The Master Teacher Blog

Most of us probably agree that today’s students have shorter attention spans than students did in the past. The research on whether this is true is mixed. However, one thing is certain: students are more distracted today than their predecessors. Their brains also face greater competition for attention than students in previous generations.

Yet, our ability to teach students and their ability to learn and remember are heavily dependent on their being able to focus and absorb information. To be clear, when we refer to attention span, we mean the amount of time we can maintain our focus or awareness toward a given stimulus such as a person, an object, a task, or an idea. However, as simple as this definition sounds, there is more involved than persistent attention. The environment within which we are attempting to focus matters. The more distractions, the more difficult it is to pay attention.

Some students come to us with strong attention skills. Other students do not. However, the ability to focus and maintain attention are learnable skills. With instruction, support, and coaching we can help students to become better at focusing and sustaining attention. Meanwhile, we can create conditions that make giving attention easier. The combination of these two approaches can make a significant difference in the length and strength of our students’ attention spans. Here are eight strategies we can employ to provide support and help students to build their capacity to focus.

Coach students to avoid multi-tasking. The ubiquitous presence of technology makes resisting multi-tasking even more difficult for today’s students. Yet, multi-tasking—or task switching as a more apt descriptor—is a major culprit in reducing attention spans. Having multiple screens open and maintaining a virtual conversation with friends while completing homework, for example, is a recipe for poor performance. Students’ ability to maintain focus is heavily dependent on doing one thing at a time.

Reduce the number, variety, and strength of distractions. The array of potential distractions competing for the attention of students is wide. The presence of cellphones, smart watches, and other technology are obvious sources of distraction. However, excessive wall decorations and clutter in the classroom can create competition for students’ attention. Background noise, lighting, and other environmental elements can add to the challenge of focusing and maintaining attention.

Limit cognitive overload. Cognitive overload occurs when students attempt or are asked to take in and make sense of more information than their brains can handle. When students’ brains become overloaded, they are likely to miss important information, become confused, and fail to recall what they learn. We can help students to increase their attention and stay focused by making our directions simple, brief, and concise.  We also might break larger, more complex tasks into small, manageable segments and have students focus on the work in sequence rather than tackling everything at once.

Build in brain breaks. Breaks during learning offer more benefits than we might think. Beyond giving students an opportunity to stand and stretch, breaks can refresh and reenergize the brain’s capacity to focus. Breaks also support the brain to develop mental clarity. Interestingly, the brain often continues to work on its own to organize and make sense of what students are learning during short breaks.  A brief stand-up break and accompanying stretch can make a big difference to maintaining focus and expanding attention spans.  

Set specific goals and build attention persistence. The presence of goals that students find meaningful can create energy and build persistence to build their attending capacity. Strategies such as the Pomodoro technique, in which students focus for a predetermined amount of time and then take a break, build focusing “muscle” while creating a sense of urgency and purpose. Over time, students can increase the length of time they practice focusing and vary the topics, objects, and ideas on which they focus.  

Design attention-supporting activities. Our brains are naturally inclined to respond to certain stimuli. Stories are natural attention attractors. Throughout most of history, stories were a primary source of learning. Physical movement connected to learning, such as gallery walks and role playing can be effective attention sustainers. For some students, soft music and even the sound of a metronome can help them to sustain focus. However, it is best to check with students or try music and rhythm with them before making it a regular practice.

Employ multi-coding. We can assist students to accelerate their learning by employing more than one input strategy to support concepts and content. For example, students might listen to a mini lesson, draw representations of what they are learning, explain their understanding to another student, or physically act out an interpretation of what they are learning. Not only does multi-coding help students to expand their attention spans, they also are likely to understand and remember more of what they learn.

Build in purpose and utility. Students are more likely to remain focused when they see a reason for or value in what they are learning. The presence of a reason to pay attention can be a strong motivator and sustainer of focus. Similarly, when students are learning something that will empower or enable them to do something with what they learn, attention is much easier to sustain. Giving students choices in their learning also can help to sustain and expand attention as students are more likely to commit and persist with activities they have chosen.  

