The Mirror and the Magnet

Last week I wrote about the art and science of good teaching.  The use of academic feedback is one of those areas in which both are important.  The science is clear that the use of high quality and timely academic feedback significantly improves student learning.  The art is, of course, how feedback is given and used in the classroom.  Giving academic feedback is an art form worth developing.

One of the really interesting aspects of TEDS is that you are presented with scripts of your lessons, and you can actually read through them to see how you respond to students and what kind of feedback you give during lessons.  If you get a chance, try it. In SFS, look at your scripts for these three different kinds of feedback:

Affirmation/Negation:  This is feedback that affirms effort or correctness or indicates the student response is incorrect.  These comments may take more complicated formats, but at their heart is a simple statement that the student response is correct or incorrect.  There is nothing wrong with affirmation or negation, and in fact is the most reasonable response at times.  It is the type of feedback most often used on a day-to-day basis.  Examples of affirmation/negation include statements like these:

• Good
• No 
• That is not correct.
•  Right
• Yes
• Well done

Specific: Going beyond affirmation/negation, specific feedback gives information about why and/or how the student is correct or incorrect.  It is an accurate description of where the student is in relationship to the goal and has slightly more nuance than affirmation/negation.  Examples include:

• You have the first three steps correct, but you made a simple calculation error.
• You gave only a partial answer.
•  All three of your supporting details are helpful.
• You named several of the causal effects
•  Your drawing has good color intensity but lacks proportion.

Actionable: Actionable feedback provides students with information about their next steps.  It is similar to specific feedback but it includes information about how to move forward. If you take the examples listed immediately above, you could turn them from specific to actionable feedback by adding a few words:

• You have the first three steps correct, but you made a simple calculation error.  One way to catch errors like this is to....
• You gave only a partial answer.  Think about explaining it to a novice and try....
• All three of your supporting details are correct, so I suggest you focus on....
• You named several causal effects.  Now apply the same concept to....
• Your drawing has good color intensity, but lacks proportion. You should take comparative measurements and….

Connie Moss and Susan Brookhart use a helpful metaphor for specific and actionable feedback.  They call it, "The mirror and the magnet in the meaningful moment."  The Mirror is the feedback that reflects to the student where he or she is in the learning process.  It is specific detailed information and tailored to the student.  The Magnet draws the student toward the objective of the lesson or unit.  It helps the student take the next step.  In the Meaningful Moment is all about timeliness.  Great feedback given after the summative assessment won't help.  The feedback, to be most effective, must be given in time for the student to make changes.

Our current evaluation system allows us look for the Mirror and Magnet moments in our own lessons.  If you get a chance, read through your scripts and decide if your students would benefit from larger doses of specific and actionable feedback—the mirror and the magnet.

Reflect on it; you might be attracted to the idea. (Sorry.  Couldn’t resist the pun.)

Have a great week, Southeastern.

Phil