Assignment #8: Complete the 4 part assignment format as you read, reflect, and respond to Chapter 8: Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback.
Remember: Although your course packet asks you to post to blog for parts A, B, C, and D…we are asking that you only post part C and D. We’re trying to make the blog easier to read and more user- friendly. Thanks!
A. Self Assessment of Current Beliefs and Practices: This component asks you to reflect on how and why you currently use the instructional strategy of Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback in your classroom. The intent of this is to activate your prior knowledge of your strategy use so that you can make comparisons as you read the chapter. Below are the questions to help you complete your self-assessment.
• What is your purpose when you set objectives and/or feedback in your classroom?
• How do you set objectives in your current classroom instruction?
• When and how do you communicate classroom objectives to your students?
• What kind of feedback do you provide for your students?
B. Read & Reflect “Research & Theory”: This portion of the assignment asks you to read chapter 8 and reflect briefly on your thinking after reading the “Research and Theory” section for Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback.
C. Practice: Choose one of the specific “classroom practice” strategies or techniques shared in this chapter to try out with your students (If you are not currently teaching, you may share how you would use this strategy in your classroom). Please post a brief reflection of how this went to the posting labeled Week Eight: Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback. Click on the “comment” link below.
D. Final Strategy Reflection: Use the following sequence of questions/prompts to reflect on what you’ve learned about both the strategies presented in the chapter and what you’ve learned about yourself as both a teacher and a learner. Please post your brief reflection to the posting labeled Week Eight: Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback by clicking on the “comment” link below.
How has the information you read in this chapter on Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback effected your thinking about teaching and learning? What have you learned about yourself as a teacher and learner? Use the following questions to assist you in writing a brief strategy reflection:
• The generalizations related to setting objectives explain that goals should be clear and specific, but also flexible enough for students to personalize the goals. Consider the objectives you are expected to use, that is, those provided by your school, district, or state. To what extent do you feel they meet the criteria of clarity, specificity, and flexibility?
• How does the information in Figure 8.3 about "Corrective Feedback" shed light on your own experiences with giving and receiving feedback? For example, does it surprise you that research indicates that simply telling students whether an answer is right or wrong can have a negative effect on their achievement?
• How might you change how you communicate objectives to students and parents?
• How will you monitor how well students are meeting their learning objectives?
• How will you engage students in the feedback process (consider use of rubrics)?
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Providing feedback and setting objectives
c. In my first grade class I have started doing an activity for high frequency words that provides immediate feedback from a student. Each student has a list of 10 high frequency words they are learning. The words are spread out on the paper, instead of being in a row. The student then works with a peer tutor to learn the words. For the first thirty seconds, the peer tutor says the word first, and then the student reads the word. Then the students switch roles and the student says the word first, and the peer tutor then repeats or reads the word. If the student reads the word incorrectly, the peer tutor says the word correctly (providing immediate feedback) and then makes sure to test the student on that word till s/he gets it correct. I then say that a student has passed the level when they can show me that they can read 20 words correctly in 30 seconds.
d. Looking at the graph on the timing of testing, I think I need to make some changes. I have been testing the students immediately after they study, but the chapter shows that the effect size is much higher if students are tested one day after studying. This would mean I would need to change how I structure my peer tutoring sessions. Maybe a student needs to show that s/he can pass two days in a row to move onto the next level, so they are being tested the day after they practice.
The the area of objects, I am also thinking on working with students to set some of their own objectives for reading fluency. We have been doing daily timed readings and my objective is that the student makes at least 25% growth a week. I am thinking that I will start letting students create their own goals. I still believe that 25% growth is the minimum I will accept, but if students would like to aim higher, that is wonderful and I should encourage that. I can also see having students set their own objectives for written projects. In the past I have created rubrics with students so they can grade their own projects. When I have my own class and teach a wider variety of subjects (other than reading fluency, site words, comprehension and vocabulary), I would enjoy doing more objective setting and rubric creation.
Suzie Kabeiseman, "Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback," Week 8.
c. Feedback is one of those educational duties that I never felt like I was very good at. WIth a stack of 60 writing papers to grade I never thought I was giving each student their due. Middle School and HS teachers that grade a lot of papers work so very hard at what at this.
