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Jennifer Gonzalez: Cult of Pedagogy-FeedForward January 22, 2018

This week Jennifer Gonzalez blogged about "Moving from Feedback to Feedforward."  This blog post was one that was very insightful to me as I am constantly looking to strengthen the feedback that I provide to my students. Jennifer touched on how much feedback impacts schools and how sometimes a school can be seen as one long day of feedback.  She really highlighted how feedback can be more hurtful than helpful in the way it is often received.

For this blog post, Jennifer interviewed Joe Hirsch on the concept of Feedforward.  A quote that really stood out to me and made me understand the importance of Feedforward was, "When we give feedback to our students, or when our co-workers or administrators give feedback to us, the focus is on the past. People can’t control what they can’t change, and we can’t change the past,' says Hirsch. 'And that happens to be the focus of most of the feedback that we give or receive.”  I found this very interesting and insightful as I often don't take time to think that when I give students feedback, they don't have the opportunity to fix what has already been submitted, therefore it's not nearly as helpful on their growth as if I used Feedforward.

Feedforward allows us to provide suggestions for improvements to students throughout an assignment, instead of at the end.  It allows students to grow in the moment and not look back at an assignment they can no longer change.  There are six components of Feedforward: regenerate, expand, particular, authentic, impact, and refine.  I will highlight below the basic concept of each component.

  • Regenerate: It allows students to see ways in which they can grow in their strengths.
  • Expand: It keeps from simply pointing out a problem, but instead allows the teacher to point out what else is possible and expands on what the student has already started.
  • Particular: Students are given feedback on one particular aspect of an assignment, therefore it keeps them from getting a ton of information at one time.  It becomes easier to process.
  • Authentic: Feedforward allows you to be direct with your suggestions; describe what is happening, explain why it is a problem, then prompt for a solution.
  • Impact: It allows for students to have small steps toward achieving a goal of improvement, instead of just being told to change or to work on an entire concept at once.
  • Refine: In group dynamics, this gives students the opportunity to get feedback from more peers throughout the classroom instead of continuously going to the same peers each time. 
This blog post is one that I have bookmarked.  It has really allowed me to reflect on ways to give my students Feedforward to help them grow, without causing them to feel overwhelmed or to feel as though they have failed an assignment.  I can definitely see Feedforward as being a way for students to grow in their confidence in my classroom.  I look forward to finding ways to implement Feedforward in my classroom and would love to hear anyone's thoughts on this.

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 23, 2018 at 7:15 AM

    Hi Danielle! Thanks for sharing this post, especially the six components on giving more effective feedback to our students. It takes a lot of teacher awareness to be able to give students feedback throughout an assignment instead of maybe one or two times, and to give students feedback that is helpful and meaningful. In my class, I have students who get really upset if they're given feedback other than something like "great job". I think the Particular component and the Expand component will help me help them. Thanks again!

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  2. UnknownJanuary 28, 2018 at 11:53 AM

    Hello, Danielle!

    I am so glad I stumbled upon your post - feedback is a very challenging part of my work as a teacher and a chair. I have never seen any work by Jennifer Gonzalez or Joe Hirsch, but this addresses crucial elements of my job.

    As writing instructors, my colleagues and I struggle to help students use our comments on their essays to improve - they just want to see it as a grade and something they can put behind them. We are working now to incorporate goal-setting and self-evaluation into our writing process, and helping the students take charge of which elements they will address focally during future assignments.

    This sounds like the "Particular" component you provide from your experts.

    And now I'm thinking of the "Refine" component as a chance to have kids become partners in one another's peer assessment work, and incorporating goal-setting there, too.

    Very rich, student-centered, and affirming practice. Thank you again for sharing!

    Have a great week!

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