Think of one insight, "ah-ha" or idea that seems significant from Chapter 2 (Stiggins) on the Seven Strategies of Assessment FOR Learning (pages 42-45). Respond to 2 classmates.
On: Where Am I now? Strategy 3, Offer Regular Descriptive Feedback
I had already considered while working with the student that I tutor that feedback is most effective when it identifies what a student is diong right as well as what she needs to work on. I decided that building her confidence was a necessary part of her/our stepwise success. However, I was struggling with how much I should share with her that she is doing "wrong," since she was doing a lot more wrong than she was doing right. These wrongs went beyond learning and applying the vocabulary strategy, which had to be modified as it seemed too much for her to fully comprehend, thus hindering rather than actually helping her in the end. When she was constructing her "note a linking story" sentence, she often had misspelled words, verbs that did not match the subject (singular vs. plural), and a lack of commas where needed (this was also true in her jounal sentences, but to a lesser degree). In addition, she had a paper that she wrote for English class that she wanted me to read. She was very proud of the paper, bragged about how good of a reader and writer she is, then waited for my opinion. I was struck by the amount of grammatical errors. Should I have told her it was a great, descriptive story with wonderful adjectives, verbs, and adverbs, then proceed to point out the many errors? I did not comment on the particulars as she did not ask that of me.
More to the point, regarding the particular topic at hand that I was teaching her, the strategy and its use in learning vocabulary, I questioned how much emphasis I was to put on the spelling and grammar on the assignments I was giving her. My "ah-ha" came when reading on page 43 that learners don't need to know everything that needs correcting, all at once. Narrow your comments to the specific knowledge and skills emphasized in the current assignment and pay attention to how much feedback learners can act on at one time. I knew that she was already frustrated from these new learning skills as she responded negatively both verbally and with her body language. I appreciated learning from this section "not to worry that students will be harmed if you don't point out all of their problems." It is better to identify as many issues as a student can successfully act on at one time and address the other issues when they are more ready at a later time.
Tammy- I like the conclusion you came to. It can be hard not to focus on details like spelling and grammar after you've become accustomed to searching for them during the review process. I think you're on the right track with picking-out the most important things to comment on first. Otherwise it gets too overwhelming for the student. I can't think of a time when I've been learning something for the first time and said to myself, "I wish somebody would just point out all the ways this is imperfect". Besides, I do a pretty good job of doing that to myself haha.
On strategy 2 (examples of strong and weak work) This strategy jumped out at me because it's something I've never tried before in teaching/tutoring and yet I saw it a lot in high school writing classes and even a few courses in college. I don't know why I didn't think of it before because when I'm reading something, like and assignment or learning strategy, I really like to have an example on hand or I start to get frustrated and expound things like, "WHAT THE FLIP ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!!" I think this is something I'll definitely try to work on incorporating into my teaching
Tammy, that's a terrific story to be able to share, and I know that your student is doing much better for it. Unfortunately I have not been able to have the same "ah-ha" moment yet, and I will have ton think about your observations more and how they would apply in my case. I think that Rob is right, as advanced students ourselves, we have become so accustomed to critiquing every detail of our assignments due to the demands of our level of work. However, in learning, that is not always the objective.
Let's say that I was trying to teach you how to fish. If the goal is to catch a fish, then on our first time in the boat, I should focus only what is really necessary for catching a fish. Perhaps you have never been in a boat before, or have never baited a hook, or cast a rod. When I see you doing those things I (as an expert fisherman) I could tell you that you're standing on the wrong side of the boat, or that I don't care if you're grossed out by worms-you're going to put one on the hook! If you cast and the hook gets stuck in a tree, I might be tempted yell at you that that wasn't the right way to cast, and you are a fool for losing my hook.
However, if I did all these things on day one, you would likely not think that fishing was something you wanted to learn. Even if I ('I' is capitalized for grammar as well as for emphasis), as an expert, saw you doing all these things wrong, perhaps I would let a few hooks go, and bait your worms on day one, as long as the boat didn't tip. That way, I might actually have someone to catch me dinner on day two, while I lounge back and drink a few (lemonades). We can't scare away our students with the thought of failure at every DETAIL... It is our job as teachers to begin to recognize what is necessity, and what is fine tuning for the learner. Sure we want them to bait their own hooks at some point, but as long as we don't both drown on day one, at least we got a start.
In response to Rob on having an example of something to guide one on how to do an assignment, sometimes instructions or generalities are not enough. It is so helpful to have an example of what is the correct way of doing something as well as one that is the incorrect way of doing something. I was feeling overwhelmed when I began my UbD assignment. The samples that we had in class were generic and I needed something more concrete to guide me. As I was doing searches online I found examples that were more correct and some that were less correct, both of which helped guide me in my lesson planning as well as gave me ideas to use. In particular, I liked how one UbD example asked questions in the essential question section that stimulated thinking at an individual and personal level. Ex., how can I trace diseases passed down to me, or how can I make predictions of diseases that I may pass on to my children (pedigree), include math with probability calculations or ratios with genotypes and phenotypes.
