Feedback

It is important to give feedback to learners soon after each activity. Positive feedback is just as important as negative feedback. However, giving feedback itself is a tricky subject. You need to know the learner well enough to give feedback at a level that they understand. I have heard some brilliant feedback in my time but the person it was given to had no idea what had just been said to them. The other thing to bear in mind is the experience of the learner, if it is their first time ringing plain hunt then being super critical on their striking probably isn’t appropriate, if it is their umpteenth course of bob doubles then criticising the dodges that had been crashed through would be wholly appropriate. The key thing though is for it to be constructive, criticising dropped backstrokes at the leads is one thing, explaining what they have done and how to correct it and why they should is something else, the first just criticises, the second is constructive feedback.

Feedback can also be given during a piece of ringing. However, remember that your band is made up of individuals who will respond to feedback given in different ways. Shouting at someone that they are crashing their handstrokes in may in the short term improve them, but may undermine the confidence of the ringer, some may have no issue with faults being announced across the circle. Others would prefer this information to be given whispered in the ear by someone standing behind them.

Feedback can also be very useful in helping you plan the practice and for the individual. While talking to the learner about the feedback you can explain what you are trying to get them to do, how to do it and why they are trying to do so. It would also be important at that time to discuss with them about what they feel they are doing, how they think it is coming along and what they think they are heading towards. Hopefully, these will be in line with each other and if they are not this can then be aligned. It can also be used to identify any requirement for consolidation exercises.