You know, feedback is a funny topic. Like everyone, I’ve received a lot of feedback on various things and activities in my life. Generally, I’ve been fortunate to receive good feedback however, when I’ve received feedback that indicates that my work is deficient in some way it has been just like Hattie said, incomplete and not very helpful regarding moving forward or improving. As a result, I fear that I have not been fortunate to be on the receiving end of constructive feedback to improve my performance. By the same token, positive feedback I’ve received has also been somewhat unhelpful, i.e. not complete, leaving me with no where to move forward.
As a result of this, I’ve really tried to develop a feedback style that mirrors what Hattie recommends. I do use a sort of “sandwich technique” of first offering commentary regarding what I like about student work, followed by opportunities for improvement, and finishing with how to move the work forward in a positive way. I try to be progressive in my mindset and help students see that they can improve, to keep them from feeling fixed in their own mindset. Sometimes I fail at this, especially during busy times.
Like many who provide feedback, I also tend to take a long time to try to give complete feedback, which can be frustrating for students. The other thing I find is that when I try to give detailed feedback, especially in situations where I’m trying to offer suggestions for improvement or indicate where student work was deficient, I really don’t want to hear back from the student. I know this is not ideal but it’s challenging to be questioned about your opinion. I think many instructors don’t handle that well and it’s something that I need to find a way to deal with better. Perhaps asking for students to put their questions regarding feedback in writing would help and give me some time to think about how to best respond to their questions.
I was once taught by a mentor that you mark the work, not the student. This is one of the hardest things to remember as I engage with students and get to know them but it’s something that I think I need to keep in mind to help me to give the best feedback I can and to exercise patience with students who do not respond well to feedback I’ve given. This will help to to maintain my objectivity and to help to give both good and back feedback better.
Hello Nancy,
I really liked your this post about feedback. I also believe that as an instructor we should mark the work not student but sometimes it’s also surprising when we know the potential of a students but he ends up coming with an excellent work. Ever it happened to you that you become doubtful about the ownership of the work? Also, how do you motivate the student if his first submission is way below your expectation.
Regards
Zubair
Hi Zubair!
It does happen that there are inconsistencies between what I expect and what I get – in both directions, i.e. that they do better or worse than expected. I find that happens more at the start of the term than the end since I don’t really know the students very well until later in the term. When first submissions are not where they need to be I find that it is the case for most students so I’m able to take a “class-level” approach to performance management and improvement. I’m likely to have a discussion in-class where mistakes generally occurred to take the pressure off students who did not do well and to let them know that they were not the only ones that struggled. I also specifically ask students who under-perform to come see me to talk about where they went wrong so I can do some one-on-one assessment of challenges they’re having. I’m a big cheerleader for my students so I approach this in a positive but realistic way.