Feedback, Feedback, Feedback

I had two opportunities to see the value of feedback to improve instructional practice.

First I had the chance to see a high quality model for instructional supervision.  The foundation of the model is continuous feedback from the building principal and even district administrators. Teachers set goals and constantly receive feedback about their practice, with new teachers receiving extensive support as they learn the craft of teaching. It struck me that this school has built a culture of continuous improvement through conversations about instruction.  Since personnel make up the bulk of the budget in any district, it only makes sense that feedback and support be provided to the most valuable resource - the staff.

The second instance was at a session on digital walk-through training provided by one of our principals - Mitch Kubicek- to a group of 14 principals from schools across the state.   Mitch provided the group not only the technical expertise about how to use a digital tool - Google Forms, but also the rationale for continuous feedback.  Mitch uses the data from 5 minute walk-through visits to provide feedback to teachers and to look at aggregate results for the building.  This not only provides the opportunity to set individual teacher goals, but also to look at professional development needs for the building.  For example, if the building data indicate a majority of the instructional methods involve presenting new information, professional development on how to practice and deepen content knowledge may be in order.  None of this is possible without providing feedback to the teachers about what is happening in the classroom.  Mitch even has the teachers tape 15 minutes of classroom instruction and use the walk-through tool to analyze their own teaching - self observation.  His goal is to walk through 6 classrooms a week - which takes about 30 minutes to complete.  Imagine the impact on teaching and learning that costs just 30 minutes a week?

Neither of these two examples are possible without feedback models.  In order to truly examine the teaching practices we need to uncover them, provide feedback, and insist on continuous improvement.  If each teacher can get a little better everyday, over time the improvements in teaching and learning would be profound.  It all rests on feedback.

Toby