How it works
Four of the eight cards
I got a 4 in maths.
A fact, because you could check it.
I am just not a maths person.
This one is a story. It can feel true, but it is not a result.
I ran out of time on paper two.
This is a fact, and a useful one to know.
There is no point now.
This is a story, and it is the one this lesson is mainly about.
Students sort all eight cards before you teach anything, and two of the cards are written to get them disagreeing.
Each table gets a set of eight cards showing things students say in the week after results. Students sort them into facts and stories, and you write any disagreements on the board.
The lesson then explains that a result tells you what was tested and how you did on it, but it cannot tell you how you will do next time. The story is the part that adds a judgement about you, and that is the part students are encouraged to let go of. Together, the class takes one made-up result and turns it into a fact and a first move, which you write on the board.
Each student then fills in the sheet with their own result, what it tested, where the marks went if they know, one line of fact and one first move that takes less than an hour. Students swap with a partner and check that each other’s fact line has no story in it. The lesson finishes with an exit slip, which stays private to each student.
For a few students, a bad mock result will come on top of something much harder going on at home. Nothing on the sheet is collected or read out, and the slides say so. The exit slip asks students what they would say to a friend who got the same result, rather than asking what they think of themselves.
A look inside
Get the lesson
You will need to print one page of cards, which you only need to cut up once, and one sheet per student. The lesson works after any set of results, including end-of-year exams.
The lesson slides
Fourteen slides, each labelled with the part of the lesson it belongs to.
Download Printable PDFTeacher resource pack
Three pages: the guide, the eight cards to cut once, and the sheet to print one per student.
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