Monday, November 26, 2007
What I will do next....
Today in class I typed up 4 pages of my paper. I had them pre-written before I got here so I knew what direction I was going in and would not have to waste time finding quotes etc. I am in the second section of my paper which is "Student Reactions to Teacher Commentary" I just started it and will still have to finish it by adding quotes and incorporating my questionnaire answers I did with my peers into it. Also, as the process goes on I find myself still changing and adding in how many sections I will separate my paper into. I am unsure what I will do and it is still something I have to think about. I plan on working more on my paper this week, considering it is due on Friday!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Exploratory Draft
Commentary that is Effective
Feedback by teachers should encourage students to become better writers. My research has shown students usually only scan the feedback looking for a quick path to a better grade. Responsibility falls on the teacher to modify their comments or feedback to promote an improvement in the writing of their students.
The main research question that guided my research was: What types of commentary enhances revision on students’ papers? This research question led me to different insights on the topic with the sources I found. I have found ways to make my argument stronger with sources that vary from the past to present. The results are all cohesive and my personal surveys from my peers have also strengthened the point I am trying to make. After doing my research I now, want to separate my Inquiry paper into 4 subtopics/categories: what teachers have been doing, what students reactions are to their forms of feedback and what they prefer, the progression in time there has been, if any and I will close with a list of time efficient strategies that other educators have used that are proven to work. My articles all touched on each topic in some way shape or form, I will use them to respond to my main subject heading and show the different insights they give.
What teachers have been doing? Teacher commentary has not been effective for students according to my results. The comments are too vague, contradictory or they are appearance comments. These comments do not help the student understand what they did wrong. In my paper I will use some examples of these types of commentary. I will show that none of these focus on the form, style, or content of the paper but instead give the student the impression that writing is about rules. These types of commentary often leave the reader confused on what is of higher importance to understand for next time and what they should do to improve. Contradictory comments are a popular case among student papers, a teacher will put ‘omit’ in the text but on the margin write ‘expand’. These types of comments often leave the student wondering which they should do for the reader to understand their paper. But most times they wonder which they have to do for the teacher to like and give them a better grade. Students’ reactions to teacher commentary are most times like this, confused or changing the paper just for a better grade.
The area that depicts the students’ responses I think will be the most interesting due to the fact that I surveyed my peers. Their responses all corresponded with the negative aspects of the studies I found. Students believe that their teachers sometimes did not read the paper because their commentary does not coincide with what they were saying. They also believe that teachers write comments that are too vague and leave them left to wonder how to fix the problem. Or often times, what the problem is. The word ‘vague’ will be written in the margin, but what part exactly is too vague? However, articles that I have found from present times have said that students have grown a positive response toward teacher feedback. They say that teacher commentary helps them understand their mistakes and how to improve for next time. Due to the contradicting views I believe that this part will enhance my argument in the way that some educators are improving however, others are still leaving their students to modify the paper for the grade. That will lead me into my progression of change over time with teacher feedback.
I will show here what present studies have concluded about where teacher feedback is now and the students’ opinions on that. Many are positive and so I believe that will be encouragement to the reader to know that it is possible to create better student writers. I would hope this will flow nicely into my conclusion that will depict the methods I have found that increase students’ motivation to write and make sure they pay attention to the comments and use them for a later use. Some methods suggest that the responsibility can be placed in the student hands to enhance revision by editing strategies the students do for themselves. This will be to be instructed by a teacher but the students will be held accountable for learning new ways to revise their papers. I have found articles that promote time efficient ways of responding that are better than just commenting. They provide a lot of work from the student to learn from their mistakes or they show ways to comment that are effective.
Feedback by teachers should encourage students to become better writers. My research has shown students usually only scan the feedback looking for a quick path to a better grade. Responsibility falls on the teacher to modify their comments or feedback to promote an improvement in the writing of their students.
The main research question that guided my research was: What types of commentary enhances revision on students’ papers? This research question led me to different insights on the topic with the sources I found. I have found ways to make my argument stronger with sources that vary from the past to present. The results are all cohesive and my personal surveys from my peers have also strengthened the point I am trying to make. After doing my research I now, want to separate my Inquiry paper into 4 subtopics/categories: what teachers have been doing, what students reactions are to their forms of feedback and what they prefer, the progression in time there has been, if any and I will close with a list of time efficient strategies that other educators have used that are proven to work. My articles all touched on each topic in some way shape or form, I will use them to respond to my main subject heading and show the different insights they give.
