3 minute read
2.5.3: Active Reviewing, Peer Evaluation and Feedback
Playing Cards can have a great power, even in a circus class!
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With a little bit of imagination, Playing Cards can be used as a great creative tool to evaluate a lesson with our students. The Diamonds signify the Facts, the Hearts are the Feelings, the Spades are the Findings and the Clubs are the Future.
Each suit represents an aspect of the experience we’ve been through and the impact it has had on us, and all four cards complete the ‘active reviewing cycle’31 .
We can give a card to an individual, or a small group of participants. They can then discuss their point of view using the topic the card represents.
31 This framework is designed by Dr Roger Greenaway, an expert on training teachers and facilitators, it’s also called ‘The four F’s of active reviewing’. It was proposed in our circus training by Steven Desanghere.
Diamonds represent Facts Some questions for participants with this card are: What happened? Who, where and when? Try to stick to concrete facts, and give an objective account of what happened. Hearts represent Feelings Describe some of the feelings you experienced. What other feelings were there? What were the highs and lows? Try to give an emotional picture of the situation. Spades represent Findings What did or didn’t work and why? What was the most/least valuable? What have you discovered? Try to get some concrete findings that you can take away from the situation. Clubs represent the Future How will you use what you have learned? What plan can you make for the future using this experience as a starting point? Try to structure your learning so that you can use it in the future.
The red suits allow discussion around the experience; the black suits provide the means to learn from it and prepare for changes.
We can also use the Joker. The Joker is anything anyone wants it to be, and enables participants to add or share anything they want. It represents Freedom: the fifth ‘F’.
This is just an example of the multitude of types of feedback we can use with our pupils. Feedback can be verbal, like in the last example shown, but also physical, graphic, symbolic, spatial, written, etc. Providing different ways to give feedback, and ensuring it is multidimensional, is very important within a group to ensure that each participant is able express themselves in the most appropriate and comfortable manner. Too often the only ones who are heard are those who are confident speakers. We must not forget the opinions of those who have a different voice, and who are more able to express their opinions through movement, drawings, expressions or colours.
Active reviewing and feedback are great habits to practice regularly with a group. Using them at the end of the class or at the end of an important activity can be a way of reinforcing our relationships with our students, monitoring their level of participation and their understanding of the learning process. Make this a part of your lesson plan; it’s a great way to close a session because it can motivate the group and highlight the students’ active engagement with their practice; heightening their awareness of how much they have learned and how much they still have to learn.
This habit will also encourage the practice of peer and self-assessment, where students assess each other and themselves. It can encourage students to take greater responsibility for their learning, encouraging engagement by reflecting on their own progress and performance, and that of their peers. All of this needs to be developed little by little, with care and attention. Offering others feedback can be important and constructive, but it can also be painful and frustrating for those who receive it, if not done sensitively.
To close this paragraph a proposal for an active review for you: Think back on the last chapter and recall the topics that made you say: “Huh????” (Still not very clear…). And the ones that made you say: Aha!!!! (Great to know this…)
