Strategy 3: Offer Regular Descriptive Feedback

Chappius gives 5 characteristics of effective feedback:
1. directs attention to the intended learning,
2.  occurs during learning,
3.  addresses partial understanding,
4.  does not do the thinking for the student, and
5.  limits correctives to what students can act on

Taken together, these five characteristics are a useful distillation of much of the other reading I have done in the area of feedback.  Since Chappius lists Brookhart as a source, this does not come as a surprise. However, I do want to take the time to visit each of these five in turn to see what additional insight I can glean.

Photo by Phil Roeder

Starting a New Book: Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning

I have recently begun reading Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning by Jan Chappuis and am finding it quite informative thus far.  The seven strategies are organized under Where am I going?, Where am I now?, and How can I close the gap?.  In and of themselves, this grouping is not unique to Chappuis, nor does she assert that they are her creation.  However, what I am appreciating thus far is her clear organizational structure that is aiding in my ability to make connections among the texts I have read by seeing them within Chappuis' organizational framework.  So far,  I have only covered the first two strategies (provide students with a clear and understandable vision of learning target and use examples and models of strong and weak work), but I already can see how the elements are fitting together.  I will follow-up with additional postings to track my progress through this book, but in the meantime, I wanted to leave by sharing a link to a webinar created by the publishing company to cover the Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning.