Feedback

During our faculty meeting last Wednesday we discussed feedback for our students.  I have been giving feedback for as long as I can remember, but the discussion simplified the idea of feedback and the important elements that we must have in every piece of feedback we give to kids.  There needs to be a goal identified, you need to say what progress has been made, and then you need to give the students next steps for their work.  We had many examples but let's just take this first one: "You have correctly answered both parts of the problem, showing me that you were able to interpret both the question and the graph.  Your method of creating tables to show your combinations and prices worked to solve the problem.  Your next step is to find out the cost of buying the shirts if you could only buy packages to fill your order.  What would the difference in cost be?"

Then, after we talked about the three important elements of giving feedback, and charted several examples, we then wrote our own feedback about a task that we gave someone, and they completed.  For example, your best friend is notoriously not a cook.  In fact, if it doesn't come delivered to her house or from a box, she wouldn't know where to begin.  However, she has been practicing her skills so that she can make a steak dinner for a new significant other.  The big night is this weekend and she is making the meal for you tonight as a final practice round.  Before you is plated a grilled New York sirloin, roasted oven potatoes, and green beans.  After the meal, she asks for your feedback.  What do you tell her?

Your goal of cooking a nourishing, gourmet, steak dinner was met.  Next steps might be making sure you know whether your significant other likes it rare, medium rare or well done.  You might wonder about how to get all the items on the plate perfectly done at the same time, but using a multi-tasking timer is one way of solving, perhaps, this issue.  (You can purchase one at any of the gourmet cooking places in town.)  Your next step is also to provide atmosphere, use cloth napkins, good china, real silver with monograms, and perfect music (like Barry White, for example) and non-smelling honeycomb candles, that provide romance for your meal.  Don't forget the flowers and marry the wine carefully with the steak!!

I guess my feedback got a few laughs, but I was also pretty serious.  I think if you give them encouragement with some ideas for improvement, that is what they are looking for, or most students are looking for this.  I don't usually let them hand it in, and I don't give them a grade until I am sure it is at least a meets!!