How Feedback Works: A Playbook

About the Book

With How Feedback Works: A Playbook, learn to create a culture of feedback in your classroom with the latest research on teaching, engagement, and assessment.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Setting the Foundations for How Feedback Works Module 1: What is Feedback? Module 2: What Does the Latest Research Say about Feedback? Module 3: What Does the Feedback Process Look Like in Action? Module 4: What are the Four Foundational Elements of Feedback? Module 5: What are the Barriers to Giving, Receiving, and Integrating Feedback? Part II: The 4 C’s: Care, Credibility, Clarity, and Communication Module 6: What is the Role of Care in How Feedback Works? Module 7: What is the Role of Credibility in How Feedback Works? Module 8: How Important is Clarity in How Feedback Works? Module 9: What is the Role of Evidence in How Feedback Works? Module 10: What Role do Teacher and Student Noticing Play in How Feedback Works? Module 11: What are the Similarities and Differences between the Four Types of Feedback? Module 12: How Should Feedback be Communicated? Module 13: How do Cues and Reinforcements Communicate Feedback? Module 14: How Can Technology Communicate Feedback? Module 15: How do Practice Tests Communicate Feedback? Module 16: How can we Engage our Learners in Communicating Feedback? Conclusion

About the Author :
Dr. John Almarode is a bestselling author and an Associate Professor of Education at James Madison University. He was awarded the inaugural Sarah Miller Luck Endowed Professorship in 2015 and received an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia in 2021. Before his academic career, John started as a mathematics and science teacher in Augusta County, Virginia. As an author, John has written multiple educational books focusing on science and mathematics, and he has co-created a new framework for developing, implementing, and sustaining professional learning communities called PLC+. Dr. Almarode′s work has been presented to the US Congress, the Virginia Senate, and the US Department of Education. John and his colleagues have also focused a lot of attention on the process of implementation – taking evidence-based practices and moving them from intention to implementation, potential to impact through a series of on-your-feet-guides around PLCs, Visible Learning, Visible Teaching, and the SOLO Taxonomy. Douglas Fisher is professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Doug was an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is a credentialed English teacher and administrator in California. In 2022, he was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame by the Literacy Research Association. He has published numerous articles on reading and literacy, leadership, and curriculum design, as well as books such as The Teacher Clarity Playbook (2nd ed.), Your Introduction to PLC+, The Illustrated Guide to Teacher Credibility, Instructional Strategies to Move Learning Forward: 50+ Tools That Support Gradual Release of Responsibility, and Welcome to Teaching! Nancy Frey is a professor in educational leadership at San Diego State University and a teacher leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. She is a credentialed special educator, reading specialist, and administrator in California. She is a member of the International Literacy Association’s Literacy Research Panel. Her published titles include 50 Strategies for Activating Your PLC+, The Illustrated Guide to Visible Learning, Welcome to Teaching Multilingual Learners, Teaching Foundational Skills to Adolescent Readers, and RIGOR Unveiled: A Video-Enhanced Flipbook to Promote Teacher Expertise in Relationship Building, Instruction, Goals, Organization, and Relevance. 

Review :
Feedback is complicated, complex, and layered. How Feedback Works made it feel possible and easy! As someone who is familiar with formative assessment practices, which include feedback and peer feedback, I saw the through line immediately. Each module addresses a different type of feedback but also adds a deeper understanding of feedback as new ideas are discussed in various ways. This book added to my own knowledge and pushed me to think a little differently. The contents of this book are accurate, coherent, consistent in theme, and backed up with references and plausible examples. This playbook provides appropriate and relevant guidance for teachers, including learning outcomes and information on misconceptions. It is relevant for all levels of learners in this field—from the lead to the highly accomplished to the proficient and provisional educators. Feedback is the missing link. As educators, we know the important role that feedback plays not just for our students, but for our teaching as well. And yet if we do not understand what that feedback looks like and sounds like, we can never truly know the depth of our impact. How Feedback Works gives the teacher the tools they need to know exactly when to use feedback and the kind of feedback that should be given. Feedback is one of education’s most powerful assets in moving learning forward, yet it’s often the most misunderstood. How Feedback Works ties in pedagogical principles with cognitive science and educational psychology to explain not only how to give effective feedback, but also how to create the structures and conditions necessary for feedback to maximize its potential on student learning. Through explanation, models, and guided practice, this playbook capitalizes on the research to help educators better understand and implement feedback that moves students to and through their next levels of learning. As an educator who coaches teachers, prekindergarten through twelfth grade, I’m excited to have this gem in my back pocket as a relevant reference to share with my colleagues and for developing my own knowledge and skill set around all things feedback.