Providing Timely Feedback.

  I will be the first to admit that I struggle with ways to provide timely feedback.  I teach 6 different math classes, one of which is combined Algebra II and College Prep while another is called Fundamentals of Math made up of three groups all at different levels.

I finally realized students who asked "Is this right" provided a perfect opportunity for immediate feedback.  On the other hand, I don't always have the time to provide feedback as soon as I want. 

Feedback is much more than grading assignments and returning them.  A 95% indicates they know the material while a 50% tells you they know less but it doesn't tell you what they don't understand yet unless you analyze the missed problems.

it is important to provide task specific feedback where the teacher comments on things to improve.  I've been commenting that two or three words does not provide enough information when answering a question asking them to explain something.  In addition, it is good to ask students to provide self reflection on their understanding of the activity or material so the teacher can immediately adjust their teaching.

There are five steps in providing effective feedback to students regardless of the subject.

1.  It has to be immediate before they've learned it wrong.  One way is to post the answers so students can check to see if they did the problems correctly.  Another way is to utilize technology that provides that immediate feedback.  The goal here is to make sure students know they have not gotten it right before doing it wrong has become habit.

2. Feedback must target the students' specific need so feedback should be personalized and not applied to the whole class in a generic manner.  There are numerous sites which allow students to work a few problems and the site either provides the student with targeted feedback or gives the teacher a printout with information that can be used to help the student.

3. Feedback should be concrete such as when I noticed one of my students forgot to carry during multiplication.  Once I noticed that, he began to watch for that and began getting the problems right.

4. Do not just point out the errors, give them tools to help do the work.  Help students build upon previous successes so they continue to improve.  Remember a teacher cannot teach the material one day and expect them to take work home to do independently.  They will not have had time to learn.  Spend time helping them understand the concepts before expecting them to work outside of school.

5. Allow some of the feedback to help build their confidence because the more confident they are in math, the more likely they are to persevere and work their way through harder problems.

This is just a start.  I'll revisit the topic in the future.  Let me know what you think.  I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.