Are You Good At Giving Feedback? An Exercise in Clapping
by Nancy Darling

My brother teaches middle school social studies, a job that requires him to give lots and lots of feedback. Some of it is called grading. A big part of his job is to teach kids to do a careful analysis, then present good, clear arguments that are well bolstered with facts. One of the hardest parts of his job is helping students to understand how to master this craft when every essay they write has slightly different demands and requirements.

Parents often spend a lot of time doing the same thing, although the behaviors we are looking for aren’t always as clear cut as the rubric for grading a persuasive essay. In her work on parenting style, Baumrind found that all parents had fairly clear ideas about how they want their children to behave, although they differ in how they help their children get there. Even if parents can’t always articulate them clearly, they can always tell that when their expectations have been violated. It’s when they get annoyed.

At work, supervisors do the same thing, judging employees’ performance based on how well it matches up to their internal sense of how the job should be done.

All of us – teachers, parents, and supervisors – are constantly passing judgments and providing feedback so that those we’re working with will perform better over time.

My brother shared this exercise with me. I think it does a good job of demonstrating what kind of feedback is most helpful and it’s one I often do in class. But it requires a little imagination.

The Clapping Contest: An Exercise for the Imagination

Imagine you are taking part in a clapping contest. I know it’s an odd thing to do, but just imagine it…..

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Are You Good At Giving Feedback? An Exercise in Clapping

Source: www.psychologytoday.com