Self-Diagnosing with Assessment Dialogues

One difficulty I have experienced with implementing more effective feedback strategies is that for my 11th and 12th grade students many of the quick feedback techniques are more appropriate for comprehension types of tasks, not for tasks that require an assessment of quality.  Chappius, thankfully, offers a few recommendations for getting students to self-diagnose first, so the teacher can then "tailor [his] comments to offer as much or as little help as the student truly needs" (pg.79).

Her first suggestion is to use an Assessment Dialogue form which has students explain their strengths and areas they need to work on, has teachers explain strengths and areas to work on, and then has students write out a plan where they explain what they will do now.  I have used another type of form with my students, but I think I like this one better.

Her second strategy is two color highlighting.  Students use the scoring rubric and highlight in yellow how they think their product lines up with the performance indicators.  The teacher then does the same with a blue highlighter. The text that is green signifies the areas that the teacher and student agree on; no further comments need to be made on these areas because the student already understands their progress.  The teacher could then provide additional feedback on those areas that were significantly varied.  This would save be quite a lot of time and energy, especially when I assess drafts of longer essays.

Occurs During Learning: the second characteristic of effective feedback

For those that know anything about formative assessment, this second characteristic of effective feedback is a necessity.  In this section Chappius asserts that:

Feedback can encourage students to see mistakes as leading to further learning if you plan time for students to take the actions suggested, before asking them to demonstrate their level of achievement for a mark or grade.  The time we spend giving feedback may be wasted if we do not build in time for them to act on it. 

For this to work optimally, the classroom climate has to shift so mistakes are welcomed in as much as they result in opportunities for further learning.  They provide information about miscommunication, missteps, and gaps; all of which can be corrected with further instruction and practice.

Because feedback can be time intensive, it is so important to use it effectively.  Time must be built in.  Nothing is more important than ensuring that students have learned the material- not coverage, not a pacing plan.  Nothing.  I like to move quickly, so to remind myself of this idea, I am printing out a turtle to hang on my back wall.  This way I will see it while I am teaching and remind myself to slow down, model, check for understanding, reteach (if necessary), give students adequate time to practice and improve.  And then, only then, move on.  Anything worth teaching is worth teaching well. 

Photo from fredsharples

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

Highlighting Work that Misses the Mark

Yes, yes, I have heard it before.  It is important to show models of the learning target so students are able to conceptualize what the finished product will/should look like.  However, based on the reading I have done over the past several months, there seems to be some disagreement when it comes to sharing weak or poor examples of a learning target.  Some say that weak examples are unnecessary and serve no real purpose for students who should be focusing on quality.  Contrarily, Chappius asserts that showing students models of weak work helps them to understand problems to avoid.  I do not make a habit of using models of poor work, but after thinking about Chappius' argument, I can see how it can be helpful.  However, I think it is only helpful if students are actively engaged with understanding, evaluating, and explaining what makes one sample weak and another strong.  If they are able to explain what makes a certain writing piece weak or less effective, they are more likely to avoid similar shortcomings in their own writing. 

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.

Enrich and Reteach

An Arizona elementary school structures their schedule around incorporating formative assessment school-wide through their Enrich and Reteach program.  Based on this video, I believe Popham would consider them a level four school.  The aspect I appreciated is that it created enrichment for students who needed it; it is not only those who are behind who need help.  Students who are above grade level can easily get bored with grade level curriculum and the reteaching that occurs of that curriculum.  Another aspect that seems to come out of the process was reflective conversation by the grade level team as they compare their assessments and determine who is best to run the reteaching.

Moving On Up: level two formative assessment and students' learning tactic adjustments

In W. James Popham's Transformative Assessment, he outlines his four levels of formative assessment; today I want to focus on level two, which "deals with students' use of formative assessment evidence to adjust their own learning tactics."  Although teacher do play an important role as a facilitator in level two, the students are the ones who make the decisions through gathering evidence, evaluating performance indicators, and modifying any learning tactics that should be changed.

In order to unpack this chapter a bit, let's start with the term learning tactic.  A learning tactic is defined as "the way a student is trying to learn something" (71).  For example, many of my students struggle with studying for their anatomy class.  When I have asked what they do to study, they answer with learning tactics: re-reading, trying to answer the questions in the back, looking over the bold faced words, reviewing lecture notes and handouts, etc.  

