Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback

• Chapter 8 of Classroom Instruction that Works by Marzano, et al.

Of the 9 strategies, Marzano recommendsbeginning with…

Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback• "Front loading" units and lessons increases student

achievement by 28%ile points! • Tell students what they'll be learning. • Add feedback into this mix and you'll increase this

gain to 32%ile points!• So...tell students what they'll be learning, THEN

have students set their own learning goals for the unit/lesson.

Goal Setting

• Goal setting is the process of establishing a direction for learning. Successful people have mastered this skill to help them realize both short and long-term desires.

Instructional goals narrow what students focus on

• Setting goals or objectives can have an undesired negative effect on learner outcomes.

• If a teacher establishes a goal, students may ignore other important information

Instructional goals should not be too specific

• Goals stated in behavioral objective format do not produce effect sizes as high as instructional goals stated in more general formats.

• Behavioral goals may simply be too specific.

Students should be encouraged to personalize the teacher’s goals.

• Students should be encouraged to adapt them to their personal needs and desires.

Classroom Practice inGoal Setting

• Set Specific but Flexible Goals - It is important for a teacher to set goals for students, but it is also important for the goals to be general enough to provide students with some flexibility.

• Use Contracts - contract with students for the attainment of specific goals, providing students with control over their learning.

Classroom Resources

• Using Kidspiration & Inspiration to set learning goals

• Kidspiration and Inspiration are two tools you can use to help students visualize goals

• Use templates that focus on what the student wants to learn – planning and goal setting templates, KWL charts, for example, before starting a research project

Examples of Setting Goals and Contracts

A "contract" is a valuable tool that teachers can use in negotiating terms with students and/or parents which details the specific expectations that the teacher, student, and sometimes, the parent formally agree upon. Learning contracts help the teacher and student share the responsibility for achieving desired outcomes. It also helps increase accountability and provides feedback to the student regarding progress toward meeting the agreed upon goals. Teach-nology contract

On-line training and examples of contractsStudent contracting on Read Write Think

Examples of Goal Setting

• Secrets of Goal Setting• Learning Goal Template• Behavior Goal Template• Daily Goal Template• Weekly Goal Template

Providing Feedback

• John Hattie (1992) - The most powerful single modification that enhances achievement is feedback.

Feedback should be “corrective” in nature

• It provides students with an explanation of what they are doing that is correct and not correct.

• Simply telling students that their answer on a test is right or wrong has a negative effect.

4 Types of Feedback

1. Hand back paper with only % or grade on it - increase of 3 %ile points.

2. Hand back assignment and give the answers - increase of 9 %ile points.

3. Give back assignment and explain the answers - increase of 20 %ile points.

4. Give back assignment, explain the answers AND provide additional opportunities to improve and learn - increase of 20 %ile pts.

Feedback should be timely

• Feedback given immediately after a test-like situation is best.

• In general, the more delay that occurs, the less improvement there is in achievement.

Feedback should be specific

• It should reference a specific level of skill or knowledge.

• Feedback should be criterion-referenced, as opposed to norm-referenced.

• It tells students where they stand relative to a specific target.

Students can effectively provide some of their own feedback

• Students can effectively monitor their own progress.

• Students’ can simply keep track of their performance as learning occurs - a chart of accuracy, speed, or both.

• Self-evaluation has been strongly advocated

Classroom Practicein Providing Feedback

• Providing students with feedback in terms of specific levels of knowledge and skill is better than simply providing students with a percentage score.

• Powerful tools include – rubrics and portfolios

• The more specific feedback is, the better.• Student-led feedback has many desirable

effects.

Resources

• Web 2.0 and Classroom Instruction That Works

• Classroom Instruction That Works• Click on “Setting Objectives and Providing

Feedback”• Scroll down to “Web 2.0 Connections” and

view chart

Integrating Technology

• Objectives and Feedback• Technology Chart• Bloom's for technology

Classroom Resources

• Reading Fluency Chart• Math Fluency Chart

Classroom Resources

• Bulletin Board of Example Work -- a "visual rubric" that includes "A", "B", "C", and unacceptable quality work

Portfolios

• Electronic portfolios - E-portfolio

• Portfolio assessment checklist - checklist

Rubrics

• Rubrics - Rubistar: create rubrics online• Rubistar• Reading rubric - rubric

Other Classroom Resources

• http://exploratree.org.uk/• http://thinkature.com/• http://writeboard.com/• http://pbworks.com/academic.wiki• Google docs• Gaggle e-mail

Conclusion

• Setting objectives and providing feedback are frequently underused in terms of their flexibility and power.

• We hope to have given you some tools to help you set goals and objectives with your students and provide them with meaningful feedback.