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Ch. 8 Providing Formative Feedback - Coggle Diagram
Ch. 8 Providing Formative Feedback
PEER FEEDBACK
We advocate using rubrics or some other structured listing of criteria as the basis for peer feedback. This structure should make it easier for students to focus on the criteria and the work, as opposed to them personally.
Peer feedback can be done in pairs or small groups. Pairs or groups should be formed with attention to student interest, ability, and/or compatibility, depending on the particular assignment
First, make sure that the students understand the assignment on which they will be giving feedback and the rubrics they will use to do so.
Second, make sure the students understand ground rules for good peer feedback.
TYPES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF FEEDBACK
Feedback Referencing Schemes
Norm-referenced feedback compares performance to other students. ("Your paragraph was the best in the class.")
Criterion-referenced feedback compares performance to a standard and describes what students can or cannot do. ("You are particularly good at using a variety of descriptive adjectives.")
Self-referenced feedback compares a student's performance to his own past performance or sometimes to expected performance. ("This paragraph is better than the last one you wrote.")
Feedback Focus
Outcome feedback is knowledge of results. ("You got a B on that paper.")
Outcome feedback only supports improvement if students can internally generate the cognitive feedback
Cognitive feedback describes the connections between aspects of the task or the process students used to do that task and the student's achievement. ("It doesn't seem like you used the study guide very much.")
Cognitive feedback helps students know what to do to improve.
Levels of feed back
Level 1 is the Task or Product Level, subsuming comments about how well tasks are understood and performed.
Level 2 is the Process Level, subsuming comments about the process students used to do their work.
Level 3 is the Self-regulation Level, subsuming comments about students' understanding and monitoring of their own activities.
Level 4 is the Self Level, subsuming personal comments and evaluative judgments.
not effective for learning and should not be used.
Feedback Function
Feedback can vary according to its functional significance (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
Descriptive feedback gives information about the work. ("You developed your main character with lots of thoughtful details.")
usually perceive descriptive feedback as informational in nature
more useful for formative assessment, because it has the potential to give students information they can use to improve and, at the same time, suggest to them that they are the agents of their own learning--after all, they are the ones who choose and use the information.
Evaluative feedback passes judgment on the work. (Giving an A or saying, "Good job!")
usually perceive evaluative feedback as controlling.
eight types of assessment feedback
Evaluative feedback--passing judgment on students
Classroom and individual management
Rewarding (positive, e.g., stickers)
Punishing (negative, e.g., withholding recess)
Performance orientation
Approving (positive, e.g., check marks, "good girl")
Disapproving (negative, e.g., X, "you weren't listening")
Specifying attainment (describing aspects of success, e.g., identifying criteria met)
Specifying improvement (describing aspects for correction, e.g., correcting, identifying criteria not met)
Descriptive feedback
Mastery orientation
Learning orientation
Constructing achievement (working with the child to identify the learning processes in use and suggestions for extending the learning)
Constructing the way forward (working with the child to diagnose learning processes and suggest next steps toward meeting criteria)
Feedback Methods
the best method for delivering feedback depends on the student, the teacher's relationship with the student, the content knowledge and skills in question, and the particular assignment or assessment.
Timing
For knowledge of facts, immediate feedback is best.
comprehensive skills and higher-order thinking tasks, consider delaying the feedback just a bit to allow the students to wrestle with their own ideas and also, potentially, to give you more evidence on which to base your feedback.
always deliver feedback when the student is still thinking of the work and still has an opportunity to use the feedback to improve the work.
amounts
how many points to comment on
ask yourself what are the one or two things the student needs to attend to next to take the next step toward mastery of the learning target he or she is striving for--or the next learning target in the progression
Comment on that issue, and then give the student an opportunity to focus on it and demonstrate improvement.
how much to say about each point.
depends on the student's needs.
Never give feedback that does the work for the student.
Some students will need you only to point out something, and they will have all they need to improve their work.
Some students will need more description and suggestions
some students will need you to show them how to make improvements in their work.
also recommends descriptive feedback that identifies what the student has accomplished, according to the learning criteria, and makes a suggestion for improvement.
Reminder prompts
restate the learning target. They are useful for students who already have a grasp of the material, whose work needs fine tuning.
Example prompts
model the work that students need to do, inviting them to use one of the teacher's examples or create his own based on it.
Base your decisions about the amount of detail and support to give students on the principle of "less is more."
Modes
oral
The best feedback comes in the form of a conversation with the student.
written
demonstration
audiences
small groups
Small and large group feedback is usually oral and comes as part of a lesson or mini-lesson.
whole classes
individuals
Individual feedback is best when possible: It can be specific to the student's particular work and learning needs, and it can communicate that the teacher values the student's learning.
Feedback Word Choice
Feedback varies in clarity. Students have to clearly understand what your feedback means if it is to be useful to them.
Feedback varies in specificity. General statements are usually less helpful for improvement than specific descriptions and suggestions.
Feedback varies in person. First-person ("I" statements) feedback works for some formative feedback (e.g., "I don't understand what you mean here"). Third-person feedback can help you describe the work, not the student (e.g., "This paragraph doesn't have supporting details" is better than "You didn't use supporting details"). Avoid second-person feedback. Saying "you" did this or that comes out sounding like finger wagging.
Feedback varies in tone. Keep the tone supportive. We know, for example, of one teacher who wrote, "You think like a chicken!" That's not helpful.
Effective Feedback
A Checklist for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Feedback
Does the feedback describe the student's work, or the process the student used to do the work, against clear criteria?
Does the feedback arrive at a time when the student can use it?
Does the feedback contain the right amount of main points or ideas?
Is the feedback specific enough to support next steps but not so specific the work is done for the student?
Is the feedback positive in tone and intention?
