STAR-POST (Music) July 2018 STAR-POST (Music) July 2018 | страница 17

Checking for understanding and
providing feedback
Checking for understanding is about determining the gap
between students’ current understanding and desired learning
outcomes. Providing feedback aims to close this gap between
where the student is where the student should be, in relation to
the lesson objectives.
Teachers should be aware that they reinforce in students, a fixed
mindset or growth mindset (Dweck, 2009) through their feedback.
A fixed mindset assumes that talents and abilities are fixed. A
growth mindset, on the other hand, believes that talents and
abilities could be developed. Hence, a growth mindset will
encourage a passion for learning, active seeking of challenges,
valuing of effort, and resilience to persist in the face of adversity
(p. 175). In fostering a growth mindset in students, the feedback
process should be one of understanding rather than from a judging
standpoint, and teachers need to create an environment where
mistakes are acceptable, and feedback is used to help students
learn from their mistakes.
Here are some suggestions drawn from Deutsch (2017) in
the context of discussing music composition with students,
which might help foster a growth mindset:
• Use a supportive and optimistic tone of voice
• Begin and end with positive comments
• Differentiate between objective and subjective elements.
For example, the phrase ‘you might consider’ could be
used to discuss subjective elements
• Phrase some comments in a form of questions
• Highlight emerging success when addressing problems
17