I was a brand new assistant principal with energy and passion, and suddenly, everything turned against me. I had one of my roughest patches, felt unsupported by those above me, and questioned by those I supervised why I wasn’t doing enough. It was one of those exasperating moments that had me driving home aggravated, tired, and rethinking my administrative career, wondering if my leadership was broken.

My next interaction changed everything. A veteran, proven principal called me and said, “I heard you had a rough day….” “Yes,” I shot back. He countered, “I can remember the first time I had a day like that. Parents screaming at me, my principal demanding answers, and that group of teachers in the background heckling the new guy. I was scared. I know what it’s like. Hang in there, it gets better, and you are doing great.”

The message contained in that small story gave me exactly what I needed. Suddenly, my mindset shifted. Looking back, I remember feeling different parts of my brain engaging. I wasn’t alone and I received validation from a leader with respect. My energy returned and I was ready to get up off the mat.

It was just a 2-minute interaction. Often, that’s all it takes to embrace leadership challenges, work toward improvement, and most importantly, move on.

School leaders who use storytelling, big and small, can deliver constructive feedback by focusing on shared experiences, contextualizing issues, and building trust, just as that wise sage did for me years ago.

Unlike conventional methods more commonly used that can sometimes feel like a personal attack, stories frame feedback as a common understanding and a collaborative effort toward a collective goal. This technique is relevant for both teachers providing feedback to students and administrators giving it to faculty.

The concept described by psychologist Emily Falk of providing feedback through stories offers a powerful mechanism for school leaders and teachers to bypass the recipient's instinctive urge toward defensiveness and promote a positive direction for change–a change like I experienced decades ago that helped me sustain a long and rewarding career as a school leader.

Why Do Comments Hurt and How Does Telling Stories Work Around That?

Defensiveness often arises because the brain combines "what is me" with "what is good," causing feedback or criticism to be perceived as a threat to one's core self-image or identity. Direct appeals to change behavior frequently lead to this defensive reaction.

The Storytelling Approach

Sharing stories is effective because it seems to get around our defensiveness. When information is presented in a story form, people reason about it differently than if it were presented as a list of facts or a direct critique.

Here’s more of why and then how to implement it with success in your school leadership work.

1. Transportation and Distancing: Listening to a story pulls us out of a defensive mode (the "do I agree or do I disagree?" mindset) and into a thoughtful, observant framework. Being transported allows the individual to identify with others in a way that is different from experiencing the situation for themselves. It's a third-person, objective mindset, a safe zone for people to evaluate a situation from.

2. Shifting Perspective: When individuals consider challenges from the perspective of someone who is not them, it dramatically alters their thinking. They gain the latitude and freedom to consider the available options without feeling personally attacked. That wise sage did this when he shared his story of struggling. Making it safe and helping me to see him as having an objective, difficult experience is why when I was able to take the perspective of a distanced other. It became easier to think about the situation in a wiser way and come up with a better solution.

3. Engaging Different Brain Systems: Fundamentally different pathways are triggered when processing stories compared to facts. Storytelling engages social relevance brain systems–those that help us understand what other people think and feel, such as empathy, another higher order processing mechanism.

Delivering Effective And Actionable Feedback With A Story

Feedforward instead of feedback can be implemented by using stories to focus on future potential instead of focusing on past mistakes. Rather than, "Your lesson on fractions was confusing," a leader could use a narrative approach: "Last year, a teacher was struggling with a similar topic. She found that adding a hands-on activity, such as using props to represent fractions, made a huge difference. What are your thoughts on trying something like that in your next lesson?" This is also much more specific than simply stating it’s “confusing.”

Give context and humanize the process. Stories provide a backdrop for a new initiative or process, helping people understand the "why" behind a change. A leader might tell a story about a student who was almost lost in the system to explain the need for new student tracking protocols, rather than presenting the new policy as a top-down mandate. This personalizes and leans into an educator’s care for children.

Connect to a shared purpose. A story can remind staff of the reason we teach children, linking individual performance to the larger goal of student success. This helps make constructive feedback feel less personal and more like a team or collective effort.