With that said, in the classroom that I teach in right now, my feedback is often immediate and spontaneous. As I wander around the computer lab, I make rapid and quick suggestions, explanations and lessons on skills students are working on.
I was able to do a bit more with the 5th graders. I had them write a cooperative group story using a prompt. After a short time, they stood up and moved to the computer to their left. Once settled at their new station they added to the new story that was before them. They moved only three times.
The purpose of the lesson was not story writing, but editing and word processing on the computer. To do this well, I know I needed to go through all 65 plus papers so that they all would see the editing skills that they needed to work on. The extra work made all the difference in the world. When they actually could see what needed work, they learned a little about writing, a little about word processing and a little about editing marks. The feedback was specific and essential to the learning.
d. In Oregon we have what's known as the Benchmark Standards. These standards are listed in a rubric format very much like figure 8.5 and 8.6. I've always shared the rubrics with my students, graded many a paper using them and had students do the same. For me, they provided a concise explanation of learning expectations for ME and my students. These goals do not allow for too much student flexibility.
When student are allowed that extra flexibility and pursue learning that is of interest to them, then the learning is really extended, enriched and so much fun to watch. Common sense tells me that when students are allowed to learn what interests them within a certain topic, greater success will follow. At least a love of learning will be fostered.
The issue of corrective feedback was a surprise. Again, I have to give quality feedback if students are going to learn as much as possible. That, and let them practice practice practice as stated in chapter 5.
In order to communicate best with parents and students I have always tried to have clear expectations posted in my assignments and notes home. After reading the chapter I will be sure to go over the answers after a test. After a paper is written, I will grade it quickly with written comments. I will use more peer editing.
Finally, I would really like to implement some student led rubrics where we could incorporate student effort AND learning objectives into the same sheet. In some ways the two are very related and both speak to the ultimate end goal of learning with best effort.
C. Practice
Setting goals and objectives is something that I try to do with each unit I teach although when teaching kindergarten things look a little different. In kindergarten there isn’t any work to grade but there is constant feedback coming from observation. I chose to explain journal writing to share my strategies.
I have very clear goals and objectives for my students during writing time and it is part of the routine to review them each time we prepare for writing. Sometimes it is free write day and other days it is connected to something we are learning. I explain that my goal is for them to be able to write a complete sentence by the end of the school year without any help. I actually remind them of this each time. We then review the steps for success. 1. Come up with an idea. 2. Count out how many words are in the sentence. 3. Stretch out the words and write them. 4. Read your sentence while checking for capitals, spaces, and the period. 5. Make the picture match the words. While we are reviewing these objectives I am creating my own journal page to model how to follow the steps.
Once kids are at their tables writing I work the room and am available for giving immediate feedback. I usually have my few strugglers (about 5 students) sit together with my assistant so they have the immediate help they require. I created a poster so that I can refer to it while giving feedback. Each step on the poster has a visual to go with it and it has become a great tool for writing.
When journal time is finished if the students believe that they have finished all the steps and that their work is their “best work” then they may bring it to the rug to share. At this time I allow students to come up and share their writing by reading it to the class. Once they finish reading I allow the class to raise their hands and comment on something they see that has been done well. For example “I noticed that you used a capital at the beginning of your sentence.” The kids get a huge kick out of this. At the end I take the chance to point out anything that I feel needs to be addressed. We give them a round of applause and move onto the next student.
D. Reflection
The flexibility of my goals and objectives depends on the subject. When using objectives for something like journal time I am very specific and clear. I try and have a little more flexibility when introducing something like the Five Senses. I love creating KWL’s with my students to get an idea of what they are interested in. I have my goals but am open to creating the path so that it encompasses things they are curious about. We all know that when kids are curious they learn.
I was not surprised to hear that giving feedback that wasn’t specific with corrections would have a negative effect on students learning. I do think there is a way to give feedback while helping them solve problems on their own. I like to use tools like a feedback chart/rubric to help my students realize what mistakes they have made. I like to have them show or explain what I expect of them and then through that explanation they become aware of their mistakes. I don’t like to just say “I see that you didn’t start your sentence with a capital letter”, but rather say “What is the first thing we check when reading our writing? That’s right we look for capital letters at the beginning of our sentences. Does your sentence have a capital letter?”