The strategy that is most relevant to me right now is offering regular descriptive feedback. I have always struggled with figuring out what feedback is important to give and when. This has become especially apparent with my student I'm tutoring. His journal entries are full of grammatical and spelling errors. To me, it is most important to check for his vocab usage, but I don't feel like I can ignore his writing. It is hard to not point out all of his mistakes at once. Even when we are going through strategies or practice tests, I find myself making sure he gets every detail right, even if isn't particularly important. I think I could do much better if I chose to give feedback on the most relevant matters and slowly worked in the other corrections as appropriate.
Rob and Tammy, I agree that having examples of the correct and incorrect way of doing things can be very helpful. I think having these two types of examples can really help with students' understanding of the task at hand. I know there have been numerous times in my own education where I've been taught something, shown a good example of how to do it, and thought that I had a solid grasp on it. It wasn't until I saw an incorrect example did I truly realize what the difference between doing the task right and doing it wrong was. While I hesitate to give examples all the time (I think creative ingenuity is a valuable skill to learn), I know that examples used in the right places can be very effective and appreciated even (project inquiry anyone?).
Tammy, Thanks for sharing your experience about your student. Maybe there are other personal issues she is facing and has no means to vent, so unfortunately she takes it on you. I honestly think you are handling the situation in a professional manner and don't take it personal. She may be that way with her other teachers. I think you have a good understanding in regards to this situation. Good job!
I think my Ah-Ha moment was with the final strategy. I have inthe past tried to give feedback when working with students, but the "self-reflection" and having them engaged in communication about how they feel on their progress...that is definitely a good idea. It has would definitely help me as an educator if I knew my student(s) didn't seem to understand what I had just spent 1-3 weeks teaching...so having them write a short paragragh on how they felt that weeks, or unit, had helped them, or how they could see relevant information, or not....that would be very helpful. I have begun doing this with my tutoring student, and it is going well so far.
Strategy 3: Offer Regular Descriptive Feedback. I would have like to seen more of this in my undergraduate courses. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The professors seem to be ecstatic to know more than the students, but don't want to take the time to explain it in more detail and instead refer you to other resources. I will take those experiences into my classroom and be more considerate of the different types of learning and apply this strategy as much as possible for all my students.
Virginia, That seems like a great idea to take to the classrooms. It would definitely let the teacher know what the student needs more understanding in and the teacher is able to prepare differently for the next lesson. Great idea.
This is a comment to Tammy and Ana, I think that everyone is doing great, and I think that giving feedback (here is one for you too Rob..LOL) to each other like we do after the tutoring sessions is helping out. I think that when we sit and discuss (or sometimes even vent) it helps give everyone in the class ideas on where to go (I know for a fact that listening to all the discussions have given me help on where and how to proceed with my student). Keep up the good work and don't let them get you down.
Steve & Ana: As a student I really like getting descriptive feedback. It helps narrow your focus and give you insights on what your strengths are and where your areas of improvement are as well. From the teaching end of it I know it's hard to do this as often as we would like to because having 5 classes of 25 kids could amount to 125 assignments to plow through. If you can take the time once in a while to sit down and interview individual students after they've completed a critical unit the feedback could help a lot. I think there are other ways of doing it effectively under time constraints- one of them being using a descriptive grading rubric that includes reasons for hitting/missing the mark on certain sections of an assignment. Any other ideas?
Like Steve, Ana and Tammy so far, my "ah-ha' moment came with Strategy #3 in the "where am I now?" section. Assessment was just something I considered as a way to grade the students, so that I would have information to document how well they are doing (assessment of learning). It didn't occur to me that the information I was collecting could be used to help them reflect on how well they are doing (assessment of learning). This concept in itself was an ah-ha moment.
Providing 'regular descriptive feedback' is a great way to make steady progress even with a student who does not seem to be learning, and would otherwise flunk a full-blown, graded test. I was afraid to give my student any assessments, because I could tell that she was not picking up on the material and it would just be embarrassing for her. Regardless of performance, it is still crucial to give some sort of evaluation that afterwords we could talk about.
Steve, it sounds like strategy #5: "design lessons to focus on one aspect of quality at a time" would also be a good one to try with your student. Instead of mixing in the grammar corrections with the vocalb focus on the usage first and talk about the meanings of the vocab words. The you can spend a few minutes to go back and point out the spelling mistakes. This might work or it might not in your case, but I think it is important to not jump around too much when students are learning something particular.
