Relationships, Iteration & Feedback Can Move Mountains

Every learner and educator alike has their own learning obstacle.  As lead learners, it is our job to help our students grow through their own struggles. How can teachers practically do this in any given school year, especially if they have more than 130 students on their roster?   This reality is certainly a challenge for many of us. Genuine formative assessment takes work and I struggle with this practice.  Yet, I believe relationships, iteration, and feedback can help, along with some creativity, risk-taking, frequency and a dash of technology.  Feel free to comment below on what works best for you. 

Relationships

How well do we know each of our students?  Getting to know our learners, and building community is the secret ingredient to success. One of my favorite teachers in high school made a point to maintain relationships with each of her students.  This is challenging at the secondary level because teachers see so many students throughout the day, but she was able to creatively get to know us.  She was present before and after class. She communicated to us through our reflection assignments, and attended our school activities when she had the time. Overall, this memorable teacher was caring and knew our strengths and weaknesses well enough that she could challenge each student in a different way.  She made learning personal through her attempts to understand each student.  I don't think there is any technology that can replace the relational job of a teacher in the classroom.  Check out this seven-minute video from Teacher, Rita Pierson who addresses an audience about every kid needing a champion in their life.  #ItTakesATeacher to help make the magic happen. Technology, however, can provide teachers with unique and time-saving strategies to promote relationship building in the classroom. 

Iteration & Feedback

The Principal of Learning

The process of learning is messy business. I don't believe that learning is a clear cut path, but rather, a meandering and zig-zag sort of journey, that eventually leads to further understanding.  Educator & Speaker, George Couros, writes about this process in his blog, The Principal of Change.  He shares an image from comedian Demetri Martin on what "success" and learning actually look like.  I also think of the Iceberg Illusion for success and learning.  There is so much beneath the surface.

I believe the role of the teacher in each of these images is to help students navigate their own path and ultimately guide them in the right direction. We are essentially mentors and coaches.  We cannot just give our students the answers but we need them to practice independent learning and take an active approach to seeking understanding. Iteration, through the relationship-building process is one way to help grow our students. Students and their teacher are in a feedback loop and they consistently refine their work after receiving feedback, hopefully each time, getting closer to desired outcomes. I believe that feedback serves as the gasoline in this engine of change. This is a helpful video resource from the Teaching Channel regarding How to Personalize Feedback for Students that I wish I noticed sooner in my teaching career.  Also, check out this Edutopia article, 5 Research-Based Tips for Providing Students with Meaningful Feedback about the importance if this technique. The article mentions some counterproductive techniques that I know I've been guilty of in class. In general, the author shares that meaningful feedback should:

Interactive Design Institute

1. Be as specific as possible
2. Be prompt
3. Address the learner's advancement toward the goal
4. Be conducted carefully (check out the tips in the article) 
5. Involve learners in the process

After working with a few teachers around MASH, I'm set to experiment with some more personalized learning techniques that were shared in a recent EdTechSandbox post. One of the learning stations will be a feedback activity where students will offer feedback to each other and I will conference with each learner.

A dash of technology
I appreciate the advice from Educator, Alice Keeler (@alicekeeler), who noted that

"good teachers can't be replaced by technology. What technology does is allow teachers to spend more time focusing on their learners and building those relationships."

In promoting relationships, iteration and feedback, while trying to save time and energy in reaching all 100+ students on your roster, try these tech tools:

1. Voice comments on Turnitin.com - If you have students submit documents on this site and you're attempting to provide meaningful feedback, try the voice comments.  Jess Atkinson shared with me that she loves using verbal feedback in turnitin.com. Although the experience can be "awkward for the students, I’m sure (and for me, too, honestly) ... it’s so much better when they can hear my tone. It’s quicker for me to do a comment and explain any issues/strengths than it is to type them out." Jess also shared that this is her first year trying this technique and she plans to survey the students to evaluate if she should continue this technique. I'm encouraged by Jess's innovative approach to feedback. See the tool in action in this video. 
2. Talk & Comment - Chrome Extension - This free extension that you as well as your students can place on their Chrome accounts allows voice comments on any Google Document. Students can use this app when offering peer edits, or explaining steps in a math problem.  I recently used this function to offer verbal feedback on student papers. After recording my 29 second comment (you're limited to 30 seconds for the free version), I pasted the sound clip URL into the private comment section in Google Classroom. Students appreciated hearing the tone of my feedback and they actually took more interest into how they can improve their next draft. 
3. Screencastify - Chrome Extension - This is another free extension that many of our Chromebooks already have installed as an Add-On. You can add these programs on your school device as well. This is another tool that allows you to record your voice and even your screen as you or your students provide feedback. 
4. Kaizena is another tool, similar to the Talk & Comment extension, that allows for high-quality feedback. Its mission is to “empower students to improve skills through feedback from their peers and teachers.” Once students add this extension to their Chromebooks, you can offer various forms of time-saving and meaningful feedback. Some cool features include: Speak instead of type (voice comments help you to convey tone and emotion in your feedback).Stop repeating yourself (you can use one of its curated lessons to explain concepts or create your own). Track and rate skills (quickly communicating strengths and weaknesses). Integrate with Google Drive.
5. Remind - Offer convenient and meaningful feedback.  "Messages can be sent in real time to an entire class, a small group, or just a single person. Your phone number and your students’ numbers are blocked for privacy." This free app allows you to share feedback via voice as well.  

Any other innovate ideas? Share them below. 

As lead learners, it is our job to help our students grow through their own struggles. How can teachers practically do this in any given school year, especially if they have more than 130 students on their roster?  Relationships, iteration, and feedback can help our students grow, along with some creativity, risk-taking, frequency and a dash of technology.  I hope you can experiment with one of these iteration & feedback techniques mentioned above and see positive results.