Do you want to know a secret? One that will improve the quality of your work significantly? One that has the power to help you improve your results? One that works for every single subject you study, every assessment task you do and is also the key to success post high school and post university?
The single most powerful strategy you can use to improve the quality of anything you do is to get FEEDBACK.
That sounds obvious, and it is, but the reality is just because it's obvious doesn't mean it's easy, one of my favourite sayings is "commonsense is not common practise."
If you want proof of that consider the nutrition, diet, fitness and weight loss industries. My year 11 Health and PE teacher (big shout out to Mrs Mallinder!) told me the most simple yet life changing health advice I ever heard... "The secret to losing weight is: energy output must be greater than energy input." She also went on to talk about how weight itself is not the greatest measure of health, but in terms of weight loss and maintenance that statement is absolute truth.
So, if all weight loss is that simple - one clear equation - how come obesity is still an issue in Australia (and the developed world more broadly) and how come there is a huge, booming industry focused on weight loss?
Because, just because something is obvious and simple does not mean it is easy.
I had a baby recently, and I was lucky enough to be able to deliver that baby naturally with no drugs or intervention. I can tell you right now - the process was simple, but the work was incredibly hard.
The same is true about feedback. The idea of getting feedback is simple, getting the right feedback and using it effectively is much harder.
If you want evidence that using feedback is going to help your work then all you need to do is google John Hattie + feedback and read his research. Or read his book "Visible Learning".
Once you've accepted that it's the best strategy you can employ to improve your work, here are my thoughts and suggestions about how to do that:
1. You MUST get feedback from the best source possible. You want VALID feedback.
I had a student a couple of years ago who worked pretty hard all year. She did pretty well on her SACs and she had high expectations for what she wanted to achieve in the exam. Therefore, I was really surprised that in the lead up to the exam I didn't receive any practice essays from her and she didn't come to our appointment time to plan her revision. She turned up on the morning of the exam and I asked her what had happened? Where has she been? Why hadn't she been doing any English study? She told me, "Don't worry Miss, I've written heaps of essays- I just didn't want to bother you so I've been getting feedback from my Mum and some of my friends."
Face meet Palm.
Your teacher is your best source of feedback. They know the course. They know what the exam is assessing. They know your strengths and weaknesses. They can be more direct and supportively critical than family and friends. This is their job! Family and friends are great support during VCE (in fact maybe I'll write about that soon) but they should not be your primary source of feedback.
2. You should get feedback in a timely fashion. (See John Hattie about this)
If you wait too long you probably won't get the feedback, or it won't be as powerful. The task you were doing needs to be fresh in your mind and in your teacher's mind.
The only time I ask students to wait for feedback is when I give them their SACs back. That's for a few reasons. SACs are both summatie and formative assessment (more on that another time) and initially I think students view it as summative task, which affects their openness to feedback.
What's the first thing you look at when you get a major piece of work back? The mark. That's because you believe that piece was a performance of your skills and abilities and is being used to rank/measure/assess those skills. I also believe, maybe for English in particular, you are likely to feel that it's not just your work being assessed it's also you being assessed.
That is not a healthy place to receive feedback from. It is quite possible you will be feeling some form of emotion (elation, disappointment, anger, sadness etc.) and if you've worked hard and you care about this task, you may be feeling that quite intensely. And if you are feeling that, you are probably not as open to the feedback you need to hear.
For that reason I ask my students to wait 24 hours after receiving their SAC back. In that time I ask them to do these things:
A) Let themselves feel that emotion for as long as they need to
B) Put that emotion aside
C) Re-read their piece critically and reflectively as a source of information that they can learn from
D) Then re-read any comments I wrote throughout the piece or in summation on the front
E) Write down a. What they improved on in this piece b. What they need to improve on next c. A question they have about their work
F) Make a time to see me and discuss those 3 things
3. Focus on quality not quantity
When discussing feedback with a student I have been asked to "tell me everything I did wrong." As much as I admire that student's commitment to feedback and improvement I think that's misguided and inefficient. I would much rather tell them all of the things that they did right. Not in a wishy washy "Geez you're the best" sort of way, but by being very specific like, "this sentence here is excellent, because..."
We often overlook the things we are good at and have mastered and I think that's a big mistake. Firstly, because it's great to acknowledge the progress you've made and celebrate those wins! Secondly, because often students don't realise the best parts of their own work, and if they don't know that they might not keep doing it.
After showing a student very clearly what they are doing well, I select 1-3 things they should focus their efforts to improve on. I think anymore is overwhelming and counterproductive. As a student asking for feedback the best question you can ask is: "if I were only to fix one element of my work, what would improve it the most?"
Once you've improved that one thing you can go back and ask again, but that's much more efficient than taking a scattergun approach and trying to fix 10 things at once.
4. Finally, be aware of your attitude towards feedback and your manners when receiving it.
All feedback is information, and all information is a gift. You can choose to use that information or not, but it gave you an opportunity to reflect on your work. Good feedback is not a criticism of you, although sometimes it may feel like it. Remember to be open to the feedback. Sometimes you need to mull it over for a few days and then re-examine your work with fresh eyes, looking for how you could apply that feedback.
If someone has taken the time to give you feedback, thank them for it. If it was given with the intention of helping you improve then it is a truly valuable gift.
It's the secret to success.
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