Vlad, I love your fishing analogy. It's easy to forget how many little nuances can be hidden in a single concept (i.e. fishing, or, say, folding of a protein). I agree that it is our job as teachers to recognize the depth of information appropriate for our students. I think this happens in, or maybe even before, Strategy 1. We would have to define the appropriate depth in order to define our goals for the students' learning and then turn those goals into a clear vision for our students. I can definitely see how sharing a little of the bigger picture could be useful in this step also. To steal your analogy, it would help a student to accept learning an unpleasant process like stringing a work on the hook if they can see that it is part of the larger framework of successful fishing. Similarly, knowing that skill in solving quadratic equations is necessary to solve chemical equilibrium calculations just might help students tolerate a refresher session on quadratics in the middle of a chemistry lesson.
My "aha" was in Strategy 6. I feel like I was always taught to succeed in every single step of everything that I attempt and never look back at it besides maybe looking at the grade when my work was returned. Obviously this is unrealistic, but I think the way I was taught and evaluated encouraged this way of thinking. Stiggins' approach in Strategy 6 emphasizes learning from mistakes - a far more practical approach! I see how valuable it is to have students analyze and revise work as this requires application of their knowledge of strong and weak work.
Rob, I'm right with you on Strategy 2. Seeing examples of strong and weak work gives me a much clearer vision of what I'm trying to achieve (supporting Strategy 1). I also like Stiggins' suggestion at the end of Strategy 2 to show students the development and revision process. My competitive streak often leads me to compare my work to others. Knowing that finished strong work doesn't just materialize in the first pass but often starts with many flaws and evolves would definitely encourage me as I'm battling through the initial flawed and messy parts of my effort.
Strategy 4: Teach students to self-Assess and set Goals.
I do believe that the best path to success is honesty;been able to tell yourself where you are and where you want to is the right step towards the right direction for students that actually want to be successful.
We should be able to teach our students have to self-assess themselves and also have a set goal of where they want to be in the future; having a set goal and self-assessment will enable the teacher to know where and how to help the student.
Vlad- I really appreciated your fishing analogy. What a great way to get a point across! I think it is important to go step by step and not overwhelm the student with details. I have found that in my tutoring sessions, I have not always given constructive feedback and have not always given feedback that uplifts the student for what they are doing correctly. On the first day of tutoring one should see where the student is based on an assessment of their previous strategies for approaching homework, tests or certain types of questions (reading passages, math questions, etc.). This process of seeing where the student is and not overwhelming them with the goal on the first day should also be the way we approach our classroom assessments. We should not be bogged down in the details but go step by step in order to gain trust and show respect for the learner/teacher relationship.
I do agree with you about engaging students in self-reflection; one thing I have noticed is that sometimes students might not be grasping the concept of what you are teaching them but because they don't want to look dumb, they will pretend that they understood everything you taught them. In order for you as the teacher to analyze your students scope of understanding in the content area, self-assessment is one of the best ways to do that.
Ana- I am sorry to hear that you did not experience regular descriptive feedback. I think in college the line is blurred between what is too much feedback and too little feedback. Many professors feel that at the point a student is in college, they should be able to think critically about how they are doing and do not necessarily need the feedback. However, if a student is completely lost, then I think the professor should give feedback and help the student.
Translating this into a high school or middle school classroom is interesting. I would suggest that when a student is learning a new skill or process then it is imperative that the teacher gives regular feedback. The idea here is that if you catch a student doing something wrong from the beginning then the “wrong idea” will not escalate into all of their work. This also catches misconceptions early on and helps the learning processes. I agree that as teachers we need to provide as many resources as possible to our students. Feedback might be different for each student because they might learn in a different way or their problem might be different than another student. This requires that the teacher be aware of how to give regular descriptive feedback to all learners.
I do agree with you Tammy. I know that when somebody first points out to me what I am doing right, it makes me feel relaxed instead of going on the defensive immediately and that will make me want to listen to what the person or instructor is saying. That same way, when you approach a student with descriptive feedback and tell them what they are doing right before telling them about how they can improve, they will be more poised to listen to you.
Toby, I like you thoughts on self-assessment. I think a student would have to take much more ownership if he or she had to actively decide how they were doing instead of letting someone else do it for them. I never like reading over what I wrote or worked on because it forced me to really think about how I did and if I could do better. Incorporating some sort of self-assessment for students could really improve students effort levels, critical thinking abilities, and analysis skills.
Strategy 4: Teach Students to Self-Assess and Set Goals
I really like this step of Assessment for learning because it puts the responsibility on the student rather than the teacher for understanding how the student is doing. This step involves using metacognition in that the student has to self-evaluate how they doing and think critically about their work or how they are approaching a problem. I saw this step in action in my tutoring sessions when I asked the student to evaluate their previous strategy for learning vocabulary and how the new strategy would help their grade.
I could see using this stage at a beginning of a unit to gauge where students are in their understanding. One could give a content assessment and then have the students write a few goals that they have for themselves in the unit. For instance, if I gave my students a content assessment on the different types of rocks, a student might not know how each is formed so the content assessment would reveal that. Then I would have the student write down goals that they had and monitor to see if they made sense. For instance, a student might write down that they do not understand how each type of rock is formed and a goal could be: I will be able to name the three main categories of rocks. I will name the different processes that lead to the formation of igneous rocks. If the student makes goals then they will be encouraged to find the information in the class and have the answers by the end of a unit.
