Let's talk about constructive feedback
5 activities (with printables) to encourage effective student-to-student feedback
Let’s talk about feedback. Not the screechy-plug-your-fingers-in-your-ears kind you get when a microphone has been set up incorrectly but the sort you give and get to improve how something is done.
Used well, that kind of feedback is a wonderful tool. It provides positive actionable advice letting us know what we need to do to progress. Used badly, it can be brutal.
I’ve seen and felt its effect both ways. You will have too.
As a young person I remember being confused about receiving any form of public personal comment from my teachers, or my peers, about what I had or hadn’t done in class. Part of me believed that a suggestion for improvement was proof of inadequacy or failure. That I needed correction, or advice, was a thing to be ashamed of.
I also remember there was no real attempt to either explain why giving and receiving feedback was useful or to teach how to do it effectively
Thankfully, things have changed. The practice has become a valuable and integral part of evaluating performance in schools and workplaces worldwide.
Here’s five effective student-to-student feedback activities (with printables) that will build their self-confidence along with their skills.
Did you know that if you hit the heart at the bottom or the top of this post, it helps others discover my publication on Substack? Commenting and restacking is helpful, too. Thank you!
Setting the stage for effective feedback
But first, before we get into the activities, let’s start with setting the stage. I wholeheartedly believe involving students in giving feedback gives them an opportunity to learn about kindness, compassion, and creativity, alongside gathering more awareness of what constitutes competent public speaking skills. Through actively focusing on the person in front of them, they’ll become more aware of how and when to offer suggestions that are genuinely in their best interest.
What is constructive feedback?
We know the most useful feedback is:
honest - Grandiose praise, or its opposite, blanket condemnation, is unhelpful because it’s unbelievable. Literally.
specific - It isolates a particular aspect to comment on. E.g. “I really enjoyed your use of figurative language. The simile you used ‘like getting blood from a turnip’ to describe how hard it was to get funding for your project worked well.”
delivered thoughtfully - in a way that is respectful
focused on the behavior, what the person did, not on who they are - their gender, ethnicity, age, physical characteristics or any other aspect of their being.
limited to 2 or 3 key points. More than that tends to become overwhelming and too hard to take in.
balanced - It acknowledges what has been done well alongside making suggestions for improvement.
owned by the person offering it. It is their opinion. Not everyone’s. Whatever they say is what they think. Another person may have a completely different take.
Now here’s the first activity.
1. Role play to demonstrate the difference between constructive and poor feedback
Prior to class ask a competent, confident student to play the part of someone who has just completed a presentation. Explain what is going to happen. You will give them some constructive feedback. Then, you will also give them some poorly worded feedback.
Their job/role is to receive it.
After you have delivered both, you will also ask the class to comment using questions similar to the three below.
What did they think, or feel about, what they saw and heard?
What do they think would happen if a person collected a lot of non-specific poor feedback?
What about the positive feedback? Was it useful? How?
Setting up the exercise
If you can, get rid of desks and sit everyone, including yourself, in a circle. This ensures everybody can see immediately what is happening.
Introduce the exercise as examples of feedback. Explain that from now on everyone is going to be actively involved giving and receiving feedback because it will help them become better speakers. And if you really want to go for it: better human beings too!
This exercise is the stepping off place for learning about how to give it well.
Next introduce the student. Explain that ‘Henry’ has just given a presentation about {insert a topic you know will interest your class. Maybe one that will make them smile.} And now you’re going to give him some feedback.
Demonstrating positive or constructive feedback
Begin clapping. Encourage the students to join you. Then give some feedback similar to the following:
“Thank you, Henry.
I found your introduction was captivating. It really hooked my interest and looking around I saw it pulled in every one else as well.
I felt the energy you began with dropped a little once you got into the body of your speech. Do try to keep it up. Another thing is to try pausing more at key points to give your audience time take the information in. Both those suggestions will make your speeches stronger.
Overall, your confidence and passion for your topic shone through making it easy to listen to."
Ask for comments. Is this feedback useful?
Is there anything that could be added to make it even more useful? (Yes, there is. You could show as well as tell by giving examples to demonstrate what happens when energy is sustained, and pauses are used effectively.)
