Give better student feedback with TeacherMade

Do you have stacks of paper left to grade on your desk? It’s overwhelming to tackle, and grading is exhausting. It can be disheartening because you know that it is one of the best ways to give your students feedback. Regain your time with TeacherMade’s auto-grading function so you can give students more of what they need: better feedback and instruction.

What is effective student feedback?

Effective feedback has a huge effect on the classroom. It creates a community that has more active involvement and students become more intrinsically motivated over time. Here are the main components of effective student feedback:

- Effective feedback meets students where they are by understanding interest and skill level.
- Effective feedback targets things that students can control such as effort, choices, and understanding. They do not address things like the difficulty of the task, luck, or intelligence.
- Effective feedback taps into growth over time so students can recognize their own progress and your recognition of their progress.

How do you make feedback in your classroom effective?

Move beyond the typical “good luck,” and raise your feedback to the gold start standard. Here are some tips to get your feedback to the effective stage:

- Be timely. Feedback on graded work isn’t timely if it comes a week or two after the assignment or assessment has been completed. Try supplementing some (or all!) of your assignments with a self-grading tool like TeacherMade.
- Give your full attention to feedback when you give it. In the moment make sure it’s just you and the student. In-person that looks like eye contact and undivided attention. On assignments that looks like thoughtful and legible comments.
- Use precise language. Avoid confusing labels like “good” or “bad.” Instead, describe exactly what you are seeing or not seeing from the student.
- All feedback experiences should be positive even when all feedback isn’t positive. Make sure all feedback is framed as a piece of sincere growth advice. Make sure your students know that you are rooting for their win.
- Feedback is a two-way conversation. It’s not a lecture. Allow students to respond and ask questions. Help them come up with the next steps. You also have to allow them the space to refuse the feedback.
- Feedback should be small and frequent. Don’t overload your students. Focus on one thing at a time. Tackle other issues in the next assignment or discussion.

How do you make feedback effective online?

Giving timely, actionable feedback to each student is one of the best ways to raise student achievement. Give better feedback faster using TeacherMade.

In TeacherMade, you can give your students comments on their submissions, freehand draw on their work, add fun stickers, and so much more. Let’s dive into TeacherMade’s Review Submissions screen.

Go to Assignments Page and View Responses

Simply click ‘View Responses’ on your Assignments page, and the ‘Review Submissions’ screen will appear. This is where you can have the greatest impact on your students’ achievement– by giving timely constructive feedback, coaching, detailed explanations, and of course– stickers!!

Use Stickers to Motivate

Stickers may seem like a simple addition, but they can be a way to add big personalization and connection to feedback. It’s simple to add this reward in TeacherMade.

Use the Draw Tool to Mark-Up and Explain

The Draw tool is a powerful way to write on student assignments, just like you would with pen and paper. Give contextual feedback, draw diagrams, and help your students see what they need to work on.

You can also change the size of the draw line by clicking on the ‘Draw Size’ icon:

Choose ‘Comment’ to Provide Typed Feedback

Use this feature to offer immediate feedback to your students. Students can correct their mistakes, and ask for help before they fall too far behind. It will be visible to them whenever the student accesses the returned assignment.

1. Click on the ‘Comment’ button.
2. A box will appear.
3. Type in the box.
4. When you are done, click on the ‘Comment’ button again, and it will minimize the box.
5. When you click on ‘Return to Student,’ they will be able to view your comment.

While reviewing a student’s submission, you can now add text boxes visible only to that student. It’s a great tool to provide personalized feedback:

Print assignments for students, parent meetings, and more

Print your TeacherMade assignments to send home for a Parent Signature, or to put in your students’ portfolios.

1. Click on the ‘Print’ button.
2. Your print screen will appear.

1. Click on ‘More Settings.’
2. Scroll until you see ‘Background Graphics.’
3. Make sure that ‘Background Graphics’ is checked.
4. Then click ‘Print.’