Effective Feedback “Tips”

1.Rubrics

* When doing writing conferences with students, have rubrics ready to reflect on. For example, elementary teachers can use the BELLA rubrics when conducting conferences to give effective feedback to students.

Get student involvement when developing rubrics. With primary, use smiley faces, half smiles, and question marks to maintain a positive self/peer assessment tool.

*Math rubrics should be made “kid friendly.”

*When using a rubric, try to keep the scoring categories to minimum. General rule of thumb that I found to work is between 3-6. This will obviously vary with the age of the students and the complexity of the assignment.

2.Procedures

*A dramatization (modelling) of the procedures can have a deeper impact on student performance than simply telling the students what they are to do.

ALWAYS model the procedure (what you want the students to do/how to do it) for better involvement and accountability. Make it an engaging atmosphere.

3.Planning

*Use a calendar to schedule conferences with your students. Make sure you schedule times to meet individually or in pairs several times a year. Keep it as a sacred time- nonnegotiable!! If it is your first conference with the student, allow more time, but keep it simple. Do not try to discuss multiple subjects during the same conference. It can be overwhelming, especially for elementary students.

* Set up conferences so that they are relevant to the time. If the student just took their BELAA, feedback would be effective because it is immediate. Also, plan for conferences before student led conferences so that the students are comfortable talking about their work.

4.Classroom Management

*While conferencing with individual students or pairs, the other children can be at work stations, doing independent seat work, or reading silently at their desks (Drop Everything And Read time, 100 Book Challenge time, etc.). If that still does not work for your classroom, perhaps a co-worker would be willing to watch your students at recess (elementary) while you conference with several students that day. Once each child has had the opportunity to meet with you, you could switch roles with the other teacher, allowing her the time to conference with her students.

* High school teachers can set up a calendar and have students come in for 10 minute writing conferences- two before school and 3 after- if they are looking for time outside of instruction time.

High engagement, room set up is important, and create the feeling of a risk-free environment, so ALL learners feel safe (inclusion/D/HH/ Autism).

5.Formative Assessment

*Give opportunities for student groups to assess each other’s work using the rubric before the summative assessment.

Thumbs up/thumbs down; red, green, yellow circles - green means “I got it!”, yellow means “I’m almost there!”, and red means “I need help.”

6. Resources

Brookhart, Susan M. How to give effective feedback to your students.ASCD, 2008.