1. SETTING OBJECTIVES & PROVIDING FEEDBACK
Created by The School District of Lee County, CSDC in conjunction with Cindy Harrison, Adams 12 Five Star Schools
This training was written by staff in The Curriculum & Staff Development Center for The School District of Lee County with the assistance of Cindy Harrison, the Director of Staff Development for Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Colorado.
It is based on the work of Dr. Bob Marzano and McREL (Mid-continent Research for Education & Learning as presented by them and found in:
Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement by Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock
A Handbook for Classroom Instruction that Works
by Marzano, Norford, Paynter, Pickering, and Gaddy
and
A Participant’s Manual for Classroom Instruction that Works
By McREL

2. Participant Outcomes Participants will:
Understand the purpose and importance of setting objectives
Identify ways to implement goal setting in the classroom
Understand the purpose and importance of providing feedback to students about their learning
Review examples of providing corrective, timely and specific feedback
Review slide with participants.

3. In the early 1970’s, educational researchers began studying the effects of instruction on student learning.
With the assistance of Dr. Bob Marzano, McREL (Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning) analyzed selected research studies on instructional strategies that could be used in K-12 classrooms.
What they found was that 9 instructional strategies produced the highest yielding gains in student achievement.
While these findings are significant, it is important to remember that not there are not the only instructional strategies that should be used and that no instructional strategy works equally well in all situations.
Additional notes if needed:
(ES) or effect size expresses the increase or decrease in achievement of an experimental group (the group exposed to a specific instructional technique). These are measured in standard deviations (remember from stats classes 1 standard deviation above or below the mean is about 34% of your population).
Percentile Gain were configured by McREL using a statistical conversion table.
No. of ESs were the number of experimental studies that were examined for each strategy

4. Research and Theory about Goal Setting
Generalizations based on research:
Instructional goals narrow what students focus on.
Instructional goals should not be too specific.
Students should personalize goals.
The research yielded 3 generalizations that can guide teachers in goal setting. When students know what they are learning, their performance, on average, has been shown to be 27 percentile points higher than students who do not know what they are learning.
The three generalizations about goal setting are listed on this slide and we’ll look at each one in greater detail in next slides but first let’s talk about the difference between writing a learning goal and an activity.

5. Activities/Assignments
Today
Read Chapter 2 in ..
Finish Adverb assignment…
Work on myth..
Allow participants to read the slide. These are activities or assignments that the students are going to complete today. They are not learning goals.

6. Learning Goals As a result of what we do today, you will be
able to demonstrate that you:
Understand the technique of foreshadowing in mysteries.
Can revise writing to improve use of descriptive adverbs.
Allow participants to read the slide. These are learning goals.

7. Activities/Assignments or Learning Goals?????
Add and subtract fractions.
Understand the various components of culture.
Make a travel brochure for a region.
Make a simple machine.
Understand the relationship between fractions and decimals
Write a report on Charles Dickens.
Design a menu that includes a balance of foods from the food pyramid.
Know states and their capitals.
Take a few minutes to allow participants to read the examples on the slide and think about which ones are learning goals and which are activities or assignments.
After a couple of minutes, go over each example and have participants call out whether it is a learning goal or activity or assignment.

8. Assignment Notebook Assignment: Due:
Formats for homework that clarify purpose:
Assignment Notebook
Language Arts
Assignment:
Due:
Learning Goal: As a result of doing this assignment, I should:
Math
Science
Social Studies
Assignment:
Due:
Learning Goal: As a result of doing this assignment, I should
Know more about…? Understand better…? Be more skilled at…?
Here is one effective way to communicate learning goals in connection with specific assignments.

9. Research and Theory about Goal Setting
Generalization # 1:
Instructional goals narrow what students focus on.
Set objectives or goals that are specific but flexible.
Generalization # 2:
Instructional goals should not be too specific.
When goals are too specific they limit learning and are typically referred to as behavioral objectives.
For #1, it makes sense that setting instructional goals helps students focus their attention on information specifically related to the goals. But, it also can mean that students don’t learn other information related to the content being studied because they ignore information that is not specifically related to the defined goals.
For #2, when instructional goals or objectives are too specific, students’ learning is limited. It’s important to identify the knowledge that students will be learning at a somewhat general level (specific but flexible) so that students can identify their own more specific learning goals related to that knowledge. For a learning objective or goal to be specific but flexible, it must not be too broad or too specific.
Examples are provided for you in the chart above with goals that are too broad, too specific, and specific but flexible.
Briefly discuss what makes a learning objective too broad, too specific, or specific but flexible.
Too Broad
Too Specific
Specific but Flexible

10. Research and Theory about Goal Setting
Generalization # 3:
Students should personalize goals.
Students are more likely to explain what they are learning and show personal interest in the learning objectives.
Example:
Write a contract for learning
include the goals for learning and how grades are determined
include teacher determined goals and student determined goals
Allow students to identify more specific knowledge that interest them
base on their individual gaps
individualize
For #3, research indicates that if you provide students with opportunities to adapt the learning goals you have set for them to their personal needs and desires, they are likely to learn more.
Some teachers encourage students to write a “contract” for learning. This provides students with a great deal of control over their learning. Contracts can include the goals for learning as well as the grade the student will receive if he or she meets those goals. The goals for learning may include goals that the student sets as well as goals the teacher sets.
Review the example on the bottom portion of the slide.