My "ah ha" moment was don't correct everything, correct what they need right now and add suff on as the figure things out. It makes sense to me and it something that I have never considered before. Grade everyone the same, but give them different things to work on. Is that what that means on the bottom of page 43?
Elyssa, I like that, but could it be a bigger picture thing. Having the student write down each chapter what they want to get out of it seems like a lot of time. Maybe it will be time well spent? But what if we asked where they wanted to be at the end of the year and where they wanted to be when the were seniors? These kids that I am tutoring had no idea that college freshman get grants and scholarships for getting good grades. If they decide as freshman that they want college to be an option, maybe they will work harder in class?
I agree, I am fixing a house right now. It seems like I am doing everything three times before I get it right. After I get it that third time I will be able to tell anyone I see how to do it the short quick way and what pitfalls to watch out for. That is probably the best form to show that you know something, tell them how to do something and what to watch out for.
For me the “ah-ha” idea is in strategy two, “use examples and models of strong and weak work” so that the students have a better understanding of what is acceptable work and what could use some more work. Although, as the instructor, I’m not sure I would want to use any current students work, even anonymously, in which to examine. Even though the other students may not know who the work belongs to there is always the possibility that the student that it does belong to will feel embarrassed by the others critique. I really like the idea of using my own model and showing the students errors I have made before the finished product. This allows the students to see that I also had initial problems to sort through on the assignment before reaching the final result.
Nathan, I don’t think it’s necessarily saying to give them each different things to work on so much as when critiquing their work to only give each student as many corrections as you think they can handle. Initially each student should have the same assignment but the critiques for each person would be individualized based on their own strengths and weaknesses. From that point on the corrective work would be different for each child (providing they didn’t all copy from one another). Wish I would have read this before critiquing my tutored student’s English paper because I marked it all up but have to admit he did a great job at correcting the errors and received a good grade! :-)
Steve J… Strategy 6 works well with strategy 4. In four, students are shown strong and weak examples, or the teacher’s own progress on an assignment, so that the students may know the difference between the correct and incorrect ways in which to focus their revisions, 6. :-)
Even though many have already discussed Strategy 3: Offer Regular Descriptive Feedback, I feel like this is the one that hit me as an “ah-ha”. I feel that many classes I’ve taken in both high school and throughout college lack feedback. Some teachers/professors give very little feedback at all, while others give very objective, simple feedback (Ex.: Punctuation errors and “awkward wording” comments in papers). I feel that many teachers/professors I’ve had are good with pointing out student strengths, but few go into detail with student weaknesses. Many times if my approach was incorrect on a problem, I would be given no clue as to how I should have done it. I would have liked to see more reflective questions given as feedback, so that I could reflect on my work and figure out on my own how to approach the problem and think about it next time. Regular feedback in the classroom allows students to have more steady progress because they are constantly evaluating their own work, not just evaluating it during and just after exams. I think this type of feedback is extremely important at all ages, although it needs to be tweaked to fit what they are able to comprehend at the time, especially with younger students. Most students could learn a lot from regular descriptive feedback and having it modeled for them. If they can learn how to self-assess and ask themselves the same questions that teachers are asking, they will be more readily prepared to enter the world as an adult.
In response to Virginia: I agree that the discussions we have after out tutoring sessions really help me to evaluate what I am and could be doing. Being able to hear what others are doing and where they are struggling with their students allows me to compare my experiences with theirs and to consider which approach is best for me to proceed with. I enjoy hearing that other people are in the same position as me, and I like to have that opportunity to ask “What should I do now?” when I am feeling lost and frustrated with the lack of progress I’ve seen.
In response to Anne: I completely agree with your response. I feel like Strategies 2 and 3 go together in my mind and I struggled deciding which to write about. I agree that in math, the key to understanding concepts is solving different problems. I see the same thing with my tutoring student, that she guesses at an answer because she doesn’t want to write down all the steps (or any for that matter). I really like how you said that demonstrating models of intense mathematical work may show students that there is some creativity involved in recognizing and completing the process. Most students seem to think that all math problems have only one correct method and solution, where many times there are various paths that can be taken to get the correct answer. I love that creative part of math, that’s why I love proofs! It’s a challenge to see how creative you can get, once the first 10 tries don’t work out. =)
Steve J. I like the idea of revision. Not only does it make the student redo the work to possibly improve their grade, it also gives them another exposure to the work that they seem to be having difficulty understanding. I also like the positive feedback that several people have commented on, as I think this also helps to improve their ability to learn.