Learning does not happen unless students pay attention. Sometimes we need to manipulate and manage the environment to make it easier for students to do so. At other times we need to teach and coach students to build and strengthen their ability to remain focused. Regardless, our success and the success of our students depend on the choices we make and the actions we take to ensure, build, and sustain their attention.

As we turn the page to a new month and calendar year, now is a good time to step back and consider what lies ahead and what we want our students to achieve. How can we have the greatest impact on learning? Where might we make some changes? What holds the greatest potential to lift the learning performance of our students?

Of course, there are many options and possibilities to consider. However, there is a relatively short list of high impact actions we can take that can make an outsized difference. In fact, just five key elements can combine to accelerate student learning, build higher levels of achievement, and make learning more meaningful.

The good news is that each of these elements are within our control. But they need to become part of our relationship and engagement with students every day. We might think of these five elements as ingredients in a recipe for success in the second half of the year— and beyond.

Confidence in student potential

Students rarely perform at levels beyond what we believe they can. Students feel when we think that they can do better than they show and are quick to sense when we believe that they lack the potential to succeed. What we believe about our students matters—a lot. Multiple studies have shown that what teachers believe about the potential of their students can be a major predictor of their achievement. Now is a good time to revisit what we believe about our students’ potential for success and build our confidence on their behalf.

High expectations

Students typically rise to the level of our expectations. When we hold high expectations, students are more likely to strive to meet them. High expectations are a powerful way to communicate to students that we believe in their potential. On the other hand, having low expectations almost always results in low achievement. It is a message to students that we do not believe in their potential. Having high expectations that students may not quite meet is far preferable than low expectations that students can easily satisfy.

Timely support

Our belief in the potential of our students and holding high expectations for their learning are heavily dependent on students experiencing timely, useful support. Telling students that we believe in their potential and have high expectations holds little meaning and value if we are not present and ready to guide, coach, nudge, intervene, and teach when they need it.  

Relevant and purposeful learning

Confidence, expectations, and support have the greatest impact when what we ask students to learn seems relevant to their lives and purposeful enough to invest their time and energy. Of course, not everything we ask students to learn may seem immediately relevant or serve a purpose that is obvious to them. However, when we help students to see connections to what they already know and point out life applications where they exist, we can build credibility to carry through when connections and relevance are less immediate. Meanwhile, we can coach students to set and track learning goals. The presence of meaningful goals and the ability to see progress often can be a useful substitute for immediate life relevance.

Safe space to take learning risks

Learning that is challenging and worthwhile almost always involves mistakes and errors. We can encourage students to press at the edges of what they know and feel safe that making mistakes while learning will be accepted—even celebrated as evidence of new and challenging learning efforts. We also can encourage students to use what they learn to explore new questions and discover new learning on their own. The autonomy to explore new learning without fear of embarrassment and criticism when they fail can be a powerful learning motivator.

Of course, the impact of these elements is even greater when we form strong, positive relationships with our students, help them feel as though they fit in and belong, and they are valued beyond the grades and test scores they achieve.

What teachers believe about the commitment and capacity of students to learn is among the most powerful predictors of student success. All students do better when they believe their teachers are committed to their success and see them as having learning potential and being capable of succeeding. However, students who have a history of struggle and need more time and support to succeed are often even more sensitive to how they are seen by their teacher—and the impact is even greater.

The starting point for finding success with students is to be convinced that they can learn and we have the capacity to make their success possible. When we are confident in and committed to the success of our students, we communicate this information in myriad ways, many of which we do not consciously choose. The same is true when we lack confidence in the potential of students.

Meanwhile, students are hyper attuned to the signals and signs that reveal what their teachers believe about and expect from them. Virtually every interaction is mined for meaning and may be internalized in ways that influence student behavior and commitment.