Examples Of Using Story For Effective Feedback

For teachers:

• Personal anecdotes: A teacher can tell a story about how they struggled with a concept as a student and how a particular strategy helped them. This connects them with the student on a human level and safely clears a path forward.
• Real-world scenarios: To give feedback on group collaboration, a teacher could create a story about a fictional group of students who face and overcome a similar challenge. This allows students to discuss solutions in a low-stakes way before applying the lessons to their own group dynamic.
• Introducing a fictional scenario: Teachers can use narrative techniques to address behavioral issues, which often stem from immediate emotional states, similar to how Falk used stories with her own defensive children. The teacher can introduce a story about characters dealing with a similar conflict, such as fighting over a toy or turns.

For leaders:

• Success stories: Sharing a success story about a teacher who embraced constructive feedback and saw positive changes can inspire others to do the same. This moves feedback away from being a negative experience and positions it as a pathway to achievement.
• Staff reflection narratives: Instead of relying solely on formal evaluations, a leader might ask teachers to submit a narrative reflection on their own practice. This empowers them to identify areas for growth themselves and can make the feedback discussion more collaborative.
• Framing feedback as a scenario: Instead of saying, "Your lesson planning is disorganized," which threatens the teacher's professional identity, a leader could relate an experience of personal nature or of a previous successful colleague who faced logistical challenges but demonstrated mastery and skill to develop into an excellent teacher. Not unlike the principal who took 2 minutes to give me a lifeline, this propels and invigorates while helping others see where they can grow. That’s a win.

By harnessing the power of story, school leaders can create a culture in which feedback is not feared, but embraced as an essential ingredient for growth, building empathy, and helping every member of the school community reconnect with the shared purpose of teaching and learning. School leaders can model for faculty so everyone in the school community can learn to tap storytelling to teach and grow productively, rather than shy away in defensiveness.

Many potential school leaders are talented and driven. That’s not what gets them over the finish line in uncovering long-term success as a leader, however. In fact, being so good can backfire.

Most school leaders fit a brand: hard-working, successful, highly driven, and full of lofty expectations. While these work for most aspects of our work in schools, many, if not most, of school leaders overemphasize challenging expectations over one important skill–and it’s the most important.

Looking back over a quarter century as a school leader, I often see brilliant people in charge crash and burn. I might try to help, provide guidance, or share my experience, except in our present world, this seems much more difficult, even incredibly risky, now that any constructive criticism, whether fed through a social media pipeline or at the Keurig machine, is met with defensiveness, even a pouncing pushback.

Strongmen (and women) seem to dominate the present leadership landscape in politics and corporations. Schools are no exception. I consider the literature I have read on effective leadership, and how frequently the perception held by others is a major factor in the success or failure of school leaders. Perception is more powerful than fact, and while I can anecdotally say it out loud, just look at the literature, and you can see the evidence for why perception of school leaders is so substantial.

So how do we get the perception of staff to result in high marks, and along the way, become faithfully loyal to us? Does perception and trust really matter?

Start By Being Transparent Yourself

Yes, having faculty trust and wanting them to follow us matters big-ly! It matters so much that without it, schools become dysfunctional and, as I say frequently, kids lose in schools where there are unmotivated, undedicated, and unsupported adults surrounding them.

If trust matters then, how do we gain it? First, it is not in being “nice” and avoiding conflict. In fact, it is often the reverse. Yet the critical way to approach feedback messaging is how we deliver it to those who need to hear the way in which we can both support and advise them in their workplace development.

We begin making incremental achievements in this area by allowing ourselves to be vulnerable. “Blasphemy!” you say. “I have to be strong, and come across as confident, and definitive.” True . . . but everyone knows leaders are fallible, and more respect comes from acknowledging this and moving on rather than hiding it and making attempts to cover up mistakes.

Leaders who deny, shift, and avoid are quickly spotted, and then the whispers behind their back gain momentum.

Confront the truth, show others that you have the courage to be wrong, be transparent, and as important, move on.

The Messenger Matters Just As Much As The Message

Leaders should be as thoughtful with how they deliver a message of constructive feedback as they are in planning a master schedule. I observe so often the bad delivery of important goals and points, even if the idea behind it is sensible or right. It causes many school leaders to fall flat on their face, and then who loses? Kids.

Dan Pink shares a perfectly succinct version of this honest and supportive message-delivery approach, evidence that it works, and in just 19 words of feedback. Consider using this or a variation in your own approach to provide supportive and purposeful feedback: “I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.”

