Action Plan
Rationale
Through my needs assessment, I learned that students enjoy writing. 89% of my students said that they enjoyed writing for one reason or another. In addition, the same 89% of students claimed that they were “good” writers. The two students who said they did not enjoy writing were the two students who also said they were not good writers. This showed a correlation between an enjoyment of writing and their self-perceived abilities in writing.
With this new information in mind, I then changed the way I looked at the problem in the classroom. The students feel that they are “good” writers, so they enjoy performing. However, through my other needs assessment a few weeks earlier, I examined student error and ability to write complete fairy tale stories. Through this assessment, I learned that students are not performing at grade level. Since students are unaware of what “grade level” writing should look like, they feel as though they are enjoying writing and are good at it. I feel that there is nothing wrong with students perceiving their work as superior; however, when looking at this research from this point forward, I will be looking at their actual achievements instead of their perceived opinions of writing.
Additionally, according to the students’ responses from the survey, 67% of students felt that their teacher was the best person who could support them in improving their writing. With this in mind, my hope is that the implementation of the peer feedback process will empower students to not only assist each other but also to assist themselves in developing their writing skills.
Through my literature review, the research identified that the benefits of peer feedback would not only be gained by the person receiving feedback. The student who provided the feedback was also gaining benefits as well. I took this to mean that students who learn how to provide feedback will be able to take that knowledge and use it to be able to edit their own writing. This is one of the driving forces behind my research, as my hope is that students will be able to self-edit or even strengthen their own writing during the drafting process instead of looking to their teacher to help.
With this new information in mind, I then changed the way I looked at the problem in the classroom. The students feel that they are “good” writers, so they enjoy performing. However, through my other needs assessment a few weeks earlier, I examined student error and ability to write complete fairy tale stories. Through this assessment, I learned that students are not performing at grade level. Since students are unaware of what “grade level” writing should look like, they feel as though they are enjoying writing and are good at it. I feel that there is nothing wrong with students perceiving their work as superior; however, when looking at this research from this point forward, I will be looking at their actual achievements instead of their perceived opinions of writing.
Additionally, according to the students’ responses from the survey, 67% of students felt that their teacher was the best person who could support them in improving their writing. With this in mind, my hope is that the implementation of the peer feedback process will empower students to not only assist each other but also to assist themselves in developing their writing skills.
Through my literature review, the research identified that the benefits of peer feedback would not only be gained by the person receiving feedback. The student who provided the feedback was also gaining benefits as well. I took this to mean that students who learn how to provide feedback will be able to take that knowledge and use it to be able to edit their own writing. This is one of the driving forces behind my research, as my hope is that students will be able to self-edit or even strengthen their own writing during the drafting process instead of looking to their teacher to help.
Phase One
Phase 1 intends to teach students through direct modeling how to edit a peer’s writing, using a specific checklist identifying different parts of the peer’s work. Students will write multiple opinion-based essays using evidence from a text, and each will be examined closely by a peer reviewer in class. They will be required to use different colored pencils to identify the different parts of the paragraph as well as the components that are lacking. Students will also use a rubric to help recognize errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
Timeline:
March 1, 2014: Needs Assessment
I compiled a collection of student fiction writing from their iPads. The work that is posted up in the classroom is edited in collaboration with the teacher, but the work that I am using for this investigation is simply unedited.
March 15, 2014: Needs Assessment 2
I administered a short survey by iPad for each student to complete regarding their opinions and feelings towards writing. It asked them questions about their self-perceived abilities to write as well as who or what could best support them in becoming a better writer.
April 1, 2014: Phase 1 Begins - Introduction to Peer Feedback
I modeled the process of providing peer feedback on a piece of opinion writing, which is what students will be providing feedback on as well. Then, students had the opportunity to provide feedback to another student using the guided checklist during a small group with the teacher closely monitoring.
April 15, 2014: Peer Feedback
Students continued to use peer feedback in various writing assignments. I completed naturalistic observations of students to determine their ability in providing feedback. I also collected the feedback sheets as well as the student first copy of their writing and the second copy of their writing after receiving the feedback to determine the success of this process.
May 1, 2014: Phase 2
Implement Phase 2.
May 15, 2014: Analyze
Collect and analyze data from Phase 2.
Timeline:
March 1, 2014: Needs Assessment
I compiled a collection of student fiction writing from their iPads. The work that is posted up in the classroom is edited in collaboration with the teacher, but the work that I am using for this investigation is simply unedited.
March 15, 2014: Needs Assessment 2
I administered a short survey by iPad for each student to complete regarding their opinions and feelings towards writing. It asked them questions about their self-perceived abilities to write as well as who or what could best support them in becoming a better writer.
April 1, 2014: Phase 1 Begins - Introduction to Peer Feedback
I modeled the process of providing peer feedback on a piece of opinion writing, which is what students will be providing feedback on as well. Then, students had the opportunity to provide feedback to another student using the guided checklist during a small group with the teacher closely monitoring.
April 15, 2014: Peer Feedback
Students continued to use peer feedback in various writing assignments. I completed naturalistic observations of students to determine their ability in providing feedback. I also collected the feedback sheets as well as the student first copy of their writing and the second copy of their writing after receiving the feedback to determine the success of this process.
May 1, 2014: Phase 2
Implement Phase 2.
May 15, 2014: Analyze
Collect and analyze data from Phase 2.
Data Collection
1. Samples of Student Work
I will evaluate student ability to provide feedback to peers by their feedback slips that they completed as well as the corrections that they made for their peers. On their feedback slips, I will examine the comments that they left, and on the actual writing pieces, I will look closely to see how many errors they were able to find, how many errors they were able to properly correct, and how many errors were left uncorrected.
I will evaluate student ability to provide feedback to peers by their feedback slips that they completed as well as the corrections that they made for their peers. On their feedback slips, I will examine the comments that they left, and on the actual writing pieces, I will look closely to see how many errors they were able to find, how many errors they were able to properly correct, and how many errors were left uncorrected.
2. Student Feedback on Peer Editing Process
I will gather data from students to gain a better understanding on their opinions of the peer feedback process. There will be some similar questions to the initial survey asking students about their enjoyment of writing, their perceived abilities in writing, and who can best support them to improve their writing. This will investigate whether a change in attitude has occurred after students have had opportunities to utilize the peer feedback process. It will also ask open-ended questions to determine if they felt that the feedback they received from their peers was useful in helping them edit their writing. It will ask if providing feedback helped them in their own writing as well. I will compare the results from this survey with the initial survey that the students completed before the implementation of Phase One.
I will gather data from students to gain a better understanding on their opinions of the peer feedback process. There will be some similar questions to the initial survey asking students about their enjoyment of writing, their perceived abilities in writing, and who can best support them to improve their writing. This will investigate whether a change in attitude has occurred after students have had opportunities to utilize the peer feedback process. It will also ask open-ended questions to determine if they felt that the feedback they received from their peers was useful in helping them edit their writing. It will ask if providing feedback helped them in their own writing as well. I will compare the results from this survey with the initial survey that the students completed before the implementation of Phase One.
3. Observations
Throughout the intervention, I will complete observations of students during their peer feedback sessions. I will be looking for students who are exceeding expectations, meeting expectations, or below expectations in terms of their ability to engage in the peer feedback process. I will also indicate when students are asking for support from the teacher, because that will demonstrate a lower level of independence in the process.
Throughout the intervention, I will complete observations of students during their peer feedback sessions. I will be looking for students who are exceeding expectations, meeting expectations, or below expectations in terms of their ability to engage in the peer feedback process. I will also indicate when students are asking for support from the teacher, because that will demonstrate a lower level of independence in the process.