Using Assessment and Feedback

The main purpose of differentiated instructions is to introduce engaging and challenging assignments that would advance learning among students with various skills and levels of background knowledge. In this respect, differentiated instructions imply individual-centered teaching approaches based on content, product, and process. Moreover, differentiated instruction encourages students and recognizes differences among the learners with multiple types of intelligences.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Using Assessment and Feedback specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Acknowledging differences in perceiving various performances and roles is important, but what is more important is that teachers should measure the level and degree to which students are different, as well as define strategies that would allow to distinguish performances to introduce differentiated instructions. In this respect, pre-assessment and post-asse ssment techniques are indispensible to defining performance and establishing the framework for differentiating instructions for the lesion. Lack of pre-assessment and post-assessment techniques can lead to inappropriate creation of instructions for various disciplines. Teachers should realize the importance of distinguishing between students’ skills, experiences, and background knowledge. To highlight the importance of pre-assessment test and feedback strategies, Shelton (2007) provides the cases of Measures for Academic Progress, a program initiated at Maclary Elementary School, to show the consequences of inappropriate feedback and performance assessment strategies leading to failure to differentiate instructions to students. In particular, Shelton (2007) explains, â€Å"†¦many of teachers at Maclary believe that whole class instructions is required to adhere to the district pacing guide, which, in turn, prevents them from individualization of instruction† (p. 3 ). The initiated test is based on formative assessment. However, teachers fail to understand how to operate data received from assessment and, as a result, they cannot provide differentiation of instructions. Such a strategy, therefore, cannot be applied to instructions for a gifted class. The point is that the majority of gifted students have a unique way of thinking and learning and the use of instructions and methods of teaching is vital for developing their skills and abilities in future. Failure to understand individual peculiarities and focus on a holistic evaluation of class skills is inacceptable as far as gifted students are concerned. As it has been previously mentioned, the learning process is premised on the analysis of people, processes, and products. Thus, excess focus on a process-product approach does not always provide required results in teaching and learning strategies for students given the fact that most of students come to a class with various background knowle dge.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In this regard, the priorities should be given to teachers’ evaluation of students’ readiness to achieve results. In this respect, Wilkerson et al. (2000) have proved that students achieve â€Å"better feedback than the ratings of others when the focus is student performance† (p. 190). Teachers’ personal evaluations of student performance are also considered great predicators of student achievement. Within these perspectives, the researchers have concluded that students can also distinguish teacher performance with regard to their own learning achievement. Thus, there should be a strong correlation between teachers and students perception of an academic process. In addition, to make the feedback effective, teachers should also involve feedback to introduce corrective and reflective steps, as well as formative and summati ve assessments of student performance of learning outcomes. With regard to the presented research, a gifted classroom should also be subject to this type of feedback to assess students’ perception of teachers’ evaluation and define how process and products should be introduced to improve students’ performance. Feedback strategy has a direct influence on motivation and productivity of students. In this respect, the choice of feedback strategy should coincide with the identified level of performance among students with multiple intelligences. Beaulieu and Love (2006) have defined that â€Å"the feedback strategy that best fits the situation depends, at least in part, on the performance of the person evaluated† (p. 78). At the same time, it has been reported that students chose the feedback strategies that differed significantly from those chosen by their teachers (Beaulieu and Love, 2006). Such a perspective in evaluation should also be taken into deepest c onsideration for teachers to be able to introduce effective pre-assessment and post-assessment techniques to differentiate instructions (Beaulieu and Love, 2006). In particular, a gifted classroom should also be informed about teaching strategies to define their attitude to the chosen approaches, as well as predict which strategies are the most appropriate this group of learners. Feedback strategy concept should also be strongly associated with the function of observed performance, which is considered more positive. In this respect, teachers should also pay attention to hierarchical organization and its influence on feedback strategy (Beaulieu and Love, 2006). In this respect, teachers should be able to regard students are direct participants of performance appraisal rather than as subjects of the assessment processes.