Is it fair? Is it balanced?
Then ask the student if they want to say anything about the responses everybody has given. How did it feel to sit and listen to them?
Demonstrating poor unhelpful feedback
Next announce you’re going to give an example of a completely different kind of feedback.
Look at Henry. Pause for an internal count of 3: 1-2-3: then speak: “Well, what can I say Henry? To be honest, it was weak.”
Again, ask for comments. How do you think a person would feel getting this type of feedback? Ask ‘Henry’ about it too.
Before finishing the exercise, be sure to thank your ‘Henry’ student for agreeing to take the role on.
The key lesson here is trust and building trust. In order to give or receive honest actionable feedback we need to acknowledge our own, and others, vulnerabilities respectfully. Regardless of who we may think we are, we are being human beings complete with all the frailties, foibles and fabulousnesses that entails.
Ambiguous, generalized and unnecessarily hurtful comments achieve nothing useful.
2. Speed speeches to practice giving constructive feedback
In this activity students pair up to give a 1-2 minute impromptu speech, plus feedback, to each other. When both parts (the speeches and the feedback) are complete, everybody changes partners, and a new round of speech and feedback giving begins.
It’s loud, effective and fun!
To do it with your classes, first get the resources:
Download, print and cut out either or both of the topic choices. Put the topic slips into a container.
You need at least 2 topics per person in your class. That gives you enough to run the exercise twice. (Please note. The topics are best suited for middle school upwards, and depending on what you believe you may find some of them controversial.)
Get the 3 printable resource files you need
66 For and Against topics which includes topics like: “That parents have no right to expect repayment for time and money spent rearing a child”
96 Quotations which includes gems like “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” by Oscar Wilde
‘Two terrifics and a tweak’ -a mini feedback form
There are 4 forms per A4 page. Each person will need one for every speech they listen to. If you do the exercise twice, they’ll need two each.
Model the activity
Next, model the activity. Introduce it as practicing giving and receiving specific, constructive and actionable feedback. The speech making, although essential for the exercise and good practice, is not the primary focus.
Have a pair demonstrate. Give each of them 1 topic slip and 1 feedback form.
Decide who is to speak first. The person who is going to listen and fill out the feedback form gives their topic slip to their partner. That is what they will speak about.
They speak for 1-2 minutes. They stop and the listener fills out the form which is then given to the speaker.
Then they change roles. The person who was speaking hands over their topic slip and prepares to listen. The feedback form is filled out and handed to the speaker.
That completes one round. The average time to get through speaking, listening and form filling out should be about 6-8 minutes.
Review the demonstration before setting the exercise in motion for everyone.
Ask questions like: How was it for the speakers? How was it giving feedback?
Have the speakers read out the feedback they received. Was it fair? Balanced? Constructive?
Set the activity going
Once you’re satisfied everyone knows what they’re doing, let them choose a partner, and collect the material they need. Watch the time and be prepared to yell ‘change’ to get the stragglers to finish a round to enable the start of the next with a new partner.
End the exercise by pulling everyone back into a circle for a review covering what worked well, what needed fine tuning for next time, what personal discoveries were made and so on.
Did you know that if you hit the heart at the bottom or the top of this post, it helps others discover my publication on Substack? Commenting and restacking is helpful, too. Thank you!
3. Pick a card - 36 feedback prompts
As a way of diversifying feedback techniques try ‘pick a card’ prompts. Each card has a specific aspect to either give feedback on or to question the speaker about. For example:
Speech habits: Does the speaker have any pet phrases they use frequently? Suggest a remedy if they do.
Transitions: How well did the speaker move from one main idea to the next? Were you able to follow along easily?
Ask a question: What two specific recommendations would you give yourself to improve?
The prompts target prepared rather than impromptu speeches, and if you decide to use them you may want to remove the ones you know in advance won’t be useful. For instance, a prompt asking how well Q&As were handled is a waste of time if there are none.
Download the file: 36 feedback prompts
Print and laminate before cutting the prompts out to give yourself a reusable resource.
Select the prompts you want your students to use. Put them in a container face down.
Nominate the students you want to give feedback.* Have them choose a card.
