Assessment and Learning - Importance of Feedback
- 1. ASSESSMENT AND LEARNING The importance of feedback Mike Babb Principal Andrew Mynarski VC Junior High School
- 2. Good Coaching “ Like successful athletic coaches, the best teachers recognize the importance of ongoing assessments and continual adjustments on the part of both teacher and student as the means to achieve maximum performance” “ Seven Practices for Effective Learning”, J. McTighe and K. O’Connor Educational Leadership November 2005
- 3. More on Good Coaching “ Coaches routinely conduct practice drills that both develop basic skills and purposefully point toward performance in the game.” (McTighe and O’Connor, Educational Leadership, Nov. 2005) “ Too often, classroom instruction and assessment overemphasize decontextualized drills and provide too few opportunities for students to actually “play the game”.” (McTighe and O’Connor, Educational Leadership, Nov. 2005)
- 4. Having the end product in mind: “ Authentic performance tasks provide a worthy goal and help learners see a reason for their” effort. (McTighe and O’Connor, Educational Leadership Nov. 2005)
- 5. Two assessment tools can play a big role Diagnostic assessment and Formative assessment provide fuel for teaching and learning, by offering descriptive feedback. (McTighe, O’Connor, Nov. 2005) “ Summative assessments are insufficient tools for maximizing learning.” (McTighe,O’Connor Nov. 2005)
- 6. List practical pre-assessment tools Pre-tests of content knowledge Skills checks Concept maps Drawings K-W-L (Know-Want to Learn-Learn) A teacher gains greater insight into what to teach by knowing what skill gaps to address - McTighe and O’Connor
- 7. Criteria for good feedback Timely Specific Understandable to the receiver Formed to allow for self adjustment on the student’s part (Wiggins, G. Educative Assessment 1998 as per McTighe and O’Connor)
- 8. Which is more informative? Which helps a soccer player to develop more after coming off of a personal best soccer match? A score of “8/10” or Specific feedback as to what they did well “ You challenged the ball well and won a lot of 50-50 ball. You kicked well with both feet and were able to control the ball with your first touch. You linked up well with the strikers and cleared the ball effectively when we were under pressure. Your work rate was very high and you supported back well.”
- 9. Feedback – Gary Phillips Look for improvement, not perfection Students will be rewarded in their lifetime more for their imagination than for their retrieval of memory
- 10. How can we support kids efforts? At a little kids’ hockey game, while the parents were applauding both teams coming off of the ice, a parent, who is in charge of surgery at a hospital said, “ Isn’t it too bad that we are not outside their Math class applauding their effort”
- 11. Personal Bests Can you highlight personal bests? Strong inclusive Track and Field Programs do this very well It rewards the effort and helps to draw the best out of a kid.
- 12. Portfolio Learning Uses feedback to develop reflection skills which enables students to understand why the marks they earned were earned. “ The best feedback often surfaces in the performance-based subjects – such as art, music and physical education- and in extracurricular activities, such as band and athletics.” (McTighe and O’Connor, Educational Leadership Nov. 2005)
- 13. Good coaches are good teachers “ The essence of good coaching involves ongoing assessment and feedback.” (McTighe and O’Connor, Educational Leadership Nov. 2005) Good teaching incorporates good coaching practices.
- 14. McTighe and O’Connor Feedback addresses three factors which motivate students to learn. Task clarity Relevance Potential for success (from Marzano, 1992) Feedback maintains the path to the goal, reinforces each step and helps one to move forward.
- 15. At a North District Initiative Caren Cameron strongly suggested that Cramming more content per minute virtually guarantees that little or no learning will take place. That processing time enables information to move from short term memory to long term memory. That it is important to get rid of the numbers when using descriptive feedback.
- 16. CC continued She also highlighted the strength of student self assessment when they can assess in relation to criteria. Criterion Referenced Assessment is clear, up front and has no surprises. She used a practice, practice, practice –game model for learning
- 17. CC easy to implement tools Portfolios – a celebration of learning Stand and Re-tell Turn and Talk Exemplars – mitred corner example Keeper Journal Post It Notes feedback (Mr. J) 2nd Chance – lime green paper Targets for Kids to aim for The 10 x 2 Rule – the importance of processing time The Muddiest Point
- 18. Kohn’s 3 C’s of Motivation from O’Connor’s “ How To Grade for Lea rning”: Content – things worth knowing Choice – excites kids about their learning Collaboration – all learning does not have to be lonely
- 19. An Imaginative Approach to Teaching “ Successful education requires some emotional involvement of the student with the subject matter (egan k.) She proposes that engaging students’ imaginations is crucial to successful learning and believes that in doing so there will be improvements in all measures of educational achievement. (Website – www.ierg.net )
- 20. In The Disciplined Mind, Gardner recommends that it is important to study substantial topics in depth in the areas of Science, Mathematics, The Arts and History. He feels strongly that a true measure of learning is when “an individual understands a concept, skill, theory or domain of knowledge to the extent that he or she can apply it appropriately in a new situation.”
- 21. Ken O’Connor suggests that Grading is not essential for learning and makes reference to the excellent teaching and superb learning that can take place in co-curricular settings. He also states that poor grades have no motivational value and that the only grades that have any motivational value are grades higher than normal or A’s.
- 22. O’Connor referring to Stiggins work “ students succeed academically only if they want to succeed and feel capable of doing so. If they lack either desire or confidence, they will not be successful. Therefore, the essential question is a dual one: How do we help our students to want to learn and feel capable of learning?”
- 23. A Teachers Panel stated that: Kids want to be valued everyday Inclusive classrooms involve fun, choices, stories, talk time, games and projects and humour – they build community If we failed everyday we would hate coming to work – therefore it is essential that students experience success
- 24. Teacher Panel continued: Classroom dynamics benefit from student input into classroom agreements If it is not good for kids don’t do it We all need to increase wait time – we must give kids time to formulate answers
- 25. More from the teachers: Value the process of growth, sometimes new and magical things develop that were never anticipated, even with good backwards planning Collaboration is energizing
- 26. Success – the challenge Can you pitch the ball so the bat will hit it? When I was a Phys Ed. teacher I would pitch the ball to the level the bat was being swung at, so the bat would contact the ball and the kid would experience success. Unfortunately, I also had that knack when I pitched in competitive situations, but it was good for Phys. Ed. classes MB