Based on evidence gathered through assessment feedback, students should be able to determine how well or poorly they did at approaching the target.  From this point, each student needs to evaluate his/her learning tactics to see how effective they are at helping him/her approach the learning target for the curricular aim.  For example, I just gave my students an in-class essay test on the first act of Macbeth.  They were given the prompts well ahead of time, so they knew how they would be assessed.  I even showed them exactly how points would be given by using a few example sentences I wrote.  Students were allowed to take notes, and I suggested several learning tactic suggestions that I have found to be successful for other students (ie: asking yourself the prompt and brainstorming to see how many facts you can come up with, re-reading the prompts after every scene to see what info you can add to your notes that would be useful for the test, etc).  However, though I tried to offer several learning tactics, it is evident from some of the grades that at least a few students decided to go about it their own way.  I talked to one student a few minutes after she turned in her failing exam.  I asked her what she did to prepare for the test; she said that she had decided to just "write stuff" and see how it went.  This is, obviously, an inefficient learning tactic.  My next step is to have her and the rest of my students evaluate their performance, reflect of learning tactics used, and explain whether they should or should not adjust their learning tactics for their next essay test, which should take place next week.  I use the word "should" because, as Popham reminds, "it should remain each student's individual choice as to whether to modify or stick with current learning tactics" (83).

Popham cautions against using grades for formative assessment, and though I understand his reasoning, from the example above, it is clear that I have not taken his advice.  I am not yet sure how to reconcile this with my need to assign points and a grade that can be placed in a gradebook for parents and students to monitor.

Notes from a Formative Assessment Blogger

In "Is REAL Formative Assessment Even Possible", author Bill Ferriter shares his commitment to, frustrations with, and suggestions for formative assessment practice in the classroom.  After reading his blog, I feel better able to consider some of the road bumps I have been feeling as I have spent more time intentionally focusing on formative assessment.

Flailing in the Deep End

As I am still working my way through my research, I have begun to feel like I am flailing around in the deep end of a pool rather than gliding across the water.  I  have read enough about the subject to feel quite confused about how all I am reading fits together.  So, to help realign myself, I want to write a short list of what I know to be true about formative assessment.  This list is in no way comprehensive.
1.  Formative assessment is not a designation; it is a response.
2.  Both the teacher and student have an active role in the formative assessment process.
3.  For effective formative assessment to take place, there must first be a clear learning target.
4.  Formative assessment is ongoing.
5.

Is it sad that I can only come up with four?  See, I need floaties.

Instruction should not be . . .

Instruction should not be a Ouija-boardlike game in which teachers guess about what to do next.  Educating kids is far too important for that sort of approach.  Rather, instructing students should be a carefully conceived enterprise in which decisions about what to do next are predicated on the best available information.- W. James Popham

That information comes through formative assessment practices.

Cycle of Excellence

        

“Students must have routine access to the criteria and standards for the task they need to master; they must have feedback in their attempts to master those tasks; and they must have opportunities to use the feedback to revise work and resubmit it for evaluation against the standard. Excellence is attained by such cycles of model-practice-perform-feedback-perform” - Grant Wiggins

Photo by Don Bergquist

Too Much, Too Little, Just Right

I started reading How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students by Susan M. Brookhart, and I am already feeling exceedingly challenged.   The first section was about timing: feedback needs to be timely.  Yep, got it.  I am 100 percent there.  Kids, and adults for that matter, don't care any more if they have moved on from the subject under consideration.  Therefore, the feedback has to be given while it is still on the mind and while there is still something the student can do about it.

The second section was on amount. Screeching halt- perhaps accompanied by audible groaning on my part.  Here is an area that I need a lot of help with.  And Brookhart gets to the heart of the matter by conceding that 

Probably the hardest decision to make about feedback is the amount to provide.  A natural inclination is to want to "fix" everything you see.

Oh, so true.  It is the hardest decision when it comes to feedback because there is so much to write sometimes and not enough time to write it.  Plus, I can easily fall into the trap of copy-editing, which often just overwhelms the students and doesn't really give the student specific ways to approach their next learning steps, if I am not careful.  However, writing "Good" or some other such nebulous comment is also unhelpful it would seem.  To make it even more challenging,

For real learning, what makes the difference is a usable amount of information that connects with something the students already knows and takes them from that point to the next level. 

The words that I fixate on in this sentence are the words usable and connects.  For feedback to be usable, it has to meet the student where he or she is at developmentally. Right now, at the beginning of the year, it is difficult to keep all of my students' names straight- let alone understand where they are at developmentally.  Furthermore, for feedback to connect, students have to hear it in such a way that they can see how it relates to their current performance and gives them a direction for improvement.  This means that it needs to not be too little or too much because both create confusion for the student. Which leaves one question: What is just right?   

Judging the right amount of feedback to give--how much, on how many points--requires deep knowledge and consideration of the following:

• The topic in general and your learning target or targets in particular 
• Typical developmental learning progressions for those topics or targets
• Your individual students

This is difficult, and I can honestly say that I struggle with giving feedback that I can truly say advances the learning of my students.  I give feedback, but I do not know to what extent is has been usable or has connected to the students- to what extent it is just right.   However, it is an important part of the formative assessment process and I am not going to get better without practicing and going through the process.  Just like in the story of Goldilocks, just right always came after too much and too little.  Right?