A study on delivering feedback shows that how we deliver constructive feedback is far more effective than a flat message that attempts to cheer an achievement. Effective school leadership requires understanding that the impact of a message is determined more by the leader's non-verbal cues and tone than the actual words used. Body language is far more influential messaging than we realize.

Remember to approach messaging unrushed and thought out, show care, and hold onto it throughout your administrative career. If you do, you will get to enjoy the camaraderie of a loyal faculty, one who remains fiercely faithful to you.

Ultimately, the winners of such organizational frameworks are our students, and the echoes of their successes loom large with a school community that permeates trust, a strong perception of leadership, and a school atmosphere that capitalizes on potential.

gotFeedback, formerly known as gotLearning, is here to help in education. As the name suggests, this is all about providing feedback to students, only this will do it using the power of AI.

The idea is that teachers can save time on marking and giving feedback by using artificial intelligence to do some of the work. Essentially, as the teacher, you lay out what you want from a piece of work, then upload each entry by students, and this will automatically generate the feedback to share with them.

This is primarily built with English in mind, so you can focus on areas such as narrative structure or use of evidence in the words. Four sections are available so it can be used for more subjects too.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about gotFeedback to see if this could help in your classroom.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

What is gotFeedback?

gotFeedback is an AI-powered tool that is built to help teachers mark essay submissions and provide feedback to students that will help them learn from their mistakes. 

gotFeedback is working to shift from a teacher-centric perspective to a student-centered one. The goal is that the student will have their learning experience adapted around them, to suit them -- as opposed to them being expected to fit into a current dynamic. All that should make for more bespoke learning and greater progression.

The tool is online-based, so it should be easy to access from most devices and internet connections. Thus, it can be used in schools but also on the go and from home, making it a helpful assistant for teachers who can fit it into their lives as needed.

How does gotFeedback work?

gotFeedback is free to use in its most basic form and only requires you to sign-up using an email address. You're then able to begin assignment analysis and feedback with the tool.

gotFeedback lets you enter in the type of feedback for which you're looking. Type in a thesis statement, detailed specifics, and/or specific claims that support the information. This is essentially creating the grading rubric you want for the work that a student submits.

Once this is done you can then input each assignment either by uploading the work or by copying and pasting into the system. It will then analyze this and offer you feedback to be shared with the student. This can include areas that you might want suggestions for improvement but also -- usefully -- samples for revision.

What are the best gotFeedback features?

gotFeedback tailors the responses to the work of each student, making it about the individual and their path to the best progression possible. It also does this while saving teachers on time so they can focus on the teaching.

gotFeedback offers a useful Prompt Guide that allows teachers to better understand how to give clear feedback that's actionable so as to best support students.

Usefully, the system lets you see each student profile so you can go to each one and see their individual details. Go into a student submission and generate feedback with the AI and then, helpfully, you can click in and add your own comments or edit as needed.

The ability to save custom prompts and turn these on or off based on the work, or student, is available to save time while varying the marking style of each piece of work.

The app also supports video and audio, allowing teachers and students to upload more interactive media for feedback. Usefully, Google Docs can be placed right into the app so as to work with that or on the Doc itself.

App support lets you scan in documents and learning support right into the app to share with ease.

How much does gotFeedback cost?

gotFeedback comes in two versions, one of which is free, while the other is tailored to teacher use with more features, at a charge.

The Free version is gotFeedback Lite which is for feedback alone. This has a 1,500-word limit on documents and supports only Text, PDF, and Word, and is limited to 100 queries per day.

Go for the gotFeedback ProTeacher model, charged at a bespoke rate, and you get 10,000-word limit per doc with support for Google Docs too, the ability to store AI, generate feedback in the student's record, save prompts to edit and use as needed, and receive feedback on Google Docs, work using text, audio, video, files, and AI.

gotFeedback best tips and tricks

Work in Docs
Share feedback right in Google Docs by having students upload directly and work together within the app itself.

Use mobile
Take photos with a smartphone or tablet to upload directly into the app to enhance feedback materials and supporting documents.

