Looking at Descriptive Feedback

Not all feedback is good feedback.  In fact, research on feedback has shown that some types of feedback contribute to further learning and some feedback contributes little or nothing to further learning.  Because "Students filter what they hear through their own past experiences, good and bad," it may be helpful to couch feedback in terms that make further learning more likely.  To do this, research says feedback should be descriptive (informative) rather than evaluative.

In order to increase the chances that students will interpret feedback as descriptive, rather than evaluative, a teacher can implement a few practices.
1.  Students should be given several opportunities "to practice and receive feedback without a grade attached."
2. Feedback should describe what can be seen- "how close is it to your learning target? What do you think would help?"

The content of descriptive feedback describes what was done well and why it is good; it also describes what else the student can do to improve both in the task and in the process. Though Brookhart cautions that all feedback needs to be considered in context, she offers multiple examples of feedback that could be considered descriptive: 

Your details strongly support your claim that we should recycle newspapers.  That's great.  Where did you find all those facts?

and

This report probably wouldn't convince a reader who didn't already agree we should recycle.  What else could you do to make a more convincing argument?

Both examples of feedback give the student an area to work on next.

On a personal note, I do point out when students do something well, but I do not always make sure that they understand why I consider it well done.  This is something I need to work on incorporating more deliberately into my feedback.


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A Measuring Stick for Feedback

So, how can I check to see if my feedback is connecting to students?  According to Susan M. Brookhart,

Student response is the criterion against which you can evaluation your own feedback.  Your feedback is good if it gets the following results:

• Your students do learn--their work does improve.
• Your students become more motivated--they believe they can learn, they want to learn, and they take more control over their own learning.
• Your classroom becomes a place where feedback, including constructive criticism, is valued and viewed as productive.

Well,this is the measuring stick--my personal performance target. I will revisit it over the next month as I work to improve the quality of feedback that I provide for my students.

Photo by Scott Akerman

Too Much, Too Little, Just Right

I started reading How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students by Susan M. Brookhart, and I am already feeling exceedingly challenged.   The first section was about timing: feedback needs to be timely.  Yep, got it.  I am 100 percent there.  Kids, and adults for that matter, don't care any more if they have moved on from the subject under consideration.  Therefore, the feedback has to be given while it is still on the mind and while there is still something the student can do about it.

The second section was on amount. Screeching halt- perhaps accompanied by audible groaning on my part.  Here is an area that I need a lot of help with.  And Brookhart gets to the heart of the matter by conceding that 

Probably the hardest decision to make about feedback is the amount to provide.  A natural inclination is to want to "fix" everything you see.

Oh, so true.  It is the hardest decision when it comes to feedback because there is so much to write sometimes and not enough time to write it.  Plus, I can easily fall into the trap of copy-editing, which often just overwhelms the students and doesn't really give the student specific ways to approach their next learning steps, if I am not careful.  However, writing "Good" or some other such nebulous comment is also unhelpful it would seem.  To make it even more challenging,

For real learning, what makes the difference is a usable amount of information that connects with something the students already knows and takes them from that point to the next level. 

The words that I fixate on in this sentence are the words usable and connects.  For feedback to be usable, it has to meet the student where he or she is at developmentally. Right now, at the beginning of the year, it is difficult to keep all of my students' names straight- let alone understand where they are at developmentally.  Furthermore, for feedback to connect, students have to hear it in such a way that they can see how it relates to their current performance and gives them a direction for improvement.  This means that it needs to not be too little or too much because both create confusion for the student. Which leaves one question: What is just right?   

Judging the right amount of feedback to give--how much, on how many points--requires deep knowledge and consideration of the following:

• The topic in general and your learning target or targets in particular 
• Typical developmental learning progressions for those topics or targets
• Your individual students

This is difficult, and I can honestly say that I struggle with giving feedback that I can truly say advances the learning of my students.  I give feedback, but I do not know to what extent is has been usable or has connected to the students- to what extent it is just right.   However, it is an important part of the formative assessment process and I am not going to get better without practicing and going through the process.  Just like in the story of Goldilocks, just right always came after too much and too little.  Right?

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For a Bird's Eye View

Brookhart published an article called "Feedback that Fits" in Educational Leadership, which serves as a summary or overview of How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students.

Photo by Rajesh Vijayarajan Photography