Module 4 The Power of Wayfinding

  1. Get Oriented

“Learners need endless feedback more than they need endless teaching.” -Grant Wiggins

 

No matter where students are learning you want to keep the pulse on both student well-being and student growth. Distance learning requires that we are even more intentional about our choices as educators. This module provides insights on why feedback matters, ideas for intentionally designing feedback opportunities, and strategies for checking in on student wellness We will consider:

  • How am I offering and using feedback?

  • How are my students experiencing peer-to-peer feedback?

  • Where am I building in opportunities to absorb and apply feedback?

  • How do I keep the pulse on well being?

Each module in this series encourages you to customize your experience to what you personally need. Pick and choose what best applies to you, your context, your comfort level, and your learners. Along the way, leverage Slack for questions, connections, and further resource sharing.

Ideally, please explore Module 6 prior to your cohort’s Zoom meeting. Your Zoom opportunities in Modules 5 through 8 are office hours where your facilitator will go deeper into module topics, structure opportunities to connect with others on the work you’re doing, and provide time for Q & A. Previewing the modules prior to those Zooms will help you maximize your time.

2. Read & View

“The key to learning is feedback. It is nearly impossible to learn anything without it”. -Steven Levitt

 
 

In order for students to grow, they have to know where they are at, where they are headed, and how to get there. In your brick-and-mortar classrooms, you have a variety of informal and formal ways you “read” the room for both wellness and learning. In distance learning, our feedback strategies have to grow even more INTENTIONAL and PREDICTABLE. Just as in our brick and mortar classrooms, we have to consider…

  • How do I know students need this?

  • How and when will I offer them next steps/suggestions to try out? How will I structure my suggestions?

  • How will I know they applied those suggestions and are making progress?

  • When are they learning to give and receive feedback to one another?

During distance learning, students are already under an enormous cognitive load. They are navigating a new way of living and learning while also trying to grow in understanding and skills. Feedback should be clear, predictable, and helpful. When we plan our weeks, we need to choose which learning experiences are the most essential for students to demonstrate growth in alignment to our standards and offer feedback for learning. And then we need to intentionally direct students to that feedback and plan future opportunities for them to apply the feedback. Feedback works both off and online when we…

  • Are clear, concise, and predictable

  • Are strategic about how much and how often we give feedback

  • Direct students back to the feedback

  • Provide future opportunities to apply the feedback

The resources listed here are a primer on why feedback matters and an introduction to ways teachers are adapting their feedback practices to distance learning.

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The resources listed here invite choice. Read and view what seems most applicable to your learning and your practice. Just click on the buttons to visit the article sites and view the short videos

VIEW IT

Feedback in Kinder

Entrance/Exit Tickets on Padlet

Approach on SEL

Video Feedback Strategy

3. Reflect

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Module reflections are self-directed opportunities to synthesize what you've explored and to consider your own practice. These are fast journal entries to invite new thinking and to inspire action steps.

 

"Continuous learning requires educators to think about the enduring concepts of a content; learning being for learning’s sake, without the expectation to cover an entire content or subject area; developmentally appropriate tasks or projects that provide opportunities for students to engage meaningfully in content through different ways; and providing feedback to students in a variety of ways." -OSPI

"Characteristics of sound feedback include that it should be frequent, give students a clear picture of their progress and how they might improve, and provide encouragement." -Robert J. Marzano

Take a moment to take stock of how feedback is currently taking place in your distance learning plan. In quick bullet points, respond to the following prompts:

  • When and how am I checking for understanding?

  • When and how am I giving students actionable next steps?

  • How do I know students are absorbing and applying those next steps?

  • When and how am I keeping the pulse on wellbeing? How do I know my students are okay?

Read over your quick responses. Where do you see room to grow? What is one way you want to improve your feedback practice?

The “Practice” section that follows offers strategies and ideas to try out. Does one align to your reflection?

4. Practice

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Exploring this module with colleagues? Consider collaborating on one of the practice activities below and share feedback to one another on your experiences.

 

The following exercises are short action steps that offer you optional resources and activities to support your work in providing effective feedback (both for learning and wellness). Consider trying one (or more!) out this week to enhance your practice. To reveal the instruction, click on the “TRY THIS” title(s) that interest you.

+ TRY THIS: Develop a Feedback Plan

Skim this list of “15 Strategies for Online Learning when School is Closed.” Number 10 is specifically aimed at feedback. This article from Edweek shares the "distinct parts" of "wise feedback:"

"State your confidence in the student's ability to master this concept, process or skills ("I know you are a very capable student.")

