Academic studies suggest that feedback has the potential to double the impact of learning and support the improvement of academic achievement. However, there is a difference between giving feedback and it being acted on. Teachers provide students with feedback all the time, but it is the acting on the feedback that contributes to pupils learning – ‘The power of the feedback is determined by the power of the follow-up’. 

When providing feedback, it should be more work for the student and not the teacher. Writing repetitive comments across whole sets of copies/assessments should be a practice of the past. It is time consuming for the teacher and does not feed the students forward. Whole Class Feedback (WCF) is a technique I have used that aims to:

1. Analyse student assessment in 10-30 minutes.
2. Complete a Whole Class Feedback Marking Sheet
3. Create a ‘feedback’ lesson that focuses on re-teaching content through direct instruction, remodeling, practicing skills & redrafting.

WCF highlights clear & high expectations within my classroom & reduces the workload associated with marking.

Bio of Presenter: Lee O’Donnell

Lee O’Donnell is a teacher of Geography & History at Woodbrook College in Wicklow & LC History content creator for Exam Revision. He runs the Leaving Certificate podcast ‘Skin in the Game’. He has delivered retrieval practice lectures alongside the UCD School of Education.