You burn the midnight oil, staying up late to grade and make
thoughtful comments on students’ papers.
After entering the grades into your grade book, you breathe
a sigh of relief and feel good about your accomplishment.
When you return the papers to the students, they immediately
look at their grades. Some complain. Others act nonchalant. Others immediately
begin to compare with their classmates. Most frustratingly, a couple crumple up their
papers and throw them away. Few, if any, take the time to read your
comments—the comments that you spent hours working on.
So why did you spend hours writing the comments? Because you
know feedback ranks as one of the most effective and influential teaching
practices (Dweck, Hattie, Marzano, et al).
But did you know ineffective feedback can actually reduce
student motivation? Psychologist Edward Deci found that when students feel they
are being too closely monitored, they can become disengaged from learning.
Furthermore, Deci discovered that learners often interpret feedback as an
attempt to control them (grading as a method of control or statements like, “You cannot do that.”) Finally, Deci
discovered a third condition of ineffective feedback occurs when it can be used
for competition (I did better than you
did).
Comments only grading maximizes the positive effects of
feedback by spurring student learning and instilling a growth mindset. In comments only grading, the teacher
provides only comments on student work. By writing comments only, students
learn how to improve their work.
For assignments that required a grade, I employed a simple, yet remarkably effective strategy. I returned the assignment with comments, but no grade. I required the students to read my comments and respond to them (either orally or written depending on the situation). Only then would I provide them with the grade. While it took students a while to get used to this system, they soon grew to appreciate the true meaning of my comments/feedback.
Some feedback tips:
1.
comments must be specific
2.
supply information about what the learner is
doing
3.
allow students time to read and respond to the
comments
4.
allow time for improvement
5.
praise effort NOT intelligence
6.
supply information