11. Research and Theory about Goal Setting
Insert a sample contract for learning for your content area/grade level
Insert notes describing the sample contract your cadre has developed.

12. Recommendations for Classroom Practice on Goal Setting
Communicate Learning Goals to Students
Provide in writing (i.e. on board, handout)
Provide orally
Help Students Set Learning Goals
Model process for students (i.e. sentence stems)
Provide support along the way
Short term and long term goals
Communicate Learning Goals to Parents
Keep the message simple
Avoid educational jargon
Communicating objectives effectively is probably just as important as designing them. Many teachers communicate the learning goals they set in both written and oral forms. Learning goals can be written on the board, on a bulletin board, and in a written handout as well as provided orally.
If your students have not had much experience setting learning goals, you will need to model the process for them and provide support along the way. A good way to begin is to be sure that the goals you set for student learning are specific but flexible. Both short and long term goals need to be clearly visible to students and in language they can understand.
When you communicate student learning goals to parents, you provide an important way for parents to be involved in their children’s education. If parents understand the learning objectives, they can provide appropriate support. One effective and simple method of communicating learning goals to parents is in a letter. Be sure to keep the message simple and avoid education jargon as much as possible.

13. A well written goal should…
establish direction and purpose
be specific but flexible
be stated in terms of knowledge rather than learning activities
provide students opportunities to personalize
Review the slide information as a wrap-up of what we have covered so far in setting objective and goals.

14. Think, pair, share…
Write an effective classroom goal for your students.
Share with a partner.
“Provide feedback.”
Facilitate the Think, pair, share activity.

15. Research & Theory Classroom Practice Regarding Providing Feedback
Generalizations based on research:
Feedback should be corrective in nature.
Feedback should be timely.
Feedback should be specific to a criterion.
Students can effectively provide some of their own feedback.
The research yielded 4 generalizations that can guide teachers in goal setting. Share a quote from John Hattie who reviewed 7,827 students on learning and instruction, “The most powerful single innovation that enhances achievement is feedback”.
The four generalizations on feedback are listed on this slide and we’ll look at each one in greater detail in next slides.

16. Research & Theory Classroom Practice Regarding Providing Feedback
should be “corrective” in nature.
gives an explanation of what the student is doing correctly
gives an explanation of what the student is doing that is not correct
promotes working on a task until the student is successful
Providing students with an explanation of what they are doing that is correct and what they are doing that is not correct is the most effective type of feedback.
Simply telling students that their answer on a test is right or wrong has a negative impact on achievement. Providing students with the correct answer has a moderate effect. The best feedback appears to involve an explanation of what is accurate and what is inaccurate in terms of student responses. In addition, asking students to keep working on a tack until they succeed appears to enhance student achievement.

17. Research & Theory Classroom Practice Regarding Providing Feedback
should be timely
this is a critical point!
immediate is best
the longer the delay that occurs in giving feedback, the less improvement there is in achievement
The timing of feedback is critical to its effectiveness. Feedback that is given immediately after a test-like situation is best. The longer the delay, the less improvement there is in achievement.

18. Research & Theory Classroom Practice Regarding Providing Feedback
should be specific to a criterion to be the most useful
Referenced to a specific level of skill or knowledge (criterion referenced)
NOT in reference to other students – (norm referenced).
Only giving the percentage of correct or incorrect answers is not usually very helpful in correcting a skill.
The manner in which students receive feedback is important for student achievement. Feedback should reference a specific level of skill or knowledge. This means the feedback is criterion-referenced as opposed to norm referenced (not in reference to other students). Only giving the percentage of correct or incorrect answers is not usually very helpful in correcting a skill. When feedback relates specifically to the identified knowledge or skill, both the teacher and the student have a better understanding of what, if anything, needs to be done to improve student performance.

19. Research & Theory Classroom Practice Regarding Providing Feedback
can also be effectively provided by the students themselves.
Students keeping track of their own performance
Chart or graph of accuracy
Chart of graph of speed
Or both accuracy and speed
Teach students how to give feedback
Feedback should not be considered something that only the teacher provides. Students can effective monitor their own progress by simply keeping track of their performance as learning occurs. For example, students might keep a chart of their accuracy, their speed, or both while learning a new skill. Since many students are not experienced at providing feedback, you will need to model and teach this to students as well as provide support throughout the process.