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Using Assessment and Feedback specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Multiple-choice testing is an effective tool for assessing students’ level of knowledge and defines the approaches to differentiating instructions. It also provides sufficient measure of student performance. Moreover, it increases the objectivity of assessing students’ skills, as well as contributes to effective time management. However, multiple choice testing has a number of disadvantages which should be considered before applying it in a gifted classroom. According to Butler and Roediger (2008), â€Å"the multiple-cho0ice test presents a unique situation because it exposes students to erroneous information in form of lure items† (p. 604). As a result, students face a possibility of acquiring false knowledge. In order to minimize the negative effects of multiple-choice testing, it is necessary to integrate effective feedback strategy. This is of particular concern to the analysis of students’ attitude in a gifted classroom. By means of feedback introdu ction, â€Å"students’ ability to differentiate between correct and incorrect responses was explored through the absolute correspondence between the confidence estimates and the proportion of correct responses† (Butler Roediger, 2008, p. 612). In particular, once the feedback has been provided, the amount of false information obtained from students reduced significantly. In addition, introducing feedback neutralized the effects of multi-choice alternatives. Thus, the knowledge of correctness or falseness of responses that students received during test increased students’ understanding and performance. Therefore, a gifted classroom is a special group who should also be knowledgeable of the mistakes they make during assessments. In such a way, it is also possible to define how students react to misfortunes in test to make the corresponding correction to the instructions. With regard to the above-presented assumptions, post-assessment techniques are vital to impro ving students’ knowledge and evaluating their readiness to study a specific academic discipline. Moreover, students could feel that teachers pay closer attention to their attitude to a learning process. In this respect, Fluckiger (2010) suggests that teachers should consider students as partners to enhance learning during assessment. The researcher has introduces several techniques that contribute to students’ integration to an academic process as teachers’ partners. Specifically, the techniques involve group feedback on process, progress, and product; student conferencing; shared analysis of students’ questions and statement; and finally, feedback through collaborative task blogs. These approaches provide feedback in a timely manner, as well as insure timely revisions and scaffolding practices to learners. Moreover, they also introduce differentiation to the instructions and involve students as equal participants during assessments. These feedback strate gies result in improved instruction and advanced student learning. Finally, such an approach provides significant improvement to a teaching process as well.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A gifted classroom management can benefit significantly from the above-proposed feedback because teachers can engage into a learning process and define students’ strengths and weaknesses in a more effective way. Specifically, while communication with students individually, a teacher can analyze responses, as well as students’ readiness to cooperate. In conclusion, differentiated instructions are imperative for enhancing students’ performance and working out effective academic curriculum. This type of teaching insures a person-centered approach and improves students’ awareness of the objectives of a learning process. In order to differentiate instructions successfully, introducing pre- and post-assessments is significant because it identifies the degree of students’ readiness to learn a specific discipline. While considering the fact that students are gifted individuals with different intelligences, teachers should recognize the fact of existence of various performances and adjust their vision to a new learning environment. More importantly, assessment reduces possibility of perceiving false knowledge by students and defines students’ needs in an effective way. Finally, it has been found that teachers should also rely on pre-assessment techniques to define students’ achievement after the performance appraisal. References Beaulieu, R. P., Love, K. G., (2006).The Impact of Level of Performance on Feedback Strategy. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 19(1), 67-82. Butler, A. C., Roediger, H. L. (2008). Feedback Enhances the Positive Effects and Reduces Effects of Multiple-Choice Testing. Memory Cognition, 36(3), 604-616. Fluckiger, J. (2010). Formative Feedback: Involving Students as Partners in Assessment to Enhance Learning. College Teaching, 58(4), 136. Shelton, D. (2007). Using Formative Assessment to Differentiate Instructions: A Plan to Build a Culture of Continuous Improvement. ProQuest. pp. 1-89. Wilkerso n, D. J., Manatt, R. P., Rogers, M. A., and Maughan, R. (2000). Validation of Student, Principal, and Self-Ratings, in 360 º Feedback for Teacher Evaluation. Journal of Personnel Evaluation in Education. 14(2), 179-192. This essay on Using Assessment and Feedback was written and submitted by user Elsie Chase to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here. Using Assessment and Feedback Gifted children require differentiated instructions to progress from what they already know to what they are yet to learn (Winebrenner, 2009). According to Sands and Barker (2004), teachers differentiate instructions by planning the implementation of curriculum and instructions with an understanding that learners differ in various ways. In this case, the complexity of content is varied depending on the ability of a student.