Visiting an 11th/12th grade Fine Arts elective class last week, on the first day of the second trimester, I listened to the teacher, James French, describe the coming term’s work. This is a class in which our juniors and seniors are allowed to choose from a wide variety of materials and media as they work on independent projects. Some of the students have been taking fine arts classes fairly steadily. Other have not been in the art room since they were required to take the class in ninth grade. James spent a fair amount of time discussing his expectations, with a real focus on the students being open to feedback, both from the teacher and, maybe more importantly, from their peers.
Feedback from peers is something that we see a good deal of in classrooms, involving students of all ages. Starting with four year olds sharing architectural tips that will ensure that block buildings stand up and continuing through all 14 years until we hear seniors critiquing classmates’ Senior Projects, as part of our capstone experience. Peer editing, projects that require multiple iterations stemming from feedback among group-mates, daily responses to strategies used to solve math problems are but a few of the ways in which our students carefully and honestly give and receive feedback and develop the skills of being productive critics. We even see this in PE, when seventh graders teach classmates original games; there is a moment when the inventors receive ideas that will make the game better, more challenging, more fun. Offering honest, constructive feedback is hard to do and worth practicing. Receiving it is hard as well and is certainly a skill worth developing.
Learning from colleagues extends to the adults. Principals receive feedback from the teachers. The annual director’s survey involves input from hundreds of community members. As part of LREI’s formal observation /evaluation process, the teachers get feedback from their colleagues on a specific schedule and this feedback plays an important role in a teacher’s development in the school and profession. These conversations, among colleagues, about peers and friends, are among the most challenging and honest, yet caring and supportive, conversations I have each year and I learn so much about what it means to be a good colleague and community member.
This brings us back to James French’s art class. I was visiting James’ class as part of our observation process. I will, within the week, join a group of James’ colleagues to discuss his work, just as he is teaching his classmates to do. I hope and trust that we, the adults, will be as skilled at this task as James’ students are.