We do not want to believe that we tell students that we do not see them as having high potential or that they are not likely to succeed in our class. For the most part, we probably do not explicitly convey such a message. Yet, buried within interactions with students can be disheartening and damaging messages that get in the way of reaching all students. Here are seven common circumstances in which positive and negative messages often are sent.

Opportunities to contribute. Without care and attention, teachers can find themselves calling on students whom they believe are likely to have answers and will be quick to respond. Teachers may feel pressure to keep the lesson moving and favor efficiency over equitable opportunities to respond. Some students may be relieved not to be “put on the spot,” but they also feel a lack of confidence in their capability.

How much time students are given to respond. When teachers believe that a student can provide a valid response to a question, an insight, or useful thought, they tend to give them more time and encouragement than might be offered to a student not expected to have an answer or idea to contribute. Yet, with more time and support, students who may not often contribute may have something worthwhile to offer. Students who might struggle or need more time may feel relieved to be “let off the hook,” but they also are likely see it as a message about their potential.  

Nonverbal behavior during interactions. When students who are assumed to be capable learners have a comment or question, they are more likely to experience voice tones, facial expressions, and other nonverbal behaviors that are encouraging, supportive, and patient. Meanwhile, students who do not enjoy this perception are more likely to experience interactions that convey less empathy, lack of patience, and lower levels of interest.

Level and extensiveness of feedback. When teachers believe students are highly capable of understanding, accepting, and using feedback, they are more likely to take additional time, provide more detailed guidance, and offer follow-up. On the other hand, students who have a history of struggle often are given more superficial and directive feedback and managed check-in on their progress. Students notice the difference and interpret the behavior as an assessment of their potential.

Who is blamed for confusion. When students who are perceived as capable are confused, teachers are more likely to assume that they did not provide a clear explanation, adequate examples, or sufficient directions. Conversely, confusion and questions from students assumed to be less capable can be met with exhortations to pay better attention, listen more carefully, and follow the examples of other students.   

Interpretation of the meaning of mistakes. When students who are perceived as capable make mistakes the interpretation is more likely to be that they need more time, opportunities, and guidance to succeed. On the other hand, students who do not enjoy such perceptions can be seen as not giving adequate effort, being careless, or lacking learning skills. 

Amount of flexibility. Students who are seen as capable learners also can be given greater flexibility and more second chances when they ask for consideration. Their requests are more likely to be seen as based on legitimate needs. Conversely, students who are perceived as less capable might be assumed to have not been responsible, as giving inadequate effort, and being disorganized and thus are less worthy of special consideration.

Fortunately, with some thought and attention, we can resist falling into patterns of interaction with students that convey negative messages that we do not intend and do not reflect what we believe about our students and their potential.

It is often said that hope is not a strategy. While the statement may be correct, it risks ignoring the important relationship between hope and strategy. Strategy developed without hope is not likely to be implemented and sustained. Conversely, hope can be the impetus to develop, implement, and persist with a strategy.

When we consider this relationship in the context of learning, we can see how students who lack hope of success are not likely to invest deeply in learning paths or overcoming learning challenges. Students who lack hope often choose distraction and undermining behaviors to avoid the pain of being exposed to failure. The absence of hope can masquerade as lack of caring, laziness, and even resistance. It also can lead to other avoidance behaviors such as withdrawal and frequent absences. 

Meanwhile, hope can be the stimuli students need to try something new, take learning risks, and persist when learning is a struggle. Hope can help students to see possibilities, overcome mistakes and setbacks, and navigate learning barriers. Hope is empowering and builds confidence.

Unfortunately, too many students come to school each day lacking the level of hope that can sustain them through difficult and challenging experiences. They too often choose to give up rather than keep trying, and, in some cases, they may choose not even to try.

