Cookie Chart Feedback

Overview

This lesson uses the Cookie Chart Method to run formative assessment for the unit Designing Matariki Calendars. Students receive specific, individualised feedback on design concepts and cultural understanding, then refine their designs using peer feedback supported by structured rubrics.

Learning intentions

• Students will present progress on their Matariki calendar design using a format of their choice (verbal, visual, or written).
• Students will receive feedback linked to design principles and cultural responsiveness.
• Students will use a Cookie Chart to set clear next steps for improving their work.
• Students will give respectful peer feedback using a structured rubric.

Success criteria

• I can explain how my design decisions support my calendar intention and audience.
• I can identify and apply design principles (e.g., layout, contrast, hierarchy, repetition) in my calendar.
• I can demonstrate cultural understanding by using appropriate Matariki concepts and respectful visual choices.
• I can use feedback to write specific actions I will take next (what, where, and how).

Curriculum links

• Visual Arts — AS91914 Explore Visual Arts processes and conventions to inform own art making: experimenting and using processes/conventions to respond to an art making intention, and making connections from experimental work to intentions.
• Visual Arts — AS91914: evaluate through iteration, refining processes/materials, and selecting/reflecting on experimental work to refine an intention.
• Visual Arts — The New Zealand Curriculum Refresh: formative assessment for learning using actionable feedback, and supporting students to reflect and improve.
• Key competencies: managing self (using feedback to plan next steps), relating to others (peer feedback respectfully), and participating and contributing (presenting and collaborating).

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Entry routine + success criteria. Teacher displays today’s aim and the Cookie Chart steps; students collect their materials and open their design work-in-progress. Students silently review their last feedback notes and circle one area they want to improve today.

2. 5–15 min · Mini direct teach: Cookie Chart Method. Teacher models how feedback becomes “bite-sized actions” using a Cookie Chart (Strengths, Growth, Next Steps). Students add a “Strength” and “Growth” statement to their own Cookie Chart based on what they see in their draft.

3. 15–35 min · Formative assessment rotations (teacher + student choice). Teacher runs small groups; each student chooses how they present (verbal 30–45 seconds, written bullet read-out, or show-and-point using a visual cue sheet). Students present, then receive tailored Cookie Chart feedback addressing: one design principle and one cultural responsiveness consideration; they record it immediately using sentence stems.

Teacher note for individualisation:

• If design is unclear: feedback targets composition/layout, value/contrast, and information hierarchy.
• If cultural understanding needs strengthening: feedback targets accuracy, respectful use of Matariki ideas, and clarity of meaning in visuals/notations (including where sources or learning should be revisited).

4. 35–48 min · Peer feedback with structured rubric. Teacher assigns partners (balanced groups) and distributes the peer rubric for Matariki calendar design and cultural responsiveness. Students give two “kind and specific” comments and one question, then complete the peer section of the Cookie Chart (Strength + Next Step).

5. 48–55 min · Consolidate: convert feedback into actions. Teacher checks that next steps are specific (what to do, where to apply it, what materials/process) and culturally respectful. Students write 2–3 precise next steps and circle the one they will start immediately after today.

6. 55–60 min · Exit ticket: readiness for refinement. Teacher collects exit tickets (half-page) with a prompt. Students submit: “My biggest improvement next is… because… I will do it by…”

Resources

• Cookie Chart template (printed or digital) for each student
• Design-in-progress sheets or sketchbooks (calendar layout drafts + any references)
• Peer feedback rubric for design principles and cultural responsiveness
• Sentence starters for feedback (Strength, Growth, Next Step, “I noticed…”, “I wonder…”)
• Timer for rotation segments
• Clipboards or mini whiteboards for quick presenting
• Colour pencils/markers, rulers, sticky notes
• Optional: a class exemplar of a culturally respectful calendar concept (teacher-made, anonymised)

Assessment

• Teacher formative checks during rotations: recorded in each student’s Cookie Chart (Strengths, Growth, Next Steps).
• Peer rubric evidence: quality of feedback (specific, respectful, linked to design principles and cultural responsiveness).
• Exit ticket: whether each student can articulate a specific actionable refinement plan.

Differentiation

• UDL supports: allow presentation via verbal, visual, or written; provide sentence starters and a model Cookie Chart for clarity; offer checklists for design principles and cultural responsiveness reminders.
• Scaffold for understanding: provide a “design principle word bank” (layout, hierarchy, contrast, repetition, alignment) and a “cultural clarity” checklist (meaning, respectful representation, clear connections to Matariki ideas).
• Support for students needing structure: require next steps to follow the format “I will change/add ___ in ___ by ___ (process/medium).”
• Extension for students ready to push further: ask for a justification link between an experimental decision and the intention (e.g., “How does your colour choice communicate mood or time of year?”) and a more refined cultural rationale in their next-step statement.