Monday Mustang Memo: feedback

Showing posts with label feedback. Show all posts

Sunday, January 5, 2020

My Favorite No

Excellence in Education: My Favorite No

My Favorite No is an instructional strategy that combines formative assessment and feedback. It can be used as a starter, during learning, or as an exit activity.

Each student gets an index card to work on a class-wide problem.
After a set amount of time, the cards are collected and quickly reviewed by the teacher (right/wrong)
The teacher then selects one of the wrong answers to become the "Favorite No."
Teacher writes/copies the student work without identifying the student's name. Teacher share
Teacher says something along the lines of "This is my favorite no. What has the person done right? Where did mistakes occur? Be ready to explain and justify.
Talk about what is right as a class. This can be a powerful discussion tool. Alternatively, students can do this in groups.
After examining what is right, dissect what the student got wrong.
End with a positive affirmation statement like "We can definitely see why this problem tripped some of us up. Together we were able to do some great work to help our classmate."

Why?

Even those with wrong answers, include correct information. Even the little focus on the "what's right" builds student confidence.
It creates dialogue and meaning as well as providing feedback.
It can build a growth mindset in students by enforcing "not yet," and that mistakes are nothing more than a learning opportunity and by working on the incorrect answer in groups or as a class, it shows students that we're all in this together.
By talking through the problem, learning becomes visible.

Tweaks

While My Favorite No was created for use in a math class, it lends itself to any closed-answer type of question with multiple parts to the answer. What are five reasons...What is the difference between...Why did...

The instructional strategy was shared on Teaching Channel https://learn.teachingchannel.com/video/class-warm-up-routine

What are some instructional strategies you use to provide timely feedback to students and instill a growth mindset in our students?

Tasks, Important Information, Upcoming Events

Friday, January 10: A-day, club period

Week of January 13: SAT School Day Registration (see Ms. Gaskins)

Friday, January 17: 1/2 Day, End of Marking Period

Monday, January 20: Martin Luther King, Jr Holiday

Tuesday, January 21: Teacher Work Day

Enter grades by:

Please enter exam grades by January 13
Please enter marking period/semester grades by January 24 at 9am

Golden Apple Awards: Read more from this post

Field Trips

January 9: Many seniors will be attending UVA Law Trials

Birthdays

January 1: Jessica Eisenhauer
January 10: Burton Inman

Useful Information

Bell Schedules http://bit.ly/MustangBells

Seeking volunteers? ACPS is attempting to expand volunteer outreach and help teachers find volunteers. Here’s a form that takes a minute to complete.

Morning Announcement Stream: http://streaming.k12albemarle.org/ACPS/links.htm

Announcement Request

Athletic team schedules, rosters, etc.

Teacher Manual

Want something included on the Monticello Outlook Calendar, the Monticello website, in the PowerSchool Daily Bulletin, schoolwide Schoology accounts, or the student newsletter (viewed by parents, students and staff)? Please use this link https://goo.gl/forms/bIjfJLKokWPcEHx33

Worth Your Time

Why white school districts have so much more money

America's schools are more diverse than ever. But the teachers are still mostly white.

Sunday, March 3, 2019

Does Grading Stop Learning?

Ideas in Education: Does Grading Stop Learning?

Ruth Butler (1988) conducted research in which she gave students, including the top 25% and the least ready 25%, three tasks followed by feedback. Students were given one of three types of feedback:

Comment only
Grades only
Comments and grades

Which do you think helped students best understand where they were, where they were going, and what they needed to do to get there?

Butler’s findings were remarkable. Student performance improved by 33% if they received comments-only feedback. If they received a grade or a grade and comments, their performance declined!

This was particularly true for least-able students who became despondent and were more likely to give up. But grades also devalued the feedback for the more able students who looked at the grade and became complacent. I got the grade, so why should I look at the comments? The grade caused them to ignore the accompanying comments. Students also looked at the grade with finality--the work is finished.

Students in the comment only group had the greatest gains in progress.

Comment only graded best helped students understand where they were, where they were going and what they need to do to get there.