So, how can we inspire, nurture, and reinforce hope for learning in our students? Of course, we can’t give students hope directly, but we can create conditions under which hope is likely to emerge and grow. Consider these tips and techniques as places to start and on which to build:

• Look for opportunities to help students connect their efforts to outcomes. When students can see that their actions matter and they can influence outcomes, hope becomes easier to grasp.
• Recognize and reinforce effort, even when success is not immediate. Admittedly, effort alone is not success, but our recognition and reinforcement can be the impetus for students to renew their effort and ultimately succeed.
• Find and celebrate small wins. Helping students to see that they are capable of success, even in small doses, can build confidence and support risk taking.
• Help students to see what the next steps are in learning. Clear, modest next steps can make the path forward easier to see and less overwhelming to contemplate.
• When students struggle, use “not yet” language rather than “wrong” or “failure.” Recognizing that learning is a journey and takes time, but success remains obtainable, can help students to keep trying.
• Offer choices in how students might approach a task. Giving options can foster ownership and encourage students to stick with what they have chosen.
• Connect learning to student interest or priority. Establishing a link between something the student values and a learning task can make it easier for them to try and seek progress. However, we need to be careful not to have students feel manipulated or patronized.
• Use optimistic language when discussing tasks and challenges. Students tune in to how we view their potential even when we are not explicit. Choosing words like “when,” not “if” can make a difference.
• Foster a climate of caring, support, and inclusion. When students support each other, reluctant students often are more open and willing to try than when they feel isolated and alone.
• Share times and circumstances when we have struggled and kept going until we found success. When we have a strong relationship with students, our experiences can carry extra significance and give students confidence that they, too, can succeed.

Hope can be a powerful driver of learning. When hope is present, effort and struggle can feel worthwhile. When students have hope, they are more likely to accept our coaching and heed our advice. Our challenge is to create conditions under which hope can flourish and success is worth pursuing.

Convincing students to learn requires more than calling the class to order. We need to gain students’ attention, build their motivation, and capture their engagement. As obvious as this challenge may be, it is not always easy. Of course, students at times may be naturally interested and ready to learn what we want to teach. More often, we need to design an introduction that stimulates interest, generates questions, or surprises students in ways that lead them to choose to learn.

Fortunately, there are several “tried and true” strategies we can utilize to increase the probability that students will respond in ways that build the momentum necessary to sustain a teaching and learning cycle. Let’s explore seven potential starting places to consider, depending on the age and maturity of our students and the content we intend to teach.

Have students investigate before teaching a new concept or skill. Multiple research studies have shown that when students try to solve a problem or find answers on their own, they become more motivated to be taught approaches and processes that lead to success. For example, before teaching proportions, we might present students with the challenge of serving ten people equally with a recipe that serves four. Or we might teach the concept of main idea by having students read a paragraph, pick out the most important sentence, and discuss their selection with a classmate.

Introduce new content by discussing its purpose and establishing learning goals. We know that when students see a purpose for their learning, they are more likely to pay attention, but when the purpose is paired with a specific learning goal motivation and commitment will grow. As examples, we might note how choices people have made in the past shape today’s world and use that concept to present the goal that requires students to develop a museum exhibit showing how a decision from history impacts their lives. Or we might discuss why it is important to understand the power of persuasion techniques and give students the goal of writing a short ad that applies at least two persuasion strategies.

Offer meaningful choice and autonomy. We know that when students can make choices about their learning, they tend to take greater ownership and display higher levels of commitment. When combined with reasonable autonomy over what and how they will learn, learning choices take on new meaning and depth. Opportunities to engage in well-designed project-based learning activities, choices about how students will demonstrate their learning, and options for the level of challenge students want to pursue can significantly increase readiness to learn and drive greater commitment and persistence. These experiences also often become memorable for students because of the rich experiences the learning process offered.

Combine learning a new skill with the promise of students using it to create something new or unique. We typically introduce new skills through explanation and demonstration. We then judge whether students have learned the skill by having them apply it. However, when we take the process one step further and invite students to use the new skill to create something, we build a level of connection and ownership that can drive learning to new levels. As examples, we might introduce the mechanics of writing dialogue that sounds natural and then have students create a short play or scene in which the characters engage in and resolve an argument. Or we might introduce the concept of controlled experiments and then have students design and conduct their own experiment, such as testing the characteristics of paper airplanes that fly the farthest.

