Flash Feedback is a must-have book for every educator in both the elementary and secondary panels. Author Matthew Johnson clearly lays out a number of time-saving principles that will push educators to rethink how they assess writing, provide feedback to students and determine the processes and activities that will promote engagement. The book includes detailed examples that teachers can apply or adapt for their classrooms.

Within the first few pages, Johnson challenges readers to rethink the purpose of marking and providing feedback for student work. I particularly liked that he pointed out the importance of having students practise without the watchful eye of their teacher.

As educators, we place an expectation on ourselves to mark everything that a student completes. In order to stop this cycle, which can leave a student feeling defeated, the author shares practical strategies that can help teachers rethink the frequency and length of tasks assigned to students, ideas for ways that students can practise writing, and details how providing only strategic feedback can increase the quality of student writing.

Though I have not applied every strategy suggested in this book with my Junior classroom, the ones I have implemented and made part of my programming have increased the quality of work submitted by students, ensured that I am well-informed about what students are writing throughout the writing the process, made conferencing with students more productive, and boosted the creativity infused into the texts students compose.

“Teach the writer, not the writing,” Johnson advises. This idea captures the essence in the shift he is proposing. The book is truly about attending to the whole learner by using a variety of strategies and processes to create optimal conditions for a student to develop their voice, take risks and express themselves through texts.

Tammy Sikakane is a member of the York Region Teacher Local.