Further Research

I am a lifelong learner so I am very excited to see what the future holds for effective feedback. I am sure that as technology improves further, and more things are being done digitally, then feedback will have to change to accommodate those changes. I am also excited to continue using effective feedback in my classroom. Since starting this Capstone project I have completely changed the way I give feedback in my classroom, and I still have a lot of room to grow. I am going to share with my staff the tools I have learned, and the research I read about best practices. I am also planning on having some time set up within this session for teachers to share with each other the way they use/give feedback in their classrooms.

Some of the ways that I am using it in my classroom currently vary from day to day and vary depending on the type of activity. Here is a list of activities I use to give/collect feedback from my student's

• fist to five/rating scale- this lets me know instantly if they understand something or not, then I can make changes right away to re-teach or move onto the next part of our learning.

• color dials- these again give me instant feedback and based on our average color rating (red, yellow, green) then I know where the lesson needs to go

• peer feedback- I like to use this so that the students also learn how to evaluate their own learning, and ask guiding questions. This helps them understand the material better and helps them see the gaps in their learning.

• 'formal' feedback from me- This will include written as well as verbal feedback on progress, or the completion of an assignment and include a grade

• conversational feedback between peers or between students and teacher- this can be useful because it allows informal feedback to happen, and it often leads to the "ah-ha" moments, or the moments when a student realizes they need to change some ideas before a project can come to fruition.

Feedback is so important in any classroom, but it is especially important in a middle school science classroom because this is statistically when girls turn away from the sciences. If I can give them effective feedback and introduce them to all the wonders it offers, then maybe in the future we will have more girls choosing college majors or careers in the STEM field. How awesome would that be!