1. Moving Learning Forward Through Effective Feedback Brooke Dillon, Instructional Coach

2. How can all of these be true? “Teachers who spend hours giving feedback might not be getting the biggest bang for their buck.” (Tovani) “...research suggests that feedback can be one of the most effective instructional strategies for improving student performance and closing achievement gaps (Hattie, 2012). (Hattie, Fisher, and Frey) “Decades of education research support the idea that by teaching less and providing more feedback, we can produce greater learning.” (Wiggins) “In about one-third of the 131 studies examined did feedback improve learning.” (Chappuis)

3. Today’s Target Learning Target: I can reflect on my current feedback practice and create a feedback action plan for 2016-2017 to move my students’ learning forward. Success Criteria ● I can explain what feedback is ● I can reflect on my own feedback practices ● I can list and explain effective feedback strategies ● I can select 1-3 specific new strategies I am going to implement next school year and explain how I will implement them

4. Feedback

5. What’s new? What resonates with you? What questions does this raise?

6. What was (or is) considered feedback in the classroom... When you were a student? When you started teaching? In your current assignment? In the ideal teaching situation?

7. Reflection

8. Which feedback practices are most effective? 1. Decide which statement describes more effective feedback practices for moving learning forward. 1. Move to that side of the room. You may go to the middle if you think the practices are equally effective. 1. Be prepared to discuss and share.

9. Which is more effective in moving learning forward? Focusing my time and energy on the student response to feedback. Focusing my time and energy on creating feedback aligned to my learning targets and success criteria.

10. Although both are important, teachers must focus on how students respond to feedback. Feedback is useless if students don’t use it in some way to move their learning forward. For most students, teachers need to “specify the process by which [students] will use the feedback to improve their work” (Wiliam 124). “It isn’t the giving of feedback that causes learning gains, it is the acting on feedback that determines how much students learn.” (Chappuis)

11. Which is more effective in moving learning forward? In my feedback, I focus on praising students for their skill. In my feedback, I focus on praising students for their effort.

12. Which is more effective in moving learning forward? Feedback that reinforces. Feedback that prescribes

13. A number of studies find that the most effective teachers praise less than others. Additionally, their praise is: ➢ specific to a task the student has recently completed ➢ seen as sincere and genuine by the student ➢ is related to something within student control. Carol Dweck has found that praising students’ intelligence harms their motivation and performance.

14. “One of the most common pieces of advice about feedback given to teachers is that feedback should not be critical. Of course, when feedback is too critical, it is less likely that students will act on the feedback, but the problem is often that feedback needs to be critical in order to improve performance” (123). “Too much supportive feedback can lead students to believe that the work is acceptable and further improvement is optional” (124). “A prescriptive comment, such as ‘Do you have a claim? Where is your evidence? Provide some justification that supports your claim,’ helps the student know how to improve.” (Kroog, Hess, and Ruiz-Primo)

15. Which is more effective in moving learning forward? Comments and a grade on an assignment or project Comments only on an assignment or project

16. Multiple studies have shown that comments alone produce much better work in their final draft or work session, while grades with comments make it much harder for students to learn. “If teachers are providing careful diagnostic comments and then putting a score or a grade on the work, they are wasting their time. They might as well just give a score or a grade--the students won’t learn anything as a result, but the teacher will save a great deal of time” (109).

17. Which is more effective in moving learning forward? Very specific feedback focused on a recently- completed task or assignment. Feedback that focuses on the skill involved in the task or assignment.

18. If the feedback relates to a particular task, it will improve only the student’s ability to complete that task. The goal of feedback is to transfer to general tasks, not be limited to a task he/she may never repeat. “Telling students how to improve a particular piece of work may just be the equivalent of placing ice cubes in the mouth of a patient with a fever” (123).

19. What other traits make feedback effective? (from “Seven Keys to Effective Feedback” by Grant Wiggins) Goal-referenced Learning target is clear to student Specific success criteria enable students to self-assess, as well as to understand feedback from teacher

20. What other traits make feedback effective? Goal-referenced Tangible and transparent Student-friendly and visible Student hears or understands feedback May include video or audio recordings

21. What other traits make feedback effective? Goal-referenced Tangible and transparent Actionable Concrete, specific, useful (what should I do more/less of next time?) Accepted by student Neutral and based on data

22. What other traits make feedback effective? Goal-referenced Tangible and transparent Actionable User-friendly (specific and personalized) Should aim at student’s level of skill & understanding Finds the leverage point (1 or 2 key elements of focus)

23. What other traits make feedback effective? Goal-referenced Tangible and transparent Actionable User-friendly Timely Must arrive while attempt and effects are still fresh May use technology, peer review, self-evaluation against criteria

24. What other traits make feedback effective? Goal-referenced Tangible and transparent Actionable User-friendly Timely Ongoing Opportunities to reshape performance

25. What other traits make feedback effective? Goal-referenced Tangible and transparent Actionable User-friendly Timely Ongoing Consistent Stable, accurate, trustworthy

26. How much feedback should I give? ¼ detailed feedback from teacher ¼ quick look by teacher ¼ peer feedback ¼ self-assessment

27. Strategies to make kids work as hard as we do

28. Make Feedback into Detective Work Write comments on strips of paper, giving four comment strips and four essays to a small group. Students must match comments with essays. Students score rubric in pencil before submitting. After teacher has graded, ask students to write a rationale for each area in which your scores differed. Return an assignment with the number wrong at the top. Students have to find the ones that are wrong and fix them. Mark conventions errors with a checkmark on the line. Students must find the error and fix it. When reviewing an assignment, explain that the student has misinterpreted or misunderstood the chronology without explaining what they did incorrectly. They must find and fix the errors.

29. Watching strategies for student feedback Making Feedback Meaningful

31. Changing my practice

32. How can all of these be true? “Teachers who spend hours giving feedback might not be getting the biggest bang for their buck.” (Tovani) “...research suggests that feedback can be one of the most effective instructional strategies for improving student performance and closing achievement gaps (Hattie, 2012). (Hattie, Fisher, and Frey) “Decades of education research support the idea that by teaching less and providing more feedback, we can produce greater learning.” (Wiggins) “In about one-third of the 131 studies examined did feedback improve learning.” (Chappuis)

33. A departing thought “Remember that ‘no time to give and use feedback’ actually means no time to cause learning.’” (Wiggins)

34. And, remember... “Students who are fortunate enough to be taught by the most effective teacher will learn in six months what those taught by the average teacher will take a year to learn. Those taught by the least effective teacher in that group are likely to take two years to learn the same material...In other words, the most effective teachers generate learning in their students at four times the rate of the least effective teachers.” (Ny, Konstantopoulos, & Hedges, 2004)