To be better at communicating my objectives and giving feedback to my students I plan to create more of the poster sized rubrics. I also would like to find more ways to allow my students to create their own goals. I realize that when we give them more ownership of their success they are more willing to apply the effort.
I think this is a very important chapter for all educators regardless of the academic level you teach. We've known how important it is to student learning for students to have a clear and concise learning objective to help them focus on what they are learning. I agree with the text, in that although it might be appropriate for some objectives to be very specific, teachers should review their objectives and decide if student learning could be enhanced with broader objectives, which would not hinder the rich learning that may result from a given learning experience. I agree with what Suzie said about students needing to be able to learn "what interests them" with in a given topic. I also believe that is is of utmost importance for students to set goals that are attainable - more concrete and measureable (being a better writer vs. I want to write more effective introductions with clear concise thesis statements). The latter being more measureable in it's specificity.
Sacha - I loved your examples of how you provide feedback with your students. I think using peer tutors is a great way for students to increase their sight word vocabularies. I'd be interested to see if you noticed a difference if you began to test students 1 day after they studied...try a little action research :)
Suzie - I enjoyed reading how you use immediate feedback in your computer lab - great thinking - and I do believe that corrective feedback (An assessment is much more likely to have a positive influence on students' learning if time is set aside to make sure students understand what they did well and what they did not do well).
Carrah - you are right "setting goals and objectives in Kindergarten should definitely look different"!!! Your writing share is a great way for your students to receive feedback as well as provide you with time for an additional teaching point!
C. In my science class I have the students research a particular part of our volcano unit with a group of 3. In order for them to know exactly what is expected of them, I create "criterion-referenced feedback", a rubric.
The rubric allows students to know exactly what they need to do on the project to get a good grade, and when I hand their score sheet to them at the end of the project, they can see exactly how/where they had problems.
I always encourage the students to shoot HIGH on the grade scale, knowing that if they mess up, they will at least get a grade that is acceptable to them.
On this assignment, I also provided an opportunity for the students to do some peer feedback. They wrote some simple feedback for each group that presented. While this didn't help them improve their lesson, it gave them another perspective on how they did.
D. I have a hard time sometimes balancing between specific and flexible goals. Sometimes it's more prudent to set specific goals (for lower level tasks), and at other times, it's more important to set flexible goals the students can adjust to themselves.
It was interesting to see that simply telling students if they were correct/incorrect had a negative effect. I think that perhaps explaining to students WHY the answer was correct/incorrect might solve this issue to some extent?
One thing I really need to work on with students feedback is getting work back to them sooner. I grade the work quickly, but it sits in the outbox for weeks sometimes before we take time to get it back to students. For work that we don't go over in class as a group, this slowness to get things back to students is likely very detrimental to them.
Another thing I have really not taken advantage of, or tried to implement is student led rubrics. I have a hard enough time with my students getting them to follow simple directions, nevermind creating a meaningful scoring rubric. I suppose I won't know unless I give it a shot.
C.
Objectives I would have posted in the classroom:
Goals:
1. To be able to do your times tables quickly
2. To graph your progress
3. To learn the best way for you to study for times tests
4. To learn what strategy you prefer when doing multiplication problems
I know learning your times tables either stirs up good school memories for some, or memories of doom and gloom for others. I quickly learned how important it is for students to know their times tables solidly when teaching fourth grade, it is a stepping stone to more complex math to come their way. Long division is so much easier, story problems are easier, etc…when times tables are known.
I gave time tests in the past and kept a chart up with stickers on it. Every student was always making progress, but some progress was quite slow. They might be stuck on their 6’s for 3 weeks, or longer.
After reading chapter 8 I thought it would be helpful if students kept their own personal chart/graph. Instead of a chart that you put on a sticker if you pass, and nothing if you don’t, their personal chart would be more specific. They would count how many equations they answered correctly , and graph that information. That way they could see their progress they are making within each digit (2’s, 3’s, 4’s). I would also want them to record what strategy they are using to get their answers, and how they are studying for the quizzes.
