Comment on the decision, not the answer
"Why did you pick this method?" teaches more than any mark in the margin.
Jul 21, 2026 · 1 min read
Most margin comments describe the answer: right, wrong, unclear, good. The comments that change future work address the decision behind the answer: the method chosen, the evidence selected, the order attempted. Decisions are what the student controls next time. The feedback research says the same thing: feedback aimed at the process of the work transfers to future tasks far better than feedback aimed only at the task itself (Hattie & Timperley, 2007).
In practice
- Swap "wrong" for "what made you choose this method here?", written as a question the student must answer, not a rhetorical one.
- Praise decisions too: "Choosing to test with easy numbers first: keep that." Praised strategies get reused; praised answers don't generalise.
- One decision-comment per piece beats five answer-comments. Pick the decision that most shaped the outcome.
- This is also AI-proof feedback: a generated artefact contains no decisions, which becomes obvious the moment you ask about one.
Quick takeaway: answers end with the task. Decisions carry into the next one.