Source: Image of two teachers, Public Domain, http://bit.ly/1Ef4vxv
Hi. My name is Ashley, and today's lesson is titled Feedback Tips.
In today's lesson, we will review the role of feedback and discuss the two types of feedback that can be given. Lastly, we'll look at tips for giving effective feedback. Let's go ahead and begin.
What is the role of feedback? Instructional coaches' main role is to provide feedback, which can be challenging at times. Feedback and criticism can be difficult for people to hear.
Teachers especially can be very sensitive about hearing feedback on the interactions they have with their students. It's critical that feedback must be effective in order to assist teachers in reaching their professional development goals. I can admit sometimes it is difficult to have someone else tell you that you're doing something wrong, but effective coaches will be able to tell teachers their ideas of improvement without being offensive.
What are the two types of feedback? The two main types of feedback are descriptive and evaluative. We can think of these much like the types of assessments, formative and summative.
Descriptive feedback is factual. It describes what was observed in the lesson. It is objective and very straightforward as it relates to the improvement goal.
The whole purpose of descriptive feedback is to help the teacher improve by accurately describing what is happening during instruction. So this type of feedback is for learning. The teacher uses this feedback to learn how to improve in the needed areas.
Examples of descriptive feedback is a coach saying, "I really like how you gave all your students an opportunity to participate in the classroom discussion by calling on them whether their hand was up or not. But next time, why don't you try giving students more wait time so that they have more of an opportunity to fully think of the answer to be able to respond to the questions?" Or, "You're doing a really good job at implementing the strategies of math stations that we discussed last week in our professional development workshop. Many of the students were engaged and knew the purpose of the learning activity."
Another example is, "I noticed while you were teaching, some of your students were not fully engaged. There were some students playing with their pencils and others who were not focused on the board. You can increase your student engagement more by walking around the classroom and being closer to those students who frequently become disengaged." These three examples are showing how the coach is using what was observed to help the teacher improve in certain areas.
Let's take a look at evaluative feedback. Evaluative feedback assesses progress as it relates to the teacher's professional development goals. The coach may use previous observation data, as well as the teacher evaluation system chosen by the school district, to assess the teacher's performance.
This type of feedback is summative. It is a feedback of learning. It is a conclusion of what has been learned by the teacher.
Here are some examples of this type of feedback. After your observation, your coach has a conference with you and states and you have scored a 4 on each category of the rubric. This means your performance has exceeded expectations. Another example is that you have met 9 of the 10 objectives during your lesson. You have scored proficient in the category of classroom management.
And here's one final example. "Unfortunately, as a result of your observation yesterday and the data that was collected, you failed to meet the objectives of your goal. This results in a score of a 2 on the teacher evaluation rubric." These three examples only provide a score rating, but no information for improvements.
How can you provide effective feedback? The author of The Art of Coaching, Elena Aguilar, offers suggestions to coaches in order to provide effective feedback. First, she suggests coaches should determine a level of trust. No type of feedback, especially evaluative, should be given to a teacher unless trust has been established. If trust has not been established, any type of negative feedback could cause a teacher to become defensive, and this could have a negative effect on the coaching relationship.
Next, Aguilar suggests that coaches ask teachers' permission in order to provide them with feedback. Feedback can be on an issue the teacher raised or on something the coach observed. It's also effective when the coach states the intention for the feedback so that the teacher understands that the coach is being supportive of teachers' professional growth.
An example of this would be if the coach says, "Would you mind if I came and observed your math rotations? You explained to me the last time we talked that you were concerned about the content of the stations and the time it took for students to transition from one station to the next. Do you mind if I observe and then provide you feedback on what I see?" So as you can see, this is the polite way to get a teacher's permission in order to receive feedback.
Next, coaches should provide feedback on what has been observed. Descriptions of what has occurred in the class should be used in the feedback. For example, "I noticed some students looked confused and were unclear about the directions for the math games rotation. Do you know why this occurred? Can you think of a strategy to prevent this from occurring?"
Next, Aguilar suggests that coaches must also remember to limit negative feedback to one or two items. As we stated earlier in the tutorial, feedback and criticism can be difficult for people to hear, and you don't want to overwhelm the teacher by giving them a long list of things they do wrong. In the case that a coach has observed many things that need attention, the coach should just give feedback in small increments. Eventually, all the concerns should be addressed, but the coach must decide which one or two concerns are most closely related to the professional development goal and needs the most attention.
In order to provide effective feedback, coaches must learn how to phrase feedback to accommodate individual teachers. While there might be some teachers who can take direct suggestions such as, "Make sure you give students enough time to think before calling on someone else," there will be some teachers who will benefit from a softer approach, such as, "The student's mind is still developing at this age and will require a little more time to process information. Therefore, it may be beneficial for you to give your students a couple minutes of wait time to allow them to fully understand the question and to prepare their response." The coach must also learn who their teachers are so they will know the best way to phrase feedback.
Lastly, Aguilar suggests that coaches should encourage teachers to reflect on their teaching practices after feedback has been given. Coaches should listen to what the teacher says and how they say it, whether they are defensive or relieved or worried about the changes that need to be made or what was observed. An effective coach should be ready to respond to their emotional concerns and help them through the reflective process.
Let's recap what we have discussed in today's lesson. We discussed the role of feedback. Feedback provides helpful suggestions, but it can also be challenging to give.
There are two types of feedback, descriptive and evaluative. Descriptive feedback gives an overview of what is observed, and it is feedback for learning with the purpose of helping the teacher grow. Evaluative feedback assesses the teacher's progress and is a feedback of learning. It is the conclusion of the teacher's performance.
Lastly, we looked at the suggestions for effective feedback from Elena Aguilar. Some of the suggestions we covered was determining a level of trust between teachers before giving feedback and limiting negative feedback.
As we bring this lesson to a close, consider how these tips will help you be a more effective coach. To dive a little deeper and learn how to apply this information, be sure to check out the additional resources section associated with this video. This is where you'll find links targeted toward helping you discover more ways to apply this course material.
Overview
(00:00 - 00:10) Introduction
(00:11 - 00:26) What Will You Learn Today?
(00:27 - 01:14) What is the Role of Feedback?
(01:15 - 04:21) What are the Two Types of Feedback?
(04:22 - 07:55) How Can You Provide Effective Feedback?
(07:56 - 08:46) What Did You Learn Today?
(08:47 - 09:09) Reflection
Seven Keys to Effective Feedback
This ASCDÂ article gives practical advice for instructional coaches and leaders in giving feedback for instructional improvement.
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/Seven-Keys-to-Effective-Feedback.aspx
Providing Effective Feedback to Teachers: A Critical Task of Instructional Leaders
This resource prepared by the New Jersey Department of Education
provides a clear and concise overview of the important role of leaders
in providing feedback to teachers to improve practice.
http://www.state.nj.us/education/AchieveNJ/teacher/iqt/training/feedback.pdf