Phil Harrison Coaching

Students need to know how they measure up to the assigned task during the learning process. Teachers who provide feedback during learning give students the opportunity to fully understand their own progress and increase the impact of the learning activity. 

In the book Classroom Assessment Essentials, author Susan M. Brookhart shares the following recommendations regarding feedback messages and their delivery (p. 33):

1. Focus on the work or the process used to do the work. Part of teacher DNA involves our desire to build up the students as people. There is certainly a time and place for such work, but feedback about an assignment needs to be clearly focused on the work or process assigned to students. Think about it this way. If you hire a contractor to build a house and you go to inspect what has been done, you want to look at the framing and wiring and such. You can tell the contractor he’s a hard worker all you want later.  
2. Use both criterion-referenced and self-referenced feedback. Your assigned task was built on a specific criteria. Use feedback to measure the work being done against that criteria, so that students know how they are doing. If you have a particular set of expectations for a student, you can also provide feedback regarding how that individual student is doing on the work. Be mindful to not compare the student to other students. 
3. Describe the work. Be specific about what you are seeing in the work process. If something is working, articulate it. If something isn’t working, articulate it. Again, think back to a contractor building a house. The plan clearly shows where doors are to be framed. If you measure where the door has been framed and it is not where the plan says it should be, you have to clearly state, “That door is not where the plan shows it to be. Here is the measurement in the plan, and here is the measurement of the framed doorway.” There won’t be questions about whether or not it is right when you can clearly describe the situation. 
4. Describe strengths and employ positive language. Identify strengths in the student learning process. Use language that affirms efforts whenever possible.  
5. Be clear and check for student understanding. Simple, direct language is often the best. When you provide clear feedback, ask the student if he/she understands what is being stated. If the student does not understand, make it clear. Clarity and understanding give the student the greatest chance to learn. 
6. Give enough information to be useful but not so much as to overwhelm. There is a big difference between a refreshing sip from a garden hose and nearly drowning from the gush of a fire hose. Be wise regarding what you share and how much you share with students. 
7. Be timely. Timeliness is less about how quickly you respond to students and more about the timing of when you respond to students. The right feedback at the right moment will give students the optimal opportunity to learn. 

As you prepare for the week ahead, think about how you are providing feedback in the learning process and plan for the right word at the right time. You and your students will be glad you did.