Would the feedback be clear to the student?
Does the tone of the feedback imply the student is an active learner?
Does the feedback reflect something the teacher learned about the student's performance?
Will the student receiving the feedback learn something from it?
HELPING STUDENTS USE FEEDBACK
The Role of Learning Targets in Feedback
Without a clear understanding of what they are aiming for, students will have no reference point against which to process the feedback
feedback information against a learning target can be perceived as informational, as students see its value for an aim of theirs.
Feedback information without a learning target is more likely to be perceived as controlling
Immediate Opportunity to Use Feedback
Students need opportunities to use specific feedback in the same formative learning cycle in which they are aiming for a specific learning target or goal
For learning of facts and concepts, you should build in nongraded feedback opportunities so that students understand what they need to concentrate on, what misconceptions they may have, how new concepts are related, and so on, before a graded test.
The Feedback Environment
Teachers should create a classroom environment that communicates to the student that learning is possible for everyone and that mistakes and revisions are a natural part of the learning process.
First, the teacher must explicitly discuss the learning process and the value of feedback and provide relevant formative feedback to students that is patently useful to them.
Second, the students must have a mental model of the learning environment that understands it is for learning and feels emotionally safe.
students need to be aware of a learning target or larger learning aim in order to give the feedback a reference point. After they receive feedback, students need an immediate opportunity to use the feedback. Finally, feedback needs to be delivered in a safe environment where making mistakes is interpreted as an opportunity for learning.
DIFFERENTIATING FEEDBACK
Feedback for Struggling Students
For unsuccessful and unmotivated students, you need to deal with negative feelings first, before providing other formative assessment information, in order to break the cycle of failure
Self-referenced feedback compares a student's work with his or her own previous work, so it can be used in a positive manner whether the current work is better or worse than expected.
students need to hear their teachers name and notice what they did correctly, affirming the basis from which they will proceed to improve.
Then, they need example prompts that will walk them through what to do next.
For struggling students, formative feedback should begin with statements of accomplishment and suggest small, doable steps for improvement.
Feedback for English Language Learners
You may decide to use that "sensible but incorrect" response to help the student learn some English sentence structure. Or it might be more productive in the long run to focus on the substance of the content rather than the word order.
five areas you can observe that can help you gauge the communication proficiency of ELLs in your classroom:
-How well does the student understand classroom discussions? (Does the student understand classroom talk at all? Can s/he understand if speech is slow and includes repetition?)
-How well does the student speak? (Does the student hesitate or search for words? Does the student ever initiate a conversation?)
How well does the student use academic English, especially academic vocabulary?
-How easy is it to understand what the student says?
How well does the student use conventional grammar and sentence patterns?
if a program emphasizes all student transactions should be in English, then your feedback should be in English. If not, you can give some feedback in the student's native language
Always check for understanding of the feedback
Giving Feedback to English Language Learners
Use oral feedback, and talk with the student (as opposed to giving an oral feedback monologue).
Allow sufficient time for students to review their work and respond.]
[3. Be descriptive. Focus on a concrete work product, especially on work done jointly or collaboratively with other students.
Make both criterion-referenced (compare student work to standards) and self-referenced (point out improvements) comments.
Use pictures, diagrams, gestures, and other nonverbal means of communication when possible.
Model correct English in your oral feedback.
Speak slowly. Repeat feedback. Use simple vocabulary and explain important words.
Model correct English by repeating students' words with correct pronunciation and usage, rather than correcting them (e.g., If a student says "She do that," say "She does that," rather than "'Do' should be 'does'").
Give individual feedback, not group or public feedback.
Respect students' cultural preferences when speaking (for example, whether or not to make eye contact, waiting to speak until spoken to).
The effects of feedback depend not only on the information itself but also on the characteristics of the people who send (teacher) and receive (student) the message.
Feedback for Successful Students
When you provide feedback to successful students that names and notices what they did well, according to the criteria you and the students are using, and gives them something to think about (not another assignment to do), you imply that learning never ends.
you give the students evidence that you have thoughtfully considered their work, which is satisfying to them and contributes to a classroom atmosphere marked by caring about learning.
providing suggestions for improvement to successful students is often well accomplished by a simple reminder prompt that will help the student focus his or her own thinking.
FEEDBACK FROM TECHNOLOGY
Technology-assisted Feedback on Students' Work
Teachers can use technological means to give feedback on regular assignments that students have submitted as paper or electronic documents, as the result of face-to-face or online instruction.
Feedback in Computer-Based Instruction
If students submit work electronically, teachers can use the Comments function and/or the Track Changes function to make comments and then return it to the student for review.
he general feedback principles summarized in the Checklist for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Feedback still apply.
Structure the opportunities for students to receive feedback before final, graded work is due so that students can use the feedback to improve while there is still time for that to make a difference.
Feedback in Computer-Based Instruction
eight types of computer feedback that have been tested in various studies.
No feedback--typically used as a control condition (e.g., a total quiz score with no information about individual items)
Knowledge-of-response--computer provides item-level correct/incorrect information
Answer-until-correct--learner must stay on the same test item until it is correct
Knowledge-of-correct-response--computer provides item-level correct/incorrect information and gives the correct answer
Topic-contingent--computer provides itemlevel correct/incorrect information and routs the student back to learning material or to additional material
Response-contingent--computer provides item-level correct/incorrect information and an explanation of why the incorrect answer is wrong and the correct answer is right
Bug-related--computer provides item-level correct/incorrect information and information about specific errors (obtained from a "bug library" of common errors)
Attribute-isolation--computer provides item-level correct/incorrect information and highlights important attributes of the concept being learned
As you can see, none of the elaborations described in these types of feedback provides students with specific information about what to do next. However, some of them give students enough information, so they can successfully navigate their own next steps.