For this assignment, I chose two articles that I read about feedback strategies. The first one I chose was an article called "How to Give Students Specific Feedback That Actually Helps Them Learn," written by Justin Chando. I thought this was a great article to read, especially for anyone who is planning to become a teacher one day. For those of you who did not read it, the article gave seven feedback strategies for teachers to give to their students. First, it is goal-oriented. Second, it is transparent. Third, what is communicated is actionable. Fourth, it should not be confusing, vague, or general. Fifth, it is timely. Sixth, there is consistency of language, form, and other "factors." And seventh, since learning is a process, great learning feedback is ongoing. Since I am not a teacher, I hold a student's perspective on these, and I definitely agree with all seven of these. It was always so irritating to receive a difficult assignment without any rubric and vague instructions, then receiving comments back from the teacher on rough drafts that says something like, "needs improvement" or "good job." These short, unclear phrases make it so much more difficult to learn and improve yourself. It also seems like the teachers do not really care if you improve, or that they do not want to put the time into commenting on everyone's assignments. I think it is so critical to students' learning for the teachers to be involved and continuously providing feedback whenever necessary to help the students grow and mature as learners.
The second article I chose was called "Criticizing (common criticisms of) Praise," written by Valerie Strauss. Before reading this article, I had never really thought about how dangerous praise could be. The article was a summary of all the points written by Alfie Kohn, who was describing all of the negative factors associated with praise among students, employees, etc. He claims that praise is "a way of 'doing to,' rather than 'working with,' people." I think this is an interesting point, because praise seems like a way to just be able to say, "good job!" and then move on. You aren't really helping the person in the long-term or helping them grow as a person, writer, etc. Generally, this praise does not include feedback. Kohn also mentions that praise "signals conditional acceptance," because children over time learn and feel that they are only valued when they are praised by someone who is above them. I think this is really dangerous, because they will be constantly looking for approval in places where they do not need to. I do believe in some form of praise, because it is always comforting to hear someone say that you did a good job. However, I do believe that instead of simply ending the conversation at "good job," we need to add another statement. Maybe it is, "you did a good job, but next time you need to focus more on a, b, and c in your writing." I feel that you can still tell someone they did a good job while simultaneously helping them improve through constructive criticism.
I am typically not very good at giving other people feedback, strictly because I typically do not want to hurt their feelings. If they worked really hard on something but it turns out to not be very good, I hate to tell someone that all their hard work was for nothing. Typically I try to work with them and volunteer to help, without directly saying that it was bad. I feel much more comfortable with people that I know, because I feel that they know I am not trying to hurt them or be negative. But when you give feedback to someone who does not know you, they may feel that you are attacking their work. I am getting better over time with feedback, but I still have a lot of improvements to make on my end. I am hoping this class will allow me to push forward and become more confident giving feedback!
Image information: A teacher giving feedback to a student by geralt. Web Source.
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