ALARM A Learning and Responding Matrix

ALARM - Developed by Max Woods.

ALARM is a cognitive scaffold for:

- writing

- learning

- deconstructing questions

- feedback

- reflection.

ALARM is a powerful tool that helps improve literacy and assists students with composing written responses for assessment tasks and exams. By using the ALARM scaffold, students are guided to compose more sophisticated written responses that will help them progress from a Band 4 or 5 to a Band 6.

All too often, students do not know how to move beyond a 'C Grade' paper that simply describes and explains. To get top marks, students need to be able to show analysis and evaluation of concepts. By using the ALARM framework, students will be able to confidently break down questions to determine exactly what is being asked and how to approach writing a higher order response. ALARM uses NESA Key Words to explicitly teach students to identify, describe, explain, analyse, interpret, critically analyse and evaluate. This hierarchy of thinking and writing skills is aligned with Bloom's Taxonomy to enable students to understand the different complexities required for different questions. This helps students produce more sophisticated extended responses in secondary school, the HSC and beyond.

ALARM is not just a literacy tool, it also helps students to view learning as a process. It promotes deeper understanding by employing higher order thinking skills, such as analysis and evaluation, and it enhances student inquiry and reflection. ALARM helps students go from the level of content to the level of concept. School subjects are often content driven. ALARM, however, uses the content to arrive at the level of concept. This provides students with a big picture learning map.

In addition, ALARM provides students with a skills set that is transferable across school subjects and school years. Another major benefit of using ALARM is that it increases metacognition by making the learning process explicit. Understanding HOW to learn is integral for students to become lifelong learners.

It is recommended that ALARM be used in conjunction with PEEL paragraph writing.

Costello, C. 2021. A.L.A.R.M, Virtual Library, viewed 28 April 2021, < https://www.virtuallibrary.info/alarm.html >