Feedback Spiral

Feedback Spirals

Bena Kallick and Allison Zmuda

As we explore the practice and value of feedback, let us anchor our thinking in our four critical elements that help define personalized learning:

Voice: Learning how to give and receive feedback helps to develop a critical eye. As we study the process or products of our own work as well as the work of others, we develop the capacity to describe and observe before making judgments. We learn to look for the way we are communicating our own voice through the work we do. We ask the question, how well does this represent what I want to say? How does it reflect my perspectives? My opinions?

In addition, we ask the same questions of the work of others. We are looking for the voice as it represents the author, the author’s intention, and the author’s sense of purpose.

Co-creation: When we are developing and designing our work, we are often co-creating. We may be co-creating with a teacher, with peers, or with experts who are not in the classroom or school. Although a student may prefer to work alone rather than in a group, the student must learn that seeking feedback from external sources will improve process, product, and the learning.

Social Construction: A challenging and rigorous project requires a great deal of thought. When we are doing such work, that thinking needs to be played out against others. We need to be open to the feedback that others might give us in terms of our understanding of the material as well as our thinking about the format for our product. We seek external feedback on our thoughts in order to shape them for a wider audience than just ourselves.

Self-discovery: One of the main purposes of feedback to is to provide a new lens for the learner—to offer insights that the one who is producing the work may not see. It is common that, when we work really intensely on a project, we begin to fall in love with our ideas. Good feedback requires that we step back from what we are investing in and allow ourselves to see it anew. When that happens, we often learn more about our strengths, our talents, and where we might focus on for continuous growth and learning.

Learning Continuously Through Feedback Spirals

Originally, when Art Costa and Bena Kallick (ref Assessment in the Learning Organization) were considering how to describe feedback, they were attentive to the metaphor most commonly used “feedback loops” when we came across a familiar quotation: You can never step into the river of time twice. Heroclitus. The concept of a loop gave the impression that you might have a feedback system that left you in the same place where you began. Instead, we wanted to communicate that, regardless of the quality of the feedback, you had entered a river of introspection that would either leave you learning or not—but you would not be the same as when you entered. This realization led us to designing a feedback spiral—one in which you are in an iterative process through which, each time you enter you are both more insightful about your work and more prepared for the next cycle of learning.

The following is a description of the feedback spiral and then a graphic representation.

Purpose or Outcomes: As students start their projects, they must define their purpose. Why is it that they have chosen this particular topic or format for communication of ideas? All feedback, at whatever stage of the process that a person is in, must ground itself in the purpose of the author of the project. All feedback needs to ascertain this intention in order to provide good feedback. This is a critical aspect of moving from teacher driven to student driven work.

Plan: When students are planning their project, they often request feedback. The kinds of questions they ask are often about time management, setting priorities, or how they will be able to contact resources. Once again, this is an opportunity to listen with understanding and empathy. The person offering feedback needs to restrain from giving advice until he is certain that he understands the questions and challenges that the student is posing. It is often helpful to have a feedback circle where students who are struggling with the same sorts of questions co-create strategies as they apply from past knowledge. Teachers join these circles and share from their own experiences.

Take Action/Implement: Getting started in sometimes the scary part of any important work. We want to know the to such questions as - “Am I on the right path?” “Do you think that this will work in the end?” “How am I doing?” It is important to provide feedback based on the questions the student is asking. This is a time when it is important to remember that the target is self-discovery so when students are asking those sorts of questions, they are feeling a disequilibrium about themselves. According to Piaget, this is a primary opportunity for learning. Again, critical friends groups, where students give feedback to one another based on their presentation of work in progress, is often an excellent way for students to learn.

Gather Evidence/ Assess: This is a good time to return to the rubrics, standards, or any other criteria that have been established as a guide to the anticipated quality of the work. Since we are aiming for students to learn how to monitor their own work and to become more self-evaluative. The feedback should be based on the author’s intent (purpose). It should include both “warm” and “cool” descriptions (Joe McDonald). The warm feedback attends to the critic’s response to what is appealing, imaginative, positive about the work. The cool feedback attends to what the critic thinks might improve the work. This serves as excellent formative feedback for the next stage.

Study, Reflect, Evaluate: The student is able to consider the feedback and determine next steps. Very often, students do not want to deal with the feedback that is given. Sometimes, they really like what they have done and will discount any external perspectives. At other times, they will feel that they do not want to do the revisions that are called for. Learning how to receive good feedback is as complex as giving good feedback. It is usually helpful to allow for time to absorb the constructive criticism. In our rush to meet deadlines, we often do not allow for the formative assessment to be acted upon. We often call for more planning time. We would suggest that time to reflect and evaluate one’s own work is equally important.

Modify actions based on new knowledge: When feedback is acted upon, powerful learning takes place. However, this takes time for revisiting the work and remodeling based on what the student is learning. A High School English Teacher considers receiving and acting upon feedback so important, he assess the progress students make from one revision to the next based on feedback.

Revisit and Clarify Goals: Sometimes an insight brings a student back to the original purpose with the realization that the original purposes were not in line with the thinking of the project. In that instance, the student needs to restate the purpose. In other instances, the student will realize that the next project is being uncovered through this one. For example, one student said that when he completed his project, he realized that he had more questions to answer than when he started.

DMU Timestamp: August 30, 2021 20:40