Transcript:

You’re listening to The Parents of Hardworking Teens Podcast, episode 96: The ultimate compliment. Not to me or about me - but from a teacher - to a student. Feedback that was actually initially a criticism and then turned into a bit of a reluctant compliment but - I would consider it the ultimate compliment, the ultimate proof of success and the ultimate in strategic study and performance in assessments. I’ll tell you why - and of course - what it was.

Hey VIP’s! I hope you and your teens are doing fantastic and that this new term is getting off to a great start.

Today I have something a little bit juicy for you that I hope will help you and your teen flip this idea that more is more. Which incidentally is something that I’m continuously working on myself. I’m definitely prone to thinking that I always need to do more, work harder, provide more resources, when I know intellectually that isn’t always the case. That sometimes, less is more. In teaching, in coaching, in content.  And this example that I want to share with you today is definitely a GREAT example - very literally - and is a fantastic example of everything that I share here on the podcast and that I train and coach students on.

So, this episode comes from a consult I had recently with a student who’d just completed the 10WGT and they mentioned something super-cool that happened, that I don’t think they realised was as big a deal as I think is - and I of course told them it is.

I was chatting with this student and their mum on Zoom, as they’d come to the end of the 10 Week Grade Transformation Program and were providing feedback and sharing their experience with me. And as you know, I always like to get into the specifics, the details, the real life stuff and so I was asking about any particular assessments they’d had or examples of tasks or situations where they’d already been able to apply and action some of the skills or concepts they’d learned. 

They’d both already mentioned about an improvement in English, but now we got into the details about a specific assignment they had last term. Now this student had always been pretty good at English. They generally enjoyed it and had in his mum’s words - had a bit of a knack for it. But, also her words - it was all a bit of a scatter approach. Some results were great, others not quite as good.   

So what happened was… they’d been set this imaginative writing assessment. i.e. a narrative or short story. And he - the student - submitted his first draft to one of our Group Coaching Calls. Now, I can’t remember the details of exactly what we covered in terms of feedback and advice in the coaching I gave to them, but what I do know - because I did go and look in my laptop files as I was preparing for this episode - is that all we worked from was his draft and the marking criteria. There wasn’t a task sheet - or at least he didn’t submit one, which was fine, because we could work out what he needed to do and NOT do, from the criteria. 

Of course a short story is a common task - so nothing weird and wonderful.
And based on the feedback I gave to this student on the call, he went away and refined and honed his writing. Now, that was the last I’d heard about this task… until our review call. 

On our call his mum, like I said earlier, mentioned English and his assessments in general: Specifically, he said that he now has a much more direct and focused approach. 

He used to find it hard to stay focused when studying, used to be pretty easily distracted and had a bit of a track record for writing lots about something… but that something wasn’t really what the question was asking. He’d had a History assignment last year that the teacher said was EXCELLENT - but was nothing to do with what was actually asked. 

And one of the things she can see in him already is that he’s now studying and working on assessments in a more direct and focused way - AND she said - maybe even a little bit TOO direct - and concise. Now the being more focused and direct was because - at least in part - because he was much more aligned to the criteria. Unlike last year’s History assessment.  And I would reason that he’s able to be more direct and stay more focused because he’s clearer on what he needs to do and - importantly - HOW to do it. 

Now, the being a little bit TOO concise - well, here’s the best part of the story - that was because the teacher initially returned the draft simply with a comment that it was below the word count. 

Although this was let’s be frank, pretty lazy feedback from the teacher (you can go listen to the previous episode 95 if you’d like your teen to get more useful feedback from their teachers and higher level feedback on their drafts) - although that is not great feedback - him and his mum did also acknowledge that that may well be based on previous submissions which were sometimes incomplete or a case of not really putting enough effort in on his side of things.

But.. here’s the cool part…

The teacher came back to him again a few days later and said - actually, you’ve addressed everything that you need to. (But - can you fluff it out a bit.) I think that last part was his words, rather than the teachers - or at least I hope so.

