Feedback Skills

Video Transcription

Hi, my name is Ashley. And today's lesson is titled feedback skills. In today's lesson, we'll define feedback skills. We'll also define active listening and accountable talk, looking specifically at the three dimensions of accountable talk. Lastly, we'll identify how these techniques can effectively be applied in providing feedback.

What are feedback skills? Since instructional coaching involves both giving and receiving feedback, feedback skills must be implemented so that feedback is effective. Feedback is essential as colleagues work collaboratively to improve their instructional practices.

Feedback skills such as active listening and accountable talk are used in instructional coaching. These techniques are useful for giving and receiving feedback. These techniques can also help establish a trusting relationship and improve understanding. Let's look at these techniques in more detail.

What is active listening? Active listening is a communication technique that involves the listener responding to the things that the speaker says using verbal and non-verbal communication. This communication technique is used in many different fields, such as counseling, training, conflict resolution, medicine, and journalism. This is a technique that should also be used by the mentee and coach. Let's look at several strategies to use active listening effectively.

Pay attention. Make sure you are giving whomever is speaking your full attention and not interrupting or causing distractions. Paying attention to what is being said allows you to have a full understanding of what the speaker is saying. And you can effectively respond based off what has been said.

Active listening may take some practice. Active listening also involves both verbal and non-verbal signs of listening. You can do this by giving proper body language as far as giving eye contact, looking in the speaker's direction, nodding to show you understand, and observing the gestures and demeanor of the speaker. Using body language can improve giving and receiving feedback. Because body language is a nonverbal cue, you can signal that you're listening without interrupting the speaker.

Offer feedback and respond to what is being said. Responses can be both verbal and nonverbal. Restate what has been said or ask questions to get a better understanding.

Respond appropriately and professionally. Responses should be honest, yet respectful. And your response should be helpful and not offensive. When you offer honest and respectful feedback, colleagues are more likely to trust what you say and consider your suggestions, and actually apply them to their instruction.

What is accountable talk? Accountable talk is a conversation technique where evidence must support what's being said. Accountable talk was first introduced by Lauren Resnick, who established the technique with the purpose of increasing the level of academic conversations.

Accountable talk includes challenging one another's statements. Requiring supporting evidence and elaboration. Asking the speaker for clarifications. And continuing to work to further understand what is being said.

To use accountable talk effectively, here are some follow-up questions that can be used. Can you please further explain what you mean by using more formative assessments? The follow-up question improves the giving and receiving of feedback because now you're asking for clarification on something that was not clear to you. As a result of the clarification, now you should be able to successfully implement the feedback.

Here's another follow-up question. Can you tell me at what point of the lesson where students were least engaged? Here, the teacher's asking for supporting evidence to support a statement made. This will help the teacher understand the feedback that has been given.

And here's the last example of a follow-up question or response. So it sounds like I need to work on my classroom management strategies. Do you have any suggestions or methods that I can try out? Here the teacher is trying to further understand what the coach is asking and even ask the coach to provide suggestions.

What are the three dimensions of accountable talk? Accountable talk includes three dimensions. The first is accountability to the learning community. This dimension involves colleagues communicating with one another. Colleagues engage in active listening and respectfully respond to one another, agreeing or disagreeing on a given topic. In relation to coaching feedback, this means that both people involved listen and respond to each other with respect.

Accountability to accurate knowledge is the second dimension of accountable talk. This involves the discussions between colleagues and coaching situations, and professional learning communities, or Critical Friends Groups.

Colleagues have open and transparent conversations about their teaching. Colleagues are involved in inquiry, and ask each other challenging questions with the goal of making improvements to everyone's teaching practices. In relation to coaching feedback, this means that both people involved ask each other questions to clarify information to make sure details are accurate and clear.

The third dimension of accountable talk is accountability to rigorous thinking. This involves using knowledge to justify instructional choices. Teachers are accountable when they are given extensive reasoning for strategies or procedures chosen for their classroom. In relation to coaching feedback, both people involved use supporting evidence to give reasoning for their instructional changes. They ask each other questions to understand the reasoning behind instructional approaches chosen.

Let's recap what we have learned in today's lesson. Effective feedback skills should be used by the mentee and coach when giving and receiving feedback in order to improve instructional practices. Active listening and accountable talk are instructional coaching relationship techniques that can be useful for giving and receiving feedback.

Active listening involves verbal and nonverbal methods of communication. And accountable talk is a conversation technique where evidence must support what's being said. It has three dimensions-- accountability to the learning community, accountability to accurate knowledge, and accountability to rigorous thinking.

Consider how you can use feedback skills effectively to give and receive feedback. For more information on how to apply what you learned in this video, please view the Additional Resources section that accompanies this video presentation. The Additional Resources section includes hyperlinks useful for applications of the course material, including a brief description of each resource.