Ask the speaker to give their speech.
When the speaker is finished ask those with cards to give their feedback. If you feel more can be said, throw the subject open to the class.
Then have the next speaker, followed by the next group of students to give feedback.
*I suggest limiting the number of students giving feedback to three per speaker. More than that becomes overwhelming.
4. Role reversal - becoming a renowned, respected public speaking coach
Place a special chair in your classroom. This the chair to be used by the visiting expert.
Have your students take turns to sit in it and assume the expert role. If it helps give the expert a name and introduce them as such to the class:
“We’re extremely fortunate to have Professor Van Wrinklestein, an expert in communications and a world-renowned public speaking coach with us today. She/he/they has/have generously agreed to share her/his/their knowledge with us. Thank you. I know we all look forward to learning from what you have to say.”
As knowledgeable and kindly experts, who are aware of the privilege and responsibilities of their position, they’ll want to offer the best of advice and encouragement to help a speaker develop confidence and skills.
Watch for transformations. Sometimes they are quite remarkable!
For instance: the quiet introverted student who finds a voice and the courage to offer valuable observations, or the habitual entertainer who shows how well they understand someone’s anxiety about standing in front of others to speak.
5. A fuller feedback form for students to use
When your class is involved in giving formal speech presentations a useful and valuable way to have those listening actively engaged is to get them to complete a standard speech feedback or evaluation form for each speaker.
Here’s the feedback form I used as part of my own teaching practice. It’s easily completed and covers the varying aspects of delivery techniques, structure and content.
The rating scale and method is one used universally: a tick in the box under Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor. There’s a space for the name of the speaker, their speech topic and purpose, the evaluator’s name and for personal comments.
Setting using the feedback form up
As part of my introductory set up, before handing it out for students to use, I ran through the rating scale, giving examples of what, in my opinion, got a tick in any of the boxes. We also revisited what constructive feedback was and how to make a genuinely useful personal comment.
Having students put their name on the form is a nod towards asking them to be accountable - to take ownership of whatever feedback they’ve given. Ideally everything they put down will be considered, honest and respectfully worded. Knowing you can trust students to be mindful of each other is critical to this activity’s success.
Allocate 2 or 3 minutes at the end of each speech to complete and collect the forms before the next speaker begins their presentation.
What to do with the completed forms
After you’ve heard 3 speeches and collected 3 sets of forms pull everybody into a circle for a feedback session.
Begin with the first speaker. Select 3-4 people to take back their forms for that speaker. They will each give their feedback - remembering to use the two terrifics and a tweak technique. When they’re done, thank them. Ask if there is anything anyone else wants to add before moving on.
Then repeat the process for the second and third speakers.
Give the forms to the speakers to go through. Ask them to look for patterns - similar comments about the same thing. They’ll use those as a guide for future presentations and perhaps keep them as references to look back on to see how far they’ve come.
In conclusion, I hope at least some of this is useful for you and your students! And of course, your feedback on any of it is welcome. ☺
Thank you for being here,
Susan
PS. For those of you who’ve been receiving my newsletter for a while, you’ll see I’ve turned on the paid subscription option. It’s taken a lot of debate with myself to do that because essentially, I’m like everyone else. I too enjoy having free access to information I want to use. Additionally, I don’t want a monetary barrier to block any of you who regularly read and use my material because you cannot afford to pay for it.
My solution is to throw it over to you. If you value what you receive, and you’re able to pay that would be wonderful and hugely appreciated. Please click that button now!
If you can’t, then that’s quite OK too.
As I’ve said before, if you have ideas for topics you’d like to see covered in this newsletter, or if you’d like to share an article on some aspect of public speaking, or a speech of your own, please get in touch. Either reply to this email or contact me through the form on my ‘about me’ page on my website. I’d love to hear from you!
Effective guidance on giving and receiving feedback. Love the activities you’ve designed and shared. 👍♥️
In this day & age, when so many are into wild, hurtful criticism that is not helpful at all - this is an excellent review of how to give good feedback, that does help someone improve.
Plus these methods for training young people to give good, useful feedback without harm to a person's psyche should carry on into their adult life. We surely hope! Right?