It’s really not. It’s a mirage that represents 2/3 of a yearlong fraction. But we are making progress. And I feel different in some way. Battle tested. Scarred. The Man in the Arena comes to mind; Teddy Roosevelt would be proud. We are a little tired right now. Do you think the popular shoe store in the mall would be called the Finnish Line in Finland? See, that’s proof we are a little weary. I am permitting a dad joke in this blog. Onward... I also feel like I accomplished something real. Looking at my paper... it holds up. Sure I need to look at it again for APA compliance. That is my last frontier. But I have legitimately busted my tail on it. It’s honest work. And I spent way more time on it than the minimum requirement for class hours, I promise that. We paid our dues in this program thus far. And I do think a contribution to the academic community is there. Yeah it’s small. But it’s there. It fits in nicely with what we think we know about feedback and it takes the idea into a small, relatively unstudied area. And it’s during COVID. I learned that students are more interested in where they are going than where they are at. I learned they truly want to improve. They want a voice in their education. And why shouldn’t they? It makes complete sense. And I learned we often do not permit them a voice in meaningful ways. I also learned that feedback *can be* as powerful from a peer as from a student. And by proxy, I have gathered that we as educators can be FAR more mindful of our work/life balance AND be as effective IF NOT MORESO for our kids. This is a huge takeaway. We can work smarter as we work hard. I’m really interested in this. I want to help teachers save themselves from burning out. And I want to help students have voice and academic agility in their own development. I am pretty sure I will continue to research and I may look to present someday in front of young teachers that want to save the world but misguidedly feel they have to give up their home life in exchange. And I might share my work with my English department, who work so hard that they even have special rolling cases that carry essays home for them... so they can spend all weekend commenting on them. It’s heartbreaking, especially when we know students don’t require it to grow. Additionally, I think I want to explore how whole-class feedback loops might work in the classroom. That would further what I have started by adding credibility to another critical feedback tool. Edit: So I just looked up Finnish Line. You’ll love this, from Urban Dictionary: “The Finnish Line marks the point at which all the alcohol in a household has been drunk and everyone is smashed.” And there you have it folks. You can’t make this stuff up (mic drop).
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Perhaps it’s the tryptophan talking, but it was nice getting away from Weebly for a week. We— the fam— went to Arizona for a bit and I was able to put together a good chunk of the research paper. I also discovered what javelenas are. Did you know that a pack of javelena is called a squadron? How cool is that?? My parents have a home right on the edge of the desert. During the day, the desert appears calm. Then the sun goes down... And like a stampede, coyote, javelena, and god-knows-what emerge from the desert and ravage the neighborhood. They feed and feast on one another. It’s absolute chaos. It’s frightening. I love it (except for the snakes. Thats a NO from me, dawg). Their beautiful home and location in AZ is like some Animal Planet version of I Am Legend or The Walking Dead. I’d wondered why nobody walks the neighborhood at night like they do around Napa. I am also guessing if you are a real estate agent you wouldn’t show property there when the sun goes down. Arizona is always a blast. Okay, I’m here for a reason. Let’s talk research: I wanted to know what feedback loops work best for kids. And boy, were they honest. Turns out they don’t like the feedback loop style where the rubric acts as info. Now, before you tell me that’s obvious, the AP rubric is different. It’s vast. It’s full of information and the grading of a paper on that rubric does in fact hold a ton of feedback. I am a member of several AP groups and many teachers use the rubric as a primary form of feedback (they also have writing conferences every so often. I used to as well, when we had normal school. Those were the days.). What students DO like is when they get a chance to help determine the criterion for what peer feedback loops look like, and they DO like when they are given free reign to find areas to provide helpful feedback for their peers. It turns out kids like a little bit of voice and agency in their feedback and in their learning. Who knew? Well, I think I knew. And I think it confirms that kids are more interested in improving for the sake of improvement than for the sake of a test. I respect that. My goal in this whole thing is to use methods of peer feedback in my classroom that *actually* benefit my students. And in my experience there are a few ways that teachers use peer feedback in the classroom. As a reminder, I chose three common feedback loops to, well, get student feedback on. What’s working for them? That’s what I want to know.
