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
How can we improve the quality of
feedback?
We will know we have been successful if…
• 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
My aims for this session are to help you…
• 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
Making feedback count
How can we improve the quality of
feedback?
Feedback comes in many forms
• a word
• a gesture
• a facial expression
• a written comment
• a mark
• a grade or level
Making feedback count
How can we improve the quality of
feedback?
“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
How can we improve the quality of
feedback?
A feedback bottleneck
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.
Most classrooms are not particularly feedbackrich environments
Much feedback is:
•
too little
•
too late
•
too vague
•
too impersonal
Exhortations are not enough
“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
“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
Comment only marking (grading) is the best
way to help learners improve
• Marks alone do not
improve achievement.
• But neither do
comments and marks
But why on earth
is that?
• So if you are going to
give marks don’t waste
your time giving
comments too!
Retiring hurt
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’
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
Achievement mindsets
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
Making feedback count
How can we improve the quality of
feedback?
How to
improve the
quality of
verbal
feedback in
your
classroom
Be aware of
your “feedback
style”
1. I don’t
believe a word
of it
You can never
give or get too
much praise.
2. I believe it’s
generally false
3. I believe it’s
generally true
4. I’d almost bet
my life on it
“Critics are our friends.”
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
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
“Criticism is a gift.”
THINKING
FEELING
need to be competent
need to be appreciated
making decisions
making decisions
logical
empathetic
principles
values
reasonable
compassionate
giving feedback
giving/receiving feedback
descriptive
supportive
objective
subjective
honesty
accepting
tough
tender
accurate
harmony
We all need two kinds of feedback
AFFIRMING
HONEST and
ACCURATE
helps us to…..
helps us to…..
and
and
accept
ourselves
but
improve
ourselves
but
Getting the balance right between acceptance
and evaluation
accept me
for who
I am
Feedback which is
affirming
recognize
my achievements
and help me do
better
Feedback which is critical
Avoid bringing the judge in too soon and too
abruptly
Brilliant!
less evaluation
Good!
I like that!
Ok!
Yes!
Thank you!
more acceptance
Use less praise and more encouragement
Encouragement
Praise
can
often
•
be accepting or
appreciative
is vague
•
be explicit and informative
•
is about giving approval
•
be about giving self-belief
•
is given at the end
•
be given at any time
•
has to be earned
•
be a gift, given for nothing
•
teaches students to
please the teacher
•
help students to feel valued
for being themselves
•
is judgemental
•
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
Train and support students to work in learning
partnerships to give each other feedback
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
How to
improve the
quality of
written
feedback
What do you hate most about
marking?
Why does marking not have the impact
your would like?
• 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
Grade less if you can
• 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.
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
Accentuate the positive first
•
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
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.
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