As you look at the feedback that you provide your students, what are some ways that you ensure the feedback helps students improve, which is of course, the purpose of feedback.

Important Dates and Information

March 6, 7: Help Save the Next Girl

9th and 10th graders will attend on Wednesday, March 6; 11th and 12th graders will attend on Thursday, March 7
Students will be dismissed from classes at 9:40.
All students are expected to participate. Individual exceptions can be made. Please have these students see their school counselor or administrator.
Mustang Morning will continue, but the grades attending will not participate in Mustang Morning.
If you teach an appropriate grade-level class, please attend with your students.

Tom Tom

March 5th & 12th: Tom Tom festival applications are due by 3/5/19 for pitch competition and 3/12/19 for the project exposition.
Here’s the link for sign ups: bit.ly/MoHSTomTomPitch

Summer work orders. Do you have work that you would like completed in your classroom? This includes painting, minor carpentry work, special projects, etc. Please complete this form:

https://goo.gl/forms/NYyDavpv9C1kuPHx2 Due March 6

March 7: Student Showcase

PTSO providing salad and potato bar for staff after school

Faculty Meeting

Wednesday, March 6 at 4 or Friday, March 8 at 8:15
Topic 1: Bell scheduling for 2019-2020
Topic 2: Standards of Conduct (Dress code and hate images)

March 8: Club Day, Long Lunch

March 12, March 13: English 10 Writing SOL. No Mustang Morning during these days. 1st block will be extended. Almost ALL 10th graders will be taking the SOL during time.

Interested in Offering a New Course for 2020-2021?

Please submit your request by Spring Break using this https://www2.k12albemarle.org/dept/dart/enterpriseapps/powerschool/course-requests/Pages/default.aspx . Requests will be reviewed by Mr. Vrhovac and, if approved, it will be assigned to a lead coach for further development. From there it will be collaboratively developed and will need approval by the Dept. of Instruction and finally the School Board.

March 29: Flex Day

Field Trips and SOLs

March 6th: UVA Apprenticeship Job Fair for Interested Seniors

March 6th and 7th: Help Save the Next Girl

March 8: Government (Rocco) to Jefferson School African American Heritage Center (9:15-11:30)

March 11: Reframing Narrative @ Montpelier

March 27-29: AVID College Tour

March 30: NOVA Teen Book Festival

Birthdays

March 4: John Kinney, Reagan Stillerman

March 7: Sarah Stallings

Useful Information

Bell Schedules : http://bit.ly/MOHSbells

FAC Form

To add to Monticello-Outlook, School Calendar, PowerSchool Daily Bulletin

Morning Announcement Stream: http://streaming.k12albemarle.org/ACPS/links.htm

Announcement Request

Athletic team schedules, rosters, etc.

Teacher Handbook

We’ve got something new! Want something included on the Monticello Outlook Calendar, the Monticello website, in the PowerSchool Daily Bulletin, or the student newsletter (viewed by parents, students and staff)? Please use this link https://goo.gl/forms/bIjfJLKokWPcEHx33

Student, Staff, Student of the Month Form

Worth Your Time

Dintersmith: Trust teachers--they’re the experts

6 good photo-annotating tools

Reduce children’s test anxiety with these tips and a rethink of what testing means

For students who experience test anxiety their symptoms are similar to when we’re faced with a fight-flight-freeze situation, like a car cutting you off on I-64. One way to combat test anxiety, or any other anxiety, is to change the mindframe to look at the test as an opportunity and one to be excited about it (the feelings/behaviors/chemical changes to the body are similar to when one feels excited). Getting students to say, “I’m excited about the test,” has proven results.

Sunday, February 17, 2019

ARCS Model

Ideas in Education: ARCS Model

Everyone is motivated. There’s no such thing as an unmotivated person. What motivates and how one is motivated are what differ from person to person.

Some students may be motivated by good grades. Others may find the subject interesting. For some, it may be the desire to please. For the rest, however, it is our responsibility to motivate our students.

Several years ago, I came across the ARCS Model by John Keller. Keller’s model promotes a problem-solving approach to lesson design that breaks our ability to influence and motivate using four different approaches: Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction.

