Induction tutor materials
Training session - high-quality feedback
Duration: 75 minutes
Session objectives
Learn how to:
Provide high-quality feedback, by:
- 6i. Appreciating that pupils’ responses to feedback can vary depending on a range of social factors (for example, the message the feedback contains or the age of the child).
Make marking manageable and effective, by:
- 6n. Using verbal feedback during lessons in place of written feedback after lessons where possible.
- 6o. Understanding that written marking is only one form of feedback.
How to prepare for the session
The facilitator should read:
- the mentor materials for this module
- Year 1 materials on developing effective classroom practice
ECTs could be asked to:
- consider how they currently provide time for pupils to respond to feedback
- collect evidence of specific feedback they provide to pupils on how they can improve
- collect evidence (oral, written or from marking) of how the pupils responded to their actions or guidance
Session structure:
Explain that this training session builds on knowledge developed through the self-directed study materials and mentor sessions. It also builds on the learning they completed in Year 1, particularly how pupils learn.
Activating prior knowledge: how has your use of feedback developed, and how do your pupils respond to it? (15 minutes)
Ask ECTs to identify what they’ve learned about giving feedback since Year 1.
Prompts include:
- the approaches to feedback they’ve tried or still use in their teaching
- their evaluations of the effectiveness of these approaches
- how pupils’ responses to feedback has varied, why this may have occurred, and how the ECT managed this
ECTs may have tried a number of different feedback approaches including:
- peer-assessment
- self-assessment
- verbal or written feedback
- giving pupils time to respond to feedback
- giving clues to correct errors rather than simply marking as ‘wrong’
Reflect that giving specific feedback to pupils on what they’ve learned and how they can improve this (for example, "Improve this by adding another reason to explain your answer"), is likely to have more of an impact on learning than feedback about how they carried out a task or how they behaved during the task (for example, "You wrote neatly and worked well with others").
Ask ECTs to identify 2 things they can do in the next few weeks to develop how pupils respond to feedback.
Ideas include:
- providing immediate verbal feedback for some pupils rather than written feedback, or vice versa
- focussing on feedback relating to learning rather than behaviour
- simplifying the language used in feedback
Appreciate pupils’ responses to feedback can vary depending on a range of social factors (15 minutes)
Share the following information about some pupils:
Tiana is in Year 3
She is hardworking and conscientious. The last time you gave her constructive feedback she was really upset.
George is in Year 9
He works hard and always puts in a lot of effort to both homework and class work.
Mika is in Year 11
You know she’s capable of doing really well in her GCSE exams but if she continues on her current trajectory, she will not fulfil her potential.
Ask ECTs to consider how:
- their feedback to each of the pupils differ?
- the pupils’ responses might differ?
Reflect that we can (and should) keep some things consistent in the way we give feedback, and the way we want pupils to respond.
For example, pupils are always required to follow the specific action steps we’ve asked them to take. However, their responses might differ depending on a range of social factors. We also need to make sure that we do not use overly complex language or jargon with young children.
Feedback should be kind, specific and helpful.
Ask ECTs to consider the following feedback:
- rewrite paragraph
- disappointing effort on test
- gig improvement needed
- please re-do
- you need to analyse and evaluate more
- marking this was a big waste of my time
Discuss:
- what's the issue with this feedback?
- how would you change this feedback?
Verbal feedback and understanding that written marking is only one form of feedback (30 minutes)
Share the following quote:
"Verbal feedback from teacher to pupil can be particularly effective in freeing up teachers’ time to observe pupils’ learning, it can also be given in the moment which reduces waiting time. Teachers are able to respond quickly with additional support to individuals as appropriate."
Black et al, 2004, Gibson et al, 2015
Think, pair, share: Ask, what are the benefits of using verbal feedback?
Answers might include:
- it's immediate: pupils can make the correction in real time
- it's not onerous: work does not need to take place beyond the lesson
- it can be more dialogic: it’s possible to unpick with pupils the reason they’ve made the error and therefore, the feedback can be more precise
Share the following quote:
"A central problem in the area of assessment in the classroom has been in the way that teachers often confuse marking and feedback…there is an extraordinary amount of energy expended by teachers on marking and often very little to show for it in the way of student benefit. A set of marked books is traditionally seen as an effective proxy for good teaching but there is a lot of evidence to say that this might not be the case. Certainly students need to know where they make misconceptions or spelling errors and this provides a useful diagnostic for teachers to inform what they will teach next, but the written comments at the end of a piece of work are often the most time-consuming and also the most ineffective."
Wiliam and Christadoulou (2017)
Ask ECTs to imagine they’ve asked pupils to complete a piece of work. Instead of marking each book with a set of comments, what could they do instead?
Share the following 3 ideas for practice and ask ECTs to reflect on how they could use these in their own teaching.
For each one, ECTs should decide:
- what would be the benefit of delivering feedback in this way?
- in what way could they see themselves using this strategy?
Idea 1
Teacher reads all of the work but does not write comments. Teacher starts the lesson with whole-class feedback based on the themes that arose. Uses a ‘do now’ activity to address the key thing that a majority of pupils struggled with.
Idea 2
Teacher creates a bank of numbered specific targets based on a reading of the work and shows these at the beginning of the lesson. The pupils write out the one that relates to their work and then is given time to respond. Teacher should circulate.
Idea 3
Teacher reads all of the work but instead of producing comments selects a couple of the pieces of best work. The teacher marks one and photocopies it. The teacher photocopies the other one but keeps it free of marks. At the start of the next lesson, teacher uses the marked copy with pupils to explain why this is a model piece of work. Pupils then have a go at marking the blank copy. Teacher facilitates a discussion about how pupils marked the work (a form of moderation). The pupils then use this experience to mark either their own work or the work of a peer.
As an extension to this task, ECTs should see if they can devise any more ideas which they can share with the group.
Planning for action (10 minutes)
ECTs should:
- review the actions they’ve planned in this session
- identify when they’ll try out each of the strategies
- make a note of this to share with their mentor