Providing Feedback to Students

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Providing Feedback to Students

Any feedback I give students regarding their learning must be timely, accurate, and offer them constructive, positive learning suggestions.  Without specifics, students cannot see where they need to focus for their future learning nor do they see relevant value in the feedback.  Rather, the emphasis often becomes on the grade, not the knowledge learned. When offering feedback, I always want to reinforce to my students that I have high expectations for them and that I believe they are capable of reaching these high expectations.  Each student enters my class with a different background; not all have someone who encourages them to reach for high levels of academic achievement, character, or effort.  I want to instill in them pride in the effort and good choices they make toward their learning.  Giving student specific feedback is time consuming, but if students are taught how to effectively use that feedback to enhance their learning, it is well worth the effort.

My mentor and I use a variety of ways to provide feedback.  A list is included below.  Some are formal, summative assessments, of course, but most are daily, formative assessments. The daily assessments are what I like using most.  Many offer immediate feedback, such as the versatiles.  Other assessments, such as the more formal, district level ones, can take longer to be given to students.  However, all are created to help a student uncover their learning strengths and weaknesses.  While there are many planned formative assessments during my lessons, there is also much feedback that occurs spontaneously during class time. In addition, I provide my students with continuous, verbal and nonverbal cues throughout each day.  I must constantly be aware of this type of feedback, monitoring for appropriateness and effectiveness while implementing any lesson. 

Unit Self-Assessment Sheets (done prior, during, and at the end of each unit of study) 
Versatiles
Teacher Questioning
Unit Test Reviews
Teacher/Student Conferencing
Daily Reviewing Math Mad Minutes
Unit Tests
Verbal feedback from Lesson Interaction between Student, Teacher and Peers
MSTAR Universal and Diagnostic Screeners 
Nonverbal Feedback
Exit Tickets (open ended and closed ended questioning)
Peer Coaching/Questioning
Homework Discussed in Class
Self-Questioning
Edusmart Virtual Labs
Detailed Teacher Notes on Graded Assignments
Table Talks
Assignment Rubric with Written Teacher Feedback

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