Opinions on Giving Feedback

From the Marshall Memo #444

(Originally titled “Quality Feedback: What It Is and How to Give It”)

“Writing ‘Nice job!’ on the top of a student’s paper is encouraging, but is it helpful feedback?” asks Katie Rapp in this Education Update article. Grant Wiggins thinks not. “Feedback is value-neutral help on worthy tasks,” he says. “It is actionable information” describing what the student did in relation to goals, empowering intelligent adjustments. 

Author Susan Brookhart believes feedback should appeal to the mind (cognition) and the heart (motivation). “Once they feel they understand what to do and why,” she says, “most students develop a feeling that they have control over their own learning.” Brookhart also says teachers shouldn’t do all the work: “Rather than telling the student all the things you notice about his or her work, start by asking, ‘What are you noticing about this?’”

Rick Stiggins says teachers need to give students, up front, a clear picture of end-of-unit achievement standards and how mastery will be assessed, with examples of proficient and non-proficient student work. Formative assessments tell students where they are on the continuum of proficiency. On feedback to struggling students, Stiggins says, “If a teacher cannot find something positive to say, then feedback is not what needs to come next. Additional teaching needs to come next.” Ultimately, students should generate their own feedback and set their own learning goals. When students lead conferences with their teachers, says Stiggins, the “keys to the kingdom” have been turned over to them.

Trainer Carolyn Hood recommends focusing on a few bite-size chunks rather than trying to give feedback on everything. She also recommends having a 2-3-minute mini-conference with each student once a week, giving concentrated bursts of usable feedback. 

“Quality Feedback: What It Is and How to Give It” by Katie Rapp in Education Update, July 2012 (Vol. 54, #7, p. 1, 6-7), http://www.ascd.org