Five simple steps to making the most of teacher feedback
What do you think of when you think of October? Leaves falling off trees? Half term? Halloween? How about teacher feedback? No? Strange!
I only ask because by this stage in the year you have most probably received some teacher feedback in all your subjects. Perhaps that feedback has been verbal, or maybe you’ve had an assessment marked and graded. Either way, the big question now is what to do with the feedback you have received in order to move your learning forward.
Read on for my top tips!
Don’t focus on your grade
When receiving a marked piece of work it is hugely tempting to focus on the grade you have achieved. If you achieved highly, you might begin to think that you understand the topic so well that there’s nothing you need to do to improve. If you didn’t do as well as you had hoped, you might find yourself wanting to give up. Either way, focusing on your grade is a mistake - what really matters is how you can improve upon your work next time.Use feedback to identify gaps in your knowledge, skills and study habits
Try to think of teacher feedback as a learning opportunity. After all, your teacher has taken the time to read your work and offer you advise. Believe me, this takes a lot of effort, so it’s well worth reading their comments and spending some time thinking about them. What has your teacher said about your work? What have they written about it? Are there any gaps in your knowledge? Could you construct your answer better next time? Do you need to improve an exam skill, such as writing in timed conditions? No one is perfect, so they’ll definitely be something that you need to work on!
Take action
After considering your feedback, make sure you take some action. If you flunked a topic test, make sure you carve out a few minutes each week to consolidate your learning on said topic. If you need to add more conceptual focus or key ideas into an essay, brainstorm how you could do this. Another good idea is to complete the work again, but to a higher standard. Then, check what you have done against the specification or perhaps ask your teacher if they think you have made improvement. By doing these things you are almost guaranteed to improve next time!Refer back to previous teacher feedback when completing your next assessment
This is very important! Very occasionally, I end up writing the same comments on more or less every single piece of work a student undertakes. Sometimes, it might be a small thing such as the correct spelling of ‘Britain’ (you’d be surprised at how many people do not know this), but other times it’s a pretty big thing such as ensuring the answer actually relates to the question. So, in order to guarantee that you don’t make the same mistake two (or three) times, make sure you look over your marked work before you complete your next assessment so you can be sure to focus on developing your answers in the right way.Don’t lose hope!
It can be really disheartening to produce work only for it to be returned covered in copious amounts of red (or green or purple or whatever colour your school or college deems acceptable) pen. But, just remember it doesn’t mean that you can’t do it or that you are failing. It simply means that you have given it a go and that your teacher cares enough about you to indicate some areas for improvement. Often, turning up and putting in the work is the biggest battle. So keep going and have faith that you’ll get there in the end. After all, it’s usually hard work pays off - natural talents and abilities can only get you so far!
Wishing you all the best on your learning journey!