Providing explicit feedback on Writing – What could this look like?
Luke is a beautiful boy with a cheeky grin and purposeful shuffle.
He is an example of a student who has managed to demonstrate that working at the sentence level is making a difference to his writing skills. With 2 years of lockdowns and the tragic loss of a parent, we have been taking particular interest in Luke’s learning and what we can influence to provide the best conditions for him to feel success and confidence despite the difficulties he has faced.
Looking at his work samples and making a comparison, is a great testament to the efforts of our students when we set the conditions in class for a daily writing block. However making this writing block an explicit opportunity to practice sentence level work, rather than a free-for-all writing and publishing sequence, is something we discussed in a previous blog post as laying conditions for embedded misconceptions.
The more we delve into the heart of writing at the sentence level, the more I see students improving at not just the mechanics of writing, but also demonstrating that they can be cognisant of what is needed to improve in a much deeper self-reflection outline than I have ever seen.
Sentence level instruction lends itself to some thinking around whole class feedback. Daisy Christodoulou and I co-wrote an article outlining in more detail, the benefits of this practice in the classroom. At Templestowe Heights (THPS) we have been using it this week in a very specific way – utilising the principles of comparative judgement (CJ). Everything is better measured against a comparison, which is why the technique of aligning teacher judgement with a rubric is unhelpful moderation practice. However holding up two items and asking for a comparison, leads not just teachers, but students, to an articulation of what feedback should actually be about.
Here is the learning slide example to demonstrate this to our students. We wanted to know firstly, if they could recognise and judge the learning that had taken place between March and November and secondly, what learning from our writing lesson sequences was being embedded?
THPS Learning Slide comparatively judging Luke’s writing sample from March to November
We ask permission before we put student writing up for analysis and it is pleasing to see that they are so open to receiving honest, reflective feedback from their peers.
In this example, the comparative judgement was used as a retrieval. In the whole class feedback, the students articulated the following:
Luke’s handwriting fluency has improved
Luke has moved from run-ons to more accurate sentences
Luke remembered most of the correct punctuation and capitals
Luke’s spelling was better
Luke showed evidence of revising and re-reading his writing (‘He crossed things out!’)
Luke made better use of Tier two vocabulary in the second example
Instead of just making up a story about his mates, which the audience might find boring, Luke created an actual character
They also noted what was needed for Luke’s journey to improvement:
Luke could provide an appositive – about his character or the setting
Luke could incorporate more description and utilise complex punctuation to list words or add phrases
Luke could improve his handwriting even further with more attention to joining letters and the formation of tricky letters like ‘k’
What did the teachers learn from this whole class feedback?
When reflecting on this as a team we were pleased to see that the students were embedding the language of writing that we were continually using in our instructional sequences. Words like ‘Tier two vocab’, ‘run-ons’ and ‘appositives’ (The Writing Revolution), demonstrate a working knowledge and ability to apply these techniques in their writing. It was affirming to see that instruction given in explicit small sequences, transferred to learning when we did turn our students loose to free-write.
Why is there so much trial and error in the teaching of writing at the moment? Probably because it is globally accepted that we are not taught how to teach writing. What may seem like an inspiring way for students to build their skills, is proving to do the opposite. Nat Wexler writes about extended writing sessions as being ‘born out of necessity’. Daisy Christodoulou proposes that we have students do less extended writing.
At THPS we are trialing several ideas, with the overarching principle being whole class feedback. How students can use their own writing to be explicitly guided through improving sentences, their accuracy and not be shouldering the heavy cognitive load that writing demands, is a consistent discussion in our lesson design.
As we think of the efficiency of whole class feedback, we do not forget the individual narratives that we are addressing - such as Luke’s learning journey. In fact, in dealing with a whole class, we are pulling all the students towards a consistent set of writing principles, not leaving them to write at random and figure it out on their own.
Repetition and retrieval, followed by feedback, followed by further repeated practice - under the guidance of a teacher who feels confident that teaching the concepts of a sentence is the ‘…key to unlocking their true potential.’ (Nat Wexler)
What are your thoughts on writing and feedback?
We encourage you to join in the discussion on this page.
Following these regular blog posts, we encourage you to join in the discussion below. A key goal of Think Forward Educators’ Writing Network is opening a conversation about writing in the classroom, using research, trialled techniques, assessment and data collection.
We are excited to connect with you in our Third Writing Network Connect session!
Our third Writing Network Connect discussion will be held soon!
We hope to see you there!
Discussion Questions
How do you provide feedback on your students’ writing?
Can you see a role for student involvement in feedback?
Have you used or considered comparative judgement as a method for writing assessment?
