By now we are all well aware of the essential role that feedback plays in education. We create tremendous opportunities for our students to both give and receive feedback which allows them to improve their learning and drive them toward success. The feedback we give our students is extremely valuable in their development as middle school students and budding academics. However, this is formal academic feedback I’m talking about. What about the informal feedback your students are receiving from you throughout the day?
Our students are receiving feedback from you whether you intend it or not. Maybe you laughed at their joke as they walked into class…feedback (my teacher finds me funny). Perhaps you compliment their new shoes or haircut…feedback (my teacher notices me AND thinks I have style, yay!) Consider the other side of the coin. Feedback (my teacher thinks I’m stupid)…the teacher only calls on a couple kids for the ‘hard’ questions. Feedback (my teacher doesn’t notice me)…the teacher focuses on the “loud” kids.
What feedback are you sending without even thinking about it?
As I’ve been moving around the school this last week I’ve tried to think about the potential feedback that our students are receiving from the (un)intentional messages we are sending. Some are AMAZING, some leave room for growth.
Some of the positive feedback kids are receiving that may or may not be intentional includes:
- My teacher really likes this class and group of kids.
- My teacher has high expectations for all students.
- My teacher knows me and cares about who I am outside of school.
- My teacher values SSR and enjoys reading!
- My teacher enjoys working at SCIS.
- My teacher is happy 🙂
All of these things are impressions that can be implied from the way that we engage with their students. I’d like you to think about how a teacher may be sending the above messages.
Take a few minutes to think about the feedback your students are receiving from you. What are the positive messages? Is it possible that you are unintentionally sending any negative feedback?
I think you’re all amazing educators and wonderful people. We all work very hard and as I’ve mentioned before, we’re all at least 90% awesome 🙂 I believe strongly in looking in the mirror and working to grow each and every day. Thank you for all that you do for our students and our community. We have an amazing middle school and we get better each day!!
Pushing Forward 