Scaffolding in Written Feedback

My Approach: Take constructive feedback and make it into questions that elicit an answer that could be a solution to the problem the constructive feedback addresses.

Break the Ice

Elicit the teachers view of the lesson. Ask student-teacher to share how they feel the lesson went.

How did you feel about the lesson?
What you did like about the lesson?
What you would do differently next time?

Scaffold Feedback

Start by highlighting the strengths of the teacher. Provide concrete examples.

Excellent elicitation skills. E.g. Does he …(?) – nods at student encouragingly.
Outstanding pronunciation focus. E.g. “beard” – long /ee/ like a smile. E.g. “hat” open your mouth more, /ae/.

Move into constructive feedback. Highlight a positive aspect related to the issue being highlighted in constructive feedback. Bring the issue into the conversation through questions. Begin with a question that introduces the issue in general terms. If introducing the issue is not sufficient, use more specific and directed questions (bullets) if needed to help the teacher understand the issue.

Professional board work. Organized, structured and clear distribution of contents. Clear handwriting. Visual aids. Writes vocabulary elicited by students. And always faces the students.

What do you think should be written on the board? What stays “in the air” orally?

Do you feel your students would have benefited from you writing all the elicited items on the board? E.g. all the colours, and the answers they gave you?
What do you think about the bow vs bowl example? Would that have been useful to have on the board?

I liked how you used realia - the pencils, to show the difference between orange and red.

Do you find that people generally make a difference between red and orange hair or beards?

Do we just you red for any colour that resembles red, ranging from yellow/orange to darker close to red colours?

The introduction activity was excellent. It neatly and efficiently provided the students with the vocabulary and structures they would need to complete the activity.

I noticed some of the students were saying “a (insert colour) hairs”. What do you think you could have done to address that before they started working on the activity?

Do you think it would have been useful to teach them which of the nouns they were using were countable and which uncountable?

Good working handling difficult questions. Example:

Q: “Can I ask if it’s male or female?”

A: “No because it doesn’t follow the "does question" structure. Doesn’t spend time explaining – good classroom management skill.

I noticed you have a couple of sentences using “she” with beard or moustache. Like, “she has a brown beard.” Do you feel this could cause confusion in the meaning of the pronouns he vs shefor the students?

Do you think it might have been better to say “he has a brown beard” ?