Keeping this chart would make it easier for me to give specific feedback, because I could track their progress better. They could be providing me with information about their strategies, and they would be providing some of their own feedback on types of studying that seems to be successful for them.
I think this would be beneficial because students would be required to analyze their own progress more closely, and therefore they would be more vested in the task. I realize this is a very narrow application of setting objective and providing feedback, but times tables are a long struggle for some students. To gain any insights that would help them succeed quicker, and with a deeper understanding of themselves as a learner, is a great tool.
I think in response to Henry's issue with giving corrected feedback on papers back to students in a timely manner is something we've all struggled with. (OK..which of you can honestly say you've NEVER thrown out a pile of papers that you just could not get to in time and have completely expired in their relevance to your current teaching??? :))
I think most importantly we have to carefully manage what we give them that needs feedback..and be sure that whatever it is has some serious purpose for the students to spend their time completing the task and for you to spend your time correcting it. Over the years, that decision has gotten much easier to make!
I loved Henry's rubric for the volcano research...how great is the learning when students know exactly what they are responsible for and how they can earn a top grade???
And Kay..I think it's a fantastic idea to have students keep a personal growth chart for their facts!...and you are right as much as it is rote learning, they do need to know their facts so that future higher level learning does NOT get hindered. There does seem to be some arguments around this topic "out in the field" of research....
D.
As, stated by, Suzie, Oregon has state benchmarks and they are scored on a rubric. I feel that the scoring rubrics are very clear and specific, and they have certainly affected the way teachers teach. There is more continuity between grade levels, because the objectives are across the board. This has also improved communication with students and parents for the same reason. They are hearing similar rhetoric across the classes and years.
A difficulty with the scoring rubrics are their complexity. Parents really need to come to school and have a “training” class on how the rubrics are used. Therefore, parents that are unable to attend a “parent scoring night” may be confused, and overwhelmed.
I think students become quite engaged in their scores, when they understand the rubric scoring. They begin to see where their strengths and weaknesses are and can focus their learning and practice where needed.
C. I have used rubrics for providing feedback since I began teaching. For me, it cuts back on the time I have to spend grading, as well as allowing students to see how they rate in specific areas in the language development. General areas that I use are: grammar, requirements, effort/organization, and if they present the project to the class, which is usually the case, presence/fluency. While they are presenting the project to the class, I grade it, taking note of grammatical errors and trying to provide some positive feedback as well.
D. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I have a hard time knowing how much feedback is too much when it comes to corrective feedback. I feel like if I correct errors every time students speak, they will be afraid to open their mouths. I try to only provide feedback when it’s something they are being graded on, like a presentation, rather than every time they interact with each other in Spanish. In my level 3 and 4 classes, they are not allowed to use English at all, so they are constantly making mistakes. I help them if their mistakes are so serious that they inhibit understanding, otherwise I just sort of let them go so that they can gain confidence in their abilities.
As far as communicating objectives, I have begun to post my lesson plans with objectives and strategies on the overhead for students to see when they come into class each day. The reason for this is simple; I finally got a multimedia projector in my room that enables me to display what’s on my computer screen for the students. I find that this helps them to focus as well as making transitions between classroom activities go more smoothly because they know the next thing they are doing ahead of time.
One thing I hadn’t considered before is having students create their own learning objectives. I do this at the beginning of the year, asking students to write their goals for the class on a 3x5 card, but then we never look at it again. I should save the cards and periodically pass them back to students, asking them to self-assess whether they are on the way to fulfilling their goals for the class, what they need to do to get back on track, etc. I don’t have this year’s cards anymore, but could easily have them make new ones… like, “what do you hope to accomplish in this class by the end of the year?” Or “What were your goals when you started this class? Do you feel that you are accomplishing those goals?” I will do this with my Spanish 3 and 4 students next week and write another blog about how this goes…
Just one more comment from me - I was glad to see that Karen will consider having students set goals - I think that this is important to a student's voice in their own learning. As far as wondering how much to give corrective feedback, I think I agree with the way you correct when it interferes with meaning. That makes sense!
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