Photo by sidknee23

Individual Whiteboards

Though utilizing questions can be a very effective formative assessment strategy, when a teacher asks a question that is answered by one student, the rest of the class can use the opportunity to tune out.  Not if you use individual whiteboards (or mini-whites as those in my department call them).  I have seen these used to great effect in math and English classes; however, they could be used in any class.  For more info, check out this link.  To create inexpensive whiteboards, Dave Carroll, a teacher at my site showed us plastic sheet protectors with a piece of white paper inside.  They can be written on and erased, but if you want to put one on the overhead, you just remove the paper inside: instant transparency.  Brilliant and so easy.

The video below is of a Spanish teacher using whiteboards with her class.

Heaps of Data with Error Coding

I tried a technique this weekend called Error Coding that is elaborated on in The Formative Assessment Action Plan. Below, I included an example of Error Coding that Fisher and Frey use in their power point.  Though the errors being coded for are not the same as mine, you can get a quick overview from looking over the chart.
 

For the last several years, I have had students conduct an interview of another student in the class and then create a birthday card for him/her.  This year I added a step; in between the interview and the card, I had them write a paragraph about the person they interviewed using the info they gleaned through the interview.  They needed to look for patterns and info that would belong together, and then construct a paragraph with that info.  They were told that their paragraph should not contain most of the info gathered because it would more than likely not all fit with the topic sentence.  I created this assignment in order to see how adept my students were at synthesizing evidence, creating a claim, supporting the claim with evidence, and weaving their sentences together logically.  Furthermore, I also wanted to gather information about what grammatical skills they demonstrate with proficiency and which skills need to be revisited.  After collecting the one paragraph responses, I sat down and commenced with the Error Coding. 

To my surprise, the students (at least the class I have already looked over) by and large do not struggle with any of the grammar concepts that I was coding for: commas, subject verb agreement, and parallelism.  Though a few students made these errors, most students exhibited strong grammatical control.  However, what I noticed right away is that far too many paragraphs were too safe.  The reason there were no errors might have been because most students did not take risks in their writing.  There was nary a semi-colon, colon, or hyphen to be seen; in fact, there were very few commas.  While some students used compound and complex sentences, many (probably a majority) only had simple sentences with a compound subject or predicate.  In terms of informing my instruction, this realization is huge.  Rather than giving them rules and practice sentences where they fix the error, these students need exposure to strong writing and varied, complex sentences, which should hopefully make them feel safer as they take writing risks.

Also, I realized a few other things.  I need more practice.  At a few points in my collection, I read a sentence that I didn't know what to do with.  It was definitely wrong, but I didn't know how to classify it.  What exactly did the student need help with?  Where should I start? 

But last & not least he favorite colors purple & favors the company Yamaha. 

The student uses a transition to signal that this is the end of the paragraph, which is good, but I am still not sure where to start on the rest of it.  I may show him the sentence that he wrote and see if he knows what about it might cause confusion on the part of the reader to see if he can give me any more input to help inform my initial instruction with him.

I also came across a few students with some additional grammatical errors that I was not tracking, like prepositional errors and homonym errors that I need to revisit through individual instruction.  

In terms of synthesizing evidence, creating a claim, supporting the claim with evidence, and weaving their sentences together logically, we have a lot of work to do.

All in all, this process took a short amount of time.  In fact, I graded the period while I was waiting for my husband to get out of his doctor's appointment.  I probably could have finished at least two periods; however, I knew the lady at the front desk and spent at least half the time talking to her.  I feel like I gathered a substantial amount of data about my students and their skills that will help to inform my whole class, small group, and individual instruction. 

Dimensions of Learning

According to Fisher and Frey, real learning is

rarely [...] a linear process of relentlessly forward movement, where new knowledge is neatly layered on existing knowledge.  As much as we might wish for a strictly behavioral theory of learning, where exposure to information would lead directly to results, we know too much about learning and cognition to cling to such a naive view.

Learning is not simple- it is not just a filling of the pail.  It is a deep and complex process that is interconnected with experience and background knowledge.

Fisher and Frey outline three dimensions of knowledge: declarative knowledge ("driven mostly by facts", procedural knowledge ("application of those facts in a sequential way to achieve something"), and conditional knowledge ("judgement about how and when to do something").  Each of these dimensions represent a deeper way of knowing something, whether content or a skill. For example, a person who learns the name for the strings and the parts of the guitar is demonstrating declarative knowledge.  Once the person moves on to understanding that the strings can be played at the same time to create chords and can utilize different strumming patterns, he/she is demonstrating procedural knowledge.  A guitarist with conditional knowledge can use the rhythm and cords to utilize mood, pacing, and other effects deliberately; he/she has a deep understanding of the nuances of the guitar and can act on this knowledge.

Through every stage of learning, formative assessment is imperative. And every stage is vulnerable to errors and misconceptions, which I am going to share more about over the next week.

Photo is of Andy McKee- one of my husband's favorite guitarists.  We were fortunate to see him in concert last year.

Formative Assessment: Not Just Knowledge Dissemination

Graphic organizers are so helpful for my students, so when I came across this one, I wanted to share it.  The original graphic (plus a large amount of additional information and specific strategies) can be found on the Tennessee Department of Education Website.