As mentioned in Standard 4, I feel I communicate very well with students and do quite a bit of formative assessment that allows them opportunities to reflect on their work and improve. I am always available for students to answer questions and provide support, however I need to continue to work on being more proactive in contacting parent for both positive and negative feedback. This is hard to do for every student and I am able to have very good communication with those students who are struggling, but do not find enough time to get in touch with parents regarding positive feedback which is equally important. Some sample email discussions are below that highlight some key points in a longer discussion regarding some behavior issues of a struggling student. First is an email reply from a parent followed by my reply and finally a feedback email directed to the student and cc'd to the parent:
Thank you Kevin for your mail.
I didn't know this was happening, and I'm going to talk with him over the week-end. It's quite disappointing as I have always pointed out to him that as he has difficulties, it was especially important that he tries his best and that he tries hard.
Please let me know if you notice any positive change next week, I certainly don't want this behaviour to turn into a pattern.
As for when to retake the test, I feel Wednesday or Thursday at 3pm would work well. Let me know which day you would prefer (I suppose he could also come during extra help, but somehow, if he didn't do well because he didn't try hard enough, I think it's fair in a way that he has to make up for it outside of school official time. What do you think ?)
Kind regards,
(Parent)
(Parent),
I am working with him on these behaviors and will definitely keep you informed on his progress. As for the test, I think Wednesday would be best as I have a meeting after school on Thursday. I do want to make sure he is adequately prepared though, so if he needs to come in during extra help tomorrow (Tuesday) we can practice some things. Otherwise, he is welcome to come in today (Monday) after school for a while or any morning this week before school.
Just let me know what works best and we will get him the support he needs and help him to really meet his true potential on these tests.
Kevin
(Student),
I just wanted to say thank you for your hard work in math today. You were really focused and did a great job of participating, asking questions and offering ideas which was not only helpful for your learning, but helped others understand better as well.
You showed a strong understanding of this new concept of “terms” and your hard work and focus really helped you today. Keep up the good work!
See you after school today for your retake test.
Mr. Roberts
From the student side of feedback, aside from the day to day formative feedback they get in class, I always allow students to make corrections and do retakes of quizzes and tests. Before they are allowed to retake any test or quiz, they have to go through a reflection process where they correct their mistakes and take note of what their misunderstanding was in hopes that they can avoid the same mistake on the next try. When making corrections, we will often take class time to allow students to work with their peers and for me to circulate the room and provide more specific feedback and support where needed. See and example of this test correction document here.