0.5 A-reef: effective feedback

Elements 3 and 4

A natural extension of Elbow's "Giving Movies of the Mind" - Pointing and Summarizing - are the third and fourth Elements of Effective Feedback:

Element #3 of Effective Feedback

Posing 1 question for your student to consider

Tell your student what philosophical question his/her writing generates for you. What does their completed assignmentmake you wonder about on a larger level? (Here, we are not looking for rhetorical questions, rather questions that spark your curiosity.) Youmight even start your question with the words "I wonder..."

An example might be: "After reading the line in your story, 'He never strayed too far from home,' I wondered if the character washelped or hurt by staying so close to home his whole life. What do you think?"

Element #4 of Effective Feedback

Offering 1 or 2 things for improvement

The reason we say to give your student one (maybe two) things is this: If you highlight one thing for improvement, then, thestudent can take that one thing, remember it, and incorporate it for the future. In our experience, highlighting 3, 4, or more things to improve uponcan get overwhelming.

If there are more than 1 or 2 things that you think need improvement in content, keep a written record for yourself of those thingsthat need work and as future assignments come in, check to see if those issues come up again. Chances are that the issue will come up again and you'll have anopportunity to address it at that time. Also, hopefully, you'll see that the 1 or 2 issues you highlighted for improvement have been taken care of.Highlighting 1 or 2 issues keeps things manageable for the student.

For example, if your student stays general in his/her descriptions when answering a question, your "1 idea for improvement"might be:

"When you talk about your classroom, give me a specific example to support your idea - to make your thought come alive for me," or youmight point to a specific part of the writing and say "You wrote in your assignment, 'The children seemed curious.' What did that look like, feellike, sound like, taste like, smell like? Filter your description through the five senses."

Pointing to things that are effective in your Learner's completed assignment is another way to guide him or her to give youmore of that kind of writing where it is lacking. For example, you could say: "When you wrote that 'Najib's hands were shaking and his voice cracked whenhe read his paper to the class,' I felt like I was right there with you. Do this same kind of descriptive writing - filtering through the senses - when yousimply wrote, 'the children seemed curious.'"

Form for effective feedback

Here is a feedback form to use when giving your students the 4 Elements of Effective Feedback for their assignments. Click on the Word icon below to access the form:

4 Elements of Effective Feedback

If you choose not to use the form, you can also give feedback in 1 - 2 paragraphs, however, be sure to include in your response to your student the 4 Elements of Effective Feedback:

• Pointing
• Summarizing
• Posing 1 question for your Learner to consider
• Offering 1 or 2 things for improvement

In the last few pages, we have discussed the 4 Elements of Effective Feedback , a tool that you can use in your classroom for giving students feedback. However, you canalso teach this form of effective feedback to your students so that they can give each other helpful feedback while working in peer editing groups. Formaterials, click here.

Assignment 9: 4 elements of effective feedback

Assignment 9: 4 Elements of Effective Feedback

HOW TO GET TO ASSIGNMENT 9:

One Way

To do this assignment, click on the link in color at the top of the page. When it appears, press "Save" and name the file so that you canwork on this assignment "off-line." You can type right on the assignment template. Be sure to save your assignment on a disk or on your computer harddrive.

Another Way

You can also copy the text below, and save it to your disk or computer.

GOAL: To use the 4 Elements of Effective Feedback as a tool for giving effective feedback to 3 students on their writingassignments.

GIVE: Feedback to others on their assignments at the TWB Learning Cafe .

Assignment 9: 4 Elements of Effective Feedback

• Collect completed writing assignments from 3 of your students. Use the form below to provide feedback to each of your students (or addresseach of the 4 elements in 1 - 2 paragraphs of written feedback for each student):

4 Elements of Effective Feedback

HOW TO GET TO THE NEXT MODULE:

Usually, you just click "Next" to go to the next page. When you finish a section, however, (as you're about to do when you finishreading these two paragraphs), you need to click on the "Outline" button, which is on the bottom, right-hand side of the page. Look underneath the bluebar and click on the word "Outline."

When you click on "Outline," a screen will come up that will show you the outline for Course 2. Look for the next section to read andclick on the first topic in that next section. For example, when you get to the outline now, look under the next section called "Cooperative Learning andA-REEF" and look for the first topic in black lettering called "A Constructivist Approach." Click on "A Constructivist Approach."