Teaching kids to give and receive Quality Peer Feedback | Effective Peer Feedback

“Feedback refers to giving an opinion about one’s performance or comprehension offered by anyone like a teacher, a peer, a book, a parent, oneself, or experience. The goal of feedback is to close the “gap” between current performance and student success criteria. Feedback comes in a variety of ways, including cues, corrective replies, praise, and punishment, as well as how it is delivered: verbally or in writing, auditory or visually, in person or remotely, and immediately or later. Teachers should choose the most appropriate feedback to launch increased learning based on the qualities of the learners and the learning environment.

What is effective peer feedback?

A well-functioning feedback culture allows teachers to give more low-stakes assignments, provides more opportunities for students to practice, and democratizes the creative process, replacing the top-down dynamics of traditional classrooms and making students an equal and accountable part of learning outcomes for all. It is seen that Adolescents are vulnerable to criticism, according to research, and when they feel evaluated, they might become self-conscious, worried, or withdrawn. Other students may be hesitant or embarrassed about providing criticism to peers they like, and English language learners may find the procedure extremely difficult. Feedback, peer tutoring, collaborative learning, metacognition, and self-regulation are all components of effective peer review, according to a research summary published by the Education Endowment Foundation in England.

9 best ways to teach students to give and take quality feedback

1. Feedback should be made anonymous

Most students may be hesitant to share their work with others and provide comments to one another at first. According to recent research, students submit greater comments when they are given the option to remain anonymous during the process. Peergrade was created with the participation of my own students to allow anonymous submissions and reviews.

2. Specific feedback

Feedback should not be too short or too long. Good feedback should have sentences that reveal one’s point of view about someone in particular. It should not be copied, tell students about quality feedback and how copied and pasted feedback doesn’t make any importance on the chart and is not considered specific. 

3. Review the feedback

Peer review is a practice that many students are unsure about. Their biggest concern is that they’ll get “unfair” evaluations from their peers. Teachers should regulate the procedure to assist relieve this issue. When particular student input is absent, read at least some of the interactions amongst students and provide your own insights. Some peer review digital technologies make this simple by allowing students to flag feedback for instructor supervision.

4. Provide them model feedback and sentence starters 

Distribute a model of feedback, another task that your students will be working on. Walk the students through the assignment’s merits and faults, and demonstrate how precise criticism is necessary for a person to progress. Demonstrate to them through the model what is the difference between helpful and unhelpful feedback. Show how it is possible to be both honest and nice. Use pitch words or sentence starters in the model or orally, so that the feedback process can be initiated and can be processed really well, in a synchronized and unstoppable way.

5. Keep feedback short

Now When a student receives a lab report or essay that is completely covered with a red pen, it might be intimidating. Instead, break it up into smaller pieces using your beak. Have students look for and underline the thesis or hypothesis in the first round of comments, and write in suggestions to make it more obvious. In the second round, instruct them to search for and highlight any supporting details or statistics, as well as to fill in any clarifying questions. They can check for grammatical problems on the third round…. you get the idea. You make it easy for both the student offering the criticism and the student receiving it by breaking it down into smaller, more digestible portions.

6. Holding everyone accountable

This ground rule is intended to guarantee that feedback givers are courteous, helpful, and detailed, as well as to assist the presenter in considering how to use the feedback. It may be a reflection on the three pieces of feedback that a student intends to include in the next draft, or it could be a discussion with the teacher about future steps. It might also be a class share out, thanking them for their comments, reaffirming what they heard, and committing to practical next measures. This demonstrates to all of the children that the activity was not a waste of time. It’s also critical to hold those who criticize accountably.

7. Be kind, pick words wisely 

Here, the teacher may need to assist students in faking it till they make it. When students are unfamiliar with the procedure, she explains it to them as if it were a code for effective adult communication. Instruct kids to nod when a peer speaks, to verify what a peer said with specifics before disagreeing, and to maintain eye contact. Also, the use of the term “should” is prohibited. Instead, statements like “Did you consider?” “Maybe try,” and “What if” may go a long way toward fostering friendliness and preventing defensiveness from the individual receiving feedback.

8. Timely 

Students may make modifications and enhance their present work more quickly if they receive feedback sooner. As a result, always ensure that your students offer timely peer criticism. Teachers may use the virtual environment to set up pleasant reminders for students on crucial dates or deadlines for completing peer feedback. Teachers can use Peer Review and Group Member Evaluation, for example, to create deadline notices to ensure that students deliver peer comments on time.

9. Practice often

Waiting until the conclusion of the assignment or project to perform a round of peer assessments is a common error. It may be too late to provide comments if the assignment is due on a Friday and you wait until Wednesday or Thursday to do so. After school, students are preoccupied with jobs and sports, and they require time to revise their work. Giving feedback several times along the route can save them a lot of time and frustration in the long run. Also, instead of having them complete everything at home, prepare ahead and schedule time in class for editing.

Wrapping note:

The feedback that is effective takes into account the pupils’ backgrounds. Feedback would be seen differently by learners from collectivist cultures than by those from more individualistic ones. As a result, while giving peer criticism, teachers must ensure that their pupils are interculturally aware. This can be accomplished by incorporating both positive and negative feedback, or by keeping anonymity. Teachers can use FeedbackFruits tools to mask students’ identities and substitute them with fruit names while delivering feedback. This feature not only makes it easier for students to give input but also makes peer review a more engaging exercise.

Carter Martin

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