helped and explain what it was about that thing that made it helpful for this particular task.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band B.

I name a strategy by label ('I revised') but cannot describe what I actually did.

I describe what I did, but I can only name one strategy, or my second 'strategy' is the same one renamed.

I can name two strategies I have used recently and describe what I did when I used each one.

I name two distinct strategies, describe what I did with each, and say where I got each strategy from (a teacher, a friend, my own working out).

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band B.

I say a strategy 'worked' but I do not say when, or in what kind of situation.

I explain when the strategy helped, but I do not distinguish deliberate from accidental use.

I can explain when a strategy I named helped me, distinguishing times I chose it on purpose from times it just happened.

I explain when the strategy helped, distinguish deliberate from accidental use, and note one situation where I forgot to use it and what happened instead.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band C.

I list strategy labels (retrieval practice, spaced practice) without describing what each one is.

I describe one strategy clearly but the second is a near-paraphrase of the first, or I confuse what one strategy is with what another is.

I can name and describe two evidence-based study strategies — for example retrieval practice, spaced practice, or self-explanation — and explain what each one is.

I name and describe two strategies and say what each one does that is different from what the other does.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band C.

I apply only one strategy, or I say I 'tried both' without reporting what happened with either.

I report what happened with both strategies, but my reports are about how the task went rather than how each strategy went.

I can apply both strategies to the same task and report what happened with each one.

I apply both strategies to the same task and report specifically what each one did for me, distinguishing the strategy's effect from other things going on.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band C.

I declare one strategy better but do not compare what each one did.

I compare the two strategies but my reason 'why' is general ('I prefer it') rather than tied to what happened.

I can compare the two strategies on the same task and explain which one worked better for me, and why.

I compare the two strategies and explain which worked better, why, and one situation in which the result might flip — when the other strategy might be the better choice.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band D.

I name a type of task but my reason is general ('it's a maths task') rather than tied to features (what I have to do, what counts as success).

I identify the type of task using a feature, but I miss that some tasks combine more than one type.

I can identify the type of task in front of me — memorising, practising a procedure, novel problem-solving, or collaborative work — using specific features of the task to decide.

I identify the type of task and note when a task is a mix of two types, naming which features point to each.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band D.

I choose a strategy I usually use, without checking whether it fits this type of task.

I choose a strategy that fits in general but I cannot say what makes it the right fit for this specific task.

I can choose a strategy that fits the type of task I have identified.

I choose a strategy that fits, and I name a strategy I considered and rejected, with a reason for the rejection.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band D.

I justify the choice by saying it has worked before, without explaining the strategy–task fit.

I explain why the strategy fits this task, but my explanation does not distinguish this task type from others where the strategy would not fit.

I can justify the strategy–task match by explaining why this strategy fits this type of task and would not fit another type.

I justify the strategy–task match and name a different task type where the same strategy would actively get in the way.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band D.

I describe a strategy that worked once and failed once but I treat the difference as luck rather than as a fit difference.

I describe the contrast but my explanation of the difference points to the topic ('maths vs music') rather than to the type of task.

I can describe one strategy that worked for one type of task but failed for a different type of task, and explain the difference.

I describe the contrast, explain the type-of-task difference, and propose what the strategy would need to look like to suit the second task type.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band E.

I describe what I do as a learner in general terms ('I work hard') without naming a pattern.

I describe a pattern but I draw all my examples from one subject.

I can describe two of my own learning patterns with specific examples from more than one subject.

I describe two patterns with examples across more than one subject and note one subject where one of those patterns does not appear.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band E.

I name conditions in general ('quiet helps') without examples or evidence that the condition reliably helps.

I name a helping condition and a hindering condition but only one is supported by a concrete example.

I can name a condition that reliably helps me learn and one that reliably hinders me, with concrete examples.

I name a helping and a hindering condition with concrete examples, and I note a context where the supposedly-helping condition does not help, or vice versa.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band E.

I describe what I say I do without checking it against evidence from what I actually did.

I name a say-do gap but I treat it as a one-off ('I just got busy') rather than as something to take seriously.

I can identify a gap between what I say I do as a learner and what I actually do, using evidence from a recent occasion.

I identify a say-do gap with evidence and propose a small adjustment that would close the gap, naming what counts as evidence the adjustment is working.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band E.

I say my learning has 'got better' or 'got worse' without naming what shifted.

I name something that shifted, but I do not say what stayed the same — so the change is uncalibrated.

I can describe how I have noticed my learning patterns change over time, naming what shifted and what stayed the same.

I describe what shifted and what stayed the same, and identify what I think drove the shift — a strategy, a context change, or growing up.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band E.

I describe feedback I have received but I do not say what it changed in how I see myself.

I describe what changed but the change is about behaviour ('I started revising earlier') rather than self-knowledge.

I can describe how feedback from someone else (teacher, peer, mentor) has changed something about how I see myself as a learner.

I describe what feedback changed in my self-knowledge and identify a piece of feedback I disagreed with, with my reason for that disagreement.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band F.

My account covers one of the three categories — strategies, or self-knowledge — without naming the other two.

My account covers all three categories but treats them as separate lists rather than as connected parts of one account.

I can produce an integrated account of how I learn that names what I know about cognition (how minds work in general), strategy (which techniques work for which tasks), and self (my own patterns).

My account integrates all three categories and shows how a claim in one (e.g. about my own self-pattern) relies on a claim in another (e.g. about how working memory works in general).

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band F.

I claim my whole account is provisional without naming where the uncertainty actually lives.

I name an uncertain part but my reason for the uncertainty is general ('it's hard to know yourself') rather than specific to that claim.

I can identify which parts of my account are most uncertain, and which I am most likely to be wrong about.

I identify the uncertain parts and propose what kind of evidence — from outside feedback, from a future occasion — would change my view.

The student has not produced work that demonstrates any aspect of this learning target at Band F.

I describe feedback I received but I do not identify what about it I would not have seen on my own.

I describe a blind spot but it is something I already half-knew before the feedback came.

I can describe a blind spot in my self-knowledge as a learner that outside feedback caught — something I would not have seen on my own.

I describe a blind spot caught by feedback and explain why my prior account would have predicted the blind spot away — what made it invisible from the inside.