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You know who you are. Sioux Falls Lincoln 11.5.19 Sioux Falls Roosevelt 11.12.19 If you want to be a teacher, prepare to let your heart break. Prepare to cry with your student who has been called despicable names. Prepare to sit with your student who feels the pain of rejection from adults. Prepare to refer your student to a counselor. Prepare to refer yourself to a counselor. Prepare to watch your student leave school in handcuffs. Prepare to pray that your hospitalized student will live. Prepare to respond because your student's loved one died. Prepare to hug your student's mom because your student died. If you want to be a teacher, prepare to let your heart break and then realize there's still no other place you'd rather to be. Photo by  Aliyah Jamous  on  Unsplash Gina Benz teaches AP students, EL students, and future teachers at Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls, SD, where she began her career as an English teacher 19 years ago.

Remember the playground game 4 Square? One large square is divided into quadrants with one player in each as participants bounce a ball between each other. Some quadrants receive the ball more than others, but each usually receives the ball at some point. Likewise, classroom feedback should bounce between the quadrants of what I call 4-Square Feedback. 1. Teacher-to-Student Square one is the most common form of feedback, teacher to student. This feedback must be specific and growth oriented, as well as balanced between what is going well and what needs work. Written comments, a note to the student, and face-to-face discussions work best and set up the teacher as mentor, rather than judge. Grades in the form of letters or numbers are not effective feedback. In fact, education expert Alfie Kohn and other researchers including Anastaysia A Lipnevich and Jeffrey K. Smith claim letters and numbers do more harm than good. For example, “study after study has found that students