Good Job Does Not Resonate: A Reflection of the Power of Feedback

Before teachers could provide feedback through an array of tech tools like Classroom Dojo, Google Classroom, Nearpod, Quizizz, Flipgrid, or Seesaw, I used pen and paper to write notes to my students. Writing notes allowed me to go in-depth with feedback that I needed to resonate with my students. Once I finished the letter, I would inconspicuously slide it into their things during my planning period. Looking back, I wrote most notes about inconsistent behavior or grades. Since I taught students trapped by the black hole we affectionately call the tween years, I thought of any inconsistency as a mirror into their heart and mind. I learned early on that students could not always express their thoughts; handwritten notes would arrest their desire to address the storms that consumed their minds.

My sixth-grade class was a BRILLIANT group of students who I loved so much that I looped with them from 5th to 6th grade. Having had the students the previous year, the class and I were fully aware of one another. They knew my expectations, looks, procedures, and my humor; I also knew all of those things about each of them. Our class was a close-knit family.

One of the students was a true leader in every sense of the word. Noemi was a quiet young lady with beautiful eyes! She smiled all the time, and though she was…