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.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
"Responding to Student Writing" by Nancy Sommers (Article 1)
*Since there was no articles in the book that summarized what my inquiry project is about I looked for my own. Also, I would just like to start off by saying thank you to Prof. O'Rourke for recommending Nancy Sommers to me because I found a really good article written by her that is EXACTLY what I am doing for my inquiry project.*
The article was called "Responding to Student Writing" and I found it off JSTOR. Sommers was interested in what comments teachers put on students papers and what the students feel about them. She had said that the main reason teachers comment on students' papers is to reinforce the idea of the reader to them. Teachers play the reader role and make it apparent to the students. Also she goes on to say that there are two types of comments: "Comments create the motive for doing something different in the next draft; thoughtful comments create the motive for revising" (Sommers 149). To figure out what most teachers use she conducted a study with 35 teachers and students, and the teachers all "commented on the same set of three student essays"(Sommers 149). She then analyzed the types of responses given to the students and noticed the commonalities among them and how the students react to them.
The first affect she found that comments have on the students was that "teachers comments can take the students' attention away from their own purposes in writing a particular text and focus that attention on the teachers' purpose in commenting" (Sommers 149). This type of reaction occurs when teachers comment on usage and diction (Sommers 150). These comments leave the students unsure of what the teacher wanted them to change or do better. Most times this results from "contradictory messages"(Sommers 150) given by the teacher. This happens to me all the time where the teacher says to shorten a sentence within the paragraph but then on the margin says to expand the paragraph. In-text comments and marginalized ones often confuse the student on what the teacher wants them to do. "These different signals given to students, to edit and develop, to condense and elaborate, represent also the failure of teachers' comments to direct genuine revision of the text as a whole" (151). This leaves the student unsure of what is important to change with the way the comment is worded.
Most times teacher comments are on parts of the paper and not the paper as a whole. This leaves students to only edit the certain words or phrases mentioned and not anything else. "Misunderstanding of he revision process as a rewording activity is reinforced by their teachers comments" (151). Students then focus "on what the teachers commanded them to do than on what they are trying to say" (Sommers 151). Another issue that occurs most times is that teachers misread the students paper and comment on things that are not relevant. in the study she found that "teaches commanded students to reduce and condense what was written, when in fact what the text really needed at this stage was to be expanded in conception and scope" (Sommers 152). Her conclusion to this was one that was mentioned before about how students only revise what the teacher said to change. A phrase she used to describe this was a "balancing act" (Sommers 152) which I think summarizes it perfectly!
Sommers found her next commonality to be that "most teachers comments are not text-specific and could be interchanged, rubber-stamped, from text to text" (Sommers 152). This is when teachers comments are too vague and could be applied to any paper. These make no sense to the student and they have no idea of how to go about changing them. Her suggestion to fix this problem would be to apply tips on HOW to change things not just letting them know that their is something wrong. This is the one suggestion or comment that is lacked on student papers. Teachers never "offered any strategies for carrying out these commands" (Sommers 153). These are needed because telling a student "'to be more specific' or 'to elaborate', does not show our students what questions the reader has about the meaning of the text, or what breaks in logic exist, that could be resolved if the writer supplied specific information; nor is the student shown how to achieve the desired specificity" (Sommers 153). Teachers offer the rules of the things that need to be changed not the strategies to do so and this makes the student think then that writing is all about rules.
The one way to put an end to all of this Sommers says, is to have a different set of guidelines and commentary for drafts of papers and the finished products. The feedback "needs to be suited for the draft we are reading" (Sommers 155). Students may be confused on which set of commentary you are giving them. So it is important to let them know which one is being used. However to defend teachers, they said they were never taught how to respond to students papers in school. That is true, in all of my English courses we are not taught how to access students papers. We look at theorists articles and summarize them or write papers on them but we never do exercises commenting on "students" work. So teachers have the tendency to look for errors in student writing and not go past that which produces a bad revision process of the student. Sommers suggests that teachers should "offer students revision tasks of a different order of complexity and sophistication from the ones that they themselves identify, by forcing students back into the chaos, back to the point where they are shaping and restructuring their meaning" (Sommers 159).
The article was called "Responding to Student Writing" and I found it off JSTOR. Sommers was interested in what comments teachers put on students papers and what the students feel about them. She had said that the main reason teachers comment on students' papers is to reinforce the idea of the reader to them. Teachers play the reader role and make it apparent to the students. Also she goes on to say that there are two types of comments: "Comments create the motive for doing something different in the next draft; thoughtful comments create the motive for revising" (Sommers 149). To figure out what most teachers use she conducted a study with 35 teachers and students, and the teachers all "commented on the same set of three student essays"(Sommers 149). She then analyzed the types of responses given to the students and noticed the commonalities among them and how the students react to them.
The first affect she found that comments have on the students was that "teachers comments can take the students' attention away from their own purposes in writing a particular text and focus that attention on the teachers' purpose in commenting" (Sommers 149). This type of reaction occurs when teachers comment on usage and diction (Sommers 150). These comments leave the students unsure of what the teacher wanted them to change or do better. Most times this results from "contradictory messages"(Sommers 150) given by the teacher. This happens to me all the time where the teacher says to shorten a sentence within the paragraph but then on the margin says to expand the paragraph. In-text comments and marginalized ones often confuse the student on what the teacher wants them to do. "These different signals given to students, to edit and develop, to condense and elaborate, represent also the failure of teachers' comments to direct genuine revision of the text as a whole" (151). This leaves the student unsure of what is important to change with the way the comment is worded.