Of interest: Hattie says that students need more opportunities to succeed than they do more instruction. Think about that. More doing. They need more time creating and trying. We need to get off the stage a bit and provide those opportunities. And this only serves to enhance to concept that feedback is needed. If we are generating more material, we will need to use peer feedback loops to keep up with this work flow and provide timely feedback. This links back to my *why* behind my research. More work requires more feedback. Okay, given that reality... let’s push forward into what I chose to do. I am using three Google Forms. Each form will ask for a level of satisfaction (numerical) and a paragraph explaining the thinking. I wanted this “mixed method” format because it will allow both qualitative and quantitative data. There should be a good amount of data to analyze— and I should get what I need. As a side note, I think my class likes hearing about what I am doing with my research and my own education. I don’t talk much about it, but I think they find it fascinating. And I think they appreciate that the way in which I am getting my data, which is allowing them to partner with me this work. They also know the research is done for them, that I genuinely want to be able to better serve them with intentionality when we do peer feedback loops. I have always held the belief that you need to be 15 minutes early to wherever you go. And I have a similar mindset when it comes to completing work. Get it done early!
Well— this week I am again a bit behind. I have started the work to get to my research with my students. That first and second round may be completed by Thursday. Having said that, I am needing time with my IRB. One thing about me: I try and own my mistakes and shortcomings. I will catch up. What’s on my mind this week: we start hybrid learning next week. I am on “Project Hybrid” for my school. This is incredibly time consuming. And as dept chair we have numerous issue percolating and needing attention before they explode. I have a number of students that need their letters of rec completed this week or next. Each takes about an hour. And of course we are now told that tomorrow night is Sports Night so yours truly gets to take a couple hours and speak on Zoom about baseball for my school. I’d love to talk about baseball— but the truth is there isn’t much to say to parents about it right now and we continue to navigate a pandemic. Dr Fauci, perhaps, should run that meeting because its all about when we can get back on the field. I also think I teach classes somewhere in there?? But I did have students wish me a happy birthday, with joy on their faces. I had a few student-parents hook me up with wine (with joy on MY face). And I think I am doing a damn fine job leading my department right now. It’ll all work out. We are making progress.
In my research I am finding that there is a similar impact on student writing improvements when writers get feedback from their teacher or following peer feedback. That. Is. Significant. This was was from Bart Huisman’s synthesis of 24 qualitative studies on the effectiveness of peer feedback. It turns out— logically I might add— that the nature of the peer feedback matters. Okay... now we are getting somewhere. That has to be where I focus. Another thing: anonymous peer feedback has a lower level of effectiveness. It turns out students want to know *who* their peer reviewer is before they decide how much stock to put into their feedback. Interesting. But, that’s a rabbit-hole for another day. Hattie has to be part of what I do. He measured the effect size overall of feedback. I know he’s a major player in this. But to this point I am starting to feel like a solution to my problem of looking for ways to help get feedback for students exists. I think peer feedback can be the answer. I need to now evaluate what common systems of peer feedback are most effective. To this point in my career, I have used: 1) A system where students get familiar with the rubric. There are three different aspects to it. The rubric itself has info that *could* be construed as feedback. When students use the rubric with one another, that gives writers a sense of where they are at. We look at thesis statements, developments of “line of reasoning” of thinking, and level of sophistication. 2) Students and teachers work together to generate a list of specific aspects of a paper to look at and evaluate. These tend to seem effective because the relationship of teacher/student come together with buy in and specificity. Often, five items are focal points for peers to look and and comment on. 3) The compliment sandwich. Fine one strength, one area to work on, and a positive overall focal point where the writer is excelling but can push further. This is open-ended. My hypothesis is that the second method is best with peer feedback. I would like to do these three rounds of research and get info from my students as to what they found most effective. As English teachers we use ALL of these. I would like to know where our time is best spent when we do this. Onward! This will be a simple blog post— sorry to disappoint my fans (all two of you). Here is my game plan after meeting about my topic and thinking about it: I need to pare it back just a bit. One comment that stuck out about my desire to tackle various types of feedback and their effectiveness was, “that’s more of a doctoral-level project. What can be done in a couple of weeks?” And I think that’s really resonating with me right now. Hattie and McDowell both have said that peer feedback can be unhelpful. However, I want to focus there. Is that *all* peer feedback (it wouldn’t seem so by the wording)? How do advanced students affect that statement? Would it be possible for AP kids to provide meaningful feedback if trained? What might that training look like? In my experience, students that can look at peer work and give helpful commentary tend to have increased awareness on their own essays. And if that is the case— if in fact there is a heightened awareness that translates to increased ability on one’s own essays— perhaps there is a way to work smarter (for kids and teachers hers) with this particular level of student and get equal or better outcomes. And at this moment in time, that’s what I plan to explore.
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