One of the main ways in which teachers ‘give’ feedback to pupils is through follow-up questioning. This is sometimes the case in written feedback, but is particularly the case in oral feedback, as part of dynamic classroom teaching, in which feedback is folded into learning and is indistinguishable from the discussion and exploration of ideas. It is one key way in which teachers insist on deeper thinking.*1 In English, it is one of the key ways in which we push analysis and explore response.
Marking for ‘literacy’ – problems with ‘codes’
Number #4 in an occasional series of short posts about feedback, appearing in no particular order.
In many schools, there is a literacy ‘marking code’ by which all teachers are meant to abide. Typically, spelling errors are marked with an ‘S’, punctuation errors with a ‘P’ and so on. Some of these codes are highly complex; some are simpler. These codes are intended to improve standards in written accuracy across the curriculum by promoting consistent messages, by making corrections instantly recognisable and – importantly – by raising the status (and teachers’ awareness) of spelling, punctuation and grammar.
I would be very interested to hear of examples where these are working well, and why. They may well sometimes succeed. However, in my experience, they often go wrong. These are some of the problems they can present. Continue reading “Marking for ‘literacy’ – problems with ‘codes’”
Memorable feedback: the power of spoken comments
Number #3 in an occasional series of short posts about feedback, appearing in no particular order.
When I was 11 or 12, I did this piece of creative writing for homework. It’s called ‘An Angry Traffic Warden’.
This was the written feedback which I received: Continue reading “Memorable feedback: the power of spoken comments”
Folding feedback into learning
Number #2 in an occasional series of short posts on feedback, appearing in no particular order
Last year, I visited a lesson in which pupils were analysing a newspaper article. They read the article as a class, then – in pairs, so that they were having to articulate their ideas before committing them to paper – they wrote answers to a set of questions. The level of analysis and of expression was variable but, on the whole, not very high:
‘The purpose of the article is to tell about what happened.’
‘The headline really grabs the reader’s attention’
Written comments: three simple rules (and a fourth)
Number #1 in an occasional series of short posts on feedback, appearing in no particular order
When delivering training on feedback, I don’t tend to spend too much time on written comments: the focus tends to be on oral and whole class feedback, classroom culture, questioning techniques, editing and redrafting, ‘work-shopping’ approaches and so on. If anything, it tends to focus on ways to minimise written ‘marking’.
However, many teachers are bound by policies which insist on regular written, prose comments; many are even tied down to formulae such as ‘three stars and a wish’, or ‘WWW, EBI’. So here are some simple ‘rules’ for such written comments, which I have found helpful. (Note: there is nothing startling here, but it all seems to need revisiting!) Continue reading “Written comments: three simple rules (and a fourth)”
James Durran 