Strategy Reflection #7 Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback

What?

Providing feedback is one of the most powerful single modification that enhances achievement according to researcher John Hattie. When we consider feedback, it should be "corrective," timely, specific to criterion, and student led. To utilize feedback, I decided to use all of these but one suggestion. I have unintentionally become the world's worst when it comes to grading papers. When I first became a teacher I did well on grading papers and returning them back to my students. Now since I teach bell to bell I would just pile all the work in a grading folder to grade later. However, it started becoming a problem because with five preps I am constantly getting ready for the next class. When I thought I would have time during my conference to grade papers, something else always came up. Soon it was 2 weeks before my students received their work back. Then when I did grade it I would only put an "X" on the wrong answer. I never wrote down the correct answer or circled it.

So What?

Instead of putting a big "X" on my students' work I have since started circling the correct answers. I was usually in such a big hurry to finish grading that I didn't take the time to circle correct answers. I've started noticing that my students now look closer at their graded papers when I circle the correct response. I have also made it a point to grade their work as soon as they turn it in. By doing so I am able to provide them with immediate feedback. I have also found it keeps my papers graded so it doesn't pile up on me. I have been assigning reflections for my students to write after each section we discussed that day to grasp a better understanding of what they learned during the discussion. To utilize student-led feedback, I asked my students, on occasion, to exchange papers with either the person in front of them or behind them. I instruct them to read their peers reflection and make comments regarding the concept of the paper and to check for errors with either grammar or spelling. Although most of my students are unable to actually do this task, I have found that they enjoy being able to pretend to be the teacher. I go back after they turn in their reflections to read the peer suggestions because then it gives me a chance to see if my students knew enough about what was discussed to make corrections on peers' reflections.

Now What?

I didn't realize how harmful it was for me to not mark the correct answers before I hand back papers. I always assumed my students would be able to determine the correct given the wrong answer. I now take time to circle each answer when it is wrong so my students will have a higher percentage of success. The part of feedback that has been the most helpful is providing feedback in a timely manner. I didn't realize the importance of immediate feedback. My students would constantly ask me what their grade was on a particular assignment and I would tell them to wait until next time. Then weeks later I would finally give it back to them. What was worse is when I'd give back their work it would be after we took the chapter test. By the time my students got back their work they were unable to use the information to help them understand the chapter. I also found that I have less stress about getting my papers graded. When I keep up with them and grade them by the end of class I don't have a "to do list" hanging over my head for weeks. Now when I give my work back at the end of class my students immediately go back to their seats and look up the answers they got wrong in the book. Before this my students would just look at the grade and then put it away in their folders. I am definitely going to continue to return papers by the end of the period or by the next class period. In regards to student feedback, I only see a little change in success. Although my students enjoy grading each other's reflections, I have discovered that some students will make fun of others who didn't understand the assignment or made spelling errors so I will probably not use student led feedback in the future.