Written Corrective Feedback

How do you give feedback on student work? Pen on paper? Voice recordings? Google Drive? Microsoft Word comments? Blackboard? There are so many options that it can seem very overwhelming. I am not going to talk about the research on written corrective feedback in this post. Suffice it to say, there's a lot. And this is a blog for teachers and learners, so I don't want to bore you with details from the professionals. Rather, I'd just like to present what I implement in my classes and how it works. 


I think one of the challenges for providing student feedback is determining what will work best for you, the teacher, and for your students, based on their computer fluency and language level. 

For all students, I emphasize drafting. I like to have students write two or three drafts, two of which they give me. I usually provide the most feedback on the first draft they give me and less on the "final" draft they submit for a grade. In all of my courses, I use peer revision, and I also always use a rubric for the final draft, which helps justify the grade given. The amount of feedback I give depends on the students' language level and the length of the assignment. Here's a little bit more on what I do. 



Beginning Students

I think the challenge for working with new writers is not overwhelming them with teacher comments. There is so much for them to work on, it's really hard to decide what to focus on for each draft (and brevity isn't one of my strengths!). Therefore, I think it's important for teachers to tell students what they're going to be looking for and to stick to it. For example, if you've been working on subject/verb agreement in class, that's what you should be on the lookout for. If you're also working on how to develop a paragraph, tell students that you'll be reading for sufficient major and minor details. Focused and brief feedback is essential. 

I have tried writing comments next to errors, circling/underlining errors, error correction key (s/v= subject verb agreement issue, VT= verb tense issue), and using a number system where each mistake has a number (i.e. s/v agreement gets a 1, verb tense error gets a 2, etc.). I think the essential piece is to make sure students understand the system and get comfortable using it. If you change for each paper, they're going to be more worried about figuring out the feedback than actually making changes. What have you found works for lower-level students?

Advanced and Intermediate Students

Here is where you can have some fun. I like using the Microsoft comments function; however, I think Google Drive is actually more useful. Teachers can see the changes students are making and when they've made them. Students also get feedback in real time... There's no waiting until the class meets next to get feedback on a draft. I think this is great for non-traditional students, especially those with families. It can be challenging for them to balance their time, so immediate feedback can assist them with that. 

With advanced students, you can also start to write more in your feedback. You can explain why you think something works (or doesn't). Teachers can focus more on content and organization than the basic sentences and grammar needed for communication. 

And the final piece of written corrective feedback is providing positive feedback, as well as constructive feedback. It's just as important for students to know what they do well so that they can do it next time (and keep it in the current paper). My colleagues, Courtney, Alisha, and Amy Bell, recommend "sandwhiching" the positive feedback around the constructive feedback. This allows students to read positive comments first and last. I love this idea, and I strive to do this every time I give feedback. 

How do you give written corrective feedback? What's your favorite? Which doesn't work? 

Where I am From Poems

This semester and last semester, the CMU ELI held a poetry competitions for the students. Because I'm on administrative leave this semester, I wasn't able to help students participate. However, last semester, I highly encouraged my students to submit poems. 

Image via parnassusreview.com

Because poetry can feel daunting (if I had a dollar for every time I've heard, "I can't write poetry, I'd be rich!) for anybody, but especially for non-native speakers/writers. The students often said to me, "But I can't even write poetry in my native language! How will I write it in English?" This is valid concern because poetry can be scary. That's why I decided to provide one type of poem that students would be writing. I hoped that it would make poetry more accessible and real to them. That's why I chose "Where I am from" poems. 

Image via thoms8thgradeblog.blogspot.com

For those of you who haven't heard of these before, the lines start with "I am from..." and the poet finishes the line with whatever he or she would like. For example, I am from Michigan, so I could say, "I'm from the Great Lakes" or "I am from corn fields and good manners." The point is that students think about their origins, their identity, how they see themselves, and how they want to be seen. 

My students created beautiful poems that they were proud of, and many of my students won first or second runners up for Level 3. One of my student won the entire competition! I don't have permission to share their poems (I have to remember to get permission next time!), but I will share mine as an example. Please feel free to use it in your class if you'd like to use this excellent form of poetry in your classes. 

I even created a wordle with my poem... I wish I had thought of doing this with my students. How fun!

