Feedback: Focus Correction Areas

I try to give student's feedback about the work they do. Feedback helps students to see what they are doing well and what they need to work on. When an assignment has FCAs (focus corrections areas)attached to it,I will give feedback specifically on the FCAs. I will look at the work for each FCA separately. Depending on the work I see, I will give the student a check, check plus or check minus.

For example, on last week's paragraph assignment the FCAs were:
Topic sentence
3 Specific details
Capitals and punctuation (shown with a symbol the student's understand)

In order to give students appropriate feedback, I read each paragraph three times.

First I read to see if it has a topic sentence. If it does, it gets a check. If it is an incredible topic sentence, it gets a check plus. If the paragraph does not have a topic sentence, it gets a check minus.

Second, I read for specific details. If the piece has 3 specific details, it gets a check. If it has more than 3 precise, and very interesting details, it gets a check plus. If the details are very general or there are less than 3, it gets a check minus.

This process continues for each FCA. (I usually give only 3.)

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.