Making Feedback Count

• What is the worse thing a teacher has ever said to you?

• What is the best thing a teacher has ever said to you?

Making feedback count

What are common

problems with

feedback?

How can we improve the quality of feedback?

Why i

s feedback

so

importa

nt?

What are we

talking about?

• there is a high level of open and honest discussion

• you find the session useful and enjoyable

• you take away at least one practical idea you can use in your classroom to improve your practice

We will know we have been successful if…

• reflect on the feedback you give to students at the moment

• reflect on how you can improve the quantity and the quality of feedback that students get from you

My aims for this session are to help you…

Making feedback count

What are common

problems with

feedback?

How can we improve the quality of feedback?

Why i

s feedback

so

importa

nt?

What are we

talking about?

Feedback comes in many forms

• a word

• a gesture

• a facial expression

• a written comment

• a mark

• a grade or level

Making feedback count

What are common

problems with

feedback?

How can we improve the quality of feedback?

Why i

s feedback

so

importa

nt?

What are we

talking about?

“Feedback is the lifeblood of learning.”Derek Rowntree

“The essence of the teacher’s art lies on seeing what is needed in any given instance and how that might be offered.”

Margaret Donaldson

Making feedback count

What are common

problems with

feedback?

How can we improve the quality of feedback?

Why i

s feedback

so

importa

nt?

What are we

talking about?

When there is one teacher and thirty students and all the feedback comes from or through the teacher, there is no hope of providing sufficient good quality feedback.

A feedback bottleneck

Much feedback is:

• too little

• too late

• too vague

• too impersonal

Most classrooms are not particularly feedback-rich environments

“I know I’m not good at spelling. She just says ‘You’ll need to work at your spelling,’ but I don’t know how to.”

Year 7 (6th grade) student

Exhortations are not enough

“Telling a child they need to work harder is as much use as telling a comedian they need to be funnier.”

Dylan Wiliam

There are lots of common problems with written feedback for students.

and for teachers

“I know that two minutes giving verbal feedback in the classroom can be more worthwhile than twelve minutes spent at home marking an exercise book. The trouble is there is no written record of what you have done.”

Primary teacher

• Marks alone do not improve achievement.

• But neither do comments and marks

• So if you are going to give marks don’t waste your time giving comments too!

But why on earth is that?

Comment only marking (grading) is the best way to help learners improve

When the classroom focuses on rewards, “gold stars” or “place-in-the-class” ranking, then students look for ways to obtain the best marks, rather than to become better learners. Or they simply seek to “get b”’ and avoid difficult tasks. Or even worse, they simply give up and “retire hurt.”

Black and William ‘Inside the Black Box’

Retiring hurt

A belief that ability is fixed

A belief that all can achieve

Assessment designed to measure and compare

Assessment designed to provide feedback on how to

improve

Leads to many students retiring

hurt

Builds resilience and self-confidence

+

+

=

=

Aiming to be successful

•Mastery: you want to be smarter – to be all you can be – you see learning as an opportunity to improve

•Performance: you want to look smarter – to be the best – you see learning as a test of your ability

Aiming to avoid failure

•Self worth protection: you want to avoid looking stupid – you make out you couldn’t care less – you see learning as a potential threat

•Learned helplessness: you want sympathy – you see learning as something beyond you – you try to avoid learning

Achievement mindsets

Making feedback count

What are common

problems with

feedback?

How can we improve the quality of feedback?

Why i

s feedback

so

importa

nt?

What are we

talking about?

How to improve the quality of verbal feedback in your classroom

Be aware of your “feedback style”

You can never give or get too much praise.

1. I don’t believe a word of it

2. I believe it’s generally false

3. I believe it’s generally true

4. I’d almost bet my life on it

“Criticism is a gift.”

“Critics are our friends.”

Negative criticism is the best kind you can get. If what you do or believe in won’t stand up to criticism then it’s not worth doing or believing in

Criticism helps you to clarify, strengthen and develop your views or it can help you change them

If you are not strong enough to use criticism in this way or don’t have a strong enough relationship to get it in the first place you will never achieve

THINKING

need to be competent

making decisions

logical

principles

reasonable

giving feedback

descriptive

objective

honesty

tough

accurate

FEELING

need to be appreciated

making decisions

empathetic

values

compassionate

giving/receiving feedback

supportive

subjective

accepting

tender

harmony

We all need two kinds of feedback

see that others accept us

for who we are right now

see that others believe we can change

accept ourselves

improveourselves

AFFIRMINGhelps us to…..

HONEST and ACCURATE

helps us to…..