Link in-school learning with out-of-school life. Students become more interested when they see how what they are learning connects to what they see as “real life.” By pointing out connections and using examples from out-of-school life we can increase the relevance students see in what they are asked to learn. Additionally, students become better at making connections between formal learning and informal life. As examples, we might ask students if they would like to be more effective at convincing their parents to extend their curfew, allow them to apply for a job, or agree to some other request, and then show them how they can use data, argument, and other persuasion techniques to become more successful. Or we could discuss with students the songs that seem to “stay in their heads.”  We can then follow up by teaching the roles of rhythm and melody in music composition.

Tie new learning to emotions. Emotions are powerful drivers of learning. In fact, the presence of strong emotions does not just make learning more meaningful, it extends recall of what is learned—often for a lifetime. The emotions can be happy or sad. They may stimulate caring or generate outrage. Whether emotions are positive or negative is less important than their strength. As examples, we might ask students to think about and describe a time when they felt especially happy, sad, lonely, or angry and then introduce them to how poets use words and structure to capture and communicate feelings. We might follow-up by having students write about their selected experience using techniques practiced by poets. Or we could have students reflect on times they have felt their heart race because of excitement or nervousness and then introduce the physical-neuro-emotional connections that produce this experience.

Introduce new content with shock, surprise, or intrigue. Unexpected, unusual, and unique information and experiences build interest and stimulate curiosity. When we tap these elements, we can pull students in to hear an explanation and beg for more information. As examples, we might share with students that in the 18^th century many doctors believed that diseases were spread by smell. Consequently, they carried flowers or wore nose cones containing fragrances to ward off diseases. We might use this information to challenge students to investigate other practices throughout history or even today that are based on faulty assumptions. Or we might present a mystery object that relates to what we want students to learn and ask them to speculate on what it is and how it might be used.

Finding ways to help students get ready to learn can be as important to success as the content and skills we want to teach. By taking some time to capture students’ attention and stimulate their curiosity, we can make the work of teaching and learning easier and more effective. All we need is some imagination and a little planning.

We know that initial learning and lasting recall are heavily influenced by the strategies students tap to build understanding, create meaning, and store information in memory. The better the learning strategies students possess and use, the stronger their learning and the more they will remember.

Of course, many students come to us with strong learning practices and habits—others do not. We need to monitor and coach students to choose and employ strategies and approaches that can work best for them. We can add even more value when we share with students different ways they can make their existing learning approaches even more effective. Consider these common learning strategies and how small tweaks can make them even more effective.

From note taking to thought capturing. Students can increase their understanding and recall of lesson content by taking notes in the form of outlines, key information and insights, and examples. Note taking also provides students with an opportunity to process information as they are exposed to it.

Tweak: Coach students to combine note taking with charts, diagrams, flow charts, and even pictures to capture what they want to learn. By combining words, images, and graphics, students access multiple entry points for learning. The process, known as dual coding, can increase the amount of information students absorb and strengthen and lengthen recall of what they learn.

From re-reading to recalling. Students often re-read content they hope to learn, believing that repetition will increase understanding. While repeated exposure to information can increase familiarity, it does not necessarily lead to deeper understanding.

Tweak: Coach students to pause after reading a passage and try to recall the most important information, note what is clear to them, what does not seem clear, and how what they have read might be important. This step moves learning from repetition to recall and from exposure to retrieval. The result will be deeper understanding and lengthened memory retrieval.  

From teacher goals to shared goals. Each lesson we design for students focuses on a learning goal. Sharing our learning goals with students can help students understand where lessons are headed. However, they often still see the lesson goal as ours, not theirs.

