Arrival · retrieve

Feedback is data, not instructions

Unit 1 assesses what you did with feedback, not how much of it you received.

You are not required to act on all of it. You are required to decide about all of it.

A rejected suggestion with a reason scores as well as an accepted one.

A suggestion nobody responded to scores nothing, because it went nowhere.

So today every piece of feedback ends in a decision, written down.

You need your piece, the feedback sheet, and a pen a different colour from the one you drew with.

Bring the piece you have, not the piece you meant to have. Feedback on an unfinished thing is still feedback.

Nobody is marked on the state of the work today. The record of the decision is what is assessed.

Starter · create the need

Two comments on the same drawing

Comment A: it needs more work.

Comment B: the left edge is darker than the right, and the light in the photograph comes from the left.

A tells you somebody is not satisfied. It does not tell you what to do.

B names a place, describes what is there, and gives the reason it matters.

You can act on B tonight. You cannot act on A at all.

So the feedback form asks for a place, a description and a reason, in that order.

• 1 · name the place.
• 2 · say what is there.
• 3 · say why it matters.
• 4 · decide, and write the decision.

Read comment A again and try to write down what you would do tomorrow because of it.

You cannot, and that is the whole reason the form has three parts.

I Do · model

Taking feedback without defending

I put my piece down and say nothing about it. No explaining, no apologising.

The first person names the place, describes it, gives a reason. I write it down.

I do not answer. Answering turns feedback into an argument and stops the second comment.

The second person does the same, and I write that down too.

Only now do I decide. One I will act on, one I will not.

The one I reject gets a reason: the shadow is wrong for the photograph, but right for the piece I am making.

That reason is the assessed sentence, not the change I made.

Notice I write while they are still speaking. Waiting until they finish loses the wording.

We Do · everyone commits

Sort the comments: usable or not?

Six comment cards are on your table. Sort them into usable and not usable.

Then match each usable one to the part of the form it fills: place, description, or reason.

Two comments name a place but give no reason. Put those in their own pile.

When your table is done, hold up the one you would most want to receive.

Hold one up even if your table disagreed with you.

One card is praise with no place named. Decide which pile it belongs in and be ready to defend it.

I Do 2 · connect

Two people, not one

One person's feedback is one person's taste. Two people's feedback is where you start to see a pattern.

If both name the same place, that place is worth your time.

If they name different places, you have a choice to make and a reason to give.

If they disagree with each other, that is the most useful result of all.

Do not average them. Averaging two opinions produces a piece nobody wanted.

Pick one, act on it, and say why you picked that one.

Write both comments before you decide anything. Deciding as you go turns the second into an afterthought.

We Do 2 · lab

Give it in the right shape

Work in twos. Give your partner one comment, using the three parts in order.

Place, then what is there, then why it matters.

Your partner writes it down and says nothing back.

If you cannot give the reason, say so; a comment with two parts is still better than none.

Then swap over and receive one yourself, in silence.

Give the comment you would want to receive, not the one that is easiest to say.

Independent · evidence

One change, and one reasoned refusal

Work on your own. Read the two comments on your sheet.

Choose one to act on and make that change now, in the different-coloured pen.

The colour matters: an assessor can see what was there before and what you added.

Then take one comment you are NOT acting on and write the reason.

If you finish early, write one line saying what you would ask for feedback on next time.

• Supported · one comment received and one change made, with the reason said aloud.
• Standard · two comments received, one change made in colour, one reasoned refusal written.
• Stretch · as Standard, and name what you would ask for feedback on next time.

Date the change as well as colouring it, so the order of events is on the page.

If you act on both comments, still write a refusal reason for the part of one you left.

Exit · Audience and Influence

Read the refusal to an adult

Read the comment you did not act on, and your reason, to the adult at your table.

They read both back exactly and say whether the reason answers the comment.

If it does not, add one sentence rather than changing your mind.

Then choose what happens next: keep the change, undo it, or ask for a third comment.

Write the choice on the sheet with today's date before you leave.

The feedback sheet is clipped to the piece and both go in the Silver folder.