Teachers met together in the afternoon at South Eugene High School to learn about ‘The Big Rocks of High Expertise Teaching’. Dr. Saphier began the session with a Thought for the Day. Praise will keep you in the game, but it is feedback that makes you better.
In order for a teacher to provide feedback, it is critical that students know specifically what is expected of them. What are the important components of the assignment and what does an outstanding example (exemplars) looks like? Teachers should provide exemplars of work for students to use as guides.
What is feedback? Many of us use the term feedback in a very common way. General comments are not true ‘feedback’. Academic feedback has a very specific set of guidelines that need to be followed. “Feedback is nonverbal, verbal, and/or written information provided to an individual or group for the purpose of improving performance. It is most effective when it is timely, specific, criterion-based, and when it involves the student.”
Why is it important? Research has found that feedback makes a difference in a classroom. “Academic feedback is more strongly and consistently related to achievement than any other teaching behavior.” (Bellon, Bellon, and Blank, 1997, p. 277) “This relationship is consistent regardless of grade, SES, race or school setting.”
Feedback’s positive affect on student achievement is so strong, you probably are asking, “What does it look like?” “How is it different?”
A typical comment or response might be: “Wow, your lab station looks terrific!”
True feedback would be: “All your science laboratory instruments were clean, dry and placed in the proper cabinet at the end of the lab experiment.”
Another example of typical classroom comment or response: “Nice job getting to our classroom.”
True feedback could be: “Students, you walked quietly through the hallway in a straight line on the right side of the hallway.”
Remember: “The most powerful single modification that enhances achievement,” writes Hattie (in Ainsworth and Viegut, 2006, p. 89), “is feedback. The simplest prescription for improving education must be ‘dollops of feedback.”
