Objectives+and+Feedback

=Read and Reflect=

How do you currently apply this strategy without the use of technology? GOAL SETTING When I was a classroom teacher I started the year with a goal setting packet. First students would "daydream" about where they saw themselves far into the future...so they came up with things like driving a Lamborghini and being a Superbowl winner. After the fun of daydreaming I would have students set more down to earth goals for the school year for their lives in general and then we would set goals specific to Language Arts in the areas of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Prior to the goal setting students would do self evaluation in those areas. Through out the school year students would self evaluate as well and revisit their goals. I also used contracts in my classroom. Students could choose to work for an A, B, or C and their grades were based on objectives they met within each of the Language Arts areas.

FEEDBACK Feedback was always a challenging area for me. It was hard to give timely feedback with 130 plus students. I've learned by watching colleagues that it is helpful to evaluate bigger projects throughout by identifying small milestones instead of waiting until the end. I used rubrics often. At times I found that the four point areas were inadequate and would have scores that fell between categories. I also made lots of notes on the rubric. I would give rubrics in advance so that students knew how they would be evaluated. Once I set up my first rubric (I think using excel?) I would just use that as a template for future rubrics.

What new insight did you gain from the reading? 1. I would have to make sure to make goals and objectives open-ended enough that students aren't stiffled. 2. I would continue to use contracts. 3. For providing feedback as a writing teacher I definitely need to use technology to give feedback. The idea of a blog is appealing because it provides a running digital record and also I allows students to get feedback from a variety of people and have that feedback located in a common location. 4. I wish there was a program that had a set of comments built in that were customizable for feedback on writing. I will search for one. 5. I also like the idea of incorporating fan fiction sites into an activity for my students.

=Apply and Reflect=

Provide evidence of the tool that you learned. **Your rubric ID # is: 1906389 [] [|Objectives and Feedback]** How might you use this tool in your classroom? I've been out of the classroom for 11 years so I don't even think I can find the rubrics I used at that time. Rubistar is great because it would automatically do the formatting for me. The other appealing aspect of the rubric maker is that there are comments already provided that you can customize...you don't have to start completely from scratch.