Tweak: Beyond sharing the learning goal, we can have students repeat the goal in their own words and explain how they will know if they have reached the goal. This tweak helps students to see the learning path and builds confidence that they can achieve it. The result is that students see the goal as their goal, not just ours.  

From self-testing to error analysis. We know that self-testing is a powerful way for students to check their understanding, identify areas where more learning or practice is needed, and build learning confidence. Self-testing also helps students understand new content at deeper levels.

Tweak: Encourage students to take self-testing one step further and code any errors. For example, they might note that an incorrect answer was the result of lack of attention to detail, missing vocabulary, or misunderstanding of a concept. This tweak moves self-testing from general learning feedback to diagnosis of causes and adjustments to drive improvement.

From mnemonics to narratives. When students need to memorize lists, remember sequences, and recall key elements or factors, they often find mnemonics to be useful. Mnemonics can help to organize information and create memory shortcuts, even though they may seem and sound nonsensical.

Tweak: Coach students to create stories or mental pictures to accompany the mnemonics they adopt or create. When mnemonics are accompanied by imagery and associated with emotions they become easier to remember and generate longer recall.

We want our students to have every learning advantage possible. By teaching and reinforcing effective learning approaches and strategies we can accelerate their learning and memory building. When we share ways to make their “go-to” strategies even more effective, we can make their learning easier and long lasting.

In an era where scrolling, skimming, and glancing frequently masquerade as learning, it can seem impossible to convince students to slow down and pay close attention. Yet, unless students fully engage, they do not learn on a deeper level or retain what they learn. We might describe this conflict as fast looking versus slow looking.

Fast looking takes in images, forms impressions, and makes quick judgments. Slow looking observes details, makes connections, reflects on meaning, considers implications, and forms questions. Slow looking requires intention and discipline.

Fast looking is a default mode for most people. While fast looking can carry us through the day, help us to follow routines, and keep us moving, it can deprive us of noticing, experiencing, engaging, and recalling much of what happens to and around us. In the classroom, fast looking can prevent students from fully engaging in what they are learning. It invites shortcuts and can contribute to superficial learning and short recall.

The meaning of slow looking has its roots in museum visit behavior. When observing a piece of art or rare artifact, we take time to really look. We might stand close to see details or step back to take in the full image. We might physically shift positions to investigate the object from different perspectives. We might engage another person in conversation about what they are seeing, how the object makes them feel, or what significance they take from what they are seeing and experiencing.

Obviously, not everything that we want students to learn and practice requires slow looking. Following established routines, recalling facts, and other activities that reinforce “muscle memory” can be accomplished with more superficial or fast looking. However, when we want students to observe important details, actively engage with new learning, and develop deep understanding, slow looking is what we need students to practice. Of course, most of what is important for students to learn, recall, and use in the future requires significant engagement and more than superficial understanding.

So, how can we teach students the discipline, habit, and value of slow looking? Here are seven ways to get started:

• Model slow looking. We might describe our behavior out loud. We can formulate questions, or mention what we are noticing as we observe, such as patterns, conflicts, and inconsistencies.
• Ask questions that stimulate slow looking. We might ask students what they notice. We can ask students what they wonder and what questions they have. We might probe to have students explain their reactions and feelings.
• Practice “wait time.” After introducing an object, topic, or asking a question, we might pause for several seconds before asking for observations, answers, or questions. Giving students time to think can generate more complete responses and give students who need more time to reflect better opportunities to participate.
• Structure silent observation to encourage noticing and reflecting. Initially, the silence might be for short periods to give students practice and then lengthen observation periods to a few minutes before beginning discussion.  
• Have students discuss their observations, reflections, and reactions with classmates. As students share, they are likely to uncover details they might initially have missed and learned from the observations, thoughts, and perspectives of other students.
• Delay sharing additional information. Student reflections, discussions, and questions will likely generate interest in learning more. Their curiosity and discoveries can set the stage for interest in learning with greater depth, nuance, and persistence. The additional information we share is likely to receive greater attention and lead to even more interest and questions.
• Revisit the object or topic after discussion or further investigation to capture additional thoughts and build deeper understanding. Once students hear from others and have time to reflect and further investigate, and receive additional information from us, they often will see things they missed, understand elements they overlooked, and have new questions to explore.