What teachers have been doing? Teacher commentary has not been effective for students according to my results. The comments are too vague, contradictory or they are appearance comments. These comments do not help the student understand what they did wrong. In my paper I will use some examples of these types of commentary. I will show that none of these focus on the form, style, or content of the paper but instead give the student the impression that writing is about rules. These types of commentary often leave the reader confused on what is of higher importance to understand for next time and what they should do to improve. Contradictory comments are a popular case among student papers, a teacher will put ‘omit’ in the text but on the margin write ‘expand’. These types of comments often leave the student wondering which they should do for the reader to understand their paper. But most times they wonder which they have to do for the teacher to like and give them a better grade. Students’ reactions to teacher commentary are most times like this, confused or changing the paper just for a better grade.
The area that depicts the students’ responses I think will be the most interesting due to the fact that I surveyed my peers. Their responses all corresponded with the negative aspects of the studies I found. Students believe that their teachers sometimes did not read the paper because their commentary does not coincide with what they were saying. They also believe that teachers write comments that are too vague and leave them left to wonder how to fix the problem. Or often times, what the problem is. The word ‘vague’ will be written in the margin, but what part exactly is too vague? However, articles that I have found from present times have said that students have grown a positive response toward teacher feedback. They say that teacher commentary helps them understand their mistakes and how to improve for next time. Due to the contradicting views I believe that this part will enhance my argument in the way that some educators are improving however, others are still leaving their students to modify the paper for the grade. That will lead me into my progression of change over time with teacher feedback.
I will show here what present studies have concluded about where teacher feedback is now and the students’ opinions on that. Many are positive and so I believe that will be encouragement to the reader to know that it is possible to create better student writers. I would hope this will flow nicely into my conclusion that will depict the methods I have found that increase students’ motivation to write and make sure they pay attention to the comments and use them for a later use. Some methods suggest that the responsibility can be placed in the student hands to enhance revision by editing strategies the students do for themselves. This will be to be instructed by a teacher but the students will be held accountable for learning new ways to revise their papers. I have found articles that promote time efficient ways of responding that are better than just commenting. They provide a lot of work from the student to learn from their mistakes or they show ways to comment that are effective.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Revising my Annotated Bibliography
Since my bibliography was used in class Monday, I used my peer critiques from that class period to modify it. I added in more sub topics in my general categories and went through each article to analyze what grade level they were done in. I also made it a point to shorten my Sommers' summary because most people said it was a bit lengthy.
My plan for revision after peer editing today will be to focus on organizing my sources differently, since that is what both of my peer reviewers said I could/should do. I am still unsure of how I will go about that, since they all touch on the same sub-topics. I also plan on omitting one of my sources and replacing it with others because of the fact that it dealt with ESL students and it may be a stretch of my original topic. Other than that, I need to work on my form of my citations and indent when appropriate. All of my other commentary was very positive and encouraged me to continue searching for more topics and conducting my interview and surveys.
My plan for revision after peer editing today will be to focus on organizing my sources differently, since that is what both of my peer reviewers said I could/should do. I am still unsure of how I will go about that, since they all touch on the same sub-topics. I also plan on omitting one of my sources and replacing it with others because of the fact that it dealt with ESL students and it may be a stretch of my original topic. Other than that, I need to work on my form of my citations and indent when appropriate. All of my other commentary was very positive and encouraged me to continue searching for more topics and conducting my interview and surveys.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Annotated Bibliography
Shuman, Baird R. "What about Revision?" The English Journal 64.9 (1975): 3 pgs. 31 Oct 2007
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8274%28197512%2964%3A9%3C41%3AWAR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H
Shuman analyzed different forms of teacher and peer commenting to see which are beneficial. He came to the conclusion that peer editing is a good approach and showed a 3 step process that one of his educators that he interviewed used. Also, determined that teachers need to pay attention to the whole paper when commenting rather than bits and pieces to model to students how to revise effectively. I will use the 3 step process approach in my paper as a way for educators to see that there are other ways to enhance revision that do not need to come from them. This will fall in my last section of my paper as some food for thought for my readers.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8274%28197512%2964%3A9%3C41%3AWAR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H
Shuman analyzed different forms of teacher and peer commenting to see which are beneficial. He came to the conclusion that peer editing is a good approach and showed a 3 step process that one of his educators that he interviewed used. Also, determined that teachers need to pay attention to the whole paper when commenting rather than bits and pieces to model to students how to revise effectively. I will use the 3 step process approach in my paper as a way for educators to see that there are other ways to enhance revision that do not need to come from them. This will fall in my last section of my paper as some food for thought for my readers.
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