STEP 2: Seven Keys to Effective Feedback (Summer 2016)

I really like the idea of training students to work in on-going, at least weekly writing groups to give and get feedback to and from peers. 

In my summer biology class the students work on their science project every morning when they first get to class.  I spend the time discussing the project with the students individually, providing feedback and ideas to improve.  The students can use this opportunity to make revisions without fear of poor grades.  The final outcome is what will be graded.

We can have time to conference with students as they are all working on the standards.  

If we have alternate assignments, time within our classes for practice, students can then take the feedback and apply it to the work they have done, or new work that they are beginning.

We are working to set up a progress monitor log for our adaptive PE mentees and mentors to monitor each others progress on our I can statements.  I am excited to see them work together towards success.

We have to give student multiple opportunities and time to apply the feedback to improve. If we only give them one shot, and they do not meet expectations, they are never going to learn the value of working to make improvements. Once you hand back a formative assessment, give students time to look at the feedback and actually make changes to it, so they can see how they can improve their performance. They can use this knowledge the next time around.

As I was reading this section, one part that struck me was that something is formative if there is an opportunity to re-do, but summative if they cannot go back and make changes.  This happens every time a student has an opportunity to take an assessment, see their progress, make adjustments and retake the assessment.  When the students see their progress and make adjustments that is where meaningful learning occurs.  I think it is important to ensure that students are not just going into an assessment not prepared with the mindset that I can retake it when I bomb it.  I believe that there needs to be some meaningful work between retake attempts to show what the student has done to make adjustments or better prepare.

In teaching reading, I believe my feedback will happen daily and in the moment.  Each portion of my reading workshop is going to have different goals and expectations.  Students are going to have to rely on my feedback to propel themselves forward in the workshop.  I think opportunities can be provided in scaffolding the instruction so students eventually work more independently.

I have formative assessments for each lesson taught where the students sometimes get immediate feedback.  I look forward to being able to use technology more to aide me in timely feedback.

I also allow opportunity for students to come to tutoring time to come and receive extra help and retake any formative assessment to improve their score and better help them prepare for the summative assessment.

I biggest roadblock is TIME!!  I teach freshmen who do not have a free period.  They are very limited with time to visit with teachers to retake formatives or get extra help.

I have formative assessments for each lesson taught where the students sometimes get immediate feedback.  I look forward to being able to use technology more to aide me in timely feedback.

I also allow opportunity for students to come to tutoring time to come and receive extra help and retake any formative assessment to improve their score and better help them prepare for the summative assessment.

I biggest roadblock is TIME!!  I teach freshmen who do not have a free period.  They are very limited with time to visit with teachers to retake formatives or get extra help.

I think it is simply providing a number of practice opportunities that vary and are frequent. 

I think it is important to emphasize to students that feedback of any type is ongoing and the learning does not stop once you receive the feedback.  I think the most important part of effective feedback is then what the person receiving the feedback does next.  Many students may not know what to do or know how to stay in the "feedback loop" in order to use the feedback to be successful.  This may be something that needs to be modeled for students so they understand how to use the feedback they are given.

While students are working, whether it be independent, or collaborative, I am constantly roaming the room.  I attempt to provide ongoing feedback to students.  Common themes will present themselves as I do this. I can then use the feedback I am receiving from students to provide even more teacher feedback to the group as a whole. 

It is important to gives students opportunities to try out their skills in numerous outlets. It makes sense that feedback would have more value to the student if they had a chance to use it. There is too many times that they receive feedback and then the class moves on. 

It is imperative to take the time to have individual discussions with students as they are working. Many times group feedback does not have the positive effect that one on one feedback does. I need to keep checking in with the students to ensure progress and not make assumptions that once they are on the right path that they will stay on the right path.

Giving students more opportunities to demonstrate growth with feedback given on previous assignments and allowing them to share what they need to continue to have difficulty with help improve performance.

I like to have one last critique the day before the last in-class day to work on a project- that way students have some time to use any insight they gained from their peer feedback before it's time to turn in their work. 

I many times like to start with a pre-test, just to see where the students are with the information prior to getting into the topic.  #1, it drives my teaching to their abilities, but #2, it allows them to see where we are headed.  Therefore, work done at the beginning is never graded to the same degree as it is at the end.  

With our classes, a lot of the general information is ongoing throughout the course.  For example, the first lab is nothing more than practicing the proper methods of measuring and using equipment.  This would never be assessed in the same manner as week 8 of labs.  Therefore, it is the feedback that lends to the norms of those behaviors so students know what is expected and will continue to be expected throughout the semester.

I'm continually providing my students with feedback as most of their time is spent creating products.  They know when their product turns out well and if not, we trace back steps to see what went wrong.  Like the end of the article mentioned, it's about learning from errors.  (although we would like to keep them to a minimum) :D

Feedback can be ongoing in the form of checkpoints in PBL or in the form of practice quizzing. Giving students the chance to redo failures and find success is an important part of this process. Additionally, ongoing feedback becomes increasingly valuable when similar learning units or standards have practical skills that can be practiced, revised, and assessed continuously.

This idea of ongoing feedback connects to the idea "less teaching, more feedback". If our feedback truly is ongoing, this is happening all the time; teaching instead becomes ongoing feedback toward the learning goal with time for students to apply that feedback. This is where learning occurs because students are making improvements on their knowledge and skills to attain the learning goal.

Instruction would instead look something like: define learning goal, attempt, feedback, adjust and next attempt, feedback, adjust and next attempt... until learning goal is met.

Ongoing feebdback is essential for students/ teachers rigid in thinking I also think it makes things more clear if specific feedback is given multiple times in various ways; sometimes ongoing is the only opportunity to give that feedback since we do have such limited time. 

Students should be getting feedback and growing from it! They should have multiple opportunities to continue to work towards a skill or product. With ongoing feedback they can learn how to use it and when to maybe not use it! We may give them feedback, but it is their choice on when to use it or not.

Progress monitoring and having data points with authentic feedback is great 'ongoing feedback' that is effective with students - it's about the process, not the product. 

Well planned and placed checkpoints can help optimize ongoing feedback. Conferencing can offer the opportunity to offer feedback in a real time setting and work well for larger scale projects. 

Feedback should be ongoing throughout the learning process so that students have multiple attempts to work to achieve their goal given the specific and goal oriented information a teacher gives them through feedback. I think the examples of feedback towards athletes is such a powerful example of effective feedback that helps a student reach their goal.  

We can give students ongoing feedback by giving them multiple/unlimited opportunities to show growth through incremental formative assessments.  This is daunting but achievable given that feedback causes learning.  

By providing feedback that students can use on those formative assessments students can use the feedback without fear of failure.  If the feedback is also goal oriented it can keep students on track to growth in the standards.  

I like to do feedback on things done well and things that need fixing as we go along through the practice and the formative assessments. Mostly verbal.