I heard from a college student who happened to read parts of my next manuscript (Formative Assessment Improves Writing) after his mother told him that she was reviewing the book. He mentioned that the smart kids “get it” but the other kids often struggle. They get lost in one part and then they get more lost in the next and more lost in the next until they cannot find their way out. Unfortunately, their teachers usually do not help them.
He was interested in how I made sure no student could get lost since I assess each student on each minor part of his/her writing journey.
I wonder how often teachers assess their students and then give formative feedback immediately? How many minutes go by before the students are assessed and formative feedback is used to help students get back on the learning path if they have wondered off? How many days? How many weeks? The more time between formative assessments, they more time to get lost, to get so lost that there is almost no hope of ever finding the path again.
How lost are your students? How do you know? What do you do to help them when they get lost?
My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.
Responding to students: Our Real Emotional Message
Published January 15, 2009 Achievement , Answer , Assessment , assessment for learning , Correct , Diagnostic , Edublogger , Education , Error , Evaluate , Feedback , Formative , Formative assessment , formative feedback , Help , Impact , Reponse Leave a CommentTags: Answer, Comment, Correcting, Edublogger, Emotion, Feedback, Formative, Formative assessment, Reaction, response, Teacher
In a previous post, I emphasized that students need an abundance of positive comments before they really believe that what they have done is good.
Likewise, when we examine our comments to students in the margins and at the end of their papers, we may discover that the messages that we think are positive or neutral appear to the students as negative ones. For example, in “Good topic sentence. Follow it up with more evidence” the message seems to us to be a positive; however, the second sentence deflats the praise. The previous examples strikes students as a “set up and slap down” comment.
Students may see our statements or questions as direct commands rather than suggestions. “Can you think of other possibilities?” can easily be translated as “You dummy, why can’t you get a good answer?”
When we write on students’ papers, we have to promote a positive tone since many students will read any non-positive statement as a negative one.
If you are interested in implementing formative assessment in the classroom, my book,
Formative Assessment: Responding to Students is available through Eye-on-Education.