from Marshall Memo 907

Giving Feedback That Isn’t Consigned to the Bottom of the Backpack

In this Tang Institute article, Bowman Dickson and Andy Housiaux describe every teacher’s least-favorite scenario: after spending hours reading students’ papers, correcting errors, and writing comments, students glance briefly at the grade, compare what they got with a few classmates, and continue to make the same mistakes on the next assignment. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” say Dickson and Housiaux, and provide a synthesis of the academic research on feedback that actually works.

They start with Grant Wiggins’s definition: Feedback is information about how we are doing that guides our efforts to reach a goal. “It can come from others, oneself, or even the task itself,” say Dickson and Housiaux. “It aims to improve subsequent efforts and not just correct work that has already been done.” They give several examples of feedback containing evaluation, advice, and praise, each followed by teacher feedback that’s far more likely to improve students’ work:

• Ineffective: B+ You still need to master exponent rules.

• Better: You are confusing the two main exponent rules – when multiplying two bases you need to add the exponent, not multiply. Practice a few of these types of problems for the next homework assignment.

• Ineffective: Make sure your main idea paragraph relates to your topic.

• Better: Your first sentence is about therapy dogs, but the rest of your paragraph talks about what dogs eat and where dogs sleep. Look at the examples of effective writing on your handout and then rewrite the paragraph.

• Ineffective: Wow! Your lab report is really nicely done.

• Better: You explained your results with good scientific nuance, your methods section is appropriately detailed, and your data presentation is just as polished as the sample lab reports. 

“Feedback that is delivered effectively,” say Dickson and Housiaux, “will advance student learning in ways that even the most well-intentioned evaluation, advice, and praise simply cannot.” They boil down the research on effective feedback to four big ideas:

• Big idea #1: Students must engage with feedback in order to learn from it. “Feedback should cause thinking,” says British assessment guru Dylan Wiliam. “Feedback should be more work for the recipient than the donor.” This means reserving classroom time for students to process the teacher’s comments (often posed as questions or hints) and engage with a brief follow-up task – which might be correcting an error or writing about what they learned from the comments, what they did well, and what they will do differently next time. Students need to learn how to be “feedback seekers,” looking for it, taking it in, and following up.

• Big idea #2: Relationships matter. Establishing trust is an essential precursor; then the teacher can be a “warm demander,” setting high expectations and conveying feedback with growth-mindset language that speaks to students’ work, not their identity. Without a trusting relationship, teachers’ power position, along with their gender, race, or other characteristics, can trigger stereotype threat in students. “Don’t withhold criticism or overpraise mediocre work,” say Dickson and Housiaux. And create a classroom culture in which mistakes are seen as an important part of learning. 

• Big idea #3: Focus on specific instructional goals. “If students do not understand where they are aiming, they will not be able to make sense of the feedback they receive on their performance,” say Dickson and Housiaux. That’s why it’s vital to be transparent about learning outcomes and assessment criteria, and provide exemplars of student work at different levels of proficiency. The teacher’s goal is to build skills and habits of mind that will help students think differently and get better. “Feedback should change the way students think and engage with future material,” say the authors, “instead of just fixing mistakes on past work.” To that end, less is more; feedback should target only a few key areas.

• Big idea #4: Separate feedback from grading. Giving grades is a requirement in almost all schools, but teachers should be under no illusions that grades improve performance. The challenge is getting students less focused on grades and more on continuous improvement. “Teachers can encourage students to focus more on the feedback they receive by spending time explaining the difference between feedback and grades,” say Dickson and Housiaux, “and then showing the ways in which students can improve by attending carefully to the teacher’s feedback.” Teachers also need to nudge students toward autonomy and independence, providing opportunities for and instruction in self-assessment and peer feedback versus constant dependence on teachers. 

At the end of their paper, Dickson and Housiaux include six case studies showing how these big ideas play out in classrooms – a student demanding to know why a classmate got a better grade; students not improving despite copious written feedback on their work; a teacher’s comment taken the wrong way by a student; a student not doing homework and failing to ask for help. Each case is followed by focusing questions on what might change a frustrating situation. 