Edit
Use the AI-generated feedback but edit to make it more personal and specific to that student.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

GoSoapBox is a website that offers a version of the classroom that is purely digital and allows students to have their say. From polls and quizzes to questions and opinions -- there is plenty that can be added to this platform for use inside and beyond the classroom.

This online app platform creates a way for all students to be heard, shy or not, using their devices to have their say. This can mean live use in class or for longer term feedback from the group to help steer future learning.

The idea is to make digitizing the classroom simple and, as such, this GoSoapBox works across a host of devices and is intuitive to use. It can also be tailored to suit the individual needs of teachers.

So could GoSoapBox be right for your classroom?

• Best Tools for Teachers

What is GoSoapBox?

GoSoapBox is a website-based online digital space in which students can be given the opportunity to have their say in and about their classroom and its various groups, subjects, plans, and more.

Imagine asking the class to vote on something quite specific. A show of hands does the job, if you don't mind counting. But going digital with voting can mean adding a layer of privacy to students, easier counting of results, instant feedback, and the ability to post follow-up questions to explore further. And that's just part of what this system offers.

Described by its creators as a "flexible classroom response system," this covers a wide array of interactive methods from messaging and quizzing to polling and media sharing. As such, it should have enough features to let you play and get creative in the way that best serves your class, but is also simplified enough to be easy to use for everyone.

How does GoSoapBox work?

Teachers are easily able to get started by creating events that can then be shared with the classroom. This can be done using an access code that can be sent as needed, over email, in messaging, verbally, direct to devices, using a class content system, and so on. 

Once they join, students remain anonymous to the rest of the class. It is possible for teachers to require student names yet even then it's possible for only the teacher to see who is saying what while the other students only see the overall votes, for example. 

When the virtual space is populated, teachers can create and share quizzes and polls very intuitively. Input questions in fields created with an icon press, until you're happy with the layout. You can then share this with the class so that answers can be selected or completed as needed. 

Results are then instant, which is ideal in the poll as voting percentages are shown on screen, live. This is also seen by students so they can see how the class is voting -- but with the knowledge it's private so they can vote either way and not feel a push to go with the group.

What are the best GoSoapBox features?

The Confusion Barometer is a great tool that is a fantastic way for students to share, with a button press, that they aren't following something completely. This can enable a teacher to stop and enquire about what's confusing -- either in the room or using the Q&A section -- ensuring that nobody gets left behind on the learning journey.

The use of multiple choice quizzes is helpful as the feedback is instant for students, allowing them to see if they were right or wrong, and to see the correct answer so they can learn as they go. 

The Discussions tool is another nice feature that allows students to comment on a post. This can be done anonymously if the teacher has it set that way, providing a great way to hear the opinions of the entire class, even those otherwise a little more quiet. 

The Moderation Panel is a helpful hub for teachers that allows them access to all comments and the like to control how students interact with the system. It is helpful with day-to-day management and a useful way to remove any unwanted comments, for example.

How much does GoSoapBox cost?

GoSoapBox is free to use for K-12 and university educators presuming the class size is 30 or fewer. 

Go over that size and you'll need to pay with the 75 student class deal charged at $99. Or if you have an even larger class, than you'll need to pay for the 150 student deal at $179.

GoSoapBox best tips and tricks

Poll early
Use the quick poll feature to see what areas students want to cover, or are struggling with, at the start or end of class so you can plan lessons accordingly.

Leave Q&A open
While the Q&A can be distracting, it pays to leave it open so students can leave comments or thoughts during the lesson, so you have points to work on in future.

Create accounts
Have students create accounts so that their data is stored, allowing you to better gauge progress over time and get the most out of this platform.

• Best Tools for Teachers

Cybernetics is the study of systems of communication and control in machines and living things. 

“Cybernetics can be applied to any subject in which systems are the object of study -- a literary genre, a sporting event, hospital administration, a historical event, business models, to name just a few,” says Dr. Kelly Frame, educational developer at the School of Cybernetics ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science at The Australian National University. She adds, “The emphasis is less on what students already know and more on how they can ask the right questions and become lifelong learners.” 

Frame will conduct a workshop on cybernetics at the NYCSchoolsTech Summit 2021 on July 28. During the virtual conference, which is open to all educators, Frame will explore how educators can bring cybernetics into their teaching. “Attendees of the NYCSchoolsTech Summit will be able to access a workshop and resource pack that includes lesson plans, activities, and guidance on how to incorporate cybernetic thinking tools in their classrooms,” Frame says.  

