The first assignment this week was to read Feedback that fits. This article addresses the importance of quality feedback on assessments. According to the article not all feedback is equal or valuable. When teachers provide students with feedback they really need to think about the objectives of the assignment, not every detail. As educators we don’t want the students to be discouraged to do work based on the assessment, rather we want to help them improve. The author stated teachers need to put ourselves in the student’s shoes. I feel it’s important to remain positive and to be specific.
I really liked that the article stated to recognize and address strategies students’ use. This is something I do a lot of in my classroom. I’m constantly working on strategies with my special education students. I also make sure I acknowledge any time they use strategies, especially when a student takes their own initiative to do so. I almost go overboard with the recognition of strategies, but I’ve seen a pay off. The students have started using the strategies with each other to help each other. When I make an assessment I include a couple of questions or words that require the students to use strategies. For example, on spelling tests I include a couple bonus strategy words. These words are words they don’t hear until the day of the test, however, they are words that can be found somewhere in the classroom, such as on the board, posters, etc. Overall I found the article very good. I think feedback, especially good quality feedback, can be very difficult to do.
For the next assignment I looked at RubiStar. Rubrics provide students with good valuable feedback. When students given a rubric with an assignment they know right away how they are going to be assessed. RubiStar is an easy to use program and it’s free. It can be used for a wide variety of assignments. You can either customize a rubric or use one already created. You are prompted at each point, from which subject matter to the set up and rating scale. I have created several rubrics from scratch and have spent quite a bit of time on them. This program provides lots of options, including some I hadn’t thought of. I will be using this in the future.
Next I looked at QuizStar, a free online test maker program. There were a couple things I really like about this program. The first is that you can choose the type of question you want - true/false, multiple choice, or short answer. This reminds me of the Senteo response program, which is also easy to use. This program allows for differentiated instruction in that you can choose the language. This is a really nice feature for ESL students. You can also set up the time span. This can be beneficial for students that may need extra time on a test, such as special education students. They could work on it during class and finish during a study center. In this manner the teacher wouldn’t have to worry about the student carrying a test around with him or her. Since it is graded on line it eliminates hours of grading tests. Some of the things I don’t like about this program are that the test is online. If you teach at a school that doesn’t have a lot of computers or if it’s difficult to get computer lab time, this program won’t be very useful. The other problem with this program is that the only feedback is whether an answer is correct or incorrect. I would like to try this program. I think I will give it a try for my next test.
Reflection of strategies - It is important to provide students with good quality feedback. Students need to know how they did on a task or assignment, what they did well, and how they can improve. Feedback should reflect the object of the task or assignment. As an educator we don’t want to comment on “every” detail, as it can be too much feedback and it can send the wrong message to the student. Another important strategy is to provide students with recognition. This can be accomplished simply (words of recognition) to something more tangible (stickers, certificates.) I personally like words of recognition best. When I started teaching a couple of years ago and had students do something out of the norm, they’d ask “what do we get?” I would reply with “the satisfaction of a job well done.” At times I’ll provide them with tangible items, but I really want them to be motivated to do well for their sake, not the reward. The tangible rewards are far enough apart that they are a pleasant surprise to the students. Another recognition tool I use is a fun activity. The activities are fun to the student, but are still educational. For example, throwing and catching a ball while listing nouns.
Using QuizStar in a district where a high number of students have individualized education plans (IEP’s) could be very helpful. As you noted, it allows for easy differentiated instruction/testing for students who require shorter tests, longer testing times, or even the test in another language. While I am still making the tests, the program aids in the creation process and can be graded online, allowing for the student who has an IEP that states the student has no time limits or can use outside source materials finish the test at home or in another location at their own pacing. Non-teaching professionals might say this is like having the computer program do too much of the work for the teacher, but I would disagree, comparing a teacher using QuizStar to say an accountant using QuickBooks. It is simply a very helpful tool that is up to the teacher to use in a constructive, positive way.
ReplyDeleteTammy, I like the idea of rewarding students with an activity on a job well done. To me, this is a great way to acknowledge that students did well, but not taking away from too much learning time. I will definitely be using this concept in my classroom.
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