Glows and Grows

It’s nearing the end of the semester and I’m knee-deep in grading papers and projects. I’m also preparing for a faculty learning community (FLC) that I’m leading on the book Spark of Learning by Sarah Rose Cavanagh (2016). I know I’ve mentioned the book a bunch of times over the last year or so on this blog but I’m rereading it again in preparation for our FLC meeting later this week. It’s funny how different things about a text resonate upon rereading. Since I’m so focused on grading right now, a section on feedback really stood out to me.

Cavanagh discusses two types of feedback that are important to enhance student competence: progress feedback and discrepancy feedback. Progress feedback involves “giving feedback to students about what they’ve done right, particularly if it is a skill that they were previously lacking” (p. 132). Discrepancy feedback involves “providing information to students about what they’ve done wrong and areas performance that are lacking” (p. 131). To keep students engaged and motivated, Cavanagh suggests using both progress and discrepancy feedback when assessing student work. Surprisingly, however, educators tend to focus more on discrepancy feedback. Cavanagh cites work by Voerman, Korthagen, Meijer and Simons (2014) that studied seventy-eight secondary teachers and found that only 6.4% provided progress feedback when assessing student work. Cavanagh argues that by providing the balance between progress and discrepancy feedback will support students’ feeling of competency and the overall emotional tone of the classroom.

After reading this section, I thought about a system that I use when assessing students work. I wish I could take credit for developing it but it’s one of those processes that one acquires from working with so many smart and creative colleagues. It’s called Glows and Grows. For many assignments, I’ll focus my attention on what the student has done well (the Glows) and the areas of which student still needs to work (Grows). Since it’s so simple to understand and implement, it can be used with a variety of assignments. I’ve used it with student presentations, performances and papers. The strategy is also really easy to use with peer-assessments when paired with explicit assignment expectations. By focusing on just the glows and grows, students can provide informal feedback to their peers without worrying scoring rubrics or letter grades.

Returning to Cavanagh’s discussion of progress and discrepancy feedback, it’s clear that a strategy like Glows and Grows provides a more balanced approach to providing feedback. While it’s a simplistic strategy, Glows and Grows offers students a clear picture of what they’ve done right while still identifying areas that they need to improve. I have to admit that I shared this strategy with a colleague yesterday and was playfully admonished for the way that “education people” talk. Sure, the rhyming and alliteration in the Glows and Grows name makes it seem elementary, but that’s part of its charm (from my perspective). The simplistic title makes it more accessible to students and helps them let their guard down and be more open and responsive to feedback.

References:

Cavanagh, S. R. (2016). The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion. West Virginia University Press.

Voerman, L., Korthagen, F. A., Meijer, P. C., & Simons, R. J. (2014). Feedback revisited: Adding perspectives based on positive psychology. Implications for theory and classroom practice. Teaching and Teacher Education, 43, 91-98.

 

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