This week in 525 we focused on providing feedback to students, setting objectives, and providing recognition to students.
I read the article Feedback That Fits and found many things interesting in it. I found the section about relating feedback to the goal the most interesting. The article talked about commenting on improvements that a student would have made since previous assignments. This is especially helpful for students who are struggling in a particular class or on a particular subject. Dealing with unsuccessful learners is a challenge that many teachers face. The student typically doesn't look closely at assignments or tests that have been handed back, making feedback difficult. The article suggested pointing out improvements made by the students and then giving suggestions of some steps to follow for the next assignment and following up with more feedback. Tone of voice becomes very important when giving any kind of feedback. It should indicate that the teacher is making helpful suggestions. In my opinion, tone of voice and eye contact go hand-in-hand. Students can sometimes misread a tone of voice and making eye contact with that student becomes essential to the student understanding what the teacher is trying to say. The major emphasis in the article was being clear about the feedback and giving suggestions that the student can comprehend. A student may receive feedback and not read it or may misinterpret it completely. A teacher must make sure that a student understands their expectations and their intentions when giving feedback.
What kind of technologies can I use to help students receive proper feedback?
We were asked to review one of the rubric websites; I chose to check out rubistar. I found this website to be very easy to use. I was able to create a rubric from their database of products. The site allows the user to change points offered and choose their own categories for evaluating the assignment. The category description may be changed and the criteria may be manipulated for each category to suit the user. This site seems like a great, easy way to produce rubrics. Rubrics can be very time-consuming to make and this makes the process much more efficient!
When reviewing the online quiz creators, I chose to take a closer look at QuizStar. This site requires the teacher to create classes to assign the quizzes to. QuizStar allows the teacher to import a quiz that has already been made or it allows the teacher to create their own quizzes. It seems easy to use and I think it would be easy for students to use. This is definitely a way for teachers to save paper and ink by not having to make copies of quizzes, however, if a teacher does not teach in a computer lab they may have trouble getting access to computers for the students to take the quizzes.
What kind of technologies can I use to help students receive recognition?
We use Power School as our grading program where I teach. The grade book program provided allows the teacher to not only enter grades, but indicate if the assignment is late, missing, or exempt. It also allows the teacher to add specific comments on assignments or general comments about the student's performance.
I also have begun using Google docs in one of my classes, which is a great way for me to provide needed recognition by using the comments tool. Students would be able to see exactly where the comment is linked to and they would be able to see if changes are needed or not.. I also would be able to email the students to provide recognition they may be needing.
