The Progressive Teacher Vol 04 Issue 03

Effective Feedback
–Abhijeet Mandve
Do you remember any such feedback
given to you? To be more specific, any
feedback which taught you a new way
of carrying out the same activity, with much
more ease and fun? Well if yes, you might
want to hang on to that thought. It’s because
what we are about to see is the science
behind all the positive feedbacks.
Let us first understand what feedback is.
Feedback is essentially any information that
you give to your students to help them close
the gap between where they are now with
their work, and where they could be. The goal
of feedback is to provide students with insight
that helps them to improve their performance.
Giving feedback can be a difficult business.
Yet when done in the right way and with the
right intentions, feedback communication
is the avenue to performance greatness.
Students need to know what they are doing
well and not so well. For them to really hear
your thoughts and suggestions on ways to
improve, through feedback has to be delivered
carefully and frequently. Would you all agree
with me if I say that giving effective feedback
is a skill? And like all skills, it takes practice
to improve with each given feedback.
Although there are no quick or easy answers,
here are five tips for providing students
with the kind of feedback that will increase
motivation, build on existing knowledge, and
help them reflect on what they’ve learned.
1. Create safety
Believe it or not, students who receive
feedback apply it only about 30% of the
time. If the person receiving the feedback
doesn’t feel comfortable, this can cause
the feedback to ultimately be unproductive.
Create opportunities to build confidence
and skills. This is especially effective when
students are expecting to be graded. Confined
situations in which they know they are being
evaluated are good for giving feedback while
learning skills.
2. Be specific
Tell the students exactly what they need to
improve on. This ensures that you stick to
facts and there is little room for ambiguity. If
you tell someone they acted inappropriately,
what does that mean exactly? Were they loud,
unpunctual, casual or did they misbehave?
Remember to stick to what you know
firsthand.
3. The sooner the better
Numerous studies indicate that feedback is
most effective when it is given immediately,
Jul/Aug 2017
The Secret of Giving
Effective
to Students
Abhijeet D Mandve is an engineer by qualification and a
personality development trainer by profession. Under the
aegis of his firm A.C.E (Assertive & Combined Education),
he organises personality development workshops for various
institutions. These workshops mainly focus on an individual’s
current set of skills and also help him/her discover new ones.
Within these programmes, he has worked with a wide range
of audience right from job aspirants, to students and teachers
of SSC and CBSCE. His primary motive is to get people ready
for the inevitable change. He considers himself a millennial,
and tries to deliver his views through easy going and fun-filled sessions which
make the learning activity very interesting. These sessions not only provide him a
platform for improvement but also help him expand his own horizon. Any feedback is
welcome at mandveabhijeet@gmail.com.
It seems as if it was yesterday that I was a middle school
student giving a class presentation on the importance of sports. I
remember fumbling throughout the presentation. I had prepared
well but somehow that did not go as the best presentation of my
school life. However, it is definitely the most memorable one.
All thanks to my class teacher who gave me the best feedback I
have received till date.
rather than a few days, weeks, or months
down the line. Of course, it’s not always
possible to provide students with feedback
right on the spot, but sooner is definitely
better than later.
4. ‘I noticed’
Make an effort to notice a student’s
behaviour or effort at a task. For example;
‘I noticed when you solved the problem step
by step, and you got it right’; ‘I noticed you
arrived on time to class this entire week’.
Acknowledging students and the efforts they
are making goes a long way to positively
influence academic performance.
5. Invite students to
give YOU feedback
Remember when you finished a class in
school/college and you were given the chance
to ‘grade’ the teacher? Why not let students
give you feedback on how you are doing as
a teacher? Try it sometime in your class and
you might learn a thing or two about your
students’ perspective of you. Make it so that
they can do it anonymously. What did they
like about your class? If they were teaching
the class, what would they do differently? If
we are open to it, we will quickly learn a few
things about ourselves as educators.
Remember that feedback goes both ways and
as teachers it is wise to never stop improving
and honing our skills.
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