Teachers can..

Teachers cannot...

Why / Why not?

Let you know if you are on the right track to meet the standard / checkpoint and refer you back to the task/criteria if there are omissions or errors to improve e.g. (department to complete).

Indicate what grade you will get

It is a breach of assessment conditions. NZQA says we cannot do this. This may vary from subject to subject.

Indicate skills/area for focus (department to complete).

Indicate everything you are doing right/wrong

It is then not an authentic, independent piece of your work. This means you would not be able to submit it for assessment.

Give you holistic feedback (department to complete).

Rewrite the content or suggest specific ideas

This makes sure you have included the things you need to meet the standard. We cannot do the work or thinking for you as this undermines the assessment.

Do a classroom activity or model the skill on the board and give you time to fix it in your own work.

Fix the errors, circle them or show you where they are

The teacher cannot work on your assessment piece.

Authenticity. It must be your own work.

Give you feedback when you meet a checkpoint or provide a draft in advance of the assessment date. ‘In general feedback and feedforward should become less specific the closer the student is to the assessment date’ NZQA

Give you feedback close to the due date or give you feedback if you miss a checkpoint. If your class is given a specific number of checkpoint(s), you cannot ask for further opportunities for feedforward.

This is unfair on you as you will not have enough time to implement the feedback. It is unfair on other students who met the checkpoint. It is also an unfair expectation on the teacher.

Model the different criteria and how to achieve them

Use your content and ideas to model how you can meet each criteria

The teacher is achieving the grade instead of you.

Can give you examplers of the task which meet different grade criteria, for reading in class.

Allow you to take home exemplars of student work from previous years on the same topic/text

Can lead directly to plagiarism, either unwittingly or otherwise

Set checkpoints for the class to meet (if these are not already set in your course outline). They may also offer conferencing one-on-one (verbal feedback) as part of the feedback process

Give everyone feedback or conference with everyone at exactly the same time

Teachers have many classes and many students. This is physically impossible. Checkpoints are set across classes to ensure equity. Oral (verbal) feedback is considered the same as written feedback.

Reteach specific areas of weakness for the whole class, if a weakness is identified.

Give you feedback on the same draft with minor changes or provide you feedback every time you do a draft

It needs to be fair and reasonable for the teacher and the class. Perhaps consider asking the teacher to address a specific skill with the class so that you can apply it to your own understanding / draft.

Identify clearly if you are plagiarising or missing key components such as a bibliography or have made inappropriate text choice.

Teachers have an obligation to ensure the work they assess is authentically the students own.

Can indicate you are not meeting checkpoints, and not completing tasks towards achievement in an assessment.

Can challenge you if the changes between drafts indicate outside intervention.

Think about

WHAT feedback your teacher can give you (without undermining the assessment. It is best when you ask specific questions)

WHERE your teacher can write feedback (normally at the bottom, not showing you where the errors are)

WHEN your teacher can give you feedback (checkpointed dates)