As students build their slow looking skills and habits, we are likely to find students practicing greater patience and focus on their learning. Their observation skills will grow as well as their curiosity and critical thinking skills. Equally important, we are apt to see greater emotional connections and empathy in their learning.

We know that feedback is a crucial element in learning, especially when learning is challenging, multi-staged, and requires practice and application. Effective feedback reinforces progress, clarifies crucial learning components, lights the path forward, and propels persistence.

However, feedback that fuels learning requires a careful combination of art and skill. It must be provided in close enough proximity to learning efforts for learners to recall their thinking and actions during learning attempts. Feedback needs to be specific enough for students to understand its importance and potential impact. Further, feedback that reinforces learning needs to be objective, not colored by judgement or assumptions. Finally, the feedback we provide must give the learner information they need to take the next steps in learning.

While these elements of feedback may seem clear—even obvious—feedback often falls short in its ability to motivate and support learning when educators fail to heed several factors.  Let’s explore five of these common mistakes and how to fix them.

Mistake #1: Overloading the amount of feedback. We might think that students need to be informed of everything in the work they did worthy of note or in need of improvement. However, learners are limited in the amount of working memory they can manage at any time. Providing students with too much feedback can lead to students ignoring all or the most important feedback we provide.

Fix: Focus on the elements of student work that, if adjusted, would make the greatest difference. Even though we can provide extensive feedback, overloading will not improve learning. If we are concerned that a parent or others might criticize us for not catching every error, we might indicate with our feedback that it is targeted and not all-inclusive.

Mistake #2: Neglecting to connect feedback to learning goals. The presence of learning goals helps us and our students to focus, measure progress, and understand what still needs to be learned. Obviously, the most powerful learning goals include the participation of students in their development and can play a significant role in stimulating and tracking learning progress. Helping students to see progress and understand what lies ahead are important elements of feedback with impact.

Fix: Keep learning goals visible and active in feedback conversations. If established learning goals seem too far off, we may need to break down next steps to help students see how progress can be achieved, even if there is significant distance yet to be traveled.

Mistake #3: Feedback is overweighted with negative information. When students hear what feels like mostly bad news, they can become discouraged and give up rather than use the information to adjust and improve. Feedback that has a productive impact is carefully weighted to provide an accurate picture, while instilling hope for success.

Fix: We can choose our words and focus with the student’s perspective and perception in mind. We gain little by having students feel “buried.” Students also need to hear where they are making progress and what they are doing well. While we may need to share information that suggests the need for improvement, we can do so while sharing our confidence that the student will be successful and that we are committed to helping them to find their way forward.

Mistake #4: Feedback conversations do not include student response opportunities. Telling students where they are showing progress and sharing areas in need of improvement are only parts of effective feedback interactions. Unless students contribute to the conversation, they are unlikely to feel ownership for the feedback they receive. Further, we are not likely to know what students understand, how they react to what they hear, and whether they are committed to using the feedback we provide.

Fix: Give students ample opportunities to share their understanding, areas of confusion, insights about their learning, and to commit to applying the feedback they receive. Depending on the nature of situation we might even invite students to share their perspectives and ideas before we share feedback. In any case, once we have provided feedback, we need to give students opportunities to reflect and clarify what they have heard and discuss what they will do with it.

Mistake #5: Failing to follow up after providing feedback. We might think that once we have provided students with feedback on their learning attempts that we can move on to other things. However, students may find that what they try following our feedback isn’t working, they fail to recall what they heard, or they encounter a challenge that was not discussed in the feedback conversation. Failing to check in and reinforce the feedback we share risks compromising the impact of our efforts and could result in students giving up in frustration. 

