Feedback Strategies

While reading through the Feedback Gallery I made note of a few things that can be helpful for me and for future feedback I give. I need to include specific examples of things I'm not understanding. Saying I thought the first story was confusing, isn't very helpful. Saying the section about the dog in the first story was very confusing, is much more helpful. Letting the person who you're giving feedback to know what specific parts they should work on. Also asking questions if more text should be added to the story.

I then went through and read the two different articles for the more Feedback Resources. The articles I picked were the, How to Provide Great Feedback When You're Not in Charge and What Kind of Messages Help Kids Grow.
How to Provide Great Feedback When You're Not in Charge was interesting and brought up a lot of good points. It broke feedback down into three types, appreciation, advice(or coaching) and evaluation. Also, it's important to separate the person from the issue. Making sure to tell the person specific things they did right and not just the generic good job.
What Kind of Messages Help Kids Grow had a similar message overall. Giving children generic praise won't help them take specific things into the future. The most effective messages covered three things, the effort, strategies, or actions. I've noticed that with my little brother, giving specific pieces of feedback is much more useful. Like in the article, I would mention that two colors in his drawings look good. Or I would tell him that I liked how he spread his numbers out when showing me a math problem. Also teaching parents the power that the word yet holds is very important. Telling kids that they can't do it yet gives them hope they will in the future. And lastly, telling children stories of others overcoming obstacles will help them in times of difficulty.

Being in a position to teach students new things, I feel that reading these articles is very important. Hearing students tell me that oh this is so hard I don't think I'll ever catch on or oh I'm stupid, makes me so sad. Now I feel that I can start redirecting those comments and tell them that not yet but soon if they work at the specific feedback.

(Caption: Feedback with hands by PublicDomainPictures)