20. Recommendations for Classroom Practice on Providing Feedback
Use Criterion-referenced feedback
Use rubrics to focus students on the knowledge and skills they are supposed to learn
What is the focus of the criteria?
If criteria focus is on the appearance of the product, the student will be more likely to attend to the appearance.
If criteria focus is on the level of learning, the student will be more likely to attend to the level of learning.
If feedback is provided with reference to the knowledge that students are supposed to learn, students will be more likely to learn that knowledge.
Make sure the focus is on the right area. If criteria focus on the appearance of the product, the student will be more likely to attend to the appearance. If criteria focus on the level of learning, the student will be more likely to attend to the level of learning.
Rubrics are one way to provide students with criterion-referenced feedback.
Rubrics aren’t just for teachers. A rubric is a scoring guide that describes several levels of understanding or competency for a particular skill or concept. Rubrics let students know up front what they need to know or be able to do. They help take the surprise out of scores. Involving students in adapting generic rubrics to meet the specific criteria of particular skills or concepts is a powerful way to refine generic rubrics.
Think about your refrigerator at home or school for a minute. Now let’s look at a sample rubric for the refrigerator and think about where your refrigerator would fall in the rubric.

21. Clean refrigerator
4 Entire refrigerator is sparkling and smells clean. All items are fresh, in proper containers (original or Tupperware, with lids), and organized into categories
3 Refrigerator is generally wiped clean. All items are relatively fresh, in some type of container (some Tupperware lids are missing or don’t fit) and are sitting upright
Review with participants and briefly discuss.

22. 2. Some of the shelves are wiped. clean, although there are some
2 Some of the shelves are wiped clean, although there are some crusty spots. There are some suspicious smells. Items are in containers, but there seems to be some green stuff growing in some of the Tupperware
1 Items stick to the shelves when they are picked up. The smells linger long after the refrigerator door is closed. Several items need to be thrown out— Tupperware and all
Review with participants and briefly discuss.

23. Example…
Insert cadre created sample rubric that provides feedback to students.
Not copy/pasted from web (copyright violation)
May want to share examples from textbooks
Briefly describe the cadre created sample rubric

24. Recommendations for Classroom Practice on Providing Feedback
Focus Feedback on Specific Types of Knowledge
Relay correct as well as incorrect responses to fill in missing information and clarify misunderstandings
In general, the more specific feedback is, the better. Feedback makes the most difference when it is specific and involves an explanation of what was correct and what was incorrect. When you provide specific feedback about the information and skills the students are supposed to learn, you help students fill in missing information and clarify misunderstandings. When possible, teachers should try to focus their feedback on specific types of knowledge and skill.

25. Review real-life example and briefly discuss.

26. Review real-life example and briefly discuss.

27. Review real-life example and briefly discuss.

28. Recommendations for Classroom Practice on Providing Feedback
Use Student Led Feedback
Use peer feedback (templates may be helpful)
Use self assessments to help students gage own progress
Student-led feedback includes peer feedback as well as self-assessment. Peer feedback does not mean that students “grade” or “score” other students’ papers. Rather, the purpose is for students to clarify for each other what was correct or incorrect about their responses. Students might also serve as “reviewers” during various phases of longer projects.
Self-assessment is another effective form of pier review. Self-assessment can be as simple as asking students to score themselves on an assignment using rubrics or asking them to summarize their progress on learning goals at the end of a grading period. In combination with rubrics, self-assessment forms can be devised to help students gauge their own progress.
Share and briefly describe cadre created/selected feedback templates.
Insert as examples, cadre created/selected feedback templates:

29. Review real-life example and briefly discuss.

30. Using a whip…
What have you learned about setting objectives or providing feedback?
Directions for whip: Ask teachers to think of an answer to the question on the slide. Then facilitate the “Whip” activity by going around the room quickly and asking teacher to call out their answer to the question. If the answer they were thinking of has already been stated and they can’t think of another one, they can say pass, and the “Whip” moves on to the next person.
If time permits, revisit goal that was written in the “Think, Pair, Share” activity earlier and feedback that was originally provided. Now that we have looked at generalizations and recommendations for providing Feedback, how should your feedback be revised?

31. What thoughts, questions, challenges, or ideas do you have?
Open floor to thoughts, questions, challenges, or ideas from participants.

32. The work of a teacher exhausting, complex, idiosyncratic, never twice the same is at its heart, an intellectual and ethical enterprise. Teaching is the vocation of vocations, a calling that shepherds a multitude of other callings. Teaching begins in challenge and is never far from mystery. William Ayres
Read quote and close training session.