Round-Up: Giving Feedback With Kindness

Giving (and oftentimes receiving!) feedback isn’t always easy, but it’s necessary in the drama classroom to grow and improve students’ skills. However, feedback can be given with a sense of trust and kindness. Read on for some tips to help students give feedback to their peers with kindness.

• To start, here’s why kindness matters in the drama classroom.

• Help students determine what effective peer feedback actually is, then work on delivering the feedback with kindness. In this practical exercise, students will identify what effective and ineffective feedback looks and sounds like. It’s not always easy, but feedback is generally easier to receive when it is presented in a kind way.

• Students can also practice giving kind feedback verbally and in writing with this giving and receiving feedback exercise.

• Try using “I” statements. Rather than “It was impossible to hear you during your performance,” try this approach: “I noticed that the middle of your monologue was a bit hard to hear, could you try speaking up a bit?” This focuses on observations and practical solutions rather than blame.

• Remember that words matter. In the Drama Teacher’s Podcast, Nick Pappas and Lindsay Price discuss “how many people [I] talk to who still remember 25 years later that teacher when I was in 10th grade ripped apart a piece of writing and I put it in a drawer and I never wrote again? … On the other side, some people who are just inspired to keep going just because somebody said ‘I believe in you.’” When giving feedback, make sure you consider your words carefully. You and your students can choose to give feedback in a way that doesn’t crush the students.

• In other words, “When I write something that is going to be given to another writer, I always have to ask myself, ‘Would I be okay with getting this?’. This quote from Lindsay Price can help students be aware of how they’re phrasing their feedback to their peers.

• Help students reframe feedback they’ve received to be more kind to themselves. Have your students think about feedback they’ve received in the past that they may have taken personally. Then reframe each comment in a way that helps them improve, rather than feeling like a personal attack.

• Try giving feedback sandwiches, a three-part way of giving feedback. You start and end on a positive note. The feedback is kind, but also productive. With a feedback sandwich, you think of a positive moment as the top bun or bread, an observation of something they could improve on as the messy fillings, and a redirecting action as the bottom bun or bread. Learn more about feedback sandwiches in the giveaway below.

• Try asking questions instead of making demands. Instead of “You need to change x” or “You should have done y,” ask questions like, “What were you trying to show at that moment?” or “Why did this character make this choice at that time?” This creates an opportunity for dialogue instead of criticism.

• Learning to give feedback that is kind and effective takes time. Find opportunities within your class schedule to practice. Start small (non-verbal or one-word responses, to full-on peer evaluations) and grow from there.

• Show your students that you care, and you may see your feedback come back to you. Check out these memorable moments of feedback that teachers have received. Be sure to have some tissues handy!