Lesson 3
Teach Your Students How To Critique Positively
Learning Outcome for Today's Lesson:
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
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Critique and use appropriate descriptive feedback as demonstrated in a comic strip or video presentation
Introduction:
In the last lesson, you learned about using language that will help to promote a growth mindset. In today's lesson, we will expand on these ideas and you will learn about how to teach students to effectively critique each other and themselves. This is not only an essential skill for instilling a growth mindset; it also helps students to build their confidence and it improves their learning. As well, the skill of critiquing directly relates to all three of the BC Core Competencies as shown in the diagram below:
From: http://www.carson.sd28.bc.ca/students.htm
Students should learn how to do both self-assessment and peer-assessment. Interestingly, Brookhart (2008) suggests that self-assessment is an even more important skill than peer assessment is because research has shown that self-assessment is more effective in improving learning.
There is an excellent book, by Ron Berger (2014), called “Leaders of Their Own Learning”, which I highly recommend that you read. You can view the chapter on teaching students to critique here. You can also view Chapter 3 of this book in the OER Commons. This chapter is entitled, "Using Data With Students" and this resource includes videos and other resources that may be useful to you. As well, the OER Commons links to an interesting Teacher Channel Video on using podcasts to give feedback as an alternative to written feedback.
In this chapter, Berger suggests that there are several things that teachers need to teach students to help them learn to critique themselves and others effectively, including teaching them to:
•know the purpose and language of feedback
•use specific language
•make feedback meaningful
•make feedback positive, constructive, and non-personal
•point out strengths as well as areas that need improvement
Berger's table (p. 168) below, outlines the roles of teachers and students when learning to critique in the classroom:
Berger also points out that it is important to "return frequently to learning targets and understand them" (p. 164). This means that students should always be made aware of what they are learning in every lesson and these learning targets, or outcomes, should be referred to when giving feedback. The use of rubrics are a great way to break these outcomes down. The rubrics can then be used as a basis for giving feedback and for students to give feedback to each other. As well, it is important to model critiquing and giving descriptive feedback to students regularly so that the language you use becomes part of the classroom culture and students feel comfortable evaluating themselves and others. Berger has a wonderful video, called "Austin's Butterfly" where he models critiquing to younger students. Please take a few minutes to watch this video:
Notice how Berger uses great exemplars (models) for teaching critiquing. This is an important thing to consider when planning to teach critiquing in your classroom. There are many different ways that you can incorporate critiquing in the classroom. This list gives just a few of them to get you started.
Before starting on the activity for today, please take a few minutes to look over the core concepts for this lesson that are listed below.
Core Concepts:
Critique - a non-judgmental assessment of something using descriptive feedback. There are several things that should be considered when critiquing, as outlined by Berger (2014):
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Think about how often and when critiquing should happen. "Immediate feedback is best for factual knowledge (yes-no, right-wrong), but delaying a bit will make sense for more complex assessments" (p. 161)
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Consider how much feedback should be given when critiquing. Relating the feedback to a rubric may help to guide this consideration.
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Decide whether the critique would be most effective if given orally or written. Individual conferences can be very useful because the student can ask questions. Written feedback is also good because the student can reflect on and refer to it later.
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Think about whether it would be best to give a group or an individual critique. Both can be valuable.
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Be sure to teach the language and the content needed for an effective critique.
Berger outlines several challenges related to critiquing, which you can explore by reading page 173-174 of Chapter 4 of his book.
Descriptive Feedback - a specific, detailed, focused review of the positive and negative aspects of a piece of work.
The video below explains what constitutes good descriptive feedback:
FBS2-WhatConstitutesEffectiveFeedback
Self-Assessment - This is a very important skill for students to learn. It will not only help them succeed in school; it will also be an essential life skill. Please see the booklet that the Ontario Government has put together about ways to include self-assessment in the classroom.
Peer Assessment - This assessment is done in pairs or small groups. Before doing peer assessments, it is important that a positive culture has been created in the classroom where students feel comfortable with each other. Also, rubrics or guidelines, such as in the diagram below, are useful for guiding peer feedback.
Reading: To gain a further understanding of how to give and teach critiquing, please read the following article:
Seven Keys to Effective Feedback by Grant Wiggins (2012)
Today's Activity:
For the activity today, I would like you to apply what you have learned about critiquing by creating either a comic strip or a video presentation. This presentation should demonstrate your knowledge of giving descriptive feedback in a real-life scenario of your choice. For example, you may want to create a comic strip or video of a conversation between two students who are using appropriate descriptive feedback and language that promotes a growth mindset. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Here are some good tools for creating a comic strip:
Questions To Consider:
1. Do you think that teaching students how to critique themselves and others in an appropriate way is a good use of classroom time? Why or why not?
2. What strategies or resources would you use to teach critiquing in the classroom?
References:
Berger, Ron. (2014). Leaders of Their Own Learning : Transforming Schools Through Student-Engaged Assessment. San Francisco, CA :Jossey-Bass.
Berger, Ron. (2015). Austin’s Butterfly. Video. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzrHkFREwog&feature=youtu.be
Brookhart, S. (2008). How To Give Effective Feedback To Your Students. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/116066.aspx
Brown Wessling, S. (2012). Podcasting To Personalize Feedback. OER Commons - Teacher Channel Video. Retrieved from https://www.oercommons.org/courses/podcasting-to-personalize-feedback
EL Education. (2018). Leaders of Their Own Learning: Chapter 3 - Using Data With Students. OER Commons. Retrieved from https://www.oercommons.org/courses/leaders-of-their-own-learning-chapter-3-using-data-with-students
Gauthier, A. (2017) BC's Redesigned Curriculum. Carson School: School District 28 Website. Retrieved from http://www.carson.sd28.bc.ca/students.htm
Unknown. (2017). Peer Assessment Starters. Teaching Essentials Website. Retrieved from https://teachingessentials.wordpress.com/category/peer-assessment/
Wiggins, G. (2012). Seven Keys To Effective Feedback. Online Article. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/seven-keys-to-effective-feedback.aspx