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. |
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December 2020
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