Ms. Lauren Time : The Power of Feedback to Improve Your Grades
Educational researchers over the last two decades have conclusively determined that specific, accurate and timely feedback is the most powerful way to help students improve their grades. This information has been shared a lot with teachers around the world, including TCSH teachers, but I believe it should also be shared with students.
Many of you will be receiving your trial exams back soon, with written feedback on them. Your teachers will also be giving oral feedback to the class, and to individuals on request, about common errors made on the trial exam, ways to improve before the real exam, and so on. It is important to understand that paying attention to, and doing something with, this feedback can make the difference between an A and an A*, or a C and a B, between getting into your chosen university or not getting in.
Here are some ideas for how to use your teachers’ feedback for the maximum benefit:
1. Look for specific feedback on the aspects of your work that you need to continue doing well and that you need to improve. Comments like “great job” or even “careless error” need to be translated, either by you, or by the teacher in a one-on-one consultation into more specific advice like “Your answer used important vocabulary and key words from the discipline, and showed evidence that you understood the concept you were applying.” “You need to make your negative signs larger and clearer so they don’t disappear halfway through your solution.”
Make a list, for each subject, of things you did well on the trial exams (or class tests or graded homework assignments) that you want to make sure to continue, and specific things that you need to do differently / better on the next exams or assessments.
2. Set specific goals for yourself between now and your next assessment, and an action plan for each goal that will help you achieve it. Here are some examples:
Make sure that your plan includes getting feedback on whether you are getting closer to achieving your goal.
3. DO SOMETHING with the feedback you receive.
• On a Mathematics test, correct every single answer you got wrong, and determine whether any of your mistakes deserve to be put on your list of “things you need to do better next time”. If you are unable to correct any particular mistake, arrange a consultation with your teacher, or drop in to Student Success to see another teacher, or get help from a stronger student. Persist until you have corrected every single mistake. Mistakes are great teachers but only if we consciously make an effort to learn from them.
• If an essay answer, short or long, is given a lower mark than you would like, and there is some written teacher feedback on the essay, try re-writing that part of the essay, following the teacher’s suggestions, and handing it in to the teacher for more feedback on whether or not you were successfully able to improve your answer.
4. Recognize that you have the right to ask for feedback. If you feel that the feedback given was not specific enough, or if you have done a re-write or a correction, feel free to ask your teacher to take another look and give you feedback that will help you get your desired grade. A teacher should also be able to tell you, in a specific way, what it is that you have to do better in order to get a higher grade.
5. Find ways of getting feedback other than from your teacher.
• If you answer a past-year question without looking at the answer provided, and then COMPARE your answer against the correct answer provided, that is a way of getting feedback that does not require the assistance of your teacher.
• If you and a friend agree to do five past-year questions, then trade answers and give each other feedback on how to make those answers better, that is also likely to give you useful feedback.
6. Attend revision classes and listen carefully to every hint and piece of advice or feedback your teacher gives. Add them to your growing list of things you need to pay attention to or do better on. Do the questions suggested by the teacher, on time, so that the feedback is more meaningful. If you stay at home and study all by yourself, you may get to put in more hours but you will be missing out on the most powerful grade-improver available. Think about this!
Many of you will be receiving your trial exams back soon, with written feedback on them. Your teachers will also be giving oral feedback to the class, and to individuals on request, about common errors made on the trial exam, ways to improve before the real exam, and so on. It is important to understand that paying attention to, and doing something with, this feedback can make the difference between an A and an A*, or a C and a B, between getting into your chosen university or not getting in.
Here are some ideas for how to use your teachers’ feedback for the maximum benefit:
1. Look for specific feedback on the aspects of your work that you need to continue doing well and that you need to improve. Comments like “great job” or even “careless error” need to be translated, either by you, or by the teacher in a one-on-one consultation into more specific advice like “Your answer used important vocabulary and key words from the discipline, and showed evidence that you understood the concept you were applying.” “You need to make your negative signs larger and clearer so they don’t disappear halfway through your solution.”
Make a list, for each subject, of things you did well on the trial exams (or class tests or graded homework assignments) that you want to make sure to continue, and specific things that you need to do differently / better on the next exams or assessments.
2. Set specific goals for yourself between now and your next assessment, and an action plan for each goal that will help you achieve it. Here are some examples:
Goal
|
Action Plan
|
I need to understand how to draw graphs and diagrams to explain Economics concepts.
|
Make a list of the various concepts that may require a diagram. Find some past-year exam questions for each concept, complete them, and get help if I don’t get them right.
|
I need to understand how to properly use a particular piece of Chemistry lab equipment.
|
Ask my teacher if I could have a consultation in the lab, with some practical applications requiring this equipment.
|
Make sure that your plan includes getting feedback on whether you are getting closer to achieving your goal.
3. DO SOMETHING with the feedback you receive.
• On a Mathematics test, correct every single answer you got wrong, and determine whether any of your mistakes deserve to be put on your list of “things you need to do better next time”. If you are unable to correct any particular mistake, arrange a consultation with your teacher, or drop in to Student Success to see another teacher, or get help from a stronger student. Persist until you have corrected every single mistake. Mistakes are great teachers but only if we consciously make an effort to learn from them.
• If an essay answer, short or long, is given a lower mark than you would like, and there is some written teacher feedback on the essay, try re-writing that part of the essay, following the teacher’s suggestions, and handing it in to the teacher for more feedback on whether or not you were successfully able to improve your answer.
4. Recognize that you have the right to ask for feedback. If you feel that the feedback given was not specific enough, or if you have done a re-write or a correction, feel free to ask your teacher to take another look and give you feedback that will help you get your desired grade. A teacher should also be able to tell you, in a specific way, what it is that you have to do better in order to get a higher grade.
5. Find ways of getting feedback other than from your teacher.
• If you answer a past-year question without looking at the answer provided, and then COMPARE your answer against the correct answer provided, that is a way of getting feedback that does not require the assistance of your teacher.
• If you and a friend agree to do five past-year questions, then trade answers and give each other feedback on how to make those answers better, that is also likely to give you useful feedback.
6. Attend revision classes and listen carefully to every hint and piece of advice or feedback your teacher gives. Add them to your growing list of things you need to pay attention to or do better on. Do the questions suggested by the teacher, on time, so that the feedback is more meaningful. If you stay at home and study all by yourself, you may get to put in more hours but you will be missing out on the most powerful grade-improver available. Think about this!
