Feedback: The Teacher Kind

I can’t help but chuckle when I walk into the library and see this engraved nameplate with the message Every day I’m hustling on our librarian’s desk. It’s so true, each of us is busy, doing our best, in the ways we know how to eke out “a’ learning“ in our schools.

One of my colleagues told me recently, “I think you have very high expectations.” I’m still trying to figure out if this was a compliment or a suggestion to ease up a bit. (If you knew me, you’d be laughing out loud). But at least 5 days out of 7,  I wake up and the first thing on my mind is learning. It’s not what I might eat for breakfast or what I may do on the weekend, it’s usually about a provocation or a concern I have about a student or something “Google” since I’ve been working on my Google Trainer Certification. When school is in session, I’m definitely hustling. But does it have to feel like a “hustle”? Like I’m tricking someone into learning?

Every morning, one of the first things I do is take my dog outside and I walk around my garden, listening to a podcast. I feel like I got a partial answer to my queries.

We tend to think of feedback in schools as what teachers say to kids. Traditionally as a kid, I got feedback through what teachers wrote in notes on my papers, or grades that I got. But feedback, the more important kind of feedback, is student to teacher feedback. And John Hattie writes about this in his work, the classrooms where there is student to teacher feedback it correlates well with student achievement.

Carl Anderson, from a Teacher’s Guide to Writing Conference, Heinemann Podcast

As I reflect on his words, I recognize that we are 6 weeks into school already and there hasn’t been a whiff of student-to-teacher feedback. But today that changes.  I sincerely want to know How am I doing as your teacher?

When experiencing failure, remember: This is a Start

I put up an Activity Post on Seesaw to provide our 1st Grade students to tell us their “2 Stars and a Wish”. We told them that this is a secret teacher message and it won’t go up on their journals so they could say whatever they like. The most important thing was they were honest and helpful. (“Helpful” is a loaded term, I know, but it’s a message that we are sending about feedback in general)

Here’s what I learned:

• “I like playing games with you.”
• “I like sounding out letters with you”
• “I like Maths”.
• “If I work hard, I will be great.”
• “I want to do more math because it’s fun.”
• ” I want my friends to be happy.”
• “I want to use Chinese to count (to 50)”
• “I want to be a good writer”.
• “I like it when we play games but I don’t like it when we get dirty outside.”
• “I want more time writing and making books”
• “I want more learning choice time”.
• “I want more literacy time to play Teach Your Monster to Read“.
• “I want to go for a walk to collect some small moments for writing”.
• “I wish I can speak better in English”
• “I wish I could write better.”
• “I love learning choices.”
• “I like to draw when I am doing my ‘small moments’.”
• “I like it when we do maths because it makes me calm.”
• “I really like the teachers.”
• “I want to use playdoh and I wish I could read eBooks.”
• “I want to do more maths with numbers and patterns.”

Although these comments warmed my heart and intrigued me, they didn’t provide the insight into “how I’m doing as your teacher” per se. When I look at this, it tells me a lot about what they are connecting to in our learning community: words, numbers, nature, language, technology, pictures, sensory play, intrapersonal learning, and interpersonal learning. Indeed, this helps to shape a picture of who they are and provides us with more data as teachers to know how to communicate with them but the intent seemed lost on the openness of this question, which I reckon may not be the best approach with children this age (6-7-year-olds), at least for this time of the year.  So I ended up walking away, feeling that I failed to get the desired feedback. But because I believe that all learning–even when we make mistakes–is helpful, I reminded myself that this is a start.

The Struggle Continues: Peer Feedback

Since our staff has been inquiring into student engagement as a part of developing greater student agency with the PYP Enhancements, our professional goals this year are rooted in it. We are taking a very systematic approach to it, using peer coaching to explore where we are in our mission to “challenge, inspire and empower”, using the work of Jim Knight and his Impact Cycle.

Peer to peer feedback is highly valuable, and when done in the spirit of non-judgment, care, and positive intention, then an authentic critical friendship can ensue. I whole-heartedly believe in it. C’mon-Who doesn’t want a true loving fan, sitting on the sidelines, applauding our growth and challenging us to bring our best self into the “game”?? I personally delight in having someone who can discern the subtleties of a lesson and provide me with something that I can reflect upon to improve my practice. Bring it on!

So now I ponder this quote:

If we don’t design lessons and units that will earn students’ commitment to learn, then we can’t expect them to take an active or in-depth approach to learning. In other words, if we fail to take student engagement seriously, then the best we can hope for from our students is superficial learning.

The Eight Cs of Engagement by by Harvey F. Silver & Matthew J. Perini

Before I sit down and watch a recorded video of a lesson, I want to ensure I had clarity of what I am reflecting on. I picked out some of the attributes of engagement, creating a “rubric” that I can score where I saw my students during the learning period captured. It’s my “baseline” if you will, and I want to make sure it is objective and telling. Also, this is my first thinking about how I might assess myself, so I am bound to make amendments to it along the way.  But at least I can examine the video and pick out evidence of where the level of engagement might generally rank on this scale/rubric to give more direction for my goals.  Also, I feel this might be a talking tool for our peer-to-peer dialogue about what they saw, heard and felt was happening in the lesson.

Next Steps: Fail Again

So I think we need to go back to the drawing board on mining for feedback from students, refining questions so we can penetrate deeper into their perceptions of our teaching and their learning community.

I feel like student feedback is an opportunity to reflect on where we are with respect to developing agency as well. So now I wonder if taking the “temperature” might be a better first approach to gaining an understanding of how students feel about their learning.

I was thinking that I could use Plickers as a tool to take a “snap-shot” of the children’s perspective during a morning meeting. I don’t want to bombard them with a heap of questions, so these are the student questions that might establish a general idea about our learning environment:

1. Do you usually understand what is expected of you in our classroom?
2. Do you usually understand the directions given?
3. Do you think the teacher gives you enough time to think?
4. Do you think the teacher gives you enough time to write?
5. Do you think you have a voice in our classroom and that your ideas are valued when you share them?

Of course, I would need to follow up with the No’s, as well as examine recorded videos to see who may be lingering in the far end of the engagement scale, digging a bit deeper with more thoughtful questions for them such as:

• How do you show your teacher that you are enjoying learning?
• *Which teacher do you find most helpful?
• What does this teacher do to help you learn best?
• What specific advice would you give to help your teacher improve?

(*We are a teaching team, with 6 of us working at any given time with our Grade 1 students. I wanted to add this question to help us think about why and how certain teachers resonate with learners. Maybe we can capitalize on the rapport and connection they feel with us.)

What if…..

Also, I was thinking that if we looked at a videotaped lesson alongside them, a teacher could ask them directly if they were engaged; and why or why not they were engaged-what influenced their interest and concentration during the lesson? Could there have been a missed opportunity to move them into a more active stance in their learning?

I’m a scientist at heart and I LOVE dissecting things, but let’s be honest, this would be a luxurious survey given how limited our time can be. Yet, I reckon that it would be really helpful for those students who don’t generally demonstrate “active compliance”.

Final Thoughts……for Now

So I don’t think I’m going to bring an end to the hustle any time soon, but I feel that an honest and hard look at my practice and the dynamics I have with learners would be a good place to start.

Start.

Yep, that’s where I really am in this process. Perhaps you are too.

But I think if I keep walking in the direction of my original question, Does it have to feel like a “hustle”? Like I’m tricking someone into learning?, then I think I may arrive at some conclusion. It may not be the end, but it could be a step in a new direction.

I think, ultimately, that is where feedback lands us: in a new territory of growth and learning.