Fix: Make a mental or physical note to follow up and reinforce feedback as students attempt to implement what they have learned. Once students have tried to apply the feedback they received, we might briefly touch base to see if they have any questions, inquire if they are making progress, and observe the results of new learning attempts. Our check-in not only helps to determine the impact of our feedback, but it also sends a message to students that we are interested and ready to continue to support their learning.  

Feedback is a powerful tool to support learning. However, it requires more than telling students where they have fallen short and what they need to do to improve. The best feedback is a conversation that builds understanding, instills hope, and stimulates further learning.

Language is a powerful tool for communicating information, concepts, and perspectives. Consequently, we need to exercise care and caution to be certain that what we say conveys the meaning we intend and avoids misinterpretation. This advice may seem obvious. Yet, it can be easy to fall into habits of speech and employ phrases and terms that may not fully or accurately convey what we mean.

We may use certain words and descriptors as informal shortcuts to express emotions and perceptions. They may be well intended, but they can still create confusion, lead to over-generalizations, and reflect meanings that we do not intend. It can be worthwhile to pause occasionally to review some of the terms and phrases we use and consider whether we would do well to avoid or accompany them with explanations or qualifiers. Here are five common education-related terms that might fall into this category.

Drill and kill.

This term is often used to describe practice repetitions, yet not all practice is bad. In fact, practice plays a crucial role in developing expertise. Approaches such as distributed and deliberate practice are key to building high-level skill development and learning retention. At the same time, subjecting students to mind-numbing, seemingly endless drills can undermine motivation and diminish engagement. It is not drills that kill, it is the failure to make practice purposeful, engaging, and useful.

Better terms: purposeful practice, distributed practice, and deliberate practice.

Sit and get.

This phrase is frequently used to describe lecture-based, low-engagement instruction. While passive learning often leads to lack of depth in understanding and absence of learning retention, there remains a role for direct, explicit instruction. Explicit instruction can be a highly useful way to explain new information, set a context for learning, and clarify areas of confusion and misconception.

Better terms: direct instruction, explicit instruction, and responsive teaching.

Learning styles.

This term has been used to describe the concept that students learn best when instruction was presented in the way that matches how students learn best (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic). However, multiple research studies have shown that matching teaching with learning styles does not increase learning. In fact, overreliance on perceived learning styles can limit the amount of learning skills students choose to develop and rely on. A more effective approach is to utilize a variety of modes of instruction when introducing content and nurturing new skills. Generally, the more ways in which students are exposed to new information, the more likely they are to learn and remember.

Better terms: dual coding, learning preferences, and multiple modes of engagement.

Remedial instruction.

This term implies a focus on student learning deficits. It implies that the student is the problem and must be remediated. However, lack of expected learning progress can be the result of many factors. This focus can result in efforts to “fix” the learner rather than discover and build on strengths and target areas in need of support. Unfortunately, remedial education too often features a slower pace for learning when pace may not be the primary cause of the problem. Additionally, remedial instruction frequently engages learners at superficial levels of learning that lack motivating elements and interest-generating experiences.

Better terms: targeted instruction, strategic learning support, and essential skill development.

Ability grouping.

This description implies that we can know students’ abilities. Yet, abilities are complex and varied. We can gauge the skills students are able to demonstrate and their levels of academic performance, but we are not likely to know our students’ full abilities with certainty. Unfortunately, when we group students based on what we assume to be ability, students interpret our judgment of them as being smart or being dumb. Such decisions and interpretations can have lifelong, unjustified consequences. Meanwhile, some students may be very bright but not appear so because they require more time to process and analyze before presenting an answer or solution. It is also true that students included in high ability groupings often are fast learners, not necessarily expert learners.

Better terms: flexible grouping, skill-based grouping, and learning readiness grouping.

We want our words to accurately convey our intentions. Consequently, we need to be careful to select words and phrases that are not likely to result in confusion or misinterpretation. Are there words and phrases you might add to this list as having high potential to be misunderstood or could lead to incorrect interpretations?