Maximizing Feedback for Student Learning

1. If students know the classroom is a safe place the make mistakes, they are more likely to use feedback for learning Dylan Williams The feedback students give teachers can be more powerful than the feedback teachers give students CrisTovani When we only give a grade as part of our feedback, students routinely read only as far as the grade. Peter Johnston Effective feedback occurs during the learning, while there is still time to act on it. Jen Chappuis Most of the feedback that students receive about their classroom work is from other students – and much of that feedback is wrong. John Hattie

2. Accurate 21/02/14

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqh1MRWZjms The story of Austin’s butterfly Ron Berger • The nature of effective critique • The value of re-redrafting

4. decrease • Descriptive Feedback • Evaluative • Feedback Increase One of the biggest challenges for teachers is finding enough time to give individual students enough quality descriptive feedback. • Increase Descriptive Feedback • Descriptive feedback helps students learn more. • Keep it specificand easy to understand - part of an ongoing conversation. • Used it in comparison to samples and exemplars. • Decrease Evaluative Feedback • For those with low self efficacy evaluative feedback can actually be demotivating. • "Grades cause an emotional reaction – either positive or negative. Feedback causes you to think and engage, which is reflective learning.“ (Dylan Williams) • When receiving a poor evaluation, Male students tend to blame the school, the test, or the teacher: "The system is stupid." Whereas female students tend to blame themselves: "I am stupid." • In both cases most students experience negative emotions and a sense of failure and are, in fact, discouraged from trying harder. • Negative evaluations can launch a downward spiral

5. Maximise your feedback without going into meltdown By teaching students how to compare their own work and that of their peers to models, exemplars, and samples of quality, the teacher actually multiplies descriptive feedback using two other sources – self-assessment and peer-assessment.

6. Tackling the underlying forces of successful formative feedback • Meta-Cognition: • Thinking purposefully • Gaining self-distance • Recognising destructive inner voices • Growth vs Fixed mind-set attitude • Examples: • Of real projects with feedback still included • Videos – Austin's butterfly is an absolute winner • Role play some feedback with another class member or teacher • Get the group to practice ‘talking on task’ to drum up ideas • Routine and repetition • DIRT: dedicated improvement and reflection time • Return to old feedback • Re-use language

7. Plan in time for reflection: especially if you have worked hard to provide individualised formative feedback! Dedicated Improvement Reflection Time Be prepared to have emotive conversations – if they are cross or sad because of their feedback its because they care.

8. (What's in it for me?) • Make the benefits of peer assessment clear: • If you can help others to progress you will grow and develop yourself • Seeing someone else's efforts makes us view our own more objectively • You are helping someone else – altruistic actions make us feel great • Train students to do it well: • Ask students to assess the quality of the peer assessment they receive • Have a comments bank on the wall • Model the language yourself • Don’t settle feedback that’s not useful – encourage students not to either

9. More Feedback Please! (But not more work)

10. Print a correct answer/example so that students can visit it to measure their progress Correct common errors to the whole class. Correct personal errors in private Feedback Can Take the Form of Altered Teaching Glow and Grow highlighters: Yellow = you have met or exceeded expectations Green = room for improvement Traffic Lights green moving forward confidently yellow moving forward cautiously redstopped Give quick brief feedback as soon as possible Return work with symbols that meant one of three things: • This work is better than previous work. • This work is not as good as previous work. • This work is of the same quality as previous work. Supply informationabout what the learner is doing, rather than simply praise or criticism Ask students to email feedback to each other More Feedback Please! Dart boards The inner circle was = “right on,” the next circle = “working on it,” and the outside circle= “needs improvement.” Model its use, use it as a group, and then, when students are ready, use it to peer and self-assess. plan peer assessment and self-assessment opportunities, for example with 'pair and share' opportunities during class questioning train children over time to assess their own work and the work of others, and develop an appropriate language provide children with clear success criteria to help them assess the quality of their work Watch for incorrect answers or misconceptions and gently point out the flaws Write a note to students struggling that encourages them to press on