Thank goodness for the feedback sandwich! There are three essential parts to helpful feedback for any piece of writing.
1. A compliment. Since students are sensitive about their writing, a commenter should always give a genuine compliment to encourage students in what they are already doing well.
Example: Vivid voice! You have a confident, authoritative sound on the page.
2. One area for improvement. A good piece of feedback doesn’t point out every little mistake, but gives an overall goal to work on for next time. It’s pointless to say something like “Learn about comma splices” instead of looking at what the root of the problem might be.
Example: You’ve written a lot of comma splices and run-ons. Think critically about organization and how you want your ideas and sentences to connect. Consider using transition words or dividing some of the longer sentences.
3. Encouragement. And that’s why it’s a sandwich. Good feedback begins and ends with something nice–the spoonful of sugar, if you will.
Example: Good work thoroughly evaluating this topic.
Multiply this sandwich by seventy, and you’ll get a feel for how my Thursday is going to go.
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