On: Where Am I now? Strategy 3, Offer Regular Descriptive Feedback
ReplyDeleteI had already considered while working with the student that I tutor that feedback is most effective when it identifies what a student is diong right as well as what she needs to work on. I decided that building her confidence was a necessary part of her/our stepwise success. However, I was struggling with how much I should share with her that she is doing "wrong," since she was doing a lot more wrong than she was doing right. These wrongs went beyond learning and applying the vocabulary strategy, which had to be modified as it seemed too much for her to fully comprehend, thus hindering rather than actually helping her in the end. When she was constructing her "note a linking story" sentence, she often had misspelled words, verbs that did not match the subject (singular vs. plural), and a lack of commas where needed (this was also true in her jounal sentences, but to a lesser degree). In addition, she had a paper that she wrote for English class that she wanted me to read. She was very proud of the paper, bragged about how good of a reader and writer she is, then waited for my opinion. I was struck by the amount of grammatical errors. Should I have told her it was a great, descriptive story with wonderful adjectives, verbs, and adverbs, then proceed to point out the many errors? I did not comment on the particulars as she did not ask that of me.
More to the point, regarding the particular topic at hand that I was teaching her, the strategy and its use in learning vocabulary, I questioned how much emphasis I was to put on the spelling and grammar on the assignments I was giving her. My "ah-ha" came when reading on page 43 that learners don't need to know everything that needs correcting, all at once. Narrow your comments to the specific knowledge and skills emphasized in the current assignment and pay attention to how much feedback learners can act on at one time. I knew that she was already frustrated from these new learning skills as she responded negatively both verbally and with her body language. I appreciated learning from this section "not to worry that students will be harmed if you don't point out all of their problems." It is better to identify as many issues as a student can successfully act on at one time and address the other issues when they are more ready at a later time.
Tammy- I like the conclusion you came to. It can be hard not to focus on details like spelling and grammar after you've become accustomed to searching for them during the review process. I think you're on the right track with picking-out the most important things to comment on first. Otherwise it gets too overwhelming for the student. I can't think of a time when I've been learning something for the first time and said to myself, "I wish somebody would just point out all the ways this is imperfect". Besides, I do a pretty good job of doing that to myself haha.
ReplyDeleteOn strategy 2 (examples of strong and weak work)
ReplyDeleteThis strategy jumped out at me because it's something I've never tried before in teaching/tutoring and yet I saw it a lot in high school writing classes and even a few courses in college. I don't know why I didn't think of it before because when I'm reading something, like and assignment or learning strategy, I really like to have an example on hand or I start to get frustrated and expound things like, "WHAT THE FLIP ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!!" I think this is something I'll definitely try to work on incorporating into my teaching
Tammy, that's a terrific story to be able to share, and I know that your student is doing much better for it. Unfortunately I have not been able to have the same "ah-ha" moment yet, and I will have ton think about your observations more and how they would apply in my case. I think that Rob is right, as advanced students ourselves, we have become so accustomed to critiquing every detail of our assignments due to the demands of our level of work. However, in learning, that is not always the objective.
ReplyDeleteLet's say that I was trying to teach you how to fish. If the goal is to catch a fish, then on our first time in the boat, I should focus only what is really necessary for catching a fish. Perhaps you have never been in a boat before, or have never baited a hook, or cast a rod. When I see you doing those things I (as an expert fisherman) I could tell you that you're standing on the wrong side of the boat, or that I don't care if you're grossed out by worms-you're going to put one on the hook! If you cast and the hook gets stuck in a tree, I might be tempted yell at you that that wasn't the right way to cast, and you are a fool for losing my hook.
However, if I did all these things on day one, you would likely not think that fishing was something you wanted to learn. Even if I ('I' is capitalized for grammar as well as for emphasis), as an expert, saw you doing all these things wrong, perhaps I would let a few hooks go, and bait your worms on day one, as long as the boat didn't tip. That way, I might actually have someone to catch me dinner on day two, while I lounge back and drink a few (lemonades). We can't scare away our students with the thought of failure at every DETAIL... It is our job as teachers to begin to recognize what is necessity, and what is fine tuning for the learner. Sure we want them to bait their own hooks at some point, but as long as we don't both drown on day one, at least we got a start.
In response to Rob on having an example of something to guide one on how to do an assignment, sometimes instructions or generalities are not enough. It is so helpful to have an example of what is the correct way of doing something as well as one that is the incorrect way of doing something. I was feeling overwhelmed when I began my UbD assignment. The samples that we had in class were generic and I needed something more concrete to guide me. As I was doing searches online I found examples that were more correct and some that were less correct, both of which helped guide me in my lesson planning as well as gave me ideas to use. In particular, I liked how one UbD example asked questions in the essential question section that stimulated thinking at an individual and personal level. Ex., how can I trace diseases passed down to me, or how can I make predictions of diseases that I may pass on to my children (pedigree), include math with probability calculations or ratios with genotypes and phenotypes.
