Chapter 1: Leadership Lesson 3: Using Feedback with Learners
Unit 4: LET 4 – The Managing Leader 1
Exercise #1 – Rate the Feedback
Directions: Read each of the scenarios below. Is the feedback appropriate? Can it be improved?
Be ready to explain your answer.
1. You are a team leader who likes to have Cadets work in pairs. One day Cadet Richards
comes to you and complains about working with Cadet Simmons. He says Simmons slacks
off all the time. Richards says he’s tired of doing most of the work and wants to be paired with
someone other than Simmons. You think about what he has said and decide to approach
both Cadets the next time they are together.
Feedback: “How’s it going, you two? I’m asking because Richards says he’s doing most
of the work. Simmons, is it true that you are a slacker? I’m thinking about assigning each
of you a different partner to work with.”
2. A member of your team, Ted, has poor hygiene. Several team members have complained
that they don’t want to work with him because of his body odor.
Feedback: “Hey Ted, just curious – when is the last time you took a shower? You know,
you might have more friends if you didn’t stink so much.”
3. You are helping a student with math homework. You notice that the student repeatedly
makes errors with negative exponents – a topic that he should have learned last year.
Feedback: “You seem to understand how to solve these equations, but you are not
always getting the correct answer. It looks like you are having problems with exponents.
Would it help if we reviewed the rules for working with negative exponents?”
4. Your younger brother has an overnight scout camping trip. You notice he hasn’t packed
everything on his list.
Feedback: “You didn’t read your list. You missed the water bottle and flashlight. You
should also bring rain gear and an extra pair of shoes because it’s going to rain. When I
go camping I always bring books and games too, because you never know if you are
going to get bored with what other people are doing.”