Cybernetics and the Importance of Feedback Loops  

A core component of cybernetics is feedback loops, but as any educator knows, all feedback is not created equal. “Cybernetic feedback loops involve a balance of actionable positive and negative feedback delivered in a timely manner,” Frame says. “This prompts us to think about how can we design an assessment regime so students are receiving feedback as they embark on a task in which they must apply the same skills.”

Frame suggests accomplishing this by making connections between past feedback and future assignments. “One simple way to do this is to make two copies of the feedback you give to students after a task,” she says. “Hand a copy to the student and keep a copy for yourself. When the next assessment task is about to begin, give the feedback to the students again. Ask them to reflect on which parts of the feedback they will need to be mindful of when they do the next assessment task. Before they submit the new assessment task, get them to review the feedback again, peer-review each other’s work with reference to the feedback, and do final revisions.” 

“In my experience, students struggle to absorb feedback when it doesn’t feel immediately relevant or applicable,” Frame says. “This approach makes sure that the students benefit fully from the feedback you’ve provided.” 

Cybernetics and Systems  

Another key component of cybernetics is its emphasis on systems and how they work and interact. “Cybernetic pedagogy positions the student as a constituent within a system,” Frame says. “This imbues students with both agency and responsibility, as their actions or inactions will have consequences for the system and its other constituents. For example, we know that students learn by co-constructing knowledge together, but if a student does not engage earnestly in that co-construction, the impact is not just on their learning but on the learning of their peers.” 

By understanding the system and their role within it, students can learn how to manage and transform systems for the better. “In the classroom it might be as simple as supporting their peers or communicating their needs to the teacher,” she says. “In the world, this might mean being reflective about consumer habits, identifying the best routes to communicate with local and national representatives, or designing things that solve problems.” 

To get students thinking about systems, Frame says educators should: 

• Engage in a discussion or task about a system, which can include anything from an art movement to the steam train to a political system. “Ask your students to answer a series of questions about the ecological, social, and technological factors that informed the design or coalescence of that system,” she says. During the NYCSchoolsTech Summit 2021, the School of Cybernetics’ vendor booth will allow educators to access a resource pack, including a free lesson plan and a detailed “cybernetic thinking” scaffold. 
• Simulate the system itself. “It’s often more powerful for us to learn by experience rather than observation,” Frame says. “You can ask students to role-play parts of a system and then ask them how they felt, how their actions were hindered or helped by the design of the system, and how they would improve the system.” She adds, “Students are more likely to remember the different parts of a system, their constraints, and their impacts, if they’ve been plugged into that system on an experiential level."

Cybernetics Isn’t Only About Tech 

“The main misconception people might have about cybernetics is that it is just about computers, AI, robots, and machines,” Frame says. “These associations often lead us to pigeonhole cybernetics as a field in which only engineers or computer scientists have authority.” 

This harms the field because it decreases the input into cybernetics from artists, lawyers, philosophers, and others, and enforces the false notion that some people are technical while others are not. “A cybernetic approach isn’t just about the construction of technology, but a macro-level vision that interrogates the design and potential impacts of a complex system, technological or otherwise,” Frame says. “Effective systems that contribute to a better world need people who specialise in the human and the ecological, not just the technological.” 

• NYCSchoolsTech Summit Puts Spotlight on Lessons From Pandemic
• Micro Lessons: What They Are and How They Can Combat Learning Loss

This past summer, I had the opportunity to work with high school students attending a design camp. In today’s blog post, I want to share with you a combination of two favorite EdTech tools. You’ll hear about a peer feedback strategy I used with students this summer, and tips for how to tailor this activity to your own group of students.

Regular readers of the blog know I am a huge fan of the Adobe Spark tools. You might have downloaded my free graphic organizers or checked out the book Ben Forta and I wrote all about Adobe Spark. One of the great things about this open-ended creation tool is that it can facilitate conversations on the iterative process and how to provide feedback to peers.

A student can create an Adobe Spark Video, Page, or Post. Then they can share it in an online space and ask for feedback from their classmates. Let’s take a look at this peer feedback strategy!

