In teaching, one of the greatest ironies is the amount of marking and written feedback we do versus the impact of this upon learner attainment. For decades, we have busily scribbled a plethora of “helpful” comments on classwork when, in reality, our students neglect to read them, or (at most) skim and immediately forget them, focusing their attention on the tangible grade.
This cycle where we mark, return and lament the lack of progress needs to be broken. As luck would have it, we are living in a golden era of educational research where we are learning that there are exciting and effective new ways to provide meaningful feedback - and in a timely and efficient manner.
At the time of writing, spring term (one that is dreaded by English teachers and other subject specialists across the land) is drawing to an exhausted conclusion. Educators at the coal face are coming out of a coursework-imposed hibernation as we wave goodbye to folios for another year. Now is the time to think about our next steps - our own professional learning.
Over the course of this year, I have been on a quest to improve my use of feedback and, hopefully, enhance my digital skills in the classroom. Serendipitously, I have discovered that the two seem to go hand in hand. As a result, my classes this session have taken on the role of guinea pigs as I have tried and tested various new forms of feedback on them.
The first stop on my learning journey was whole class feedback. In the interests of reducing workload, this strategy is a winner; however, the benefits for learners is also apparent, helped by the fact that the time gap between submission and feedback is reduced (https://macstandl.com/). The strategy involves reading a cross-section of submissions of the assignment set (a critical essay, for example), perhaps a third of the class, and making a note of strengths and areas for development. Once complete, the teacher may choose two or three good examples as models for the next lesson.
The aim of whole class feedback is to inform short to mid-term planning as well as improving learner confidence and attainment. Through the use of modelling, practitioners are able to reinforce good learning while reminding students who aren’t there yet of what they need to do to succeed.
But what about those learners whose work was not chosen? Well, they still benefit from such timely feedback as they are able to compare their own work with the examples presented to the class. Often, areas for improvement are similar across the group. Furthermore, if you have access to the technology, live marking can be an excellent means of consolidating understanding of a task. By placing an example on the board and talking through the marking with learners, encouraging their input, they gain a sense of autonomy and a confidence boost by helping to “mark” the work.
Moreover, it is important to strike while the iron is hot! While learner confidence is optimised, the opportunity for DIRT time (Direct Improvement and Reflection Time) should be utilised. Students could either re-do a paragraph of their work, or even annotate it to check if any of the errors discussed appear (the DIRT task chosen will, of course, depend on how much time is at our disposal). In addition, if the task at hand is quiz-based, DIRT time could take the form of a retrieval task: re-visiting some of the more problematic questions to help them stick in working memory (this, though, would have to be done after some time has passed to allow for more successful retrieval - see What is Retrieval Practice?).
Macstandl.com suggests that you identify areas of excellence, common misconceptions and spelling as you mark; in doing so, marking time doubles up as planning time, thus reducing our workload moving forward. Our Whole Class Feedback form is a useful resource to use with classes during these activities:
One of the undeniable benefits of whole class feedback is that learners act on it immediately, making it meaningful and effective. However, time is needed to deliver such feedback sessions appropriately and, as we all know, this is at a premium in the twenty-first century school. I would suggest that, by doing this on a regular basis, learners will grow to know the expectations and structure of this type of lesson, making them more efficient with practice.
If you are looking to deliver a bitesize WCF session, I would recommend coupling your feedback with one of the many digital learning platforms out there. Such sites give immediate access to class data, allowing teachers to see - at a glance - strengths and areas for improvement. One such site is Carousel Learning (https://www.carousel-learning.com/) where learners can take tests which they then self-mark. Teachers can then check the marking and make any amendments to scores. Carousel also has the functionality to pick out any responses which the teacher “found interesting”; these can then be highlighted (anonymously, of course) for further class discussion.
Whole class feedback is an invaluable tool but, as mentioned, it relies on us having the time we don’t always have (especially with senior classes). Recently, I trialled some Target and Symbol marking (https://macstandl.com) when providing feedback for some National 5 critical essays. This form of feedback, while time-consuming in the preparatory stages, can pay dividends in terms of time gained. The teacher creates a bank of strengths and areas for improvement based on learner output (data which should be honed over time from a variety of student work) which they then translate into short codes. For example:
A1 - include more detailed analysis in your paragraphs
A2 - incorrect analysis, check your notes on the text
Once a bank of codes has been created, it can be shared with classes, who can refer to it when work is returned, identifying the areas they have to work on.
