Chapter 1 - How to Give Effective Feedback
Feedback is an important component in the process of formative assessment. It helps students to understand where they are and where they need to go. Good feedback contains information that is useful to students. Good feedback should be part of the classroom assessment environment and should be used as a suggestion for students’ improvement.
Research shows that not all feedback is effective. Feedback from teachers can’t “make” students do anything, but it should help students decide where they are in their learning goals.
Hattie and Timperley (2007) propose a model of feedback that distinguishes four levels: (1) feedback about the task (such as whether answers were right or wrong or directions to get more information), (2) feedback about the processing of the task (such as feedback about strategies used or strategies that could be used), (3) feedback about self-regulation (such as feedback about student self-evaluation or self-confidence), and (4) feedback about the student as a person (such as pronouncements that a student is "good" or "smart").
Feedback strategies can vary in:
· Timing - When given and how often
· Amount - How many points made, or how much about each points
· Mode – Oral, Written, or Visual/demonstration
· Audience – Individual or Group/class
Feedback content can vary in:
· Focus- on work, on the process used, on student’s self regulation or the student personally
· Comparison – to criteria for good work, to other students, to own past performance
· Valence - positive, negative
· Function – descriptive, evaluation, judgment
· Clarity – Clear to student or unclear
· Specificity- nitpicky, just right, or over general
· Tone – implication, what the student will hear
In a study by Page (1958) he found that teachers writing comments was more effective than giving grades. Butler and Nissan (1986) found that if a paper was returned with a grade and a written comment students were more likely to pay attention to the grade and ignore the comment. They suggest that descriptive comments not be accompanied by a grade.
Chapter 2 - Types of Feedback and Their Purposes
I will discuss the four feedback strategies discussed in the book, How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students. The book states that feedback strategies can vary in several dimensions: timing, amount, mode, and audience.
Timing – the primary purpose of feedback is to give immediate or slightly delayed feedback to the students in order for them to apply this feedback to the topic, assignment, or performance in question. The feedback must be delivered to the students in a timely fashion in order for the feedback to be effective. If the feedback comes after the learning standard is complete, it will be deemed pointless to the students and have no effect on the learning process with them. The book states that a general principle for gauging the timing of feedback is to put yourself in the students’ place. When would you like to hear feedback about your work? As soon as possible so that it can have meaning and you are still close to the project and able to apply the feedback, both positive and negative. I would say to take it even a step further; put yourself in the place of the parents who have watched or maybe consulted with their child on a project for several days or weeks depending upon the project. When would you as a parent appreciate hearing feedback on the project? Examples of good timing of feedback would be to return tests and assignments promptly. If you give an exam that is all multiple-choice, true/false, etc., that exam should be returned to the students and reviewed by the next day. Bad timing would be to return an exam one week later after you have already covered the next chapter.
Amount – the amount of feedback to give is probably the most difficult of the strategies discussed. The amount of feedback to give is dependent on the project as well as the individual student. Many students are able to understand more quickly than others when you give them feedback. In this case, a smaller amount of feedback is appropriate and beneficial to the student. On the other hand, if you have a student who has a more difficult time grasping concepts, a little more feedback will be in order. This requires you to get to know your students…something we should all be doing anyway. Examples of good amounts of feedback regardless of the level of the student would be to comment on at least as many strengths as weaknesses. Bad amounts would be to write many comments on poor-quality work, while almost no comments on good-quality work.
Mode – feedback can be delivered in many modalities. Some assignments lend themselves to written feedback; some to oral feedback; and some to demonstrations. Written feedback would be appropriate when it comes to grading students written projects. Oral feedback would be appropriate for commenting on students work as they are engaged in the project. Demonstration feedback would be appropriate when you need to model a specific behavior or task. Examples of good choice of mode would be to choose to use oral feedback while providing a checkpoint grade to students during a project. This allows both the teacher and the students to understand progress on the project and allows the student to be able to question the teacher to gain further understanding of the feedback. Bad choice of mode would be to write comments on a paper that the student cannot comprehend.
Audience – recognize your audience and their individual needs and deliver appropriate feedback accordingly using the appropriate amount and mode. Example of good audience feedback would be to communicate with each student in class and give specifics to their performance. Bad audience feedback would be to never do this because it takes too much time.
There are four levels of feedback to consider:
feedback about the task – information about errors – whether something is right or wrong
feedback about the processing of the task – provides students information about how they approached the task and how they went about accomplishing the task. Also, information about the quality of their work
feedback about self-regulation – recognizing when you need assistance and seeking that assistance.
feedback about the person – this is typically not a good idea. Feedback needs to be about the performance not the person. If feedback is about the person it implies that ability is fixed.
