Feedback to Improve Learning

My life as an amateur photographer began when I received a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Camera for my 10^th birthday. Since that time, I’ve taken thousands of  snapshots of any number of subjects.  As time  passed, I retired the Brownie Hawkeye and purchased progressively more sophisticated equipment and ultimately made the switch from shooting film to digital capture.   While my skills as a photographer grew, I wasn’t producing the quality of image I aspired to. I decided to take my skills to the next level by first enrolling in classes and subsequently in a photography certificate program.  

After the first few series of classes, I experienced what I considered to be better than expected growth.  As an educator and a learner I started to reflect on what triggered such rapid change.  I realized that at every photo class I was required to submit images that were critiqued by kind and supportive instructors.  They made positive comments about even the weakest image, and gave specific suggestions on how to make stronger images.  By receiving student-friendly feedback and applying the instructor's recommendations to my next photo shoot, my images started to improve dramatically!

As a result of taking photos classes, I became extremely interested in the power of feedback in school classrooms.  Wikipedia defines feedback as “a process of sharing observations, concerns and suggestions between persons with the intention of improving performance. " As I dug deeper into the research, I found there are a number of critical components to giving effective feedback.  While students need to know what they are doing correctly and incorrectly, simply checking incorrect responses can actually cause a drop performance.  It’s been shown that feedback is the most effective when it gives the student information on what they did correctly, rather than identifying errors.  According to researcher Robert Marzano,  giving feedback can actually increase student performance by over 20%.  And here’s another interesting fact, praise for task performance appears to be ineffective mainly because it offers the student little or no information on how to improve performance.

Feedback works best when it’s goal specific.  When students know the lesson's goal , it makes the learning process more transparent.  By using the SWBAT Strategy or a Students Will Be Able To statements, they become aware of what's going to be taught.  Here's an example of a SWBAT statement: Students Will Be Able To  identify the differences between rural and urban environments.  The teacher will say and write the lesson goal on the board and students will repeat it.  At this point in the lesson,  the stage is set for engaging instruction supported by tangible teacher feedback.  The feedback provides students with a compass to stay the course or  change direction to better achieve the learning goal.  Feedback involves no praise, no blame, no value judgment, just helpful information to improve achievement.

Timeliness is critical when giving feedback.  Students should receive feedback as close to the learning event as possible while instruction is still fresh in their minds.  The best feedback is detailed and so tangible that anyone who is working on that goal could learn from it. In situations where an assignment is returned a week or two later with “Good Job” or “You Can Do Better!” written on the top of the page, no feedback is actually given because no specific information is provided for improving performance.

Involving student in the feedback process helps them develop the ability to become meta-cognitive and self-evaluative.  Using a rubric along with peer-evaluation can be very powerful, especially with project based learning activities.  Students give feedback to peers on what’s working and make suggestions for improvement.  I’ve observed this process in a 5^th grade writer’s workshop.  Students critiqued peers writing samples with specific comments about what worked well and offered consideration for improvement.  The 5th graders reported that they found the process to be helpful for both the writer and the peer.  To see a lesson with a combination of teacher and peer feedback watch the Teacher Channel video entitled Creative Process: Learning from Feedback.  In the video the teacher used a simplified creative process graphic.  If interested, here’s the Creative Process Chart used in the video. 

The book Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning (Hatti 2012) states that teachers need to ask themselves three important feedback questions to create a blueprint for improved performance:
1) Where am I going and what progress is being made to reach the goals? 
2) How am I going to get there and what progress is being made by students in achieving the goals?
3) Where to next?  What’s the next progression in the learning continuum?  

To summarize, teacher feedback has the power to create an achievement centered classroom climate where students are able to take risks and celebrate their own improved performance!

Fun Links:
Sara S shared the link to classroom website.  Her classroom looks like a busy and engaging place!  www.mssniders4thgrade.weebly.com

What is a teacher?  I'll tell you: it isn't someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows.           ~Paulo Coelho