Sharing Student Work

Now you might already use a tool like Google Classroom or Schoology to have students share and provide feedback to one another. Another option that I love to use is Padlet. With both a free and paid version, there are different options to help you get started right away. One of the reasons I love Padlet is because it doesn’t require that students are part of an LMS or have access to a CMS. They also don’t need another login or account to use this tool.

Padlet makes it easy for someone to set up a space for students and allow them to post their work. How does it work? All you have to do is set up an account on Padlet’s website. Then you choose the type of Padlet you want to share with students. I typically use the Wall layout. This layout gives students space to share their thinking, and it organizes every post as students add it to the page.

When students are ready to share their work, they can post a link, a file, or a text update to let everyone know what they’re working on. Then their classmates can check out where they are in the creation process before having conversations that provide feedback. Let’s look at this workflow with Adobe Spark creations in mind.

Adobe Spark and Padlet Workflow

Imagine your students are creating a movie in Adobe Spark Video. Spark Video is one of my favorite open-ended creation tools, and the graphic organizers linked here are ones I’ve used with students and shared with teachers all over the world. If the students in your class are putting together a video, they may be ready for peer feedback.

Peer Feedback Workflow

Here’s a workflow you can try. With ten minutes or so left of class time, ask students to share their Spark Video creation and publish it with a link. Remember you’ll want to have permissions in place for students to post their work online. The button at the top of the screen lets students access a link to their book.

Then students can take the link and post it on a class Padlet page. They might include a note with a question or wondering they have. This workflow can help students get feedback from a classmate. To share their link in a Padlet creation, students tap on the pink button at the bottom right-hand corner of their screen.

Peer Feedback Strategy

After students have posted their Padlet link, they can partner up and click on the link for each other’s video. Students can watch together and talk about their Spark Video while giving feedback to their classmates.

If students create videos over the course of a few days, you can revisit this Padlet space with them. They can update the Spark Video link at the end of each class, and the link on the Padlet page will update automatically to their new updated video. This strategy is an excellent way for students to check in with one another and see the progress of their creations.

Tips for Sharing a Padlet

Here’s a Padlet tip, you might share the link to your Padlet in a space your students already used, so they can easily click on it. Alternatively, you might turn it into a QR code for them to scan on their device. One option I use all the time is a URL shortener called Bitly.

With my free Bitly account, I can paste in the long Padlet link. Then I can change it to something that resonates with the group — such as the date, the class number, or the room we are in that day. Then students can type in the Bitly, access everyone’s creations, and add their own too.

If you’re a member of the Easy EdTech Club (get on the waitlist here) you’ve already heard some of the reasons why I love Padlet and social media-inspired projects.

Just like the summertime workshop I led for high school students, you can use this combination of two favorite EdTech tools too. Try out this strategy to help students share their work this school year, and give feedback to their classmates!

cross posted at classtechtips.com

Dr. Monica Burns is a former classroom teacher, Speaker, and Curriculum & EdTech Consultant. She is the author of Tasks Before Apps (ASCD) and #FormativeTech (Corwin). Visit Monica's site ClassTechTips.com for more ideas on how to become a tech-savvy teacher.

AMY HENDERSON, 11th grade English teacher at the Wonderful College Prep Academy in Delano, California

As a teacher, I spend the majority of my planning time trying to find new and insightful ways to engage my students, to give clear instructions, and to relate content to them. I remember planning one lesson specifically with these things in mind. The material and assignments were rigorous, I differentiated my instruction, and my students laughed at a joke I cracked during class. Based on all of these factors, I considered the lesson a success. But when I graded the work, I found that only a handful of students completed the assignment correctly.

Where did I go wrong? I don’t go out of my way to be boring, give terrible directions, or be condescending. In fact, like most teachers, I try to do the exact opposite. But if teachers are trying so hard not to make these kinds of mistakes, why do we continue to make them? The short answer is that we don’t always see our mistakes exactly as they happened.

How might my attitude and response to my lessons change if I could actually witness them from the perspective of the students?

FROM GOOD PRACTICE TO BEST PRACTICE

Little unnerves a teacher more than having to watch themselves teach. In my first year of teaching, I knew that I had a lot to learn, but I was hesitant to record myself. Surely, my memory of the lesson was enough to learn from and reflect on.