Feedback is an effective tool if used correctly. Feedback can continue the learning process and enable the student to apply the feedback to future projects. It is important to mention that feedback should be positive. Pointing out what is wrong with students work without offering suggestions to make it right is counterproductive. Feedback can be divided into two kinds: descriptive and evaluative. Positive evaluative feedback includes rewards and praise; negative evaluative would include punishments. Descriptive feedback has positive intentions. If the descriptive feedback is in the form of criticism, and not judgmental, can be constructive.
What types of feedback are you using in your classrooms? Which type(s) have you found to be the most effective?
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In my classroom, I use oral feedback the most often. My students rarely turn in written work for me to do, so this is the type of feedback that is the most common and most successful for me to use. I will admit that I do not always give positive feedback, but I will make an effort when I go back to teaching to work on giving more positive feedback.
ReplyDeletePositive feedback is probably something many of us in the teaching field need to work on. At least I do.
ReplyDeleteI give a lot of written feedback on student compositions. I always try to begin and end with positive statements about what the student has done right. In the middle, I construct feedback sentences that begin with "Next time try. . ." or "Work on. . ."
ReplyDeleteIt seems like my students enjoy written comments because it gives them an idea of where they stand. It also allows them to grow as individual writers, not being compared to anyone else in the class.
However, I have a hard time getting objective daily work returned in a timely manner as students who are absent need to make the work up. Does anyone have any ideas as to how to handle this problem? I hate to make two versions of every assignment. . .
I have a similar problem with students who have taken a test telling others what questions will be on the test. The only solution I have come up with is to make several versions of each quiz and test which is very time consuming. With Spanish, the one thing that I have found with feedback that has helped students is by having the class correct translation homework and tests together. We go through each sentence and find what was missed and learn from the mistakes that were made. I try and instill the belief in them that when learning a foreign language, mistakes are apt to happen and that is ok, the important thing is to grow and learn by finding out what was missed and why.
ReplyDeleteAn example of feedback I would give in my future classroom relates to the newspaper icebreaker activity. I would hope that the students would give each other continual feedback as they are working in pairs to create their newspapers. I would also give oral feedback during the planning and production phases of the newspapers. As we review the completed newspapers as a class, I could also give oral feedback which recognizes positive examples of journalism as well as constructively suggest areas that need improvement or that we will learn about in class. When I grade each student's individual newspaper page, I can use written feedback to further point out positive areas or identify areas in need of improvement.
ReplyDeleteI definitely understand the importance of balancing positive and negative feedback as well as making sure negative feedback is constructive rather than critical. I have had the experience as a student of receiving repeated negative feedback of a purely critical nature. This type of feedback made me dread opening my returned assignments because I just knew there would be nothing positive. The comments were so negative that I began to question myself as a person and had to remind myself that I am not as bad as the comments made me feel. I think this experience will help me to be aware of the type of feedback I am giving my students and how it makes them feel.
I try and keep most of my feedback positive, if possible. If a student turns in really terrible work, I usually just mark it N/C (no credit), and put a note on it to see me. Sometimes, it just a matter of explaining things more clearly, answering their questions one-on-one, and giving them another shot (which I only do on a case-by-case basis). In the computer classes that I teach, I provide individual, typed feedback on student assignments, highlighting mistakes with the highlighting tool, or using red text. Hopefully the students pay attention to my comments because they can definitely learn from them. I make a big point with them about reading my comments, stressing that it can help them improve their performance on the next assignment. It is hard to provide timely feedback due to the amount of papers a teacher has to grade. I agree with Myra, absences are a real problem! It is difficult to create two versions of the test that are equal and fair. Not sure I agree with the info from the chapter regarding putting comments only - without a letter grade. ALL of my students want to know what the bottom line is . . . "What grade did I get on this?" The study that was mentioned was pretty old (1958) - maybe a bit out of touch with this generation.
ReplyDeleteThe study has been replicated several times; results support the findings of the original study.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if "we" (teachers, parents, principals, etc) have focused student attention on the grade received rather than on the learning that we are hoping to promote. . .
I teach 8th grade social studies so my tests are a mix of multiple choice/matching and essays. It is near impossible for me to return these the next day due to the length of the tests- not to mention the issues with absent students. I try to give positive and constructive feedback on the essay portions of my test. I find that my students do read the comments even though there is a grade on the test. I give a lot of written feedback when grading projects. Whenever I give back an assignment I always leave time in class for students to consult me about their grade and the comments I left. I always have a few students who want more information which I think is awesome. I try to give informal oral feedback every day as students are working on things in class. I will say that for some students it's hard to think of positive comments and I do my best to find something positive to say when the opportunity presents itself.
