Two fantastic ways for teacher feedback to improve pupil learning

The importance of teacher feedback to improve pupil learning cannot be understated. But one teacher getting around a class of 30 is a pretty tall ask. How can we ensure feedback is effective in progressing all of our students, every lesson?

We asked Nicola Whiston, Assistant Principal and maths teacher, this question. Nicola works at Ormiston Horizon Academy in Stroke on Trent and is responsible for teaching and learning at her school. Here she shares with you her thoughts and experiences on feedback to improve pupil learning.

Imagine if the driving instructor didn’t tell you to push down harder on the brake until you’d rolled into the middle of a busy junction, or imagine being told you’ve been singing the wrong song lyrics for the last 10 years...

Put simply, a lack of well-timed feedback can be dangerous, create poor habits, or worse, both.

This is the same in the classroom.

Instantaneous feedback allows teachers to identify key misconceptions early in the learning process and intervene at the earliest possible opportunity. But, providing feedback to every student in the room is surely an impossible task, right?

Wrong.

Whiteboards for feedback

Sometimes it can be the simplest methods that are most effective. The most foolproof way to get feedback that should be available to all maths teachers is the use of whiteboards. They’re quick and cheap, and used effectively you can see all the students thinking instantly. I have always felt lucky to be a maths teacher because ultimately what you want is to see the same answer on each board, and over time you can pre-empt what the wrong answers will be, allowing you to use whiteboards for carefully constructed multiple choice questions.

Technology for feedback

Technology has evolved over my time in teaching. About 10 years ago a product called ‘Qwizdom’ became available, and my school bought a set of 30 handsets and downloaded the software to go with it. When it worked, it was a game changer in my classroom. I could get 30 students working at their own pace through questions I designed and have a whole board of red/green attached to each pupil. I could help them as soon as they needed it, making it an integral part of my lessons. I just loved how quickly I could get to each student.

I’ve always been a big fan of online learning platforms, mainly for homework tasks because feedback was instant and, importantly for us teachers, it also reduced the workload of marking. I hadn’t really found one that gave me the same type of whole class question-by-question instantaneous feedback, until... flash forward to 2020/2021. This is when I discovered Learning by Questions (LbQ) and as we use the Whiterose Maths scheme of learning, it transformed everything about remote learning for me.

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I’m lucky now to be able to use a computer room to teach in. This means I can deliver the content using LbQ examples for modelling and then set my students onto tasks. What I love is that there is a vast bank of questions and resources at my fingertips, I can adapt the question sequence and select questions from Key stage 2 to higher tier Key stage 4, it means I can stretch or support all my students (they don’t even need to have the same task if it isn’t appropriate within a group). Most importantly I can see straight away on my teacher screen who needs support and get to them straight away. Any support staff in the room can also respond in the same way, which allows us to give feedback instantly to our students.

I think we all agree that giving, receiving and, most importantly, acting upon feedback instantaneously is the easiest way to reduce and eradicate misconceptions in our classrooms. Whether the budget is big or small, you’re using whiteboards or electronic devices, this is without doubt an essential tool in any learning environment.

If you’re interested in what Learning by Questions can do for you and your students, why not give it a try for free? Try Learning by Questions

Nicola Whiston works for Ormiston Academies Trust as an Assistant Principal. She is responsible for teaching and learning and she also works as induction tutor for ECTs and ITT students. However, perhaps most importantly, she’s a maths teacher. Nicola has been a teacher for 13 years. She won TES Maths Teacher of the Year in 2018 and is now a judge for the Pearson Teaching awards. She shares her teaching thoughts, feelings and resources on Twitter @whisto_maths