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When giving feedback, relationships matter, but so does what you say and how you say it

"However, the thing that really matters in feedback is the relationship between the student and the teacher. Every teacher knows that the same feedback given to two similar students can make one try harder and the second give up. When teachers know their students well, they know when to push and when to back off. Moreover, if students don’t believe their teachers know what they’re talking about or don’t have the students’ best interests at heart, they won’t invest the time to process and put to work the feedback teachers give them. Ultimately, when you know your students and your students trust you, you can ignore all the “rules” of feedback. Without that relationship, all the research in the world won’t matter."
~from “Is the Feedback You’re Giving Students Helping or Hindering?” by Dylan Wiliam



This quote from Dylan Wiliam is resonating strongly with me today. As a team we spent today mostly looking at student self-assessment. We visited Jonathan So’s grade 6 classroom in the morning, then worked together in the afternoon summarizing the data from student assessment literacy surveys and creating self-assessment task requirements and success criteria. Throughout the day, though, I kept thinking about the recent feedback I had given students and how it was received.

In Jonathan So’s feedback-focussed classroom, his students were using a tracking form for math expectations. They needed to indicate if they had met or not met the learning goals, then plan next steps for the ones they had not yet met. This was in preparation for a student-written update of their progress for their parents. I asked one student how she knew if she met the learning goals. She said that she looked at Mr. So’s feedback and determined if she was able to do what was expected without further instructions. Not only were the students able to self-reflect, they were able to articulate the process succinctly. I know that Jonathan has purposely cultivated a climate of trust in his classroom which celebrates each student and that he lets them know that they matter. I could tell that they trust him and know that he has their best interests at heart. This resulted in a calm, reflective attitude in the students where they received his feedback with a growth mindset.
Jonathan So's You Matter board 

In contrast, the feedback I recently gave students on a large project was received with many different attitudes. Most students were academically thoughtful and satisfied with the feedback, but several were visibly affected by the feedback and this eventually resulted in tears on both sides, mine and theirs. This huge emotional response to descriptive feedback (there were other factors, but the most emotion was around the written comments) has prompted a lot of self-reflection since I know that I have the students’ best interests at heart and that I worked very hard to make sure I gave good feedback to help the students move forward in the next inquiry. 


The learning goals and task requirements were in typed text on the feedback document and I highlighted everything that was met. What was not highlighted was accompanied by a handwritten comment. I’m starting to think that this is the problem. All those highlighted, typed sentences were not considered important to the students and parents who were upset. They seemed to focus on the small details that were handwritten. Somehow, I did not convey the positive aspects. My tone or word choice or maybe even the size of writing (compared to the typed text) created a message that I had not intended.

Is this a reflection of my failure to cultivate a classroom climate where the students feel they matter and that I care about their success? I don’t think so, since this is something very important to me, but it is something to think more about.

Is it the personal nature of written comments versus the “coldness” of typed and highlighted text? Today, when we looked at the data from our assessment literacy surveys for all of our classes, “written descriptive feedback” was considered very effective by 63% of the students, compared with only 41% for “typed descriptive feedback.” Surely we are not giving better feedback when handwriting than when typing--but the students think it is more effective. 


When giving feedback, relationships matter, but so does what you say and how you say it. So, I have taken out my books. I will refresh my skills on descriptive feedback by seeing what the experts say. Even in just a quick perusal of the headings in Dylan Wiliam and Siobhan Leahy’s “Embedding Formative Assessment,” I can see interesting areas to explore. For example:
  • Feedback should focus on what’s next, not what’s past
  • Don’t give feedback unless you allocate class time for students to respond (something we discussed with Jonathan So today)
  • Provide an appropriate balance of critical and supportive feedback
  • Make feedback into detective work (hmm.. I wonder what that’s about!)
I am also working on providing feedback through screencasting. I hope that this will be an effective tool to give feedback while also conveying the positive “growth mindset” spirit that I feel about each student. I hope to rebuild trust with these students.

Edited to add:
The example of feedback gone awry that was described above was actually from a class where I give grades for summative assignments. I was thinking this morning about the difference between that course and the one where the grades are determined by a portfolio and negotiated with the student. In the latter case, the student learning starts with a blank slate and the artifacts in the portfolio build evidence of learning and skills. In the former case, essentially students start with 100% and I feel like I have to justify why they do not get 100. What are they missing? What was done well, but also what was misunderstood or incorrectly completed? Of course it results in comments that are critical as I justify the grade. Another thing to consider as I move forward.




Comments

  1. Thanks for your reflections, Susan. Tone is a challenging thing. I have been enjoying single point rubrics and hadnt even considered the benefits of writing the 'stars' and the 'wishes' by hand...interesting to think about. I am intrigued by your plan to do some screencasting; I can't wait for you to share how that goes. :) Your students seem to appreciate the personal touch of handwriting...if its about the delivery your voice makes things even more personal. I have been thinking about how to give students more time to engage with feedback in class. Something to work on in the days to come!

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    1. Thanks, Amy. I imagine the difference between getting a handwritten note of thanks or the same message by email. I think I will have to do everything digitally/typing or be very careful with handwritten comments. They seem to carry more weight. I will share when I have done some screencasting. :)

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  2. Screencasting is a different beast. I use it to give feedback on our writing pieces, and try to keep it down under 5 minutes, so I may not look at the entire piece. I for sure tell them how I feel as their reader, what they did well, and then give them options for moving forward, letting them know they can take my advice or leave it, but that I would like to see their revisions when they're through. I feel it is more personal, and they can hear me chuckle when they've written something funny, or hear me stumble when their grammar or spelling is off. I do still have to really know the student when I'm giving the feedback, however, because I have to know when I can push, and when I should just let some things go. Also, I've learned that I can only give them ONE thing to improve at a time. Then I need to provide the time in class for them to listen to the feedback and also time to revise - IN class. :) Enjoy this next leg of your journey, Susan! Thanks for sharing these resources with everyone!

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    1. This is great advice, Joy. I like the idea of giving them only one thing to improve at a time. It's tempting to point out everything, but that would be counterproductive.

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    2. Narrowing down and focusing on something that is vital to their next steps has definitely brought some perspective and forced me to really think about what each kid has (or has not) demonstrated. It really has seemed to have made a difference in terms of what students focus on when they get things back. The hand written feedback is time consuming - pointing out the positive and the net step was onerous. Switching to video and audio comments and formative work feels more productive and the kids have really liked it. I think your students will really appreciate the effort that you will put into screencasting (and since you can just upload the file to Google Drive instead of worrying about getting it onto a service like YouTube should hopefully not take too much time).

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    3. More great advice... Now to actually do it! Thanks.

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