"Teachers Need Real Feedback Too"

 
Constructive feedback can be difficult to give, as well as to receive. I think we sometimes fear hearing about areas where we can improve, particularly when this comes from a figure of authority, because we misconstrue this as criticism, or failure to be great. Giving someone constructive feedback can also be difficult, as too often we worry about hurting feelings and fall into the trap of giving praise, rather than suggestions for improvement.

The following link provides from great tips on giving constructive feedback by both straddling the line of protecting one's feelings, while simultaneously helping individuals see how they can better their performance.

Assessment of, for and as learning has become a popular topic of discussion in today's increasingly constructivist learning environment. The main focus of feedback within all of these categories is to help students learn, and advance metacognition. We want our student to understand how they learn as well as being able to identify gaps in their knowledge, so as teachers, we are trained to provide students with feedback. Constant, relevant and personalized feedback that is meaningful for students.

As Bill Gates says, "everyone needs a coach". With experience, anyone working with others in an educational capacity learns to detect self-assessment performance clues from the reaction of the group. Good teachers are able to mold their teaching and change direction from students questions, learning, and inquiry. However, research shows that teachers are provided with very little useful feedback. What is especially alarming is that the most frequent feedback provided to teachers is the word: "satisfactory".

The problems with this are overwhelming.  What is the motivation to improve? What are the specific areas needing improvement?
This begs the question: how do we provide teachers with meaningful feedback to help them improve their practice?
The ASCD outlines some ways that teachers are assessed, as well as the importance of assessment of pedagogical practices. One of these reasons is:

We can remedy these problematic characteristics by attending to some basic principles of assessment and teacher learning. First, it helps to be clear about why we even have teacher evaluation. Laws, of course, require it. But why are there laws? The first and most fundamental reason is because public schools are public institutions; they take public money, and the public has a right to expect high-quality teaching. But there are two more basic purposes.

My argument is that the above statement employs the  "old story". The one concerned with production, standardized test scores to determine student learning and teaching on a very political agenda without consideration of student learning.

In Shanghai teachers get the change to improve their practice through collaboration. Here are some strategies from the world's highest achieving:

-weekly teacher study groups where teachers discuss strategies that are working for students
-each teacher observes, and provides feedback to their colleagues.

As Bill Gates outlines, these practices are crucial due to the high degree of variation in the teaching profession. If we can encourage teachers to work collaboratively, to share tips for improvement, and to allow our colleagues to see areas in which they excel and ones in which they can improve, we could help each other see what we are capable of and achieve greatness for our students.


Until next time,
Ana Vintan

My Ritch Performance Task: My learning...So far

 "If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn"
-Ignatio Estrada

 

I love the quote above, for everything that it says, and everything that it implies. This is the motto I have experienced in my life - through situations that have taught me the most - it is the ideal I currently hold about education, and it is something I will strive to implement in my future practice. For me, this is the essence of 21st century learning. Finding meaningful ways of connecting with my students by using methods that facilitate learning, directed by students themselves,  is how I can best summarize the integration of the 21^st century literacies into my own practice.

I have learned a lot during my four years at university, and this semester in particular has pushed my conceptualizing of teaching/learning to incorporate means and methods that I had not previously known even existed. I have been learning, and have been exposed to educators who are so radical in their practice, that I have been pushed to think more deeply, find more practical and diverse resources, and reconsider what it means to be a teacher in today's changing world.

Over the last few months, I have followed, and learned from some exceptional educators. These people have inspired me with innovative ideas, creative problem solving, and most importantly, authentic incorporation of 21st century skills and literacies.  As for myself, as a current student and future educator, I plan on incorporating the 21st century literacies in the classroom by being a life-long learner. Ac cliché as this term sounds, I hope to use this post to outline some of the recent things I have learned, as well as things I will continue doing in order to stay engaged, current and use the mass online resources as a platform to further expand and enrich my practice.

This course -21st-Century Literacy Across PR/JR Curriculum - has made the old educational story blatantly obvious for me. That is education that used to be based on marks to 'ensure' future academic as well as life-long success, was practiced by educators who would impart knowledge on students and was rigid in both method of delivery.

Education today has been vamped up, transformed and re-emerged with the driving goal of learning through discovery, in real, authentic and applicable means.  Today, we want students to be creative, global and self-directed 21st century citizens. While I can honestly say that this has not been my experience as a student, I have internalized these qualities to a greater extent as a young adult and an aspiring educator. For instance, I paint. While I admit that I am not very good - and I know this because I have heard it enough times from my former art teachers - painting allows for a creative expression unlike anything else. I am a self-directed learner; I have been reading about, discovering and participating in my own passions. I am also a 21st century citizen; my eyes have been opened to possibilities provided by the internet to engage my future students, and to utilize resources available to me for program planning for my upcoming summer job - as the director of a science summer camp.

