Coach-Quality Feedback

One way to provide feedback is to “sandwich” constructive feedback between a compliment and encouragement. The process looks like this: compliment – coach – encourage.

Compliment

Focus on the educator’s strengths to affirm and acknowledge what they did well. Identify a significant behavior that is related to the constructive feedback you will provide next.

For example: “You asked several thought-provoking, open-ended questions in your lesson.”

Here are some other phrases you might use to frame a compliment:

• “You really got it when ____”
• “I liked the way you ____”
• “It was excellent to see ____”

Coach

Present a direct and specific piece of constructive feedback grounded in data and observations.

For example:

“I noticed times when you seemed uncomfortable when the children didn’t respond to a question as you anticipated, so you quickly gave them cues to come up with the expected answer. Remember your goal is to encourage students to generate multiple solutions to a question or problem, so they need opportunities to practice this skill.”

You can also prompt participants to reflect on their own practice by posing a question or wondering statement about what might have happened given a different scenario.

For example:

• “What would happen if you provided more wait time after asking each question?”
• “I wonder what students would come up with if you followed their lead instead of redirecting them so quickly.”

Encourage

Offer reassurance and support. Your attitude should inspire the educator to continue striving toward improved implementation of the identified practice.

For example:

“It’s wonderful to see you use more open-ended questions. You will certainly start seeing improvement in children’s ability to reason and problem solve. Keep up the good work!”

summary

Using the compliment-coach-encourage process should leave the educator feeling that there was a solid foundation (your compliment), there are ways to improve that foundation (your constructive feedback), and that combining those will produce improved results (your encouragement).