Like any subject, feedback is essential for a student to move forward. In PE, instant feedback either through verbal, peer or video has a strong impact on their progress. As a PE teacher, verbal feedback is often easiest and just rolls of the tongue when you see something to comment on. However, one of the most powerful types of feedback that I have intermittently used in my class is video feedback. Most of the time, you don't have to say anything. Individually or in small groups, they can provide feedback, especially with the slow motion video apps that are available on the market.
I want to start using the projector and iPad more next year, so I'm going to spend time videoing examples in my class, project it onto the white board and then have us sit down discussing the feedback from different examples.
However, in this post I want to share my experience on providing feedback on written work. I do not teach IB anymore and now teach the UK National curriculum, which has less emphasis on written work, but with the criteria for IB MYP, students submitted written work. The majority of teachers who provide feedback for written work usually write down their feedback, with annotations so students can access it at their own time. I am pretty sure this was backed by OFSTED and pretty much all of the teachers I know do this.
Initially I did this, until I realised it was a complete waste of time. I was checking work and typing up my feedback, which was very time consuming and the majority of students did not find it useful. When I've read articles about this, they suggest that when teachers write feedback, it makes sense to them but not necessarily to the student, therefore requiring further explanation.
From my experience, I found there was feedback that was applicable to most of the class, so I used to start my lesson with giving general feedback to the whole class. What worked for me was to make comments and notes to a student's work, give the general feedback to the class and then asked the students to see me individually if anything did not make sense to them. When sat with me, students would make their own notes and annotations that would make sense to them later. I would usually plan a feedback lesson in the unit, so students had the time to understand how to move forward. When comparing this method to my initial method of providing written feedback, students performed better int heir written assessments and were more committed in the process.
This is what has worked for me and I am sure there are teachers out there who find written feedback to have the same effect. It would be interesting to hear about any other methods that teachers use - do share what has worked for you.
Picture taken from: http://pmchat.net/2017/01/05/the-six-qualities-of-good-feedback-lifehacker/