Some Reminders for Feedback Sessions

1. Take into account the needs of your teacher candidates learner

• Particularly toward the beginning of the semester, share only the amount of information your teacher candidate can use (rather than all the information you wish to send)
• Praise

2. Share information and explore alternatives

• Share information on student and teacher behaviors
• Share evidence from your observation notes
• Ask, for example, about alternative strategies for communicating directions and why Strategy A was selected over all the others
• But be specific if you want your teacher candidate to do something in a certain way

3. Use a variety of kinds of questions in this discussion

• Ask questions that help your teacher candidate understand himself/herself as a learner
• Work to create a climate in which feedback is solicited rather than imposed

4. Be sure that you and your teacher candidate have really understood each other 

• Paraphrase each other's ideas
• End each session with a short Action Plan or List of Goals, to be accomplished before the next observation
• Focus on no more than three things to attend to or improve