“Feedback in Practice: Research for Teachers” by Bowman Dickson and Andy Housiaux, Tang Institute at Andover, August 2021; Housiaux can be reached at ahousiaux@andover.edu.

Give Yourself Permission to Dial It Back

 

Give Yourself Permission to Dial It Back

You’ve heard it time and time again: overwork is bad for you. It hurts your productivity — and your health. So give yourself permission to dial it back, even just a little. Start by noticing the story you're telling yourself about work. For example, if you find yourself working on a weekend or responding to emails after hours, pause. Take a couple of minutes to reflect on and even write down why you’re doing this. What’s motivating you? Are you afraid of falling behind? Losing your job? Seeming uncommitted? Then ask yourself: Are these fears rooted in reality, or is it time to change the narrative? Next, share your goal to dial it back with those you respect — a mentor, friend, or colleague who can not only hold you accountable, but also give you some helpful strategies that they use to stay balanced and avoid burnout. Finally, go all-in on what matters. Take a careful look at your workload and recalibrate your schedule to spend less time on the tasks that drain you and more time on the responsibilities that are valuable and bring you the most joy.

This tip is adapted from “Burning Out? Give Yourself Permission to Dial It Back,” by Kate Northrup

Problems with Impromptu Discussions of Hot-Button Topics

 Problems with Impromptu Discussions of Hot-Button Topics

In this Educational Leadership article, Philadelphia teacher Matthew Kay says he can

relate to the desire to take advantage of a teachable moment – perhaps a dramatic development

in the news – to jump into a classroom discussion. He says this often “reflects our commitment

to equity, our care for our students, and especially nowadays, our respect for the truth. If we

move forward with our carefully planned lessons, we are, in many people’s estimation, a

fraud.” But here’s what can happen:

- Without careful preparation, things can very quickly get out of hand. “Kids who are

unprepared for difficult discussions often embarrass themselves and say things they

regret or don’t mean,” says Kay. “They are more likely to weaponize stereotypes.”

- In the heat of the moment, the teacher might step out of bounds, revealing biases and

damaging their role as a trusted pedagogue and authority figure.

- Such discussions can open teachers to attack from irate parents or community members

who learn about the discussion through a misleading social media post. “We make it

really hard for good administrators to have our back,” says Kay, “when we fly blind.”

Better to take the time to plan a discussion carefully, anticipate the reactions different students

might have, consult with colleagues, find links to the curriculum, even design a free-standing

unit. “If we want to teach about an issue,” Kay concludes, “we should actually teach about it –

11Marshall Memo 906 October 11, 2021

giving ourselves the time to be our best selves and apply our best training. And we might even

do this with a little bit of swagger, knowing that while it takes nothing for folks who don’t

know our students to rush us to discuss some issue, it takes wisdom for us to discern the best

moment to get after it.”

“The Problem with ‘Pop-up’ Discussions” by Matthew Kay in Educational Leadership,

October 2021 (Vol. 79, #2, pp. 80-81); Kay

Do Flipped Classrooms Work?

 from Marshall Memo

Does Flipped Teaching Work?

In this Brookings Brown Center Chalkboard article, Patricia Roehling and Carrie

Bredow report on their meta-analysis of 317 published studies of flipped learning, a classroom

strategy whose popularity surged during the pandemic, especially in colleges and secondary

schools. Here’s what is involved in a flipped class:

- Students view an online lecture or presentation to prepare for class.

- In-person time is devoted to discussions, peer teaching, presentations, projects, problem

solving, computations, and group activities.

- Thus the traditional sequence is flipped, with passive learning experiences happening at

home, conducted at students’ convenience and repeated as often as necessary, and class

time devoted to active learning experiences.

- Flipped learning is based on constructivist theory, with classroom time helping students

build on pre-existing cognitive frameworks and construct their own knowledge.

7Marshall Memo 906 October 11, 2021

- Flipping aims to lighten students’ cognitive load during class, helping them to shift

knowledge and skills to long-term memory and develop their interpersonal skills.

