Improving Quality of Peer Feedback with TAG Feedback

I previously blogged about using Google Forms for peer feedback, and briefly mentioned TAG Feedback. I am excited to share an entire post dedicated to my favorite peer feedback strategy.

Early on in my teaching career, I had my students do a project that included a peer feedback component. After getting students into pairs, I instructed them to give each other feedback on the assignment, then sent them outside to spread out to work. Are you surprised to hear it didn’t work? Students were confused or left comments like “good job,” “I like it”, and “bruh” (no joke!). I very quickly realized I needed to provide some structure to the feedback process.

Thanks to Google, I found several examples of TAG feedback. I am not sure where this idea originated (if anyone knows, let me know and I’ll link the creator!); it has been one of my frequently used tools in my classroom. Whenever I need my students to provide each other feedback, I pull up the TAG Feedback (bit.ly/TAGfeedback for easy access during class!) slide.

And, a huge shoutout to my friends Hildur (Icelandic), Dominique (Spanish), Aubrey & her grandma (Chinese), friends of Hildur (Russian), and Hildur & family/friends (German) for creating the translations!!

TAG Feedback process

First, students tell their peers what they liked about the work. This is usually the easiest part of the feedback cycle.

Then, students ask a thoughtful question. This takes a bit of modeling, especially for my 7th graders.

Last, students give a positive suggestion to improve the work. Often during feedback, my students write that there is nothing that needs to be changed. The TAG Feedback sentence frames help to guide students for how they can provide constructive suggestions.

TAG Feedback ideas

Try TAG Feedback in the following ways:

• Comments in a Google Doc or Google Slides presentation
• Oral feedback in pairs or small groups
• Class/peer feedback using Google Forms
• Gallery walk with mini sticky notes or pieces of paper
• Virtual gallery walk on Padlet (enable comments on posts)

Not only have I found TAG Feedback useful for my students, but also I use it myself when I am providing feedback to my peers. I use the sentence frames to help me leave better feedback!

Do you speak a language not represented in the TAG Feedback slides? Email Mari to contribute.