Have you ever done or said something with the intent to get a message out there for people to hear? You deliver the message and wait for a reaction……CRICKETS…..No one responds. You begin to wonder if the message was ever received or if people just “deleted” it. Are they mad?  What is their reaction? Should I not have sent it? What gives? I need some feedback, people! CHIRP……CHIRP…CHIRP…..

We all need feedback of some sort, any sort. Just this summer my 2 year old niece was learning to eat corn on the cob for the first time. She grabbed the end of the ear and shoved the other end in her mouth like she was eating a Popsicle. She didn’t know, but thank goodness her mother gave her the necessary feedback; because that sure would be embarrassing at family reunions many years down the road (If it was up to me, I wouldn’t have said a thing,  just went along with it, anticipating the day I could witness it). We are constantly offering feedback in our everyday activities, whether it be self-reflected, from a peer, or from someone guiding us. So, how don’t we make it more meaningful in our classrooms?

In education, feedback happens in multiple ways: self-reflection, peer feedback, and teacher feedback. I sense that many teachers are struggling with time to conference with their students, so this might be the opportune time to look at how we can utilize peer feedback more effectively in our classrooms. Imagine how the dynamic would change if we empower all of our students to provide meaningful feedback. Students would no longer need to wait passively to learn but be able to take responsibility for and actively move forward in their own learning process.

Take a look at this video of  peer-reflection in a classroom

https://www.teachingchannel.org/video/student-to-student-feedback-nea

Every student in our classroom has the potential to be an expert. Our responsibility is to get to know the individual student and identify their strengths. By giving our students the opportunity to share their expertise with one another, we are engaging them in the highest level of learning; allowing them to teach. If we make an effort to properly guide them through the feedback process, their conversations will generate much better results.

In an article I read recently, Seven Keys to Effective Feedback, in Educational Leadership, Grant Wiggins offers insight on what it takes to have meaningful feedback. By using these steps, we can demonstrate to our students how to provide effective feedback to their peers.

1. Goal-referenced: It is crucial to remind students of the goal they are working on
2. Tangible and Transparent: It has to be real
3. Actionable: make sure it’s concrete, specific, and useful (“Good Job” is really not useful, is it?)
4. User-Friendly: it’s important that classmates understand what their peers are trying to tell them
5. Timely: Make it immediate
6. Ongoing: Don’t make feedback a one time thing
7. Consistent: Use the same parameters for all students

So, you might be asking, what is the correct usage of peer feedback, especially at the elementary level? Is it handing over a checklist for a student to follow when giving feedback to a classmate? Is it having a child write “Good job” on a student’s writing project? Before you hand feedback over to your students it is important to go over your expectations. Following Wiggins’ suggestions can guide you through the process. Give students examples of what you are looking for, and also what you are not looking for. Let them ask questions. Let them practice. Show your students why it is important to the learning process. There are so many different concepts that are effective, but what it boils down to is that the feedback has to be meaningful.

Some quick tips:

Set expectations from the start of the lesson that peer review is not about judging each other’s work, but helping each other out. Also, remind students that it’s important for the peer feedback space to be safe, judgement-free in order for everyone to truly benefit from the feedback.

• Have students focus on the positive aspects of the work before pointing out areas of improvement.
• Show students how they can phrase things constructively. Instead of “I don’t understand the point of your introduction,” try this: “Your thesis statement can be stronger. Can you provide examples?”
• Provide students with categories/areas to focus on when giving feedback, for example: Grammar, structure, sentences, creativity, etc.

Many students will not be so keen on the idea of peer review. After all, who wants their peers to read their work and assess it? However, if their peers can help them see the benefits, and the importance of the process, they will actually enjoy it!