Student feedback is an essential aspect of education for
several reasons:
- It demonstrates to the teacher how he/she is doing; has he/she been able to effectively teach a skill-set or idea?
- It demonstrates to students how they are doing, and should provide them with steps to improve their education if necessary; have they been learning what is being taught? If not, is it due to something that is easily amended within the classroom or individually?
- It demonstrates to parents or guardians how a student is able to function in a classroom setting; Is a students learning? Is there anything at home that could improve their learning in school?
I think that I speak for a large number of past and present
students when I say that teacher feedback is not always something to smile
about. I remember opening up my report card long before I got home, to read the
comments that a teacher had made, or flipping to the back of a paper to look
for the grade and comments section written in red. If the big red numbers at
the end of a paper, or the comments on a report card were below average for me,
I was despondent. I felt like there was more bad than good in some of those
comments. Things written like: “Anna should avoid socializing in class if she
wishes to obtain better grades in the upcoming term”, or “Good Effort!”
screamed at me in big red letters. Although teacher feedback is necessary, this
week has taught me a lot about how to create comments that are effective in
encouraging students, rather than stressing them out about evaluations.
Language is one
way in which teacher feedback can be dramatically changed. When feedback is
worded bluntly or aggressively, it can often be harsh for a student. Instead of
writing: “Good Effort!”, be specific about something that your students
excelled at, and point out specific issues that could be improved upon in a
non-aggressive way. For example: “I like that you drew a net to show how many
shapes are included in a cube! I wonder if you counted ALL of the shapes that
you drew?” Providing a comment like this allows students to feel pride in
doing something that personalizes math to their own learning needs, and provides
them with a “next step”; something that they could improve upon without the
teacher telling them exactly what to do. Phrasing a question using positive
language helps to avoid discouraging students. Instead of saying “BUT you
should have…” or, “I wish you had…”, give them a reason to explain why they did
what they did. In math, the process of discovering an answer is often more
important than the answer itself. If students missed a step in their equations,
it does not always indicate that they do not know what they are doing, and require more practice. Allow students
to explain their answers, and assess their knowledge, rather than assessing the answer to
a question.
The primary job of student feedback is to promote student
learning. Therefore, write feedback that relates to the student; it should be
detailed and personalized. Although time is often a constraint to teachers,
feedback is work taking time on. It directly impacts a student’s performance
and success in the classroom.
For more information and suggestions, take a look at the "Growing Success" document!
Hi Anna,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your blog post! I really like how you mention that you yourself as a student didn't always look forward to comments and feedback in terms of your learning in the classroom. I find it so terrible that you had teachers explicitly state that you should avoid socializing if you wished to improve your grade in their class. How does avoiding socialization improve any type of learning in our classrooms? We have been taught throughout that socialization and collaboration during the learning process is so critical as it allows us to verbalize and, as such, internalize the information we are discussing. You are absolutely right, that we must provide encouraging feedback to our students, otherwise it can truly be detrimental to their self-esteem and perception of school entirely. All of our students have something positive and encouraging that we can reinforce to them, and that's really all it takes to make them feel more welcome in our classrooms and more successful.
Thanks for your post, I really enjoyed it! Kathlene
Anna,
ReplyDeleteAs a weekly follower of your blog, I am sad to see that this is the last post. I have enjoyed following you on this journey and appreciate your insights on math from a teacher candidate perspective.
I like how you talk about language as a key part of feedback. Many people don't take language into account when they give feedback, they just write a few comments or make a few remarks and they're done. Language is so important because both student and guardian will read your comments and will want to understand your reasoning. Positivity and next steps are essential for effective feedback, so that students' continue to have a growth mindset and continue to try to succeed.
I with what you've said about receiving comments as a student so much. I remember often dreading receiving my report card or a test because the mark or comments on it would not be very good and my parents would get mad. Due to this, I think one of the most important things I've learned from this class is how to properly balance the comments so that it doesn't sounds super negative all the time, since, i'm sure, all students have at least some positives. I think it's very important to ensure that our comments to students help to encourage them instead of discourage them.
ReplyDeleteAnna, your blog post show a clear writing style and you have chosen engaging links and visuals. I appreciate that you have personalized your posts to include your own work and past experiences that relate to the topics. Have you thought about making connections between weekly class experiences and the online modules and the weekly assigned readings. This would add a richness to the insight that you already share.
ReplyDelete