ReplyDeleteIn my high school youth group days, we played a game called "two roses and an onion" which is based on the belief that for every negative comment a person hears, they need two (or more) positive and uplifting ones. This year my school instituted a "PBIS" (Positive Behavior Intervention System) in which teachers give "positve referrals", writing each individual one on a little form which goes into a drawing at the end of each day for prizes. This has given me more ways to really look for the good things to compliment them on. With my most difficult class, I have found myself giving many PBIS slips out to the students who paid attention/were respectful/participated/worked during homework time, etc and simply not giving one to the ones who did not. Many times the ones who are behavior problems in class have spent much of their lives getting yelled at by parents/adults, so it doesn't affect behavior much to do it. This emphasis on the on track behavior in the room doesn't "punish" the ones who were off track, but it does set a standard for them to aim for. When the students who are off track a lot have even a mostly on track day, I really make a big deal about it and verbally thank them along with a PBIS slip. I also look for little things that they do well to give these kids PBIS slips since they most likely don't get much positive feedback elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteWith my advanced seniors, I take a lot of time in the evenings grading their tests, writing individual comments of encouragement/redirection on almost every question. Sometimes I think they learn more from getting their tests back and going over their tests than they do in the weeks prior to it, which may be able to be improved upon in timing of the feedback.
Generally I offer feedback in a variety of ways. When my students write any essay (narrative to research), I offer comments at the bottom of each one. Usually I circle the spelling mistakes and mark the grammatical errors. But I always offer some sort of feedback related to the essay.
ReplyDeleteWhen doing projects, I always give verbal and written feedback, postive or negative. I find that constructive criticism works best in situations like these. My juniors take it better when I'm honest and don't water down what they are doing wrong or right in most cases. When it comes to my journalism students, I'm a little tougher. The tend to produce ineffective stories that don't mean much in the journalism world.
But I'm always trying to give the best feedback the students deserve. I feel you have to be honest and fair if you want to get anywhere with high school students. They can take the feedback--some better than others, but more importantly, they learn from their mistakes and right doings. :)
I use many types of feedback in my classroom. It really depends on what we are learning. For assessments, I give a study guide out two days before the test. The students have all day in class to ask their peers, find the answers in the correct resources (books, notes, articles), and ask me questions. The next day we go over the study guide together. They can correct any answers they got incorrect. This gives the students an idea of what they need to work on. I have the students mark those questions. After the students have heard the information again we play a review game. During the review game they cannot use any resources besides their own minds. They get feedback right away if their answer is right or wrong, so once again they can monitor what they need to study before the test. My class has also been working on Punnett Squares. The first day we did examples as a class. Then I had students try them with a partner, and we would then go over each problem. Then next day students had class time again to practice with a partner and we went over them before they got an assignment. I assigned practice Punnett Squares and had them turn them in the next day. I graded them for right or wrong answers. I explained to the students the point totals so they would know which parts they did not understand. We practiced again and students who did not do well on the first set, I encouraged to ask a lot of questions. I graded the next set. We also had a quiz over Punnett Squares, so more feedback for right or wrong answers. I use a lot of feedback for the task and feedback to self-regulate. I also use rubrics for labs and projects in my class. This provides students with feedback about the processing of the task (their quality of work). In 7th grade I also offer an assignment re-do. This does not replace their first grade but is added as a second grade which is like taking the average of the two.
ReplyDeleteErin, I think it's really good that you don't water down the negative feedback you give your students. Many times, if we're just honest with the students in high school, that is received much better than if we try to add fluff just to make them feel better. This way they also know when you give them a high compliment, you mean it and it means much more to them!
ReplyDeleteI agree, get straight to the point either positive or negative. Everyone appreciates the honesty.
ReplyDeleteWhen I grade writing assignments, I usually provide comments that point out areas in which the student did not do well and I try to add something positive. I also try to give the students something to work on in the future like, "Next time, work on enhancing your word choice" or something like that. When students are working on a task I will provide feedback to them orally as they are in the process of completing an assignment. Phrases like "Keep up the good work!" usually accompany oral feedback. I have had trouble recently though with a student in my honors class who is a tad over-zealous and who needs feedback every five minutes. She earns the highest grade every grading period in my English 9 class but as she is working on her research paper, she has to ask if how she is phrasing something sounds ok. That would be fine with me except she asks about nearly every sentence she is writing. I haven't had the heart to tell her that she doesn't need to ask me if every single sentence sounds ok. I am glad there are at least students who thrive on feedback!
ReplyDelete-Heather P.
This is my weakest point in my teaching. I find it very difficult to give the individualized feedback that I would like with time constraints the way they are. I will readily pull a student that is having difficulty aside and tell them what I see they need to work on, but I do not give the positive feedback as much as I know I should. I have my own block on this because I want the students to know that I have I expectation. I feel that if I say something it removes the idea that I expect them to achieve that well. I know this is not the way I should think, and I do try to work on this. I try to avoid be non-constructive in my feedback as well.
ReplyDeleteOne of the ways I like to give quick easy feedback is by using dry erase boards. I can use them to check whether students are grasping a concept and I can tell what they need to fix. They can write sentences, phrases, or draw pictures to show their understanding. Then they lift the board and I either tell them muy bien or give them hints as to the things they need to fix.
ReplyDelete