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Using Assessment and Feedback specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Therefore, the philosophy of differentiation is that a student’s assessment begins before a subject is introduced and continues after the subject ends (Braud, n.d.). Additionally, feedback, from the assessment, should be used to improve the curriculum and the methods of teaching (Braud, n.d.). This essay discusses how assessment and feedback can be used to differentiate instructions in an effo rt to support multiple intelligences in gifted class. Assessments refer to tasks assigned to students with the aim of determining the degree to which they have acquired skills and knowledge in a given subject (Curtiss, n.d). This means that assessments determine the extent to which the curriculum has been mastered by students (Winebrenner, 2009). For gifted students to make positive progress, assessments should be done consistently. Besides, students must be encouraged to develop ways of assessing their independent studies. Assessments are usually done before and after a task. Consequently, there is a pre-assessment and a post-assessment. In a pre-assessment, teachers strive to find out what students already know. This helps them avoid materials that students are familiar with or methods that are ineffective to students (Winebrenner, 2009). A typical method of performing a pre-assessment is squaring off (Curtiss, n.d). In squaring off, post cards describing the level of knowledge in a given subject are placed at each corner of the classroom. Students are then allowed to move to a corner that conforms to their knowledge on the subject. On the other hand, a post assessment is undertaken to find out what the students have learned from a given subject (Curtiss, n.d). The most exiting method of performing a post- assessment aimed at differentiating instruction to support multiple intelligences in students is the use of wraparounds (Curtiss, n.d). In this case, students form a circle where each demonstrates what he had learned in class (Curtiss, n.d). Additionally, the student is required to apply the knowledge from a lesson, illustrate something from it and provide a real life example (Curtiss, n.d).Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Providing feedback is one of the surest ways of highlighting progress in a student. Feedback gives a student the opportunity to check wit h the teacher or a mentor and, therefore, ask questions (Intel, n.d.). Furthermore, feedback enables teachers to improve on their curriculum and teaching methods. Consequently, teachers are able to further differentiate learning instruction by modifying the five elements of differentiation through feedback. According to Winebrenner (2009), these elements include content, process, product, environment and assessment. A teacher is responsible for teaching student the content. A student who learn the content in less time or already know some of the content, qualifies for differentiate learning (Sands and Barker, 2004). Sands and Barker (2004) further reaffirm that use of more complex learning materials and learning centers, compacting and use of mentors are some of the ways of differentiating content. The process is the method used by students to make sense of concepts, generalization and required standards (Winebrenner, 2009). Teachers can differentiate the learning process by use of flexible groups and sophisticated research (Winebrenner, 2009). According to Winebrenner (2009), the product entails the way students illustrate and exhibit their awareness of the content and process. For that reason, teachers differentiate products by allocating useful resources to students and demonstrating how these resources are used. Lastly, the environment is the physical setting and conditions under which a student learns (Winebrenner, 2009). In this regard, changing the actual place where students learn and allowing students to work with mentors differentiate the learning environment (Winebrenner, 2009). Surprisingly, in a class, it is the most able rather than the least able who learn less new materials after a given period of time (Winebrenner, 2009). Therefore, fellow teachers should understand that the plight of the gifted students is just as remarkable as that of children who struggle to learn. Interestingly, most gifted children, understand most of the subject matter a teacher teaches (Winebrenner, 2009). These children, thus, must be excused from work and assignments that are not necessary to them. Winebrenner (2009) states that teachers are not only supposed to teach the content, but also ensure that all students learn new stuff daily. If gifted children complete a task with little or no effort, they may conclude that being smart means doing things easily. Consequently, they may not be able to counter challenges in the future. Differentiation should, therefore, be used to provide them with more challenging tasks (Tillman, 2003).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Using Assessment and Feedback specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In conclusion, it is worth noting that assessment and feedback can be used to differentiate instructions in a bid to support multiple intelligences in a gifted class. For that reason, enough attention should be given to gifted children in order to make the m productive. References Curtiss, C. Creativity and instructional strategies: Differentiating for gifted students in the mixed-ability classroom. Web. Braud, L. How to assess differentiated instructions. Web. Intel. Designing effective projects: Project-based to engage students. Teacher and peer feedback. Web. Sands, D. I. Barker, H.B. (2004). Organized chaos: Modeling differentiated instructions for preservice teachers. Teaching and learning, 19(1), 26-49. Web. Tillman, M. (2003). Differentiated instruction – an overview. Web. Winebrenner, S. (2009). Teaching gifted kids in the regular classroom: Strategies and techniques every teacher can use to meet the academic needs of the gifted and talented. Free Spirit Publishing. Web.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This essay on Using Assessment and Feedback was written and submitted by user Hazel Galloway to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.