Helping Writers Take Flight
Sonia Jolliffe
Teacher Inquiry Project
TE 848
Michigan State University
Sonia Jolliffe
Teacher Inquiry Project
TE 848
Michigan State University
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The View from Here
This project taught me a great deal about working with students as writers. It certainly helped to clarify the findings of my earlier Inquiry Into Assessment project. While the earlier project had focused on the limitations and benefits of a particular form of assessment, this final project examined three forms of assessment from the student's perspective.
I began the project anticipating that students would prefer the student-led conferences with me, their teacher. As an instructor, I had identified student-teacher conferencing to be the most effective method of assessing student writing and providing useful feedback. I had enjoyed the dialogue with my students, and felt that conferencing allowed me to personalize feedback and take into account students' intent as writers. In addition, as an extrovert who processes information best aurally, conferencing suited my personal learning style. I also assumed that some students would enjoy sharing their creative work with peers, while others might shy away from having their peers examine such a personal genre. Finally, as rubrics are less interactive and because, to be honest, I sometimes find completed rubrics abandoned under desks after class, I assumed that students would be least in favor of the use of rubrics in the assessment of their creative work.
The student responses to the Google survey asking about their preferred method of feedback were eye-opening. While some students, like myself, enjoyed the dialogic nature of the student-teacher conferencing, and felt the benefits of leading the conference, others struggled with the pressure placed upon them to lead the discussion of their work. Of the students who identified this form as their favorite, nearly one third stated that they wanted the teacher to lead
the conference.
Results of the Project
What was perhaps most surprising for me was the fact that assessment with rubrics, while it was the least preferred method of assessment, did have its champions among my students. Those students who preferred this method pointed to the fact that they "didn't have to talk to anyone about [their] writing" and the benefit of being able to take the rubric home with them as a reference when completing their revisions.
Moving forward, I plan to continue to adjust my feedback methods in order to find the most effective strategy for helping my student writers "learn to soar" - writing with confidence in a voice unique to themselves. Next semester I plan to begin the unit with a lesson on literary criticism and providing meaningful feedback. My hope is that this will make the peer conferencing even more beneficial. I also hope to use a single rubric to assess each piece in its final draft form, as well as a rubric to assess the students on their portfolio, including their individual growth as writers.
I was correct in my assumption that some students felt uncomfortable with peer feedback, and often saw it as less valuable. However, a number of students did identify this as their favorite method and noted the benefits of getting multiple perspectives on their creative work.