Section 2: Providing Feedback

Communicating Feedback

At some point we have all been on the receiving end of feedback. At times, these are powerful learning experiences that shape our professional growth in impactful ways. However, we have all likely had at least one experience in which receiving feedback was a negative experience--one that left us angry, defeated, frustrated, or complacent.

At the heart of providing effective feedback is how that information is conveyed. Communication is the foundation of any positive relationship, and it is important for you to be able to identify your communication style and learn those of others in order to effectively mentor. Communication is important because it is involved in our everyday lives whether through mentoring, collaborating with peers or communicating with our students. In Module 2, you reflected on your attributes as a communicator. Consider those here again as we explore how to provide effective feedback to teacher candidates, on-the-job interns and new teachers.

Providing Effective Feedback

A primary goal of mentor teachers is to provide their candidate with effective feedback that will guide their professional development. The I-C-F (Instructive, Collaborative, Facilitative) framework is one tool that can be used by mentors to help guide coaching and feedback conversations with teacher candidates. In this framework, mentor teachers purposefully engage in one of the three I-C-F stances based on the goals of the feedback conversation. View the graphic and videos below to explore how this framework guides mentoring conversations.

The “Instructive” stance is more direct with the mentor providing explanations to the mentee and options from which the mentee can make choices. The “Collaborative” stance is a more balanced exchange between mentor and mentee with the mentor asking guided questions and the mentee narrowing the focus and determining what’s next. Finally, the “Facilitative” stance shifts the bulk of the work to the mentee. With this stance, the mentor’s primary role is that of listening and posing reflective questions while mentee brainstorms and/or reflects. Mentors/Coaches continually interpret visual and auditory cues to guide which stance (Instructive, Collaborative, or Facilitative) to employ.

The chart below is a great resource for comparing the three stances of the I-C-F Framework and the kinds of questions you might ask and/or moves you might make as the mentor in each.

The I-C-F Framework

The ICF Framework

Explore the ICF Framework using the slide deck to the left. Navigate using the arrows in the bottom left corner, click to view full screen, or click "Google Slides" to open in or save to your Google Drive.

Download the Conversational Arc of Effective Mentoring/Coaching Conversations as a PDF

I-C-F In Action

Watch the three videos below from Teach Oregon. As you watch, consider the following questions:

What stance do you feel most comfortable with?
What considerations might a reflective mentor need to make when engaging in each of these three approaches to mentoring?
Of the three approaches to mentoring, when might you use each of the following with a teacher candidate? A new teacher? An on-the-job intern?
- Instructive
- Collaborative
- Facilitative