Learning to Give Feedback
Posted by annastan on March 15th, 2010. Filed under: A Closer Look, Enchanted Inkpot, Writing Rants.Last week I had the opportunity to visit a sixth grade English class and do a lesson on revision. It was a lot of fun. The students admitted that revision is NOT their favorite thing, but they were still willing to give me a chance. We not only talked about why revision is important, we also went over why getting someone else’s feedback can be so helpful. We then discussed specific ways to be good critique partners.
What Should We Look For?
It was an interesting challenge for me to come up with concrete yet simple ways the students could go about critiquing each others’ work. The teacher had explained to me how difficult it was to get her students to give each other helpful constructive criticism. Finally I came up with four main things that I asked the students to look for:
1. Parts they liked or found interesting.
2. Places where they found themselves losing interest.
3. Places where they were confused or needed more information.
4. Places where they felt the piece was getting off-target.
Overall the students seemed to have no trouble using these four elements to indentify trouble spots in a sample essay I gave them. The teacher told me that she would be able to build off of these elements as they continued to work on their own writing throughout the year. I also had the pleasure of reading a few of the essays the students were working on. They were filled with creative energy and humor; I was impressed.
When Is the Best Time to Learn?
What I found particularly interesting about this sixth grade class was that they were doing any kind of peer feedback at all. I believe the first time I was ever asked to critique someone else’s writing was in high school when I took a creative writing class. It wasn’t until college that I was given any real method of giving constructive criticism. The fact that the teacher was introducing this concept in middle school blew me away.
And yet, as I spoke with the teacher, she mentioned that she wasn’t sure if students that young could fully grasp the kind of feedback that would really be useful to other people. A lot of the time they were afraid to say something too critical, or they would focus on rather small things (like the names of characters) that didn’t have much impact on the whole piece.
It left me wondering if there is a “good age” to start teaching students how to give each other feedback. Is this something that should be reserved for creative writing classes, or should it be part of all English classes? Should it be introduced in middle school, high school, or not until college? And how detailed do we want students to be with their feedback? Is it enough for them to identify the four elements I mentioned above, or do they need to have a stronger grasp of what, exactly, is/isn’t working?
I’m not sure what the answer is, but I’d l0ve to hear about your experiences with critiquing and your thoughts on when we could/should learn to give feedback.
On an unrelated note, there’s a wonderful post up on the Enchanted Inkpot on diversity in fantasy. It raises some really interesting and thought-provoking questions. Swing by if you have a chance.
Happy Monday!
March 15th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Sounds like a really good lesson you shared with the students!
I used to do peer-feedback with my 7th graders, which as the teacher you spoke to said, was hard, but with some instruction the kids could do an okay job with it.
I think it’s an important tool to use in schools because A. Sad as it is to say, teachers do not have the time to give substantial feedback to every child on every word they write. B. It teaches some self confidence and interdependence among students, which I think is really valuable for kids to realize. They don’t NEED the teacher every step of the way, and can actually provide valuable critiques themselves.
March 15th, 2010 at 9:29 am
I think giving good feedback is a learning curve, just like writing. I can tell by a critique what stage the writer is at, by what she/he includes in the crit. And critiquing others is a great way to learn, so I think starting around 5th-6th grade is a great time to start.
March 15th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Anne, that’s a really good point about teachers not having enough time to give all the students extensive feedback. And you’re right that helping each other become better writers helps students of all ages take more pride in their work.
Laura, so interesting that you can tell how experienced writers are by the feedback they give. It makes a lot of sense; if they know to look deeper into their own writing, they’ll do the same in their critiques.
March 15th, 2010 at 11:13 am
Great post, Anna. And what lucky kids! I find Laura’s response true. I’ve been in crit groups where so much of the feedback from new writers was ‘I liked it’ or ‘that was good’. Maybe part of it is fear of speaking their mind, or maybe it’s because they haven’t delved deeper into their own writing yet.
March 15th, 2010 at 11:23 am
When I taught elementary school, students started learning how to give feedback in primary grades. Very basic stuff, of course, beginning with what they liked, but it gave them a foundation for approaching text with a critical eye.
March 15th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Thanks, Andrea! I’ve heard the “it was good” kind of feedback quite a bit too. I think part of it is fear of hurting someone’s feelings, but another part is (as you said) not having the experience to identify problem areas or not having the vocabulary to express them.
Thanks for stopping by, Kathryn! I’m impressed that you introduced peer feedback in primary grades – I’m glad to hear it was successful. I can see how the sooner students get into the habit of looking at teach others’ writing, the more they’ll get out of it in the long run.
March 15th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
This is fun doing it with students, isn’t it? I taught writing classes for several years and we always ended the final lesson with critique lessons and the kids would take what they knew and peer edit. It was really great to see how encouraging the kids were, and how they always had something good to say even while offering advice how to make it stronger.
March 15th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
hey anna!
great post! i’d never even thought about revision within a classroom setting.. somehow, elementary school just blurs away in my memory.
thanks so much for sharing your experience!!
March 15th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Angela, that’s something I noticed too, the students had great ideas about how to make the writing better and they were really encouraging when giving feedback. It was great to see.
Hi Tahereh, thanks for stopping by! I don’t remember doing any sort of revision in elementary or middle school, and a friend I grew up with doesn’t either. I wish I had been introduced to revision and critique methods earlier, so I was thrilled that it seems to be taught more these days.
March 15th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
I have to say I’m a bit relieved that the kids were positive and constructive with their critiques. They’ll need some training in being more specific than “it’s good,” but since that usually means “I think the plot is exciting,” even that’s helpful. I remember one episode when I was in sixth grade where we had to give feedback on others’ work. I had to change back the errors that the other two kids put in by way of “corrections.” So it does have its downside.
March 15th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Marcia, I found that with the overall feedback, the students had no trouble finding and defining trouble spots. When it came to more specific things like word choice and clarity, however, they struggled a bit with how to fix or improve certain things. Since many of the students are still learning the rules of writing, I wonder if that part of peer feedback might be a bit more challenging for younger students than for older ones.
March 16th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
I wish I had a time machine…but I will start now on my learning to give feedback.