Page 181 - EducationWorld Oct. 2022

Teacher-2-Teacher

Importance of providing timely

feedback

TARA QUIGLEY

VER THE COURSE OF MY 24-YEAR TEACH- To be useful, feedback has to be timely,
ING career, I have assessed and provided
feedback to students on countless assignments. specific and actionable. Teachers are
OBut only after I learned about how our brains often buried under day-to-day demands
work as we learn, that made the biggest difference to how
I provide feedback. of the profession. But delayed feedback
Knowing the end goal of an assignment is critical for loses its power and utility for students
providing useful feedback. According to educationists
Hattie and Timperley, in their essay The Pow er of F eed -
b ac k (2007), “effective feedback must answer three major
questions asked by a teacher and/or student: Where am dents. Teachers who spend hours reviewing and assessing
I going? (What are the goals?), How am I going? (what students’ work without bearing in mind that students
progress is being made towards the goal?), and Where must use the feedback for revision or application soon
to next? (what actions need to be undertaken to make after, will nullify their own effort. The assumption that
better progress?). These questions correspond to feed up, students study teachers comments on their work and will
feedback, and feed forward.” recall and apply them when necessary, is erroneous given
There are two types of feedback, formative and sum- what we know about the mind-brain education. If you are
mative. The first provides guidance about how a student unable to provide timely feedback, reduce the number of
is progressing towards a summative goal and what she assignments you are giving to your students for formative
can do to improve her performance. It also informs a assessment, or turn to peer feedback strategies to create
teacher how she can provide corrective instruction to more efficient feedback loops.
individual students or the whole class. eferencing the exemplar or final goal of an assign-
I teach English grammar using a particular pattern of Rment in your comments limits the number of skills
practice. I introduce the concept and the class engages in in an assignment that a student needs to develop. This
practice together. For instance, students are given three can be really challenging for an educator who wants to
formative assignments that progress in complexity and document everything. But if we overwhelm students with
allow them opportunity to practice compound sentences commentary, they become demoralised and shut down.
creation. During this phase, I am very clear this is the So, it’s advisable to include only two or three com-
time to make mistakes, and assignments are specifically ments to specific tasks a student can work on. These tasks
designed for them to make errors and learn. These are can be increased as the year progresses, reminding them
practice. Each unit finishes with a summative skills check- of the work they have done before. Feedback that is ac-
ing assessment. tionable means that it recommends specific actions and/
The summative assessment is similar, but asks stu- or strategies rather than using generic phrases such as
dents to apply what they have learned together with pre- “good job” or “well-done”. When I provide students with
viously studied grammar lessons, looping skills learned commentary or a rubric, I choose pieces of their work that
throughout the year. This step can also be formative; they can improve and suggest strategies or solutions that
students who have not yet mastered the topic can demon- we might have already worked on in class.
Trust and ‘belonging’ are also critical elements of
strate competency later. It isn’t usually needed, though,
as I work with students to reinstruct or correct misunder- giving and receiving feedback. Research indicates that
when students experience a sense of belonging, they take
standings during the formative phase.
This pedagogy was developed after I noticed that after more risks, believe in their capability and try harder to
receiving practice worksheets, many students rushed to learn. Before you implement any of these feedback tips
finish them without thoughtful engagement. They were and strategies, remember that the first priority should be
to build personal rapport with your students so that they
more concerned with completion rather than understand-
ing the purpose of the exercise. It was eye-opening, and understand you believe they can succeed.
Providing feedback to students that will encourage
I spent some time that first year, explaining that the
purpose was not to finish, but build competency. Subse- them to use it to improve their growth and mastery re-
quires careful consideration of the strategies and content
quently their sharpened focus when they learned there
was no grading, was remarkable. you offer. Make sure you consider the above factors when
you plan for feedback.
To be useful, feedback has to be timely, specific, and
actionable. As teachers, we are often buried under day- (Tara Quigley is director of the Miss Fine’s Center for Interdisciplinary
to-day demands of the profession and days pile up. But Studies, humanities teacher at Princeton Day School, and director of
delayed feedback loses its power and usefulness for stu- program alignment at the OESIS Network, USA)
182 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2022