More Feedback Strategies!

This is the framework that the first article used to show how to provide effective feedback. 

(Source: Evidence Based Teaching)

How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students

I read this article because I tutor middle schoolers for an organization I started called Catalyst for a Better Future and I plan on being a lifelong teacher so I wanted to find how to effectively provide growth-oriented feedback. The article suggests that I first tell my student about their current level of performance and then tell them what they can improve. The article also suggests using these methods of providing helpful feedback: affirming what they did well, correcting and directing, pointing out the process, and coaching students to critique their own efforts. I am very happy to hear those suggestions because they align with the feedback method that I have always used.

For example, if I am helping a student with a math problem, but I see that they got their math wrong halfway through, I first point out what they did right by saying something like "Okay, so you did a very good job finding out the value of x" and then I usually follow it with something that makes them feel more confident in their abilities to tackle the next part of the problem that they got wrong like, "So you got through the hardest part of the problem, but let's go back and look at your algebra after that part". Then, I like to isolate the algebra that they did incorrectly and look at the problem. If they genuinely don't know how to do that part of the problem, I will take a second to create a more simplified version of that algebra and do it with them to build their confidence before we finish the original problem. I like to use a simplified version of the problem as practice to frame the mathematical obstacle as not just something they stumbled over, but something that they conquered, consequentially adding another tool to their algebraic tool belt.

Why Do So Many Managers Avoid Giving Praise?

It was surprising to me to see that there was a trend for it to be easier for managers to give negative feedback to correct the mistakes of their workers than giving positive feedback, when I believe that positive feedback can prevent those mistakes from happening in the first place. I worked in places where the managers barely interact with their workers but are quick to point out when their workers are going something wrong and I have also worked in places where managers work right along side of you and are involved in seeing you succeed for the benefit of all. I personally prefer working with a manager like the latter because I believe that managers should show us how to have a stake in seeing the company we work for succeeding. I don't like working in places where there are uncomfortable power dynamics between the workers and the managers, where the managers are only there to direct others, rather than setting out objectives that the whole group of employees should be striving toward. 

I think positive feedback is SO necessary in a workplace because it is very important for me to know how if I am meeting my employer's expectations because that is what I am hired to do. I want to know what I am doing right so I can continue to do it, but I personally do not care for simple praises like "good job!" because I don't expect praise for something that I am receiving a wage or experience from in return. I think that managers should be more involved in the work of those below them in the workplace hierarchy without micromanaging them and instead giving them space to work on their own and if they make minor mistakes, managers should be there to show their workers how to correct them. Managers should be invested in the growth of their workers if they want their workers to be invested in the mission of their workplace and they have to show that by providing useful feedback.