Building a Culture of Feedback

I use guiding questions with positive feedback as much as possible. You want to encourage students to improve and reflect, but not get discouraged by criticism. I have noticed that sometimes when students are reflecting on each other’s work, they are often much harder on others than they would be on their own work (for example- peer editing writing assignments). I would want to make sure that we are encouraging reflection, and not correction when giving feedback. One of the best ways to do that is to model feedback in a clear and positive way. I like the idea of suggesting sentence starters.

Using guiding questions to encourage students to provide feedback will help students build their confidence in building their responses. Rather than using vague statements, students can learn to be specific and open with their responses. The "I Like, I Wish, and I Wonder" strategy helps students interact with their peer's work, and how to utilize constructive criticism. Utilizing critical thinking to provide feedback helps students build their confidence to engage in the discussions with a partner, a small group, or with the whole class.