As always, these notes were taken whilst listening to the chat, so they aren’t always full sentences 😆 These were a couple of questions I posted to kick off the chat, but it went in some interesting directions around the mindset of being observed and how who we’re observing will affect the type of feedback given:
- What training do you currently provide teachers who participate in peer feedback?
- What are important factors to consider regarding the affective and procedural aspects of giving feedback?
And more questions came out of the session. For example:
- What are people’s expectations of feedback?
- What have been people’s experiences of feedback in the past?
This tied in with exploring the teacher’s perception of what a good teacher is…exploring their implicit beliefs so we have an awareness of what they believe and can adapt our feedback appropriately.
In the case of a pre-service qualification, it’s a whole new world, with people coming from different backgrounds, cultures, ages – at the beginning can be very difficult because of worrying about hurting their peers. Time is a factor – do we have the space to provide adequate support?
We talked about creating a climate of confidence, learning by example and modelling the types of questions you would expect them to ask each other, with more tutor-led questioning at the start.
It’s also important to allay their fears – feedback coming from the tutor is based on criteria (on certain courses), it’s not personal, it’s to help them develop. Is there a teacher development criteria? Cambridge had a beta version of a self-assessment tool. Jim created a similar one and tried it out for a few years. There were issues around teachers using self-assessment and overgrading their abilities. Having a framework can also help teachers to imagine their development journey (I’m here now and this is where I could be…). This could help developing teachers see if they’re ready for a higher level qualification.
Procedural
Perhaps different for initial training sessions and peer observations
THINK (thoughtful, honest, informed, necessary, kind)
Backing things up with facts – about the lesson, rather than the teacher
What sort of feedback do people need at different levels? (e.g. trainee teacher / new teacher / Delta level teachers) Need to filter, and alter expectations of what the teacher will be doing
What language do we use and are the teachers familiar with it? (eliciting, inx) But also are they concepts which will be useful to teachers in their context? Are the teachers open to trying new things?
It’s a good idea for the person looking for feedback to ask the questions to support observers…asking a specific question can help to direct the feedback and makes it more valuable for the person receiving feedback.
Stimulus recall – describe what happened and then ask them about what they were thinking at that point.
Affective
Positive feedback is not just a compliment – it should be advice to continue with good practice (and this is as important as highlighting where there can be improvement)
The feedback is based on the lesson, not the teacher.
Feedback is not just constructive criticism.
When and how do we give feedback?
Providing written feedback before oral feedback – gives teacher the time to look at things before the feedback chat. Adding an audio note alongside the written feedback helps to make the tone clearer. You could use screencastify or something similar to record a video with audio.
Waiting to provide written feedback til after oral feedback can have its benefits, e.g. a teacher might see something very differently (perhaps with good rationale).
“This is what I saw…What are your thoughts?” (describing rather than evaluating)
Importance of including evidence in observer commentary
More exploratory questions. Direct questions can be useful but exploratory questions help teachers to explore their beliefs more deeply.
The Sandwich Method – is it sincere?
Have teachers draw a flower – petals are things that worked well, two leaves are the things to work on
Allowing for informal feedback – on an in-person course, they would go off and grab a coffee at the end and share initial thoughts informally. Do we still allow space for this on online courses? And not only between trainees, but also on an in-person course, it’s easier for the tutor to grab a teacher and check if they understood all the feedback, chat through something in a bit more detail…
Observation
With a session on feedback, the topic of observation inevitably came up too!
Observation isn’t the only tool that should be used to help teachers see where they need to be. With some teachers it can help them identify where they want to be, but needs to be combined with other tools to be truly effective.
The pre- and post- is REALLY important as well.
Sit down with a teacher and plan a lesson together. Experienced teacher teaches it. Then plan another lesson together and newer teacher teaches it, with feedback after each stage. A lot of teachers need that extra support around planning too
EQUALS – distinction between qualitative observation (get a snapshot of how things are going at the school level) and developmental (more focussed on the individual).
Observing the teaching and learning, not the teacher.
Stigma around observation, often used as an administrative tool rather than developmental. Teaching a ‘display lesson’, rather than showing what actually happens in the lesson on a regular basis.
Some resources
- https://www.tefltraininginstitute.com/podcast/2020/10/19/observing-new-teachers-with-matt-courtois – This episode wasn’t directly related to giving feedback, but had some interesting points
- Jim Fuller shared Gebhard’s Models of Supervision. This also comes up in Rachel Tsateri’s blogpost on feedback, which mentions Heron’s counselling interventions as well.
- Duncan Foord did a webinar on feedback and here are his slides: Feedback on your feedback Innovate 2021 – Duncan Foord
- The Cambridge Train the Trainer course is no longer running, but they recommend the book From Teacher to Trainer. ETpedia also have a resource book for teacher training.
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