Over the past few months, I have been reading several blogs about the ingenious ways that educators have transformed learning in their classrooms to include 21st century literacies, and one common theme amongst these have been ways of fostering student engagement in learning.  The roots of these methods are grounded in problem based learning, and the most concise explanation of this is depicted in the following image:



Link

One common method of promoting student engagement used by educator bloggers is through student inquiry, and fun learning.  Student inquiry learning is unique not only because it is student-led, but also because it is unpredictable, and often appears chaotic. I resonate with the way that educator Joshua Block phrases this by saying, "deep learning is messy and complicated". What is most beneficial to me about this approach of learning is that it shifts the power dynamic away from the teacher as the 'all-knowing' and provides students with agency as learners and as individuals. This has been my experience in this course. Learning about being a 21st century educator in an environment that was structured differently than I had previously been accustomed to first terrified me, but allowed be to explore on my own, to find footholds and resources about topics that interest , as well as an opportunity  to learn more than what is highlighted in the syllabus. I learned to be patient, to be flexible with deadlines, and most importantly, I learned that learning can be fun, and it can be explorative, not rigid.  I have enjoyed the up-keep of this blog tremendously, much more so than I had expected.

While student inquiry can seem like a daunting, and elaborative endeavour, Ms. Cassidy shared just how easy this can be. On Friday afternoons, the class reads by flashlight, instead of using the overhead lights. By simply changing up routine, with something a little more creative, students are enlightened, and excited about reading.

I have stumbled upon an article titled "8 Ways Teachers can Talk Less, and Get Kids Talking More", which provides some very practical ways of engaging student in learning. One way that stood out to me was related to the little things that teachers can say to infuse more student ownership over learning.  An example is "not stealing the struggle".  By this, the author means allowing students to work through problems, regardless of how uncomfortable those prolonged silences can be for teachers. Another suggestion is to turn statements, such as "Nice work, I like the strategy you used for ___" into questions such as "Tell me how you chose to use that strategy for ___". These little changes are immeasurably powerful for shifting 'teacher talk' to 'student talk'. In doing this, we allow students to explain and expand on their thinking, gain confidence in their decisions, and maximize their oral literacy skills.
That being said, when we provide students with feedback, we must keep in mind that we are targeting the love of learning.  As previously discussed, when we praise children's  intelligence, we decrease their willingness to take chances in learning, for the fear of losing their "newly acquired genius statuses".  Instead, we must focus on progress and effort to promote the idea that that learning is attainable, but requires work.

 Another common thread among the educator-bloggers has been use of technology. One thing I have found striking is that technology has been used to complement learning, not just for flare.  Ms. Cassidy, is a prime example of this, as she has all of her grade 1 students curate their learning in their own blogs. One of hers students, Jakob utilized the program 'Duck duck moose' to create a video exemplifying his addition skills. The benefits of this transcend the math skill, and incorporate significant 21st century skills, such as technological literacy as well a sense of creativity. Aviva provides some technological tools applicable for math learning. One of this in particular is very interesting to me. Lightbot is one resource that teaches students math skills such as addition and subtraction, in combination with computer programming. The latent learning of this app appeals to me, as it exposes students to a variety of different skills that they might otherwise not be exposed to in work-sheet-style learning.




The following image provides a variety of technological tools that teachers can implement into learning, broken down into the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy:

 A third way that educators have been increasing student engagement has been closely tied to developing global citizens.

What does global citizenship mean?

The website Measuring What Matters Measuring What Matters  describes citizenship as preparing students with the "knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to take a full and active role in their society". This concept involves a majority of the 21st century literacies: multicultural literacy, by developing an understanding of how actions impact people around the world; critical literacy, by becoming challenging social issues through a form of social change (Minott, 2011); character education, by presenting a representation of the qualities of a "good person" (Gilead, 2011) and environmental literacy by reducing the negative impacts that our actions have on the planet.

Mrs. Wideen  utilized global citizenship learning  in her classroom by showing students how easy it is to connect with other students, in other parts of the world. She accomplished this involved her students in an Oreo stacking challenge, that was not only "very messy and fun!", but involved some friendly competition with students from around the world (blog).

Using somewhat of a contrasting method, Aviva has fostered more local relationships, between her students and their reading buddies from a different school. In one of her blog posts Aviva makes note of the un-planned relationships that were built through a common struggle between people. She says " we both stumbled. We both fell down. We both benefitted from some encouraging words from other students and other staff members. But we both made it!" The bonding that occurred after a challenging feat holds all of the criteria of citizenship: knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for an active role in society.

Overall, one thing shines clearly: the magnitude of the impact that authentic, caring, and personalized learning can make for our students. Aviva writes a heartfelt blog about a student who has thrilled to be back at school after March break. For me, this is what it's all about. Caring for our students by making them feel save and valued, but also showing them that they are important to us as individuals, and integral for the collective success of the classroom as a whole. And secondly, I have redefined what I constitute as the role of students. I now think of students as creative creators who need educators as coaches who provide feedback, encouragement and mediate learning.


Thanks for reading,


Ana

 

Resources:

Minott, M. A. (2011). Reflective teaching, critical literacy, and the teacher's tasks in the critical literacy classroom: A confirmatory investigation. Reflective Practice 12(1), 73-85.

Gilead, T. (2011). Countering the Vices: On the Neglected Side of Character Education. Studies In Philosophy & Education, 30(3), 271-284. doi:10.1007/s11217-011-9223-1


Blooms Taxonomy Image Accessed From: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/544513411169913318/