Feedback That Flows
Two conditions are necessary for professional growth
After reading this article, let me know what you think.
During writers workshop, a teacher was sitting next to a student. The class was working on how-to books: what they know a lot about and believe others will value as readers.
As a quiet observer with intent to support, I noticed the teacher did a lot of paraphrasing and clarifying of what the student was writing and thinking. She appeared to be helping the student find a theme in what he had written so far for the title and the final section.
Teacher: “Okay, so one of your sections is about s’mores, something you do when you go camping.”
Student: (nods)
Teacher: “I also see that swimming and setting up the campsite are part of the experience. (she paused) Thinking about all three of these subtopics, what are you noticing they all have in common?”
Student: (paused to think) “They are fun?”
Teacher: “They are fun - you are right! Now the question is, if you want your entire book to follow that pattern…”
After writing a few more observations and then handing the teacher my instructional walk notes1, I verbally shared my positive observation. “You were teaching the writer first, coaching him and allowing him to construct new thinking.”
“Thanks! Yes, I have been using some of the collaborative norms we have been reviewing this year during team meetings, like paraphrasing. These norms have been helpful for me to slow down and really listen to my students.”
Wait...what? I do not think the teacher saw my surprise (maybe because we were both wearing masks). Because of the pandemic, any formal professional development has been minimal at best. Instead, we have embedded thin slices of professional learning within staff meetings and team collaborations. “Micro PD” if you will. In this instance, the teacher was referring to the one-minute videos2 I was showing in which a coaching skill - paraphrasing, pausing, posing questions - was briefly demonstrated.
There were two realizations I made here:
1) It is somewhat disappointing that the application of professional learning would be surprising to me. Should I strive to make all PD brief? Or was it the opportunity to see effective instruction in action that made the difference? Both?
2) I will never really know whether professional learning is making an impact in classrooms until I visit classrooms, particularly with a nonjudgmental stance.
Beyond these realizations, I was also reminded of what conditions are needed for feedback to have an impact. Specifically, communicating feedback is only as effective as:
How objective it is, which helps ensure that the information shared is not biased and is centered on evidence from the classrooms, and
It occurs in a low-stakes environment, in which our attempts at new practices can be shared without worry of being judged or seen as a failure.
I sometimes wants to resort to a simple view of feedback: the leader or coach communicates information about the teacher’s performance, and then the teacher takes that information and applies it for potential improvement.
Maybe this is an effective approach for a more straightforward experience, such as working on a home project. “Just tell me what to do” – right? Home projects can be fun, but there is typically one right way to do them, and I really do not want to mess around with philosophical discussions or having to redo my work.
Teaching and leading in schools is complex3. There are so many variables that increase the challenge of facilitating professional growth.
Over time, teachers and leaders can become bound to certain practices or resources because they have shown to be successful. They become a part of a teacher’s identity, or at least can lead to retroactive guilt if we suggest that what they are doing now is no longer as effective.
There is not enough clarity in “what works” in education, especially around literacy. Part of it has to do with what we are discovering about how people learn.
Individuals or organizations in positions of perceived influence and expertise will sometimes present a certain approach to teaching as “the right way”, yet it may reflect their narrow view of how education should operate.4
Because of the complex nature of education, there needs to be a way for us to communicate feedback about current practices that allows for more information to flow back and forth. It should be continuous and position both parties at somewhat equal levels of authority.
In fact, whenever possible we could even place the primary authority for learning upon the learner itself. A teacher’s or leader’s internalization of their impact on students can and should lead to the development of new goals and new approaches.
Thus, the leader’s/coach’s role is not to “give” feedback but to do their best to help facilitate understanding around the data that is the result of their actions.5
I learned from classroom visits that professional development facilitated briefly within the natural environment of teamwork can be effective. The teacher communicated that information because the conditions – objective and low-stakes – allowed for it to happen. Once we get the conditions right, the feedback should flow.
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I have been utilizing the short videos found at the Thinking Collaborative website.
"The Difference Between ‘Complicated’ and ‘Complex’ Matters” - Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Catherine Compton-Lilly, Ayan Mitra, Mary Guay, and Lucy Spence wrote an article (Reading Research Quarterly) on this tendency in education to provide a simple view of instruction that may fail to “honor the individuality of young readers but also to recognize the systemic changes needed in schools and communities to equitably serve all students.”
My course, “Literacy Walks”, is now available through Choice Literacy. It is self-paced and full of examples, articles, and video from actual classrooms that show you how to engage in classroom visits that lead to instructional improvement.