Embedding Formative Feedback in the Learning Process

Over the the last several years, I have seen over and over again the significant impact that formative feedback has on my students' learning and motivation; so, in planning for instruction, I am always looking for ways to improve both the quantity and quality of formative feedback opportunities that I offer students before their summative assessments.  This post describes some of my recent efforts in this area with my AP Spanish students to prepare them for a Presentational Speaking task. The steps described here also could be applied to Presentational Writing activities. Furthemore, the learning experiences integrate reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills that are consistent with the Common Core Standards, so they could be adapted across disciplines. It is also important to note that although the summative assessment is aligned to an AP exam task, the learning activites are varied, personalized, and allow for student choice and interest to be incorporated in a variety of ways. 

The activities described here are not dependent on the use of technology; however, our 1:1 iPad classroom transforms the learning environment in some of the following ways:

• Students connect daily to authentic resources (print, audio and video).  These resources can be differentiated by teachers based on skill level and interest.  
• Student choice is offered in selecting resources.
• Students do more frequent speaking practice recordings, both audio and video, with apps such as Notability or YouTube capture.  Students can exchange or email recordings to peers and teacher for feedback.
• Students maintain work and self-assessments in a digital portfolio allowing for reflection and demonstration of progress over time. Students refer to prior work in the portfolio in order to focus on areas for improvement (and not repeat the same errors!) in subsequent work.
• Students annotate webpages and pdf's to reflect reading comprehension.
• All materials are distributed and exchanged electronically.  This has a notable impact on organization and increases time on engaged learning.
• Apple TV facilitates sharing of resources and examples of student work, thereby strengthening the collaborative learning environment.
• Students use social media to share resources and publish findings. 

The prompt that guided our learning experiences connects to the AP Theme "Beauty and Aesthetics" and is related to music:

What is the importance of music as an expression of cultural identity in your community?

To engage students, we began with a discussion of their personal connections to music:  Why is music important to them?; What is their favorite music and why; What would their life be like without music?, etc. We discussed the importance of music in their communities of home, school, and beyond.  Students were invited to share clips of their favorite music with the class using Apple TV. This personalized step helps us continue to build community and appreciation for each others' cultural backgrounds.

After connecting personally with the prompt, we reviewed the AP rubric (p. 4) for Presentational Speaking that is used for the summative assessment.  Students understand from the outset the criteria for a quality presentation.  In this case, they need to craft a well-organized two-minute presentation that compares their own culture to the target culture, citing specific examples that demonstrate their cultural knowledge. 

Students then spent time investigating the music of other cultures of the Spanish-speaking world. They read and listened to a variety of authentic resources on the music of communities of the Spanish-speaking world, such as flamenco, mariachi, and tango.  I provided a few examples, and then students worked in small groups to find their own resources on genre, styles and groups of their choosing.  Students took notes of their findings in Notability:

After small-group investigations, students shared their findings with each other in jigsawed discussion groups, line-ups, or inside-outside circle conversations.  They were also invited to tweet to our class Twitter page (link: @EGHS_APSpanish). The student-directed research offered some rich contributions to our conversations. For example, one student highlighted a regional Mexican quartet whose music expresses the perserverance of immigrants. Another student shared how "music is in the veins" in even the youngest in her culture.  Their tweets are below:

After the small group investigations, note taking and class discussions, we brainstormed frameworks to organize presentations.  Here is one example:

We also brainstormed ideas for the ways that they could answer the question of the prompt to formulate their thesis:

And we re-activated transitional phrases to including expressions to compare and contrast: 

After these brainstorming steps, students completed their first practice recording in class using the app Notability. Then, they were instructed to come to class the following day with a recording that they felt was their best work; one that they could use to self-assess and share with their peers.  This gave them the opportunity to do as many iterations as needed (built-in differentiation) to improve their work and participate in self-assessment and peer sharing with greater confidence (an important component of speaking!).

