When Is Feedback Not Feedback? Understanding the Purpose of Feedback in Your Learning Process
As a high school student, you’ve probably been told countless times that feedback is essential to your learning. But have you ever considered that not all requests for feedback are appropriate or beneficial? It’s important to understand when feedback is truly feedback and when it crosses a line that could actually hinder your learning and development.
Feedback is for Your Entire Work
Feedback is most effective when it addresses your entire work, not just a small part of it. For example, asking your teacher to review just your first sentence or paragraph before you’ve completed the rest of the assignment is not truly seeking feedback. Instead, it creates a dynamic where the teacher becomes a hidden co-author of your work, and this can lead to several significant problems.
The Problems with Partial Feedback
Time-Consuming for the Teacher: Teachers have limited time (we do teach a lot of students!), and when students ask for feedback on incomplete work, it takes away from the teacher’s ability to help you and your classmates in more meaningful ways. You should be doing the work yourself, rather than relying on your teacher to guide you step by step.
Doesn’t Reveal Gaps in Your Skills or Learning: When you ask for feedback on just a small portion of your work, the final product may not accurately reflect your own skills and understanding. While it might result in a polished piece, it fails to show where you truly need improvement. This means you’re not giving yourself the opportunity to learn and grow from your mistakes.
It’s Not Your Work: If a teacher has influenced key parts of your assignment before you’ve even finished, the final product isn’t entirely yours. This could be considered a form of plagiarism, as you’re not submitting something that wholly represents your own work and learning. The grade you receive may not be a true reflection of your abilities, which could be misleading for both you and your teacher.
Enhancing Your Understanding of Feedback: Tips for High School Students
Feedback is an essential part of your learning process, but it's important to understand how to use it effectively. Here are some tips to help you make the most of the feedback you receive and become a more independent learner.
1. Know the Difference Between Feedback and Coaching
It’s important to understand that feedback and coaching are not the same things. Feedback typically happens after you’ve completed a task and focuses on reviewing the entire work. Coaching, on the other hand, involves guiding you through a process or assignment step by step. When you ask a teacher for help on just one part of your assignment before it’s finished, you’re really asking for coaching, not feedback. To grow as a learner, try to complete your work independently before seeking feedback on the final product.
2. Use Peer Feedback
One great way to improve your work before submitting it to your teacher is to get feedback from your classmates. Peer feedback allows you to see your work from someone else’s perspective and can help you identify areas for improvement. It’s a useful step that helps you refine your work without relying solely on your teacher.
3. Practice Self-Assessment
Before you ask for feedback, try reviewing your work on your own. Look critically at what you’ve done and see if you can spot any weaknesses or areas that need improvement. By developing self-assessment skills, you’ll become a more independent learner and gain confidence in your ability to evaluate your own work.
4. Use Rubrics as a Guide
Rubrics are like roadmaps for your assignments—they show you exactly what your teacher is looking for. Before you start an assignment, review the rubric to understand how your work will be assessed. This can help you focus on what’s important and reduce the need for early-stage feedback. When you know the expectations, you can align your work with them from the beginning.
5. Adopt a Growth Mindset
Having a growth mindset means seeing challenges and mistakes as opportunities to learn and improve. Instead of worrying about making everything perfect the first time, focus on how you can grow from the feedback you receive. This mindset will help you embrace feedback as a tool for improvement, rather than seeing it as criticism.
The Right Approach to Feedback
To get the most out of feedback, it’s important to complete the formative and practice work that is often part of your course, even if it isn’t graded. These assignments are opportunities for you to make mistakes, learn from them, and receive feedback that can guide your improvement. If you skip these practice opportunities, you’re robbing yourself of valuable learning experiences.
Remember, the purpose of feedback is to help you grow, not to perfect your work before it’s even completed. Don’t be afraid of making imperfect submissions during the learning phase—this is exactly when you should be experimenting, taking risks, and learning from any mistakes. Growth happens through the process of trial and error, not through achieving perfection on the first try.
Be Bold and Try Anyway
If you’re feeling lost or unsure about an assignment, don’t hesitate to give it your best shot anyway. Let your mistakes be visible in the final work—this is how you’ll receive the most useful feedback. Stop letting indecisiveness and a lack of confidence hold you back from learning. Learning is hard work, and it requires effort, but the process is effective when you commit to it.
Think of it like preparing for a game: if you skip all the practices and only show up on game day, things are not going to go well for you. The same is true for your academic work. You have to put in the effort during the practice and formative stages to be successful in the final product.
Final Thoughts
By understanding the difference between feedback and coaching, using peer feedback, practicing self-assessment, referring to rubrics, and adopting a growth mindset, you can make the most of your learning experience. Remember, the goal of feedback is to help you grow and develop your skills, so use it wisely and take ownership of your learning journey.
Conclusion: Embrace the Learning Process
True learning involves making mistakes and learning from them, not trying to perfect your work with your teacher’s help before it’s finished. Embrace the feedback process by doing the work yourself, submitting what you’ve completed, and then using the feedback you receive to improve. This is the only way to truly grow and develop your skills. Remember, there’s no shortcut to success—you just have to put in the work.
