What is Feedback Important?
It is no surprise that the key to student success is a good teacher and quality feedback. Feedback is important to student achievement. Quality feedback provides students with an understanding of the material being taught and gives students clear guidance on how to improve their own learning. Major companies and business around the world rely on valuable feedback in order to make important decisions. Top performing companies are leaders in their industry because they use feedback to make their company better. So why are teachers not taught to provide feedback in a more meaningful way? If feedback is a top indicator of student success, why are we not doing a better job of it?
Good Feedback
Good feedback is more than just doing more. Positive feedback is more than just another word for praise like “Good Job!” Quality feedback is an important opportunity for teachers to motivate students to do better. For some students, feedback can come across as criticism. Yet if feedback is done correctly, it should inspire and motivate.
Feedback is Essential to Learning and Performance
Feedback is a practiced skill. So often teachers are trying to do the right thing by telling students what they are doing wrong. This is done to help the student know what they need to correct and improve on concerning their language skills. However, students often hear the feedback as negativity towards their abilities. If feedback is not provided accurately, it can be interpreted as an attack instead of a constructive way to help develop at a higher level of performance.
The Language We Use
The words, phrases, and language we use are important. Try to avoid using phrases like, “You didn’t do…” Instead, use, “If you had done ___, then ___.” Putting a positive spin on phrases or words can make a big difference in how students feel about themselves and learn in the classroom. When I was in the business world, I was once told a quote that said:
“The right words have power too, use them carefully and you will have happy, life-long customers.”
I think this rings true in education too. Good feedback shouldn’t be left to the business world only. The right words can engage, bring about satisfaction and reduce stress in the classroom.
How to Better Provide Feedback
John Hattie, the author of Visible Learning, says that successful feedback is advice that provides students with insight that helps them to improve their performance. A good formula according to Hattie is
Feedback = How did your student do? + How could they do better?
There are different types of feedback I will be talking about in this series. However, the take away should be these four ways teachers can provide feedback. 1) Affirm what students did well 2) Correct and direct 3) Point out the process 4) Teaching students how to critique their own efforts.
Affirm What Students Did Well
You should affirm what students did well but it is also OK to point out what they didn’t do well. Affirmation is not praise, affirmation should tell exactly what was done correctly. Tell students what they did well and what you want to see more of when you are providing feedback.
Correct and Direct
Making mistakes is part of learning. Mistakes and failures are lessons for students to learn from as well as develop character. Mistakes show us students are willing to try things and venture out of their comfort zones. Reward them for pushing themselves. However, it is important that you correct their mistakes. Let them know what was done incorrectly and direct them to the correct way. Correct then direct.
Point Out the Process
Correct and Direct feedback works only when the process is explained. Show students where exactly they made an error. Explain how to correct it. This will help students do better on communication activities in the future.
Teaching Students to Critique Their Own Efforts
Teach students to think about their own work and performance by asking students questions. This is known as coaching. The art of questioning engages student’s meta-cognition and helps students, monitor, evaluate and adjust their learning.
This is just my thoughts on feedback and what I have learned and been trying to apply to my teaching practice. I hope there is something here that will help you in providing feedback to your students and enhance your practice. This is a gola for me this school year. I am always trying to improve on feedback.
Learn more about evidence-based teaching discussed above here.
Books on Visible Learning you might enjoy:
10 Mindframes for Visible Learning: Teaching for Success
Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement
The Growth Mindset Coach: A Teacher’s Month-by-Month Handbook for Empowering Students to Achieve