Attention

Think of attention as the hook or tease, often used at the beginning of the learning process. This can include perceptual arousal which originates with novelty, doubt, or disbelief. Attention can also be piqued through inquiry arousal by presenting students with challenging problems.

Ideas: games, role playing, humorous stories, conflict, variety, real-world problems. In a math class, this may mean starting off with the word-problem or in a history class it may mean presenting the dilemma or controversy before the background information.

Relevance

We should strive to link learning to students’ lives. Keller suggests providing relevance by presenting objectives and the purpose of learning with specific and measurable examples of success. Since most learning builds on prior knowledge, try to connect new information with previously learned information.

When the material isn’t relevant to the students’ lives (yes, that is sometimes the case), focus on the other aspects of the ARCS model. Relevance can be increased by using Universal Design concepts and student choice. By allowing students to choose an instructional strategy to learn or demonstrate their learning, motivation will increase. Much to my chagrin, my daughter hates social studies and history, but when given a project that enables her to tap into her passions (art, music, theater, etc.) she excels--even in history. She definitely knows more about Alexander Hamilton than I do because of some little musical.

Confidence

Students need to believe in their ability to succeed. This requires scaffolding instruction and generating confidence by requiring tasks that are appropriately challenging. By informing students of the learning/performance criteria and individualizing the targets, we can build student confidence. Conversely, imagine being given a task that is impossible for most of us, like dunking a basketball and being assessed on our dunks. At what point would you give up? Would you even try?

Within this strategy we should encourage students to make progressive gains and measure their own learning. It’s important, however, that we avoid ambiguous statements like, “Do your best.” As students learn, we must provide feedback to eliminate confusion while focusing on progress and building stick-to-itness.

Satisfaction

The final component of Keller’s model is satisfaction. We want our students to be proud of their achievements and their learning. On the most basic level, the reward is meeting the learning criteria for an assignment or earning recognition from the teacher. Going a step further, the students may self-analyze their progression and build self-efficacy.

Sometimes the satisfaction may come from a life skill that is secondary to the content. For example, when assigning students to a collaborative learning project, establish a behavioral target for students and explain why it’s important. A second example: students may feel satisfaction learning how to use a technology. Students must feel as though the skills they are mastering will be useful for their futures.

Keller’s ARCS model doesn’t require a total reset because undoubtedly you’re already doing many of these things. I like using it as a reference or checklist for each individual lesson.

Important Dates and Information

Mustang Morning:

Request students for this week. Note that Monday was moved to Friday.
Check your Mustang Morning sessions for NEXT week.
Request students for next week. On Wednesday, February 20 we will copy the schedule and requested students for the next four weeks. If you want students only for a week, wait until Thursday to request the student.

Intent to Return (or not) here (Intent to Return) Due February 22.

This Friday is an A-Day with Long Lunch. See below.

February 20/21: Help Save the Next Girl Symposiums.

February 20: 9th/10th graders
February 21: 11th/12th graders
Split classes send students based on their grade level
Mustang Morning will continue

February 22: A-Day; end of interim period

Working Conditions Survey (state required: March 1 close)

Teacher Link: teacher.vaschoolsurvey.info Teacher Password: T312GAP

Staff Link: staff.vaschoolsurvey.info Staff Password: F312GAP

Field Trips and SOLs

February 21: Manufacturing Day @ PVCC

March 6th: UVA Apprenticeship Job Fair for Interested Seniors

Shout Out

Hats off to the our science department and especially Ms. Rowanhill and Ms. Dudley for their organization of the blood drive and UNOS (organ donor) presentation.

Thanks Ms. Meade for LoveFest!

Birthdays

February 21: Teresa Goodin, Paul Shepherd

February 22: Najwa Tatby

February 23: Heather Charles

Useful Information

Bell Schedules : http://bit.ly/MOHSbells

FAC Form

To add to Monticello-Outlook, School Calendar, PowerSchool Daily Bulletin

Morning Announcement Stream: http://streaming.k12albemarle.org/ACPS/links.htm

Announcement Request

Athletic team schedules, rosters, etc.