ABSTRACT
In your first few days in a new school placement, the children may use you principally as a source of information and only occasionally ask your advice about what they are doing. As you gain their trust and respect, they may invite your comments about the quality of their work. These invitations are usually signs that you are being accepted as an insider. On the whole it is better to be quietly approving of children’s efforts and gently encouraging until you have established yourself in the classroom. Children can be surprisingly coy about receiving praise or suggestions from a stranger. Once this initiation period is over, your feedback should comprise three elements. First, to ascertain what the child thinks; second, to say what you think; third, to suggest the next step. If you need to reprove children or make stern comments about the quality of their work, be sensitive to their status among the rest of the class. This is particularly true when dealing with top juniors, as they will be concerned about the reaction of their peers to your remarks. It is always useful to encourage children to think about their own work and evaluate its merit, though the less able and insecure may abuse this opportunity by making casual remarks or distorted claims about its quality. In such cases, it is worth following up by asking the children concerned to give reasons for their comments and not allowing them to get away with a dismissive ‘because it is’ explanation. It is also worth remembering how you feel when getting feedback about your teaching from a teacher or a tutor, so err on the approving side if the child seems to have made a genuine effort.