ReplyDeleteThe strategy that is most relevant to me right now is offering regular descriptive feedback. I have always struggled with figuring out what feedback is important to give and when. This has become especially apparent with my student I'm tutoring. His journal entries are full of grammatical and spelling errors. To me, it is most important to check for his vocab usage, but I don't feel like I can ignore his writing. It is hard to not point out all of his mistakes at once. Even when we are going through strategies or practice tests, I find myself making sure he gets every detail right, even if isn't particularly important. I think I could do much better if I chose to give feedback on the most relevant matters and slowly worked in the other corrections as appropriate.
ReplyDeleteRob and Tammy, I agree that having examples of the correct and incorrect way of doing things can be very helpful. I think having these two types of examples can really help with students' understanding of the task at hand. I know there have been numerous times in my own education where I've been taught something, shown a good example of how to do it, and thought that I had a solid grasp on it. It wasn't until I saw an incorrect example did I truly realize what the difference between doing the task right and doing it wrong was. While I hesitate to give examples all the time (I think creative ingenuity is a valuable skill to learn), I know that examples used in the right places can be very effective and appreciated even (project inquiry anyone?).
ReplyDeleteTammy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your experience about your student. Maybe there are other personal issues she is facing and has no means to vent, so unfortunately she takes it on you. I honestly think you are handling the situation in a professional manner and don't take it personal. She may be that way with her other teachers. I think you have a good understanding in regards to this situation. Good job!
I think my Ah-Ha moment was with the final strategy. I have inthe past tried to give feedback when working with students, but the "self-reflection" and having them engaged in communication about how they feel on their progress...that is definitely a good idea. It has would definitely help me as an educator if I knew my student(s) didn't seem to understand what I had just spent 1-3 weeks teaching...so having them write a short paragragh on how they felt that weeks, or unit, had helped them, or how they could see relevant information, or not....that would be very helpful. I have begun doing this with my tutoring student, and it is going well so far.
ReplyDeleteStrategy 3: Offer Regular Descriptive Feedback.
ReplyDeleteI would have like to seen more of this in my undergraduate courses. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The professors seem to be ecstatic to know more than the students, but don't want to take the time to explain it in more detail and instead refer you to other resources. I will take those experiences into my classroom and be more considerate of the different types of learning and apply this strategy as much as possible for all my students.
Virginia,
ReplyDeleteThat seems like a great idea to take to the classrooms. It would definitely let the teacher know what the student needs more understanding in and the teacher is able to prepare differently for the next lesson. Great idea.
This is a comment to Tammy and Ana,
ReplyDeleteI think that everyone is doing great, and I think that giving feedback (here is one for you too Rob..LOL) to each other like we do after the tutoring sessions is helping out. I think that when we sit and discuss (or sometimes even vent) it helps give everyone in the class ideas on where to go (I know for a fact that listening to all the discussions have given me help on where and how to proceed with my student). Keep up the good work and don't let them get you down.
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ReplyDeleteSteve & Ana: As a student I really like getting descriptive feedback. It helps narrow your focus and give you insights on what your strengths are and where your areas of improvement are as well. From the teaching end of it I know it's hard to do this as often as we would like to because having 5 classes of 25 kids could amount to 125 assignments to plow through. If you can take the time once in a while to sit down and interview individual students after they've completed a critical unit the feedback could help a lot. I think there are other ways of doing it effectively under time constraints- one of them being using a descriptive grading rubric that includes reasons for hitting/missing the mark on certain sections of an assignment. Any other ideas?
ReplyDeleteLike Steve, Ana and Tammy so far, my "ah-ha' moment came with Strategy #3 in the "where am I now?" section. Assessment was just something I considered as a way to grade the students, so that I would have information to document how well they are doing (assessment of learning). It didn't occur to me that the information I was collecting could be used to help them reflect on how well they are doing (assessment of learning). This concept in itself was an ah-ha moment.
ReplyDeleteProviding 'regular descriptive feedback' is a great way to make steady progress even with a student who does not seem to be learning, and would otherwise flunk a full-blown, graded test. I was afraid to give my student any assessments, because I could tell that she was not picking up on the material and it would just be embarrassing for her. Regardless of performance, it is still crucial to give some sort of evaluation that afterwords we could talk about.
Steve, it sounds like strategy #5: "design lessons to focus on one aspect of quality at a time" would also be a good one to try with your student. Instead of mixing in the grammar corrections with the vocalb focus on the usage first and talk about the meanings of the vocab words. The you can spend a few minutes to go back and point out the spelling mistakes. This might work or it might not in your case, but I think it is important to not jump around too much when students are learning something particular.
ReplyDeleteVlad, I love your fishing analogy. It's easy to forget how many little nuances can be hidden in a single concept (i.e. fishing, or, say, folding of a protein). I agree that it is our job as teachers to recognize the depth of information appropriate for our students. I think this happens in, or maybe even before, Strategy 1. We would have to define the appropriate depth in order to define our goals for the students' learning and then turn those goals into a clear vision for our students. I can definitely see how sharing a little of the bigger picture could be useful in this step also. To steal your analogy, it would help a student to accept learning an unpleasant process like stringing a work on the hook if they can see that it is part of the larger framework of successful fishing. Similarly, knowing that skill in solving quadratic equations is necessary to solve chemical equilibrium calculations just might help students tolerate a refresher session on quadratics in the middle of a chemistry lesson.
