GT Notes- Feedback
Effective Feedback Can Make the Difference
Carol Dweck - A Study on Praise and Mindsets
According to Carol Dweck, “praising children’s intelligence harms their motivation and it harms their performance.” Messages about success such as, “You learned that so quickly! You are so smart!” may be interpreted as, “If I don’t learn something quickly, I’m not smart.” Praise for artistic talent or high grades in school without studying could be inferred as, “I shouldn’t try drawing anything hard or they’ll see I’m no Picasso,” or, “I’d better quit studying or they won’t think I’m brilliant.” Shortly after praise children feel elated but, as soon as they have to struggle, they lose their confidence and motivation. The message becomes, if success means they’re smart, then failure means they’re dumb. Obviously, a child would want to avoid failure and, therefore, would not take on risks or challenges.
70% of teachers believe that they give good feedback, but only 45% of students think that they receive it.
John Hattie's Research shows that students want feedback to focus on their goals and giving them what they need to get where they want to go. Quality feedback should provide students the tools they need to be able to perceive the immediate next step. Be sure to decide that it is really worth the students' effort, since effort is a limited commodity. It should not squander.
Types of Feedback
Task Feedback
- Explicit direction about a task. Ex: Capitalize this letter, grip your bat higher, you forgot to find the LCD before adding.
- The main focus is on what is correct or incorrect.
- Intended for learners at a beginner level.
Process Feedback
- Guiding questions that lead from some level of mastery to even greater understanding/ability. Ex: Do you see why this comma is not necessary, why did this event lead to war?
- The main focus is on learning what is wrong and why as well as alternative strategies for greater proficiency.
Self-Regulation Feedback
- Metacognitive questions about the learning process that give the student ownership of his learning. Ex: What can you look for next time to be ready for his fastball?
- The goal is for the learner to ask the questions himself.
- Intended for learners at or near a high level of mastery.
Developing a Growth Mindset
While novice learners require corrective feedback and proficient learners require process feedback, highly competent learners require sincere efforts to extend and apply knowledge even further. In providing this kind of feedback, the teacher must have some understanding of where this child wants to go and a good understanding about what could come next and not succumb strictly to praise.
How Praise Can Reduce Your Kid's IQ
Self Regulation and the Gifted Child
Self-regulation is a self-directive process and set of behaviors whereby learners transform their mental abilities into skills that emerges from guided practice and feedback
Common Effective Instructional Practices to teach Self-Regulation
Goal Setting:
Promote reflective dialogue Help learners make connections between abstract concepts and prior experiences
- Teachers encouraged students to set their own learning goals.
- “The student will feel more engaged if he or she establishes his or her own goals and if they feel they are actively involved in the process of their own learning.
- It is easier for a student to recognize the purpose of a learning objective when they are given the opportunity to orient their experiences based on their own interests and needs.
- Provide specific cues for using self-regulatory strategies
Feedback:
- Success Criteria must be clear and perceived as attainable
- Help students frame new information or feedback in a positive rather than a negative manner (e.g. "keeping track of your homework assignments will help you manage this course successfully," rather than "if you don’t keep track you will fail.")
- Teachers should provide feedback throughout the learning process allowing students to make the necessary adjustments to improve their work prior to a summative assessment
- Provide specific feedback for using self-regulatory strategies
- Students do not always understand what they need to do to meet the success criteria. Often, they need concrete examples of those expectations.
- Invited students to self-assess their work based upon the exemplars, and note the changes
- Teacher modeling of reflective practices (think aloud)
- Student practice with reflective dialogue
- Group discussions to think through problems/cases (collaborative learning)
- Encourage the use of examples that students come up with themselves
- Help students learn to separate relevant from irrelevant information (i.e., help them know where and how to focus their attention; guide their reference standards)
- Focus on the application of knowledge in broader contexts
- Integrate real-life examples with classroom information
The Challenge in Teaching Self Regulation Strategies
A teacher’s role in helping talented students gain self-regulation will be challenging and initial attempts to teach self-regulation strategies are seldom successful. Why?
- It takes time and practice to gain effective habits.
- It challenges both the teacher and student understanding of their place in the learning process, requiring teachers to give up control and students to become responsible for their learning.
What does a child practicing self-regulation look like?
- sets own individual goals and monitors progress towards achieving them;
- seeks clarification or assistance when needed;
- assesses and reflects critically on own strengths, needs, and interests;
- identifies learning opportunities, choices, and strategies to meet personal needs and achieve goals;
- perseveres and makes an effort when responding to challenges.