Setting Objectives, Providing Feedback, Providing Recognition.

This week we were supposed to reflect on Setting Objectives, Providing Feedback, Providing Recognition as well as the article Feedback that Fits.  These three areas are where many teachers have weaknesses.  In some cases, all three are weaknesses, or sometimes one or two are.  For this reason there are many technologies that have been created to shore up these weaknesses in order to best help the student to be able to achieve.  Feedback that Fits is an article that encompasses the different ideas we are supposed to blog about.

Setting Objectives - 
  
Setting the objectives for a class can be both easy and hard.  This is easy due to the fact that state educational standards are published and give each teacher the objectives for the class(es) they teach.  The hard part of this is being able to discern how to best communicate these objectives to your students.  The way that MPS is attempting to communicate objectives is requiring teachers to post "What we are going to learn today is..." and "What we are going to do today is..." somewhere students are able to see it.  If these postings are not referenced by the teacher during the class however, it is only lip service to the true objective, getting the student to understand what they need to from the lesson.  Rubistar is a nice program that allows the teacher to create a rubric that shows students exactly how they are able to earn the grade they want.  Unfortunately, when most rubrics are used, they become a simple checklist.  While this allows for unbiased and quick grading, this might also not allow for the depth of feedback that is needed when used to score and given back to the student.  I have to admit to having used rubrics in this manner in the past.  However, it does not allow for the true differentiation of scoring that is required.  This leads into the next topic.


Providing Feedback-


In many cases, teachers might jot down a word or two on assignments as feedback.  Sometimes, a section might re-teach a topic in order to redress the issues found in the work produced by the students.  These would be examples of written individual and group verbal feedback.  Using a rubric would also be a benefit to students so that they would be able to see how they are able to attain a certain grade as well as how they did compared to how they thought they did when the rubric is returned.  If details are included on rubrics, these can be incredibly effective modes of feedback.  The Milwaukee Public Schools uses an online gradebook that can be accessed from any computer by parents or students to see how the student is progressing in the class.


Providing Recognition-


In many cases, the recognition that students I see has almost all been negative.  This does not mean that I am the source of this negativity.  Personally, I attempt to emphasize the good that I find in students.  This can get worn down over time, but I do try to make sure students know that they have the ability to do what is right for themselves and the others around them.  In many cases, words of encouragement, a note recognizing the good in their work, behavior, etc or a phone call home letting the family know about something positive can be a great motivator for my students.  For the most part, negative recognition is seen as earning "street cred" so that most recognition of negative behavior results in more negative behaviors.  Many of the students that I deal with are in the situation outside of school with at most one parent who lives at the same address.  In many cases, the only people who recognize the student for anything (positive or negative) are their teachers.  This might explain why students who have the reputation for being "chronic disruptors" come to school every day they are allowed to.  Recognition of being a person, good or bad, can be a huge motivator for students.  Teachers and the people in those students lives need to recognize this and make the effort needed to reach them.  

Technologies available-

There were many ideas for using technology for giving feedback.  The main problem with the online or e-mail generating technologies is that for the students I have, the main technology they have outside of school is their cell phone.  Depending on the applications they need to be able to be seen (for example adobe flash), the technology centered feedback might not be able to be received (the iPhone).  For the most part, I would suggest that in an urban school system, some of the traditional technologies of stickers, a good word, or recognition in front of peers can be great motivators.