We're All About the Feedback!

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Here in Australia, it's getting to the pointy end of the year. Report time. We're all about the feedback!
I may give away my age here, but I'm (only just) old enough to remember working out grades with a calculator and writing report comments with carbon paper copies and hoping my proof-reading buddy didn't find too many mistakes - but also hoping they found them all! I've seen a number of evolutions of report formats in several schools. What format are you using? What about the comments? Are you restricted to a limited selection, writing all your own or assisted by a comment bank? Or gone to no comments at all in an effort to get families to actually come in and chat?  Is anyone still using the dreaded (and dreadful) "pleasure to teach"? What's the proofreading procedure? Has anything unfortunate ever slipped through?

Speaking of "feedback and feed forward", can we all agree that for the purposes of blogging convenience, mostly when I write "feedback" I ALSO mean constructive, encouraging "feed forward" not just summative, corrective "feedback" . It's just so clumsy to keep writing both. I once attended a professional development day where "alignment" "feedback" and "feed forward" were worked into every other sentence, almost every PowerPoint slide and the obligatory joint Google docs (that seem to be replacing the traditional butcher's paper and markers, although sometimes we were offered both!)  I began to plan a drinking game - one drink for "alignment" and double shots for "feedback" and "feed forward" .......but this is a serious educational post and I will distract you no further with such lightweight matters. It is, as I mentioned earlier, the pointy end of the year. Forgive me.

There are weeks of valuable learning time remaining, and we must make the most of them (as, no doubt, we've all been reminded).  While we're sorting those end-of year assessments and grades and summative reports, how are we getting on with the day-to-day facilitation of learning through quality feedback to our students? Time to release some responsibility, spread the sticky note love, and get your students more involved.

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Yes. Now. Seriously. Why not? Yes, it's almost the end of the year (depending where you are), yes, it's close to Christmas, yes, the students are getting restless. Yes, yes, yes, to all that, that's exactly why they're ready for something new, something a little familiar but a little bit different, something that's going to set up great learning habits for next year and something that, with the Christmas season approaching, promotes KINDNESS. Win/win for everyone!

T.A.L.K and L.E.A.R.N was developed in Creative Arts classes for NSW Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6) but can be successfully adapted across the curriculum and across a range of grades. A simple process of peer and self-assessment, the T.A.L.K process builds KINDNESS (K) into the well-known TAG approach (Tell them something about their work, Ask a question, Give some feedback) or the "Two Medals and a Mission" or "Two Stars and a Wish" approach. A simple change, but specific and transformative.

T (Tell two things you like about their work) A (Ask a question about their work) L (Look again carefully at their work) and K (KINDLY, give suggestions to work on) encourages students to treat each other's efforts with respect, "LOOK again carefully" and "KINDLY give suggestions" encourages respect and demonstrates value of the student, the work and the process. With a little teacher modelling, students develop the habit of giving relevant and respectful feedback to each other. They begin to look forward to it, and to carry it on with little prompting.  Those crinkled, scrawled sticky notes are treasured more than we realise.

Visit the text link above or click on the pic below to see more about T.A.L.K for peer feedback and L.E.A.R.N for self assessment resources.

Good luck with your end-of-year reporting. I hope you receive some terrific feedback for yourself. Feel free to share some feedback and reporting reflections in the comments. ABC 702 listeners or Sydney Morning Herald readers might have heard Richard Glover's recent reflections on "How to Shock a Millenial" and Part 2: Make a Millenial Feel Sorry For a Baby Boomer  I've already mentioned the calculator and the carbon paper? Have we any other old-school reporting stories to share?