Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Feedback isn't a Strategy

At a recent presentation at WEMTA, I spoke on using technology to increase feedback.  As I was preparing the presentation, I spent some time looking at the Hattie study - actually a metastudy of 138 educational strategies and influences ranked by effect size.  For the purposes of the study, Hattie classifies "feedback" as one of the top strategies, but very few of the top strategies would be possible without extensive feedback from a teacher.

Feedback cannot be a just another strategy in a classroom.
Feedback is the "oil" in the engine of learning.

Oil makes everything happen better - smoother - more efficiently - faster.
Oil makes the engine last longer and go farther.
Oil allows power to be transferred from one place to another.

Feedback is the oil that makes learning happen.  It makes learning happen deeper, more efficiently, and allows that transfer to happen.  Teachers and leaders need to focus on increasing feedback in meaningful ways.  In the landscape of standards based learning and formative assessment, feedback is more important than ever.  And with all our assessment, it should be easier than ever.

Here are four few feedback rules I have learned:
• Feedback that isn't used isn't feedback - it's just noise.
    (Feedback should never be the last thing a students sees or hears from a teacher.)
• Feedback on a task that wasn't a challenge to begin with isn't feedback.
    (Think about your above level students and every task you assign!)
• When a teacher gives feedback, it needs to be practiced immediately by the student.
    (Music teachers know that if you say it, you need to immediately rehearse it.)
• Use the "masterclass model" of teaching to provide feedback if you are short on time.   
     (Give quality feedback to one person while everyone else watches and learns.  Yes, this
     takes a trusting classroom community, but it is very effective.)


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