RISE Model Interview

I had the pleasure of chatting with author and educator Matt Johnson about my work with the RISE Model. As a high school English teacher, Matt has seen firsthand the threat that ineffective and inefficient feedback poses to student achievement.

Matt is currently working on a book for Corwin Literacy about how educators respond to student writing, including peer review. He was interested in learning more about the origin of the RISE Model and the decision to align the tool with Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Most people don’t know that the RISE Model developed from a need in my own online classroom.

I was teaching a series of Master’s classes, which allowed me to work with the same group of students over an extended period of time. These were professionals in their own right who were coming back to get a Master’s in Education, Media, Design, and Technology. I was struck by how little interaction there was within our online classroom community. Because I got to know these students over time, they began opening up about their resistance to engaging in meaningful discussions with their peers.

Essentially it came down to fear…

They didn’t know what to say or were worried that they’d hurt someone’s feelings with their critique. As students, they also questioned their own knowledge and the value their feedback would carry.

The RISE Model was designed in response to these points directly - to build a vocabulary around giving and receiving feedback, to develop a culture of permission and participation, and to democratize expertise within the classroom community.

The alignment with Bloom’s was meant for students to tap into deeper, more critical levels of thinking.

It’s low hanging fruit just to compliment or insult someone’s work.

So when you have to back up your critique with a WHY or BECAUSE that’s rooted in the course curriculum, then the feedback has more weight and dimension.

Like I said, feedback is my thing and I appreciated the chance to geek out about it with Matt. We had an easy conversation that illuminated many similarities in our approach as educators and many of the same challenges in our classrooms.