Success criteria for feedback to be effective and promote student understanding
Effective feedback for students should be goal-oriented and tied to a clear set of expectations outlined in a rubric. When students engage in activities, they should have access to this rubric and understand the purpose of their tasks.
Success criteria for feedback to be effective and promote student understanding
Feedback should address misunderstandings of the topic before giving an overall target
If the work demonstrates misunderstanding on a topic, re-teach it to the student and then feedback on the follow up activity.
Regular feedback should be actionable, useful and specific
Give students 2 positives and a "next step" in feeding back their work. Create a dialogue with students in their self assessment and response to your feedback.
Don't give too many targets to improve upon; focus on 1, maximum 2
Use student friendly language in the rubric and feedback. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't use the terminology associated with the subject, but avoid jargon and words that students won't understand.
Don't rely on grades or "good job" - instead give specific instructions on HOW to improve e.g. reference 2 or more sources from different sources to improve your research skills
Feedback should clearly link to a goal or a focus
Feedback should be consistent and high quality; where possible as much as the teacher can, it should be linked to a clear rubric of skills and expectations
When students are completing an activity readily have the rubric and goal/purpose of the activity on hand for reference.
For example, if it is a persuasive piece of writing
then the feedback would indicate, "to make this argument more persuasive, you could include evidence to support your statements".
Provide feedback in a timely manner, while the work is fresh in the student's mind.
Feedback should allow the student to do some of the work! For example, SPAG errors should be flagged up, but the student should make the corrections themselves not the teacher.
Feedback should be ongoing and current to the student's work. For example, mark the homework/course work and return it at the next opportunity (the next lesson) so that feedback is occuring on a regular basis and forms the basis for self evaluation and target setting.
Teachers should be aware of their behaviours in class and how they are reacting to students
Teachers can be so busy "teaching" they forget to consider why a student may not be focusing or paying attention. By video recording a lesson once a month the teacher can pick up on their strategies and make regular improvements.
Less "teaching" and more opportunities
for regular and continuous feedback during an activity e.g. small group work discussions and providing feedback to individuals and small groups vs "lecturing"
Enables the teacher to continually assess and evaluate
understanding of the topic
