Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Gathering Feedback


“How often is the feedback process that you are using with students active and not passive?  How often does it turn your students into the main agents in a process of discovery, using their minds to create meaning and find sense in their own patterns of performance?”

When I started thinking about feedback I started thinking about the kinds of feedback I was given versus the kinds that I found out on my own.

When I’m being evaluated I know that my principal is going to be giving me feedback on how I taught. Yet, when I’m only observed every three years, I’m not sure how helpful this feedback is given. I’m just happy that I didn’t do anything drastically wrong that might cause me to be fired.

When I observe my teachers in the summer graduate course that I teach, I give them feedback that might help them be more effective in the classroom. I hope that the feedback I give them is taken to heart and I can tell when they take my advice and adjust their teaching methods the next time I observe them.

One thing that I do is have my teachers reflect on the lesson that I observed. I have them write about what they did, what worked, what didn’t work, and what they would change. I leave a comment about this post and meet with the teacher the next day to talk about specific things I saw or didn’t see. This reflection is written in a blog post and all of the other teachers have to comment on at least three other blog posts giving feedback. I like how the other teachers respond to what the teacher has reflected. Some give suggestions on other things to try or ways to expand the lesson. I see this blog post as a way to gather feedback. The feedback from peers sometimes is more meaningful than it is from someone in authority. Yet, I hope that all of this feedback will help the teachers improve their teaching skills because getting and giving feedback can be very helpful for both parties.

How do you give or gather feedback? Please share.

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