Tips to Help Provide Meaningful Feedback

Do your students bombard you with questions that require feedback? Would you like to provide them with feedback that is beneficial? In this article, we will look at how you, as a teacher, can offer answers that impact students' lives meaningfully. All these scenarios require different kinds of feedback. Follow along as we unravel this mystery.

Through research, we have realized that students are affected immensely by the feedback that a teacher provides. If you provide nasty comments when the student is attempting to learn a new skill, they automatically lose interest in the topic. But when you provide positive comments, they will pursue the craft and hopefully master it.

Feedback is therefore not as easy as just saying some words to a child to answer a question. However, understanding that each word you use affects the child should be as effective as possible. So, how can we make our feedback effective?

1. Be specific

   Simple feedback does not do a great job; telling a student "you did great" does not help them improve in any way. It does not tell them whether to try harder or to keep doing what they have been doing. They will hence never improve on the mistake they make.
   
   Point out flaws instead. Tell them skills they should work on and what they should maintain. Doing so gives the students a sense of direction. It also proves to them that you care about them and their education.




2. Earlier is always better.

   Feedback provided at a later date is not as effective as immediate feedback. Once the students know what to do sooner with the content of their mistakes still intact in their head, they will be able to make quick changes to improve. But when you delay the feedback, they assume that all is well and continue making the same mistakes. When you offer your comments later, they may not take much notice as they feel that the assignment is over. So the earlier, the better.




3. Set goals

   When you have a set goal, it gives you an anchor to your feedback. If, for example, it is a set score that all students should achieve, you get to identify the students not working hard quickly enough. You can then provide immediate feedback to them and motivate them to work towards the intended goal.
   
   

4. Careful feedback presentation

   Feedback can be received either positively or negatively, depending on how you present it. You hence have to ensure that you pass the input in a carefully crafted way. Do not try to be controlling as that will be taken negatively even when the feedback is positive. Instead, present your feedback in a motivational manner and push them to compete against themselves and not their peers.

Conclusion

Feedback is an essential part of every teacher's life. It is vital to execute it in a manner that helps the student improve. Positive feedback stating specific flaws and given in a timely fashion will provide effective feedback to help your student increase his skills set.

Guest Blogger:

Timothy Miller is a well-known academic writer and blogger. He writes a thesis, articles, research papers, and blogs to educate his audience and clients from Mypaperwriter.com. His impeccable research work in various fields has already been appreciated and published. Having experience of more than 20 years in the writing, he loves guiding fellow researchers and content writers.