How, though, can we be sure that learners will take any notice of these codes? Surely the only impact they will have is on teacher workload, with us writing simple codes instead of wordy (and oft ignored) sentences? The answer here is delayed grading - a strategy where the comments are given before the summative grade. Relevant codes are shared with students who are given the opportunity to write these targets down in full before being given their mark. This could also be coupled with DIRT time, depending on time and lesson structure.
In terms of forward planning, Target and Symbol marking can function as a quick reference point for learners before they embark on similar tasks in the future. For example, if they have a record of previous targets for a summative piece of work (an essay, let’s say), the teacher can direct them to this as a reminder of areas to focus on ahead of beginning the work. This, in turn, may result in fewer areas for improvement later and, consequently, a reduction in teacher workload. As a result, this type of feedback becomes a positive cycle which benefits both teacher and student.
Finally, verbal (or oral) feedback can be a highly effective tool and a perfect example of a strategy which is high impact, but low cost. On average, the Education Endowment Foundation tells us that:
“The impact of oral feedback is higher, on average, than the impact of feedback overall. The average month’s progress is 7 months.”
While this statistic is based on primary school learners, the impact is still high for secondary learners with average progress sitting at around +5 months.
So, how do we provide effective verbal feedback which doesn’t encroach on lesson time or increase teacher workload?
One strategy which I have trialled is recorded verbal feedback. Having attended a course on feedback recently, I was inspired to try this method out and, being in a mire of Advanced Higher comparative essay marking, there couldn’t have been a better time for me to dip my toe in the water.
This particular method of verbal feedback perfectly marries the two areas of professional learning in which I am interested: using educational research in the classroom and digital literacy. Having read through the essays, I made a note of each individual learner’s strengths and targets using the coded feedback sheet mentioned above. Once complete, I then recorded verbal feedback for each member of the class using a free online recording tool (in my case, Vocaroo worked well). Once I got over the fear of listening to my own voice, it was a very easy process and, dare I say about any form of marking, quite enjoyable. Being able to succinctly articulate your thoughts to your students without the mammoth task of written commentary made the task a lot more efficient and the nature of the feedback much more authentic.
Although there are many advanced applications through which to provide verbal feedback, the tool I used was quick, user-friendly and, as an added bonus, allowed me to create links and QR codes through which learners could access individual feedback on their devices. For this set of essays, I chose to download individual QR codes and copy them into their Teams Assignment. The whole process was a breeze!
In the lesson the following day, every student easily accessed and listened to their feedback, with one even telling me that I should “do this more often” - a resounding endorsement, indeed!
I should add a reminder at this point that it is best to delay the grade until after the feedback is given (frontloading), lest the comments fall into the proverbial forgetting pit, lost forever and rendering my efforts futile. To this end, I had the class fill in online forms with their strengths and targets prior to presenting them with their grades (these will be given to each member of the class before their next essay).
In the lesson, this process took around fifteen minutes - a manageable chunk of time and not so much that the remainder of the period was unfruitful. Granted, I didn’t engage the class in DIRT time, so this is something for me to consider as I build my own confidence in using this strategy.
Feedback, regardless of the form it takes, should not be about praise. This sounds almost counter-intuitive, but it is really a matter of improvement. Evidence shows that praise actually has a zero to negative effect on progress (Education Endowment Foundation). Let me add a caveat here, though: praise is an important motivating tool and one which should be naturally occurring throughout a lesson, but is not the driving force behind effective feedback.
There are many effective ways of providing feedback but each method has, at its heart, high-quality teacher commentary which should lead to learner reflection and, ultimately, increased attainment. Feedback without action is unproductive, it should never be something that is passively received.
This article has focused on three forms of feedback: whole class, symbol and target marking (coded) and verbal feedback. Each of these methods is highly effective, but every class is different and it is important to note that a mix of verbal and written feedback is probably the most beneficial overall.
Feedback should aim to increase learner attainment and confidence in the first instance and reduce teacher workload in the second. However, we can’t ignore the fact that initial high quality instruction is the first step in achieving both of these outcomes: explicit, targeted instruction will enhance student
understanding, thereby reducing the amount of feedback required (see Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction). With this in mind, it is clear that feedback is part of a larger process - a part (albeit an extremely important one) which contributes to the whole that is successful teaching and learning.
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