Most times teacher comments are on parts of the paper and not the paper as a whole. This leaves students to only edit the certain words or phrases mentioned and not anything else. "Misunderstanding of he revision process as a rewording activity is reinforced by their teachers comments" (151). Students then focus "on what the teachers commanded them to do than on what they are trying to say" (Sommers 151). Another issue that occurs most times is that teachers misread the students paper and comment on things that are not relevant. in the study she found that "teaches commanded students to reduce and condense what was written, when in fact what the text really needed at this stage was to be expanded in conception and scope" (Sommers 152). Her conclusion to this was one that was mentioned before about how students only revise what the teacher said to change. A phrase she used to describe this was a "balancing act" (Sommers 152) which I think summarizes it perfectly!
Sommers found her next commonality to be that "most teachers comments are not text-specific and could be interchanged, rubber-stamped, from text to text" (Sommers 152). This is when teachers comments are too vague and could be applied to any paper. These make no sense to the student and they have no idea of how to go about changing them. Her suggestion to fix this problem would be to apply tips on HOW to change things not just letting them know that their is something wrong. This is the one suggestion or comment that is lacked on student papers. Teachers never "offered any strategies for carrying out these commands" (Sommers 153). These are needed because telling a student "'to be more specific' or 'to elaborate', does not show our students what questions the reader has about the meaning of the text, or what breaks in logic exist, that could be resolved if the writer supplied specific information; nor is the student shown how to achieve the desired specificity" (Sommers 153). Teachers offer the rules of the things that need to be changed not the strategies to do so and this makes the student think then that writing is all about rules.
The one way to put an end to all of this Sommers says, is to have a different set of guidelines and commentary for drafts of papers and the finished products. The feedback "needs to be suited for the draft we are reading" (Sommers 155). Students may be confused on which set of commentary you are giving them. So it is important to let them know which one is being used. However to defend teachers, they said they were never taught how to respond to students papers in school. That is true, in all of my English courses we are not taught how to access students papers. We look at theorists articles and summarize them or write papers on them but we never do exercises commenting on "students" work. So teachers have the tendency to look for errors in student writing and not go past that which produces a bad revision process of the student. Sommers suggests that teachers should "offer students revision tasks of a different order of complexity and sophistication from the ones that they themselves identify, by forcing students back into the chaos, back to the point where they are shaping and restructuring their meaning" (Sommers 159).
Possible Interview Questions?!
For the students:
-How do you feel when teachers write vague comments on your paper?
-What comments do you normally take in consideration for the next paper you write for them?
-Which methods of feedback do you find the most helpful to you and why? (rubrics, one-on-one conference, comments)
For Professors/Teachers:
- What method of feedback do you use with your students papers and why?
- Have you ever had students come to you with questions due tonot understanding your feedback?
-Does the method of feedback change for the various courses you are teaching? If so, why?
****Doing interviews with people is something I am not good at beacause most of the time I do not know what to ask. So any help on this would be greatly appreciated!!!****
-How do you feel when teachers write vague comments on your paper?
-What comments do you normally take in consideration for the next paper you write for them?
-Which methods of feedback do you find the most helpful to you and why? (rubrics, one-on-one conference, comments)
For Professors/Teachers:
- What method of feedback do you use with your students papers and why?
- Have you ever had students come to you with questions due tonot understanding your feedback?
-Does the method of feedback change for the various courses you are teaching? If so, why?
****Doing interviews with people is something I am not good at beacause most of the time I do not know what to ask. So any help on this would be greatly appreciated!!!****
Developing New Knowledge: "Factness" Excercise with Inquiry Topic
Whom could I talk to who could provide me with information that has factness about this question?
I was thinking about talking to my peers in my other composition courses and finding out their opinions on teacher comments they receive. Also, to tackle the subject of what teachers should be putting on papers I could see what professors have been putting on them. I can analyze the feedback they give students and get their reasoning on why they chose that method of response to their students’ work. Then, I could take that and compare it to what students feel about those methods.
What could I read that would provide me with information that has factness about this question?
I could read articles written by composition theorists. Also, I could look for articles or blogs written by classroom teachers to see what they have been using in their classrooms and e-mailing them to find out how the students respond to it. I have already found some articles on JSTOR that seem to correspond well with my topic and they are written by scholars so I know they are valid.
What else could I do besides talk to people and read to acquire information or factness about this question? (Jolliffe 75)
I could observe in classes when students get papers back and see their reactions when they are reading it over. I could conduct surveys with my peers to get their opinions on what type of feedback is beneficial to them and what methods they dislike. Also if time allowed and it was possible, I would like to see what comments they take in consideration when editing their papers and which ones they disregard. I do not know if this answers the question but I am unsure right now how I would go about this.
I was thinking about talking to my peers in my other composition courses and finding out their opinions on teacher comments they receive. Also, to tackle the subject of what teachers should be putting on papers I could see what professors have been putting on them. I can analyze the feedback they give students and get their reasoning on why they chose that method of response to their students’ work. Then, I could take that and compare it to what students feel about those methods.
What could I read that would provide me with information that has factness about this question?
I could read articles written by composition theorists. Also, I could look for articles or blogs written by classroom teachers to see what they have been using in their classrooms and e-mailing them to find out how the students respond to it. I have already found some articles on JSTOR that seem to correspond well with my topic and they are written by scholars so I know they are valid.
What else could I do besides talk to people and read to acquire information or factness about this question? (Jolliffe 75)
I could observe in classes when students get papers back and see their reactions when they are reading it over. I could conduct surveys with my peers to get their opinions on what type of feedback is beneficial to them and what methods they dislike. Also if time allowed and it was possible, I would like to see what comments they take in consideration when editing their papers and which ones they disregard. I do not know if this answers the question but I am unsure right now how I would go about this.
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