One thing I’ve struggled with in regards to feedback is having a quick enough turnaround so that students still remember and care about the assignment they turned in. 😅 With so many students, it can be so hard to give feedback to all of them quickly! With this type of reflection lesson, how soon after the original practice is it given? And how do you keep them engaged with that skill when they may have already moved on to others?
Very real problem. I have some quick thoughts in response—but at the end of the day, there is never enough time to do all we need and want to do, and I want to name that first.
1. I try to focus on a priority standard/skill per unit to use this process for OR, as in the case with AP Literature, we focus on ongoing writing rubrics that will be used throughout the year. We are definitely covering many other skills that we don't use for this process! The goal is just to center what matters within your course.
2. As a timeline, typically we do a mid-unit formative assessment practice and then after a couple weeks we have the summative. In the most recent case, that meant Week 3 practice, Week 4 grading/feedback, Week 5 summative. This is a little different with full essays, of course, but you can breakdown skills within those longer tasks into smaller components for a quicker cycle, I've found.
3. This process also shifts my feedback individually as I keep in mind that students will be going through this lesson—which tends to make it easier/quicker on my end in the grading, too, especially as I get used to focusing more on the "collective feedback" portion.
Again, the real solution is much more structured time for grading feedback! But those are just some quick thoughts on what has helped for me. (Also—totally okay to say no, but would you be okay if I shared your question via Twitter/etc.?)
I’ve been doing this reflection practice for 4 writing assignments. I’d been giving feedback and then they had a chance to make changes to their essays before submitting for a grade. The last full-class feedback was ineffective for most students. I gave a lot of feedback, not focused on one skill but instead one skill and a lot of grammar that we’ve been working on and they’re still missing. Do you think I should focus on just a skill or just grammar or keep it with both and just trust the process to work eventually? (It doesn’t “work” because they won’t make changes unless I’ve flagged them in their individual writing which gets exhausting since I have them write a rough draft and final every 7-10 days.)
Really appreciate this question! And I will say that I feel like grammar/conventions is one thing that this system might not address as well. (And reading my latest digital "stack" of essays, I'm reflecting like you on how I might have to shift to address that.)
My two initial thoughts moving into our second unit as a response to this? (1) a tape-in resource for their spiral addressing the grammar/MLA issues along with model sentences to use as exemplars and (2) a step-by-step revision checklist before they submit next time specifically for conventions.
But as you note, this is a particularly challenging skill to address—and very well might not fit as well into this post's sequence. Appreciate you pointing that out!
One thing I’ve struggled with in regards to feedback is having a quick enough turnaround so that students still remember and care about the assignment they turned in. 😅 With so many students, it can be so hard to give feedback to all of them quickly! With this type of reflection lesson, how soon after the original practice is it given? And how do you keep them engaged with that skill when they may have already moved on to others?
Very real problem. I have some quick thoughts in response—but at the end of the day, there is never enough time to do all we need and want to do, and I want to name that first.
1. I try to focus on a priority standard/skill per unit to use this process for OR, as in the case with AP Literature, we focus on ongoing writing rubrics that will be used throughout the year. We are definitely covering many other skills that we don't use for this process! The goal is just to center what matters within your course.
2. As a timeline, typically we do a mid-unit formative assessment practice and then after a couple weeks we have the summative. In the most recent case, that meant Week 3 practice, Week 4 grading/feedback, Week 5 summative. This is a little different with full essays, of course, but you can breakdown skills within those longer tasks into smaller components for a quicker cycle, I've found.
3. This process also shifts my feedback individually as I keep in mind that students will be going through this lesson—which tends to make it easier/quicker on my end in the grading, too, especially as I get used to focusing more on the "collective feedback" portion.
Again, the real solution is much more structured time for grading feedback! But those are just some quick thoughts on what has helped for me. (Also—totally okay to say no, but would you be okay if I shared your question via Twitter/etc.?)
Thank you! And yes! Feel free to share wherever!
I’ve been doing this reflection practice for 4 writing assignments. I’d been giving feedback and then they had a chance to make changes to their essays before submitting for a grade. The last full-class feedback was ineffective for most students. I gave a lot of feedback, not focused on one skill but instead one skill and a lot of grammar that we’ve been working on and they’re still missing. Do you think I should focus on just a skill or just grammar or keep it with both and just trust the process to work eventually? (It doesn’t “work” because they won’t make changes unless I’ve flagged them in their individual writing which gets exhausting since I have them write a rough draft and final every 7-10 days.)
Really appreciate this question! And I will say that I feel like grammar/conventions is one thing that this system might not address as well. (And reading my latest digital "stack" of essays, I'm reflecting like you on how I might have to shift to address that.)
My two initial thoughts moving into our second unit as a response to this? (1) a tape-in resource for their spiral addressing the grammar/MLA issues along with model sentences to use as exemplars and (2) a step-by-step revision checklist before they submit next time specifically for conventions.
But as you note, this is a particularly challenging skill to address—and very well might not fit as well into this post's sequence. Appreciate you pointing that out!