ReplyDeleteMy "aha" was in Strategy 6. I feel like I was always taught to succeed in every single step of everything that I attempt and never look back at it besides maybe looking at the grade when my work was returned. Obviously this is unrealistic, but I think the way I was taught and evaluated encouraged this way of thinking. Stiggins' approach in Strategy 6 emphasizes learning from mistakes - a far more practical approach! I see how valuable it is to have students analyze and revise work as this requires application of their knowledge of strong and weak work.
ReplyDeleteRob, I'm right with you on Strategy 2. Seeing examples of strong and weak work gives me a much clearer vision of what I'm trying to achieve (supporting Strategy 1). I also like Stiggins' suggestion at the end of Strategy 2 to show students the development and revision process. My competitive streak often leads me to compare my work to others. Knowing that finished strong work doesn't just materialize in the first pass but often starts with many flaws and evolves would definitely encourage me as I'm battling through the initial flawed and messy parts of my effort.
ReplyDeleteStrategy 4: Teach students to self-Assess and set Goals.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that the best path to success is honesty;been able to tell yourself where you are and where you want to is the right step towards the right direction for students that actually want to be successful.
We should be able to teach our students have to self-assess themselves and also have a set goal of where they want to be in the future; having a set goal and self-assessment will enable the teacher to know where and how to help the student.
Vlad- I really appreciated your fishing analogy. What a great way to get a point across! I think it is important to go step by step and not overwhelm the student with details. I have found that in my tutoring sessions, I have not always given constructive feedback and have not always given feedback that uplifts the student for what they are doing correctly. On the first day of tutoring one should see where the student is based on an assessment of their previous strategies for approaching homework, tests or certain types of questions (reading passages, math questions, etc.). This process of seeing where the student is and not overwhelming them with the goal on the first day should also be the way we approach our classroom assessments. We should not be bogged down in the details but go step by step in order to gain trust and show respect for the learner/teacher relationship.
ReplyDeleteRe: Virginia
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you about engaging students in self-reflection; one thing I have noticed is that sometimes students might not be grasping the concept of what you are teaching them but because they don't want to look dumb, they will pretend that they understood everything you taught them. In order for you as the teacher to analyze your students scope of understanding in the content area, self-assessment is one of the best ways to do that.
Ana- I am sorry to hear that you did not experience regular descriptive feedback. I think in college the line is blurred between what is too much feedback and too little feedback. Many professors feel that at the point a student is in college, they should be able to think critically about how they are doing and do not necessarily need the feedback. However, if a student is completely lost, then I think the professor should give feedback and help the student.
ReplyDeleteTranslating this into a high school or middle school classroom is interesting. I would suggest that when a student is learning a new skill or process then it is imperative that the teacher gives regular feedback. The idea here is that if you catch a student doing something wrong from the beginning then the “wrong idea” will not escalate into all of their work. This also catches misconceptions early on and helps the learning processes. I agree that as teachers we need to provide as many resources as possible to our students. Feedback might be different for each student because they might learn in a different way or their problem might be different than another student. This requires that the teacher be aware of how to give regular descriptive feedback to all learners.
Re: Tammy
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you Tammy. I know that when somebody first points out to me what I am doing right, it makes me feel relaxed instead of going on the defensive immediately and that will make me want to listen to what the person or instructor is saying. That same way, when you approach a student with descriptive feedback and tell them what they are doing right before telling them about how they can improve, they will be more poised to listen to you.
Toby, I like you thoughts on self-assessment. I think a student would have to take much more ownership if he or she had to actively decide how they were doing instead of letting someone else do it for them. I never like reading over what I wrote or worked on because it forced me to really think about how I did and if I could do better. Incorporating some sort of self-assessment for students could really improve students effort levels, critical thinking abilities, and analysis skills.
ReplyDeleteStrategy 4: Teach Students to Self-Assess and Set Goals
ReplyDeleteI really like this step of Assessment for learning because it puts the responsibility on the student rather than the teacher for understanding how the student is doing. This step involves using metacognition in that the student has to self-evaluate how they doing and think critically about their work or how they are approaching a problem. I saw this step in action in my tutoring sessions when I asked the student to evaluate their previous strategy for learning vocabulary and how the new strategy would help their grade.
I could see using this stage at a beginning of a unit to gauge where students are in their understanding. One could give a content assessment and then have the students write a few goals that they have for themselves in the unit. For instance, if I gave my students a content assessment on the different types of rocks, a student might not know how each is formed so the content assessment would reveal that. Then I would have the student write down goals that they had and monitor to see if they made sense. For instance, a student might write down that they do not understand how each type of rock is formed and a goal could be: I will be able to name the three main categories of rocks. I will name the different processes that lead to the formation of igneous rocks. If the student makes goals then they will be encouraged to find the information in the class and have the answers by the end of a unit.
