(Page 148) “…if you want to see a student’s writing improve, you have to provide the student with meaningful feedback before the paper is finished.”
Once again, Gallagher uses a great sports analogy. I like how he compares writing to boxing, where the competitor continually goes to the corner for coaching between rounds. Reading and coaching students before their final drafts just makes so much more sense. What good does it do for the student to get tons of comments (in addition to low or failing grade) at the end? Do we think the student is actually going to go back and make any corrections and learn something more? If we have any suggestions to further the student’s thinking, is he going to do anything with those comments? Have you ever had a student get a low grade and rewrite his paper without the opportunity to earn a higher grade? If you’ve ever had that one happen, I’ve got to meet that kid!
The thing is reading a student’s writing prior to the final draft just makes sense. If our goal is for students to learn and improve, I don’t see any way around it. I suspect the argument against this is that it would take too much time to read papers multiple times. Yes, it is going to take some time, but I don’t think it is as bad as it appears. Unless a student completely scratches the original work and rewrites everything, then the second read won’t take as long. Plus, you won’t have to be spending as much time writing comments all over the place because you will have conferenced with the student in advance.
I think about all of those HSAP practice tests I score. If I just gave students their scores, it would take me no time to get them done. What takes forever is writing comments on them so they can see what they can do to score better on the actual HSAP. I often find myself writing the same thing over and over. I always wonder how much better the papers could be if I had the kids as my actual students and could conference with them about what they wrote and see the changes in another draft. Of course, the idea with HSAP is that there is no conferencing, but if we coach kids throughout the year, then they should do just fine.
The thing is reading a student’s writing prior to the final draft just makes sense. If our goal is for students to learn and improve, I don’t see any way around it. I suspect the argument against this is that it would take too much time to read papers multiple times. Yes, it is going to take some time, but I don’t think it is as bad as it appears. Unless a student completely scratches the original work and rewrites everything, then the second read won’t take as long. Plus, you won’t have to be spending as much time writing comments all over the place because you will have conferenced with the student in advance.
I think about all of those HSAP practice tests I score. If I just gave students their scores, it would take me no time to get them done. What takes forever is writing comments on them so they can see what they can do to score better on the actual HSAP. I often find myself writing the same thing over and over. I always wonder how much better the papers could be if I had the kids as my actual students and could conference with them about what they wrote and see the changes in another draft. Of course, the idea with HSAP is that there is no conferencing, but if we coach kids throughout the year, then they should do just fine.
So it took me forever to respond to this one. I finished reading so long ago and just got caught up with end of year stuff.
ReplyDeleteI like the during the process feedback – I really like the suggestion of conference rather than write comments. It is definitely more effective and time-efficient to spend three minutes talking to a kid rather than seven writing on their paper.
I know I keep going back to lab reports – but that’s my thing. I think I’d like to conference with each kid – I used to years ago and the reports were great. Duh! Correlation?
So, do the kids actually get their HSAP practice tests back? That’s awesome!
OK, my response is short and sweet. Amanda and I are going to try to schedule time this summer to meet with Laura and Ruth Anne to collaborate and plan to incorporate writing and feedback stuff.
I hope I can remember all of this!! The summer has a way of causing amnesia!
Thanks for this book – I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next one.