I was wrong. Towards the beginning of the year, I began recording videos of my lessons to share with a mentor using the video coaching platform Edthena. The first time I watched a video of myself teaching, I’m pretty sure my eyes started to bleed a little. My directions were terrible and confusing and my jokes, though funny, were sometimes distracting.

Watching an entire class’s reaction to my lesson showed me that only a few students were actively engaged. While I admit that realization was a bit of a blow to my ego, it was also an incredible step towards my progression and improvement as a teacher.

By using video reflection in the classroom, teachers are able to engage in a more accurate reflection on lessons and how they relate to student outcomes. For example, consider a math teacher who gives out an assignment on rewriting and graphing equations. During class, all the students are showing patterns of correctly rewriting the equations. However, the teacher notices that, in the actual assignments, the majority of the graphed equations are incorrect. Noticing this pattern can help the teacher see what material he or she might need to re-teach. This is good practice.

But how would that planning change if the math teacher had a video recording of the lesson for that day? By reviewing the actual minutes of the lesson, the teacher can more accurately analyze their instruction to determine the cause of the students’ misunderstanding. Perhaps the teacher needed to provide additional information or try a different approach to explain the concept. With this practice, the teacher is not simply reteaching what students may have missed. Rather, the teacher is evaluating how to reteach so that the same mistakes are not repeated. This is best practice.

NOTICING (AND FIXING) BAD HABITS

Video reflection is incredibly helpful for specific, targeted lessons, as well as for noticing patterns in instruction. For example, when reviewing a series of video recordings in my classroom, I noticed that I favored the right side of the room when teaching and when circling the room to answer questions during independent work time.

In five specific lessons, I taught almost the entire time from the right side of the classroom and directed my focus to those students nearly twice as often. Subsequently, these students participated more and had more questions answered than those on the other side of the room. When I became aware of this completely unintentional pattern, I was able to refocus my teaching and deliberately work around the room so that all students were engaged and had equal opportunity to answer questions and provide comments.

Whether you’re a first-year teacher who needs some honest, sometimes brutal, feedback, or a seasoned teacher who’s stuck in a rut, video reflection helps to expedite progress in an authentic and rigorous way.

Nobody likes to look at their flaws, and yet that’s exactly what precedes improvement: knowing that we need to improve. I’ll admit that video reflection can be a bit awkward and uncomfortable at first; but, as educators, comfort is not our end goal. Our goal is to teach effectively and inspire our students. We ask them to trust us, to be vulnerable. So, what better way to show them our dedication than to hold ourselves to the same standard?

Verso Learning, provider of classroom feedback and collaboration tools, will be showcasing their education tools at this year’s upcoming FETC conference.

In its latest update, Verso has added a new feature designed to collect student-to-teacher feedback at the end of a lesson to enable formative assessment. Exit Tickets elicit student responses to questions related to a lesson or activity and provide the teacher with immediate feedback on the extent to which their students have understood a learning intention, what strategies were most effective in the lesson, and how the students felt about their learning. 

Verso also enables teachers, coaches, and mentors to share insights and provide structured feedback for other teachers. Teachers build lessons using Verso’s lesson builder, then use feedback from  those sources to refine and improve their pedagogical approach and lesson designs. 

At FETC, Phil Stubbs, Verso’s director of  education, will be presenting two sessions about how this cycle of feedback gives students ownership over their own learning:

Using Vocabulary to Design the Journey from Surface to Deep, a collaborative workshop demonstrating research-based strategies for transferring ownership of learning from teacher to student and developing deeper connections to learning

Collaborative Classrooms: Surface to Deep in 50 Minutes, focused on simple strategies to more fully engage students in their own learning. 

1. Circle Up:
   Students stand in a circle and hold up their reflection sign.
2. Exit Ticket: The exit ticket for the class requires students to come up individually or in pairs holding up their reflection sign for a photo opp, then place it on the end-of-study bulletin board.

Here are the signs posted on the bulletin board.

How might you use this activity as an icebreaker? Perhaps there is a question you ask at the beginning of a learning even that people respond to in the same way. It could be interesting to see the responses at the beginning verses the end. The other benefit with this type of icebreaker is it honors both introverts and extroverts and contributes something meaningful to the learning experience

Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several books and her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal.