Chapter 1: Setting objectives or goals...this is done daily within the classroom. It is recommended that goals are flexible, that students have a say in the goals, goals should be communicated, and a contract with students might be a possibility. I think using the KWL chart to help students set goals is ideal. It lends itself to making connections, builds on background knowledge, tracks what students know, what they want to learn, and what they ultimately do learn. Having step-by-step directions from our book study on how to create the KWL chart makes this teacher friendly. Inspiration is another great tool which is at our fingertips. I think we sometimes forget about it, but it could actually be used for many lessons including goal setting. I like the use of surveys too; what an easy tool. I can see taking a class to the computer lab to take a survey about objectives/goals or using it as a pre-assessment. I used Survey Monkey for our school staff song; it is free and very user friendly. I think students would enjoy using it too. This chapter has so much useful information; I have to comment on the blog and rubric sections of the chapter as well. These tie in directly with our Building Improvement Plan and Professional Development Plan.
Chapter 2: Providing Feedback...is "the most powerful single innovation that enhances achievement." I believe feedback is critical and that it needs to be timely. I love the Microsoft Word tools, the readability scale and insert comments features, for feedback. I think students could use the comments feature to peer-edit documents that are saved on the G drive. Another item that we already have is clickers which allows for 100% student engagement. I have seen great instructional and assessment lessons in our building using the clickers!