If overdone can lead to

complacency and self delusion

If overdone can lead to resistance

and feelings of inadequacy

and

but

and

but

Getting the balance right between acceptance and evaluation

Feedback which is affirming

Feedback which is critical

accept me for whoI am

recognizemy

achievements and help me do

better

Brilliant!

Good!

I like that!

Ok!

Yes!

Thank you!

Avoid bringing the judge in too soon and too abruptly

less evaluation

more acceptance

Praise

often

• is judgemental

• is vague

• is about giving approval

• is given at the end

• has to be earned

• teaches students to please the teacher

Use less praise and more encouragement

Encouragement

can

• be accepting or appreciative

• be explicit and informative

• be about giving self-belief

• be given at any time

• be a gift, given for nothing

• help students to feel valued for being themselves

When you do praise, don’t tell students they are smart, praise efforts and technique

“Children who are constantly praised for their intelligence are more likely to believe that intelligence is fixed, while those who are congratulated for working hard are more likely to believe that ability is changeable and affected by effort.”

Caroline Dweck

Issues to consider:

• How will you select the partners?

• How long-term will the partnerships be?

• How will you introduce the idea to students, clarify its purpose and their roles?

• What will you ask them to do and how much support and guidance will you give?

• How you start it, build it up and maintain it

Train and support students to work in learning partnerships to give each other feedback

How to improve the quality of written feedback

What do you hate most about marking?

• Giving too much information: covering too much in one piece of marking

• Giving too little information: simply ticks or a few general comments or exhortations

• Highlighting too little for future action by the student

• Not giving students time to follow up on the marking

Why does marking not have the impact your would like?

• If you can, gradually reduce the salience and frequency of marks, grades and levels.

• If you cannot, tackle the negative mindsets straight on, discussing them with students where you can.

Grade less if you can

What is important is not to know that your work is a D but to know how to get it to a C.

Dylan William

• How do we make written feedback count?

• How can we make it more manageable?

• ‘Copy-edit’ marking This is where you mark every detail (e.g. capital letters, spellings etc.) as well as the content.

• ‘Tick and flick’ marking This is where you initial or tick each chunk of work without giving written comments

• ‘Big comment’ marking: this is where you give summative comments at the end relating them to the learning expectation and the strategies and evidence of success.

• ‘Compliment’ marking: this is where you write short personal, emotionally based written comments about what you liked or thought was good.

‘Highlight and prompt’ marking

This is where you highlight success and give prompts for some small and manageable improvement needs

• Think in terms of stars/highlights/growth points: specifying attainment – concrete examples of students’ achievements, the progress that has been made against the agreed outcomes and success criteria and

• wishes/prompts/next steps: specifying improvement – what the student needs to do to improve and what the teacher can do to help

Accentuate the positive first

Ideas to structure comments

• highlights and prompts• bubbles and boxes• two stars and a wish• growth points and next steps• pink and green• traffic lights

Reminder prompts

Most suitable for able children, but many teachers write this kind of prompt for all children; most need more support than this. They generally simply ask for elaboration without saying how the original response might be elaborated:

• “Say more about saturation.”• “Give more detail about the impact of…”• “Write a more interesting end to this story”• “Redo this multiplication problem”

Scaffolding prompts

These scaffold the learning for children who need more support than a simple reminder. They give specific advice about how the original answer might be elaborated, helping students to extend their present understanding and develop more complex contributions.

• “Say more about saturation. How much salt was used? How did…?

When exactly….”• “Give more detail. For instance…..”• “Write a more interesting end to the story. You might consider…..”• “Redo this problem. You could use…..”

The aim is to…

•Keep your corrections and your comments to a minimum and ensure that they put responsibility back onto the student.•Make sure the student spends at least as much time responding to the marking than you spend doing it.

Example prompts

These can be extremely successful with all children, but especially with average or below average children. They make suggestions, offer information or even give a choice of actual words or phrases:

• “You could try…”• “It might be interesting to know that…”• “Choose one of these or your own: He is a good friend because

he never says unkind things about me. My friend is a friend because he never tells me lies.”

How to make the change at classroom level

• Begin by telling the class that you are changing the way you mark and why.

• Introduce it to the class by projecting a piece of work from another class and demonstrating how it will work.

• Read the homework all the way through before you choose your highlights.

• If you can’t find three highlights this is a cue for a face-to-face discussion.

• At the beginning go around the class when you have given their work back and check that they know what they should be doing.

How to make the change at school level

• Any change in marking such as moving to highlights and prompts and using fewer marks and grades needs to be a whole school or at least a whole department focus.

• The change in focus should be part of a written marking policy (possibly as a part of an assessment policy).

• Parents need to brought on board.

www.camb-ed-us.com