Stop Giving Feedback
This month we’ll be hearing from our Lead Partner, David Ayala. Look forward to more voices in future Final Fridays!
“You’re not getting under the bar,” offers the coach as I drop the barbell after another missed lift. Of course I didn’t ‘get under the barbell’ I think to myself. I missed the lift. If I knew how to ‘get under the barbell’ I would have done that. I desperately want to hit this lift at this weight - that’s why I’m here today.
Outside of education, my passion is fitness. When everything in my professional life was falling apart, it was the gym that grounded me and gave me strength. This anecdote, feedback from a well-meaning and knowledgeable coach, illustrates a lightbulb moment I had from the opportunity to be a learner myself. I was practicing the snatch. The snatch involves picking up a heavy barbell from the ground, whipping it over your head, catching it in the bottom of a squat position, and then standing up with locked out arms, the barbell high over your head. It is very complex - and for me - very frustrating. Many well meaning coaches offered feedback, and yet I failed to make progress, still unable to land in the bottom of the squat, the barbell dropping over and over again.
I see this cycle play out in schools as well. Teachers and leaders sign up to do this hard work of motivating, inspiring, and growing young people and missing the mark. And they hear this feedback:
“You need to build better relationships.”
“The students in your class are not making progress on X assessment.”
“You’re not teaching to the standard.”
Giving this sort of feedback assumes that the person is unaware of the impact of their current behaviors. It also assumes that the recipient has the knowledge and skill to improve their current outcomes. What if most of our teachers and leaders are more like me at the gym, trying to do their best at something that is already incredibly hard? Shouldn’t we assume that someone who has gone through an interview process and comes to work day after day in challenging conditions, is already doing the best they know how? And, as I feel when I miss a lift, painfully aware of their failures? Teaching is not a forgiving profession - your shortcomings are reflected back to you daily by the people in your classroom.
There are powerful assumptions underlying the idea that observation and feedback is the most effective way to develop teachers and improve student learning. If teachers have sufficient content knowledge, deep training in sound pedagogical practices, and conditions in their classrooms that allow them to thrive, only then is feedback the best approach.
For feedback to change teacher practice and improve student learning, we must start with a shared vision of excellence, strong relational trust, and conditions in place that allow teachers (and their students) to thrive. Back to the gym, telling me I’m “not getting under the bar” assumes I know every part of the lift and what that moment should look and feel like. It means I trust the person offering the feedback and they have my best interest in mind. It also presumes I’m lifting the right amount of weight at the right time.
So, I’ll turn that to you - have our teachers been given the opportunity to truly understand what excellent instruction looks like? For nearly all of us, the expectations of Common Core post-pandemic represent a departure from both how we ourselves were taught and taught to teach. Second, do we have a relationship of trust with the teachers to whom we are giving feedback? Are the conditions such that they are set up for success? For this final thought, ask yourself the following questions, “Can I/do I want to switch roles with this person right now and do an incredible job?” And if the answer isn’t a resounding yes on your part, take some time to consider the conditions under which teachers are tasked to teach.
So, before we give feedback, what can we do?
Invest our team in a shared vision of excellence.
Build strong relationships with the people we lead.
Make sure we are asking them to do a job we ourselves would love to do.