There are lots of other great examples online, and I've included some links at below if you'd like more resources. If you'd like to see pictures of the ELI poetry competition, we have some on the CMU ELI's Facebook site. I'd love to hear: do you use poetry in your class? What's your favorite type of poem to use? I've heard (clean) limericks can be fun!

http://www.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplan.jsp?id=785

http://www.georgeellalyon.com/where.html

http://www.teenink.com/poetry/free_verse/article/281119/Where-I-am-from/

https://sites.google.com/site/msweisocialstudies/sample-projects-and-assignments/msweiswhereiamfrompoem

Word Cloud

Confession: I love word clouds! But maybe that's not too surprising considering I'm a language teacher.... 

What is your favorite word cloud generator? I've heard Wordle.net is a good one, and the one I made below of a few of my posts on this blog is from Tagcloud.com.  It's awesome to see that "students" is the biggest word. I try to make my students the focus of all that I do in teaching, and it is evident they come up often in all of my posts. 

From Tagcloud.com

I think I am going to have my students create one for each of their papers and then one with all of them at the beginning of the semester. I am then going to have them analyze their vocabulary and compare it to what they've learned in class. I think word clouds lend themselves well to appropriate register and genre. 

Do you have any suggestions for activities using word clouds in class? Anything that you've done that works? I'd love some suggestions!

Written Corrective Feedback

As teachers, grading and providing feedback is one of the most important (and time consuming) parts of our job. I think it's essential that we think about how we provide feeback and purporse of that feedback. How can we best help students learn through our comments? How can we make these comments time effecive, especially when we have many students in only one class?

I recently came across a great presentation given by Dr. Rod Ellis on written corrective feedback on YouTube. He presents about different types of written corrective feedback and their effectiveness. Take a look because I think it's very clear, helpful, and practical.

Here is a shortened version of the video:

One of my colleagues often gives feedback for spoken presentations via the Voice E-mail function on Blackboard. It's basicially a long voice mail providing feedback that otherwise would have been written. He then gives the grade at the end of the e-mail in order to encourage to focus on feedback rather than the grade. I have tried this before, and I like it, but it never seemed to stick... I always go back to pen and paper feedback. Have any of you tried doing this?

How do you provide feedback? Why?

Self-Assessment in Writing (and Speaking)

TESOL Connections just posted an interesting article about students assessing their own writing. You can find it here. I think it's a great idea to start early on with self-assessment, not just to be used with advanced students. It will encourage students to read and understand the rubric (does anybody else have this problem??), and it will also encourage self-reflection. This article is only about writing, but it's also possible to use with speaking assignments if they're recorded and made available to students to view (I use YouTube).

I often include a written portion to self-assessment assignments. For example, I provide a copy of the rubric for students to assess themselves and on the other side of the paper, I include a space for students to write about (A) what they did well, (B) what needs more work, and (C) the grade they think they should receive and why. I really think the written portion is just as important as the rubric portion. Students don't just have to decide what they did, but they also have to justify it. It's also a good way to track growth of the learner. If you use portfolios, these reflections could also be included there.

Are there any other ways we can use self-assessment to encourage and monitor language learning?

Using Debates to Teach Rhetoric

What's a better way to identify and discuss rhetorical strategies than to use presidential debates?! Utilizing the debates and speeches also introduces the American political process to students who (may) have little experience or knowledge of the democratic process. 

Here's a link to the 3rd and final presidential debate between President Obama and Govenor Romney. 

Any suggestions for using video in the classroom? I would love to hear about new ways to teach rhetoric, especially using current events. 

Rhetorical Analysis Assignment

I am working on the post about my presentation the Intercultural Strategies in Civic Engagement Conference at which I presented about two weeks ago. Our presentation was called "A Collaboration in the Pursuit of Civic Engagement through Service Learning." I won't give away too much, but we discussed some of what Alma College does in terms of service learning. I posted the abstract in August, if you'd like a little bit more information before my full post about the experience.

In the mean time, I have been busy planning for, grading for, and teaching my three grammar classes and one freshman composition class. I have posted a bit for grammar, but I thought I would share what my composition class is up to.

We are now working on rhetoric, and their current assignment is a rhetorical analysis. I believe most English 101 teachers provide options for their students for the essay which will be analyzed; however, I took a different approach. I decided to let the student choose an editorial they were interested in. I guided them toward good options (posted links on Blackboard, showed examples in class, etc.) and let them decide. They are required to send me three options for approval. The first few fell flat (i.e. they weren't editorials), but  they are finally sending me true opinion articles. It has been fun and informative to read the editorials because it gives me a glimps into what they're interested in, and what they'd like to write about. I will write more later about the writing process of the rhetorical analysis and resulting student critical thinking. Stay tuned!