My "ah ha" moment was don't correct everything, correct what they need right now and add suff on as the figure things out. It makes sense to me and it something that I have never considered before. Grade everyone the same, but give them different things to work on. Is that what that means on the bottom of page 43?
ReplyDeleteElyssa, I like that, but could it be a bigger picture thing. Having the student write down each chapter what they want to get out of it seems like a lot of time. Maybe it will be time well spent? But what if we asked where they wanted to be at the end of the year and where they wanted to be when the were seniors? These kids that I am tutoring had no idea that college freshman get grants and scholarships for getting good grades. If they decide as freshman that they want college to be an option, maybe they will work harder in class?
ReplyDeleteSteve J
ReplyDeleteI agree, I am fixing a house right now. It seems like I am doing everything three times before I get it right. After I get it that third time I will be able to tell anyone I see how to do it the short quick way and what pitfalls to watch out for. That is probably the best form to show that you know something, tell them how to do something and what to watch out for.
For me the “ah-ha” idea is in strategy two, “use examples and models of strong and weak work” so that the students have a better understanding of what is acceptable work and what could use some more work. Although, as the instructor, I’m not sure I would want to use any current students work, even anonymously, in which to examine. Even though the other students may not know who the work belongs to there is always the possibility that the student that it does belong to will feel embarrassed by the others critique. I really like the idea of using my own model and showing the students errors I have made before the finished product. This allows the students to see that I also had initial problems to sort through on the assignment before reaching the final result.
ReplyDeleteNathan, I don’t think it’s necessarily saying to give them each different things to work on so much as when critiquing their work to only give each student as many corrections as you think they can handle. Initially each student should have the same assignment but the critiques for each person would be individualized based on their own strengths and weaknesses. From that point on the corrective work would be different for each child (providing they didn’t all copy from one another). Wish I would have read this before critiquing my tutored student’s English paper because I marked it all up but have to admit he did a great job at correcting the errors and received a good grade! :-)
ReplyDeleteSteve J… Strategy 6 works well with strategy 4. In four, students are shown strong and weak examples, or the teacher’s own progress on an assignment, so that the students may know the difference between the correct and incorrect ways in which to focus their revisions, 6. :-)
ReplyDeleteEven though many have already discussed Strategy 3: Offer Regular Descriptive Feedback, I feel like this is the one that hit me as an “ah-ha”. I feel that many classes I’ve taken in both high school and throughout college lack feedback. Some teachers/professors give very little feedback at all, while others give very objective, simple feedback (Ex.: Punctuation errors and “awkward wording” comments in papers). I feel that many teachers/professors I’ve had are good with pointing out student strengths, but few go into detail with student weaknesses. Many times if my approach was incorrect on a problem, I would be given no clue as to how I should have done it. I would have liked to see more reflective questions given as feedback, so that I could reflect on my work and figure out on my own how to approach the problem and think about it next time. Regular feedback in the classroom allows students to have more steady progress because they are constantly evaluating their own work, not just evaluating it during and just after exams. I think this type of feedback is extremely important at all ages, although it needs to be tweaked to fit what they are able to comprehend at the time, especially with younger students. Most students could learn a lot from regular descriptive feedback and having it modeled for them. If they can learn how to self-assess and ask themselves the same questions that teachers are asking, they will be more readily prepared to enter the world as an adult.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Virginia:
ReplyDeleteI agree that the discussions we have after out tutoring sessions really help me to evaluate what I am and could be doing. Being able to hear what others are doing and where they are struggling with their students allows me to compare my experiences with theirs and to consider which approach is best for me to proceed with. I enjoy hearing that other people are in the same position as me, and I like to have that opportunity to ask “What should I do now?” when I am feeling lost and frustrated with the lack of progress I’ve seen.
In response to Anne:
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your response. I feel like Strategies 2 and 3 go together in my mind and I struggled deciding which to write about. I agree that in math, the key to understanding concepts is solving different problems. I see the same thing with my tutoring student, that she guesses at an answer because she doesn’t want to write down all the steps (or any for that matter). I really like how you said that demonstrating models of intense mathematical work may show students that there is some creativity involved in recognizing and completing the process. Most students seem to think that all math problems have only one correct method and solution, where many times there are various paths that can be taken to get the correct answer. I love that creative part of math, that’s why I love proofs! It’s a challenge to see how creative you can get, once the first 10 tries don’t work out. =)
Steve J.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of revision. Not only does it make the student redo the work to possibly improve their grade, it also gives them another exposure to the work that they seem to be having difficulty understanding. I also like the positive feedback that several people have commented on, as I think this also helps to improve their ability to learn.