Strategies for Quick and Effective Feedback

Types of Feedback (Hattie) TypeEfficacyGood for...Timing Task FT More effective on simple than complex tasks Inaccuracies and misconceptions Rapid – before frustration occurs Process FP Better for deep learning Cues for searching/ strategies Delayed Learning FR Better for developing self-regulation & independence Student motivationUse judgement Character FS Least effective whether praise or criticism

Hattie’s Research Feedback is more effective: On correct rather than incorrect responses, and when it builds upon a change the student has made. It is less effective where the student was not confident in the first place and the response is wrong On clearly defined and low complexity tasks Where there is a low level of threat. It is less effective where feedback is public, or less confident students have their shortcomings exposed Where the student accepts the goals Where the focus is on the task, process or learning rather than the character of the learner. It is less effective when focused on the character of the learner Where it is a written comment rather than a grade Where clear, logical and meaningful improvement strategies are given which fit with the student’s prior knowledge. It is less effective where it is poorly understood Where is is not too frequent which can lead to teacher dependency

Giving good feedback “[It] is considered as feedback only when it is used to alter the gap.” Royce Sadler

“Marking is an act of Love” Phil Beadle How to Teach

Good feedback is matched to the task and involves more work for the student than the teacher StudentInitial Task StudentProof read Feedback Choices Teacher returns substandard work and repeats instruction. Students annotate their initial task Class feedback: Teacher models the correct answer or provides a model for students to interact with as improvement task Students self or peer- assess work using an Assessment Framework to generate feedback Class feedback. Teacher gives generic improvement strategies and addresses misconceptions. Students annotate their initial task Teacher gives icons, letters or dots to direct student reflection. Students annotate their initial task Teacher gives individual written improvement strategies Teacher gives individual oral improvement strategies noted down by the student Requires Lesson TimeLesson Time & Preparation of model (or this could be collated from initial tasks) Assessment Frameworks (see History Exemplars) Lesson TimeBrief marking time Extended marking time 1:1 time in lesson StudentReflection activities on feedback StudentImprovement Task StudentProof read TeacherTeacher feedback building on changes students have made “With inefficient learners it is better for a teacher to provide elaborations through instruction than to provide feedback on poorly understood concepts” Hattie & Timperley

Use feedback at the right time “Delaying, reducing and summarising feedback can be better for long term learning than providing immediate trial-by-trial feedback” (Bjork) as learners who are overly dependent on feedback during practice can do badly in assessment when the feedback is removed. Avoid premature feedback. Don’t give feedback until the work is ready for this. Re-teaching might be better than feedback Avoid learned helplessness and students using feedback as a crutch. Leave clear ‘feedback gaps’ or ‘struggle time’ for students to work without this Make students proof read their work or highlight key areas that you are looking for e.g. use of precise evidence or analysis. This allows feedback to build upon a change the student has made. See History Self-Assessment Exemplars Give ‘real time’ feedback to catch misconceptions early. Teaching Use the TOWER strategy: TalkOrganiseWriteEditRedraft

Ensure improvement strategies are useful Hattie points out that feedback is most effective on low complexity and clearly defined tasks. Break down/ model success criteria so that improvement strategies are low complexity and clearly defined. Good improvement strategies are: a.Related to the goal of the task b.Clear (broken into simple specific steps) c.Understood by the student d.Useful – not too task-specific (transferable to other unseen versions of the task) e.Focused – not too much f.Timely Consider using different colour pens for task, process and learning feedback Differentiate feedback: use different colours for improving accuracy, adding detail, expanding on the task etc. Teaching Use dot-marking to focus on a single next step. Teaching Make your feedback thought-provoking: how could you, rather than you could

Feedback is wasted without feed forward “Simply providing more feedback is not the answer” Hattie & Timperley Provide meaningful self or peer assessment frameworks. See Exemplars Students annotate the teacher’s comments or traffic light for understanding Students fill in an improvement grid when submitting the improvement task Students work as a group to produce a perfect answer based on feedback Students do corrections or improve work using the Purple Pen of Progress and resubmit work Post it improvement strategies are moved to the improvement task and signed off by the teacher when met to be kept at back of the student’s book or folder. Encourage students to compete over who has the most completed improvement post its. Feedback plasters are a similar Teach See examples of using dedicated improvement English See examples of using sentence English See examples of using layered Teaching See examples of using gallery English Use book polishing at the end of a topic for students to improve their work Teachers’ Strategy for Improvement Do I understand this?How have I addressed this in the improvement task? Teacher: Has this been achieved?

Feedback should be followed by teacher action StudentInitial Task TeacherReflection: How did I do at teaching this? TeacherIf it’s worked more of the same Adjusted Instruction Adjusted planning Note for next time StudentReflection on feedback StudentImprovement Task TeacherDoes the improvement task show that I’ve nailed it?

Expect more Use the power of the word YET Develop an Ethic of Excellence: Learning Learning Journey Give students an example of excellence Students produce draft Model to students how to critique Student Critique Critique the Critique Redraft

Save Time on ‘close the gap’ Marking TeacherStudent Annotates the workCreates improvement strategies from the teacher’s annotations Writes improvement strategies at end of workAnnotates the areas where improvement is needed Identifies 1 strength and 1 improvementPeer coaches another student on the strength Addresses the improvement in the Improvement Task Puts a double tick next to the good partsAnnotates the work to explain why Uses colour coded dots, icons or letters to highlight mistakes Student has to ‘find and fix’ their mistakes Use a feedback key e.g. E for lack of evidenceStudent improves their work Further explanation can be Teach