The next day, with everyone prepared with their best practice recording, students were asked to complete to the following formative assessment activities (note the embedded text and video examples for steps 1, 7, 8):

1. Open the self-evaluation document (based on the AP Rubric above) in Notability.  Re-activate and reflect on the criteria for a quality presentation.
2. Listen to your practice recording.
3. Complete the self-evaluation checklist, citing evidence from your presentation.
4. Highlight a strength and an area of focus for revision.
5. Pair up with a classmate.
6. Discuss your self-evaluations with each other.
7. Listen to your partner's recording.  As you listen, think about the feedback you can offer your partner and the ways that your partner's presentation can inspire yours!
8. Share your observations and feedback with your partner, using the language of the rubric with specific examples.  Ask your partner for feedback and take notes for revision.
9. Re-record, reflecting on the feedback from your self-assessment and conversation with your partner, to improve.  Repeat this step as often as needed.
10. Send your recording and your self-evaluation to Señora Ashida.  She will listen and give you feedback. 

By watching the video clips embedded above,  you can see that at this point in the year students are becoming very astute at self-assessing and offering peer feedback, noting their strengths as well as areas for improvement.  You can also see this in the following example (though it is not one of the most detailed self-assessments). Even if you don't understand Spanish, you can see that this student has indicated "so-so" for one criteria and "no" for two others; she has a clear focus for revision before the summative assessment. 

By routinely engaging in self-assessment, students are more invested in their learning. Our conversations are more focused, and students understand very clearly where they are in terms of their own progress, and what they need to do to improve. There are so many steps along the way for students to revise and improve their work; they are reminded continually that learning is a process.  The message from me is clear: No matter where they start, they can all improve, and the will have multiple opportunities to do so.  This has a notable impact on their motivation.  Furthermore, with all of these formative learning steps, I receive more quality work to assess, even before the summative assessment.

At this point in the year, most students have made tremendous progress, not just in terms of their communicative competence related to the rubric, but also in their confidence in speaking.  In fact, one of my colleagues, a math teacher,  recently passed by when the students were recording in the hallway.  After stopping to listen to what they were up to, she felt compelled to come into class to tell the students how impressed she was. She doesn't speak Spanish, but she told them that she could tell it was "good stuff," that they were speaking with amazing ease and confidence, and they should be proud of themselves!

After the formative practice, self-evaluation, peer evaluation, and sharing examples of each others' work, I also provide descriptive, formative feedback before the summative exam. Students email me their best practice recording and self-evaluation. I usually write comments in our online grade book, using specific, descriptive feedback related to the rubric. I like to write my comments in the online gradebook because it curates the feedback over the course of the term so students can reflect back and track their progress. This process also facilitates communication with parents.  Instead of just a number, parents see descriptive comments related to specific skills.  Here is an example of that feedback:

I also like to do individual conferences with students. The conversations begin with the student first sharing their self-assessment: an area of strength and a focus for revision. Then we listen to parts of their recording together, I offer feedback, we discuss, and students take notes for revision.  Though it is not always possible to do these individual conferences, the students often tell me how much this form of feedback helps them.  I can remember numerous times that I could almost see a "light go off" in the mind of the student when something important clicked, and they walked away feeling more confident.

This series of learning experiences is usually completed over the course of two to three weeks.  After students do the self-assessment, I try to build in a full week before the summative assessment to have time to get detailed feedback to each student.

On the day of the summative assessment, students record their presentations in the language lab, and once again they complete a self-assessment, providing specific evidence of their learning.   As I do with the formative assessment, I refer to their self-evaluation as I listen to their recordings and I write descriptive feedback in the online gradebook. Students will refer back to their self-assessments and my feedback before doing the next presentational speaking activity.  The following example shows how students have become very skilled at assessing their own progress.  The student gave specific examples for all of the categories (thesis, comparison, relevant details, cultural knowledge, transition words, rich vocabulary, varied and precise grammar) along with a specific focus for future progress:

Do you have examples of formative assessment that has impacted learning with your students?  or ideas for my classes?  I'd love to hear from you!