Today's blog is co-authored by Peter DeWitt and former teacher and administrator, Nathan Lang, Ed.D. who works as a consultant with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

"There is no such thing as constructive criticism in the eye of the recipient." - Todd Whitaker

Feedback is something we all understand is important. We most likely became even more aware of the importance of feedback after the September 2012 issue of Educational Leadership (ASCD), which was titled Feedback for Learning. Some of the best thought leaders on the topic, which included John Hattie, and the late Grant Wiggins wrote about what feedback. Some articles focused on what feedback is and what it was not, as well as focused on how powerful feedback can be when we do it right.

John Hattie, who Peter works with as a Visible Learning trainer, has found in his extensive research that involves more than 250 million students, that feedback can have an effect of .75, which is nearly double the hinge point of .40 which shows to have a year's worth of growth for a year's input.

However, what we all need to take away from using feedback, especially where Hattie's research is concerned, is that we can't merely say we give feedback when we really don't. Sometimes we are providing praise, and other times are feedback is so generic that it's not effective. We need to reflect on the feedback we give, and have clear dialogue with teachers around the specific feedback. One way to do that is to look at the documents we use for classroom walkthroughs and formal teacher observations, and examine what we wrote down as feedback.

But...let's start with walkthroughs.

Don't Call It Feedback When It's Not
After principals walk through a classroom, they may give a pat on the back, "awesome job," or give a thumbs up. Maybe even send you an email or leave a sticky note with "I loved being in your classroom." Sometimes, the walkthroughs don't focus on anything with substance at all, which you can read more about here.

However, praise and pats on the back is not providing feedback, but providing affirmation. Teachers need affirmation, and we would say they need some form of affirmation every time you walk through their classroom. We all need affirmation and there is lots to give and receive.

Feedback has a much different purpose. Although the means to an end may look similar to affirmation, feedback needs to be specific and timely, and it's even more powerful when it's focused on a specific goal. This does not mean we believe you can't have fun conversations with teachers, and that every conversation has to be about feedback. However, it does mean those times when feedback is given have to be explicit.

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