Reflections on the first day of our evidence-informed approaches to learning strand from Sultana Begum, Wipro Teacher Fellow
The session today was led by Andrea Mapplebeck on the topic of giving effective feedback in the classroom. Most of what we learnt today was based around guid
ed discussions in the groups by Andrea. The starter of the lesson was to make a label with our name on it. We were instructed to design the label and given the resources. As we were creating the label, Andrea walked around giving positive feedback and hints on what else we can do. After we completed the task, the labels were left on the table for most of the day.
Following this, we discussed as a group what we already know about evidence-based learning and what we wanted from the upcoming session today. This involved the KWLH (Know – Wonder – Learn – How) grid (shown in the picture). Andrea mentioned a book that I will be ordering later called ‘Five Easy Lessons, Strategies for Successful Physics’ by Randall D. Knight. It was recommended that we start our lessons using misconceptions and to work better with designing our learning objectives to focus on learning rather than doing as most teachers talk about ‘what we will be doing today’ rather than ‘what we will be learning today’. It was also highly encouraged that we do not give answers to students straight away. This ultimately probably does not support our desire for students to become more independent. Students need to own their thinking and a sign of struggle highlights that they are using their brains rather than awaiting answers.
This was reinforced by contrasting videos of two different types of teachers. The first was teaching but students were dismissive and unresponsive to the learning, whereas the second teacher walked around the classroom and questioned students about their learning, helping them develop the links between different topics. Not only that, but she also did not provide answers i
f the students did not know the answers. Her questions became increasingly challenging with each student, and if a student was unsure, she was patient and waited for an answer, and even after that, she left them to speak to the other students on their table about the topic. Andrea stated that questioning can help develop and change the classroom culture, which I aspire to do.
After this, we discussed the definition of the word feedback and we looked at eleven different ways to give effective responses to the students. We did this in our own groups again, and my favourite method of giving formative feedback was called ‘comment strips’. This involves writing student feedback on strips of paper and then distributing it to students in groups of four. The students then had to decide which comment belonged to which essay. I thought this was a powerful way to give feedback, as not only does it involve teachers reading the work and thinking about how they need to i
mprove, but students have to also engage with the feedback to identify who the feedback belongs to.
Near the end of the day, we were told to go back to the name labels that we made at the beginning of the day. It turned out that we had to peer assess our labels against a criteria that we did not know about. Andrea brought it to our attention that she had been giving us verbal feedback during the task but we had not taken notice of that. This was an interesting activity as it didn’t matter about high ability and low ability, we were all in the same boat, but the outcomes were varied.
In conclusion, I feel refreshed and inspired to change my way of thinking to have an impact on how I give feedback to my students.