Point out explicitly what the student got right and where he went wrong. (Here is where things got off track...")

Name specific actions he needs to take (i.e., review the steps, learn the procedure , etc.) ( "How would you fix that? Here's where I'd like you to go back and review," or "When you get to this part, rethink this move here...")

Re-affirm your belief in the student's capacity and effort to reach the target (i.e., "You got this...")"

Think ahead to the big picture of learning this week and where and how you'll give feedback. Create a feedback plan for an upcoming demonstration of learning. How will you include both what is working (transferable skills) and what students need to work on next (improvements, try this)? How will you share feedback with students? How and when will students absorb it? How and when will students apply it?

+ TRY THIS: Research your "Homebase”

Your current "homebase" likely has powerful tools built in to help you deliver efficient feedback. An LMS offers the benefit of a predictable, contained space. Students know where to go, and often, you can check to see if they’ve read what you’ve left for them.

Take some time to investigate the reach of your "homebase". Interview colleagues on how they are using it to give feedback and to encourage students to check and apply feedback. Deepen your understanding of your "homebase" to harness what is already at your fingertips. And then, consider how you might leverage your "homebase" to improve your own feedback practice.

+ TRY THIS: Plan for wellness

Read “7 Ways to Maintain Relationships During Your School Closure” and this teacher blog post on wellness forms and then think about your Core 4 and Module 5’s TechTool Bonanza. How can you leverage one tool to connect with your students in a new way this week?

Plan ahead how you’ll use that tool, and ideally, plan for it to be used in recurring ways to give you ongoing data for student shifts and changes.

+ TRY THIS: Plan for entrances and exits

When students walk into your classroom at the start of the day or prepare to transition at the close of a lesson, you have a suite of strategies to see where they are at. They might line up across the room in response to prompt or scale, offer thumbs up and thumbs down for understanding, and jot down a quick response on a Post It. You can take the temperature on everything from stress levels to concept understanding in distance learning too.

Pick a tool from your Core 4 or Tech Tool Bonanza and plan how you’ll leverage it as an entrance or exit ticket to check for understanding this week. What works best for your students’ upcoming learning?

+ TRY THIS: Create for peer to peer connections

Providing peer-to-peer feedback during a process allows students opportunities to synthesize their understanding in an effort to help others, to extend one another’s learnings through exposure to more ideas, to extend their own learning through careful application of feedback, and to practice the skill of collaboration in real ways. And perhaps best of all--it provides helpful, social interaction around a common purpose during a time of isolation.

Consider an upcoming lesson and process where peer-to-peer feedback might be helpful. Read this article for potential inspiration: “Teaching Students to Give Peer Feedback”. Then consider, How might tools like EdPuzzle, Zoom, Padlet, or Flipgrid might invite an exchange of rich peer-to-peer feedback? One way to get started is to have students pause in the middle of a learning process to craft their own questions and dilemmas on which they want feedback and new ideas. They can post their student-generated feedback requests for replies, or participate in real-time feedback sessions on Zoom. Take a moment and design your next peer-to-peer feedback opportunity!

5. Dive Deeper

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6. Share

 
Click to access Slack

Click to access Slack

 
 

How can you extend your own learning and the learning of others with a post in Slack? Before moving on from this module, turn to the Module 5 channel in Slack. Consider sharing in that space:

  • What is a feedback strategy that’s working for you?

  • What is an idea already posted that you can adapt and borrow?

  • What is a question, challenge, or dilemma on which you want support?

  • What is a resource that will extend our module learning?

Keep returning to Slack for support, resources, and extensions of learning. Make the most of that participant curated space and reflect on how a similar approach might support your students.

7. Review

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Self checks for understanding help your students take agency for their progress and next steps. They provide affirmation that they are on the right track or insights to the questions they need to ask.

 

Take a moment to consider your own affirmations and questions:

  • Did you consider the ways you are currently giving feedback? Did you try out a new strategy?

  • Do you have a way you’re checking in on student wellness in the upcoming week?

  • Did you share in Slack or absorb new ideas from the Module 6 Slack channel?

  • Thank you for all you’re sharing, trying, and doing for your students.

NEXT: Feel free to move ahead to Module 6 with the goal of previewing Modules 5-8 before your corresponding cohort Zoom meetings.