Support 360 and Wellbeing

Support 360 and student wellbeing

Giving inclusive feedback to students, making two negatives a positive!

Feedback used to be so simple. Green for ‘good’. Red for ‘bad’. ‘Wrong’ for incorrect and ‘right’ for… well you see where we are going! So what changed? Did students become more sensitive over time? Are we generationally molly coddling our students by not telling them when we make a mistake?

In essence, this is the thought process of transitions that have been made throughout the last ten years. From the days of the 3 stars and a wish feedback process to traffic lights and smiley faces, it's now about the ‘framing’ and the ‘affirmation for change’ which makes the difference and creates an even platform amongst physically present and remote learners. Take an example of a student who has gone so far off the path of what you thought you’d taught that in all honesty the only real positive is that the student was attentive enough to know when the work started and when it finished. The student may or may not be aware of the ‘alternative’ route they have taken yet you do realise that your handling of the situation could change the course of the next lesson, term or full time attitude toward your subject. So reframing a disbelieving “ how could you have got it so wrong?” scenario (we’ve all been there), lets see what we’ve got. Firstly, feedback starts with the face as do all conversations. Those in a mask, it starts with the eyes, eyebrows and direction of look. Secondly, the hands and the body. Keeping them open, upturned gives the space to breathe. Thirdly, eye level. Have you ever been sat in a coffee shop and someone you recognise comes over , stays standing up and slightly out of angle to you. A very natural situation can suddenly feel awkward and displaced the longer a conversation goes on. Sometimes, unknowingly in this situation, a gap closes and it feels almost intimidating and the golden opportunity to stand and be ‘as equal’ has gone. Classroom desks and teacher positioning by nature can highlight this particularly in a distanced classroom. The alternative, create additional space for these dialogues to happen in a classroom. Decide before the lesson that if you need to give individual feedback, where will it happen?

Support 360 and student wellbeing

Back in the classroom, does the situation need the whole class to know right now? By lowering to the students level, the situation becomes less intimidating and less ‘dangerous’ which naturally invokes a fear, fight or flight response (this happens to us all on some level at all times throughout the day). AND, we haven't even spoken yet. Feedback starts the moment you prepare to address it, not the moment you start talking about it. Fourthly, Now we start to speak. We have two options… we can pass the chalice back to the student or we can address the fault head on. This depends on the student and your relationship of course. Relationship Status: Inspired, Trusting, friendly, intimidated, wishes to engage with others,hurt by the subject in the past. “ Can you explain this section to me? What are you trying to say?” “ Can you explain this working, I think you've found a different way which is great but i don’t understand it yet.”

The student may or may not be able to answer this (because they may not know how to explain) which is where you can expand this further.

“So what I was asking to see was that (objective) and to do this by (task explanation). What you have done here is slightly different to that and demonstrates your understanding/awareness of … Today, let’s focus on these next three points 1. Focus element of task 2. How to achieve it. 3. Where to give the example. By breaking it down into a smaller process, enables the student to re engage, alter approach and feel short term success. (It also helps confirm to you that you’ve not been talking in a different language- unless its an MFL or Arabic lesson where you might have been but you see our point!) Following this process, then allows a more positive feedback approach. You’ve addressed changing the ‘negative’ result and confirmed to the student a smaller success. We could go one step further.