The meta-analysis focused on college classes, comparing flipped learning with traditional

lecture-based instruction on several dimensions. The major findings:

• Students in flipped classrooms performed better in most subject areas. Outcomes were

best with foundational knowledge, professional and academic skills, and (to a lesser degree)

higher-order thinking.

• Students in flipped classes did better in all non-cognitive areas, including

interpersonal skills, engaging with the content, and developing metacognitive abilities such as

time management and learning strategies.

• Flipped learning was most effective in skill-based courses, including technology,

health-science, and languages. This seemed to be because class time could be spent practicing

and mastering skills with peers and the instructor. Mathematics and engineering classes

showed the smallest gains with flipped learning.

• Flipped learning had the widest advantage over traditional teaching in countries in the

Middle East and Asia where teachers implementing the new practices were making the most

radical departure from the way most teaching was being conducted.

• Instructors who gave pre-class quizzes to make sure students were doing their

homework registered lower academic gains than those who didn’t. Roehling and Bredow

speculate that this was because students focused on doing well on the quizzes rather than

understanding the material. This points to the wisdom of giving in-class rather than before-

class quizzes, say the researchers.

• Instructors who combined flipped and traditional classes tended to get better results

than those who were fully flipped. This was probably because a mixed approach lightened the

workload (designing a flipped class takes extra time) and reserved traditional lecture classes for

where they were most appropriate: introducing new, complex, and foundational knowledge and

skills.

• Student satisfaction with flipped courses was slightly higher than for traditional

teaching.

“Flipped Learning: What Is It, and When Is It Effective?” by Patricia Roehling and Carrie

Bredow in Brookings Brown Center Chalkboard, September 28, 2021

Share stories of failure to connect

 

from HBR:

To Connect with Your Audience, Share Personal Stories of Failure

Any good presenter knows that they need to connect with their audience, but what’s the best way to do that? Sharing personal stories, particularly ones that show how you’ve stumbled in the past and grew as a result, will increase your realness and build trust with your listeners. So identify three different stories of failure that you can deliver in different venues. What details can you share that will help people relate and normalize setbacks? Be sure to end these stories with a lesson in resilience, so that your audience is galvanized to keep going. At the same time, convey vulnerability. Use phrases like “my feeling is,” “it feels scary to share this,” or “I hesitated to bring this forward” which peel back the curtain on your thinking and build a connection with your audience. If all of this feels awkward to you, study inspiring stories from others. Watch your favorite TED talks or listen to podcasts to collect cues and tips on how powerful and persuasive strangers share stories to inspire. When do you feel most connected to the speaker? What did they share that made you believe in their authenticity and connect with them as a human? Note your favorite techniques and then practice incorporating them into your daily speech for low-stakes practice, before bringing them to the stage.

Example parent email about good work

 We wanted to take a moment to celebrate Keaton. He's off to a great start in U.S. Lit. and Comp. He's engaged in class discussions and activities. His work is thoughtful and thorough, and his efforts have been consistent. We're very proud of him!

>
> We noticed he was out today; we hope all is well. Please have him reach out if he has questions about today's work on Canvas.
>
> Have a great weekend!

Show Emotional Ambivalence to model emotional vulnerability

From Harvard Business Review

You may notice your employees hesitate when you ask them how they’re doing. Many of us have mixed emotions these days. And yet people often hesitate to share their ambivalent emotions with colleagues, fearing that they’ll taint the mood or appear emotionally vulnerable — like they don’t have it all together. As a leader, you can help your team embrace their ambivalence and even harness its benefits. Start by showing that feeling torn is okay and even encouraged. In one-on-one meetings, ask guiding questions to surface mixed emotions as a model for flexible thinking. For example, “Frances, tell me one thing you’re excited about regarding the rollout and one thing you’re nervous about.” You can also normalize emotional ambivalence by modeling it yourself. Instead of displaying relentless positivity in meetings, which can alienate people, explain when you feel more than one way about something. You might say something like “I'm excited about the opportunities coming up this fall, but nervous about how the Delta variant might disrupt our plans.” Doing so will help employees who are also torn feel seen, affirmed, connected, and less alone.