I LOVED this. 

I absolutely love it when students nail an answer or response or task in a really direct, focused and succinct way.  You might have heard me talk about my most marks, least words challenge that I do with students sometimes.

Now this student did need to then - “Fluff it out a bit” to meet the word count - and that’s fine for an essay or assignment - or in this case an imaginative piece. Though please note - there definitely will be ways to do that that further boost marks or reinforce criteria, rather than literally just add words but stay at the same level. 
But, when it comes to anything under timed conditions, or where a word count is actually pretty tight - and it has you thinking - “Eek - how am I going to cover all that or do all that in that amount of space or words or time” then this is an EXCELLENT skill to have.

It is the opposite of lazy. And in my opinion, it’s the ultimate in smart study. In fact, I’d say that, in my book: hitting every criteria, at the top level within or under the time limit or word count is actually the ultimate in success. I mean going forwards, beyond schooling and assessment, getting your point across effectively, in the most succinct way, is definitely a valuable skill. In a speech, in leadership, in training someone. It’s exactly what you want to be. 

Being able to complete all aspects of a task or project and to the standard expected or beyond, not just within but under the time limit, is kind of a super-power. 

Although this teacher started out with basically a criticism just focused on the word count, I would say that ‘you’re under the word count but you’ve hit every criteria’ is the ultimate compliment. For them it might’ve been a reluctant compliment, but from a strategy and performance point of view, it is the ultimate compliment.

So, the question is, how can your teen start to develop or further develop this skill of being focused and direct? Another good episode to check out if this resonates with you at all is Episode 56 - where I explained exactly how clear is not Basic and why Succinct IS sophisticated.

If your teen has the subject knowledge, what do they need to know, understand and be able to DO in order to make that happen? To be able to hit the top criteria below the word count, or produce top mark answers within the exam time?

Here are a few suggestions to hopefully help:

• Can they break down and dissect the question or task? In other words, can they identify the command word in the question and the level of response it therefore demands? If it says ‘discuss’ or ‘analyse’ do they know exactly what they need to do and include in their writing? And what they don’t need to do. Hint: They don’t need lots of facts or to recount lots and lots of information about the topic.

Which leads us to: 

• Are they clear on the focus of the task or question? When it comes to essays, I always talk about topic and focus. So many students end up writing about the topic, rather than responding to the focus. So, are they writing about, or responding to?
• Are they clear on the assessment criteria? In the case of ‘write an imaginative piece’ there is no actual question or command word level. But there ARE very specific marking criteria and there are ways to approach the task that will enable your teen to meet those more effectively or readily.
• And are they clear about the differences in the levels of those success criteria? What will be classed as appropriate, vs. what will get them up into the effective or discerning levels? And how will they make those come through? What will the marker be specifically looking for in relation to those?

Once they have these things clear, then they’ll be able to write, study or produce in this mum’s words - a focused and direct way. 

Otherwise they may be taking that scattered approach - stabbing around in the dark a little, ending up with inconsistent results, or writing more than they need to, going over time or the word count, because they’re hedging their bets a bit, or unfocused in their response. 

And when they can do this, if they’re in an exam, they’ll actually have time to go back and review, edit and improve their answers. Or, if they’re working on something in class or at home, they can have a bit of time for other things. Other tasks or even, maybe, some free time.

So, to be clear - more words, more info, more writing does not necessarily mean more success, more marks, more criteria hit. In fact, very often we’re aiming for most marks, least words. Or at least I am.

So on that note, let’s wrap this up! I’m sure I could’ve said all of this more succinctly, more directly, but this is what I’ve got for you, I’m afraid. Not too much fluff I hope though :)

Now next week, I’ll have a special update and a special request in relation to the 100th episode of the podcast. So DEFINITELY tune in for that. Until then, have a fantastic week, share this episode, or your favourite episode with one friend or family or school group ready for next week and the following couple of weeks as we get to 100! 

I’ll see you back here next week.