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Written by Lindsey Benjamin | lindsey.benjamin@uamaker.nyc
Problem
There are a few questions from students that I hear on loop - Ms., how can I get this from a 2 to 3? Ms, I don’t get what I am supposed to revise? How can I make my essay better? These questions seemed to particularly pop up during the longer, more challenging writing tasks. Regardless of the detailed feedback I was writing in the margins or the resources taped to the table, it just didn’t seem to click for students. It made me realize that students in the classroom were far too dependent on me, and I wanted to create ways for them to take control of their own improvement and revision.
Hypothesis
If students are explicitly taught how to use the resources provided to them and are given specific revision protocols, then they will have more ownership of their work, leading to a higher revision turn in rate and higher quality revisions.
Target group
My target group was all three sections of my 9th grade students, because low revisions submissions and students struggling with what to improve were consistent trends across the board.
Planning & resources
Summary: To provide students with more revision practice, we implemented two different resources.
Students were given weak examples of analysis and then needed to use the starters and resources at their table to enhance them.
Students used a peer review protocol to provide their peers with specific feedback.
Resource 1: Pri!
I was explaining to Pri that while we were providing students all of these different resources and sentence starters at their table, they weren’t always using them, especially when it came to revisions. Pri had the great idea of having students actually practice using the resources provided to revise sample work instead of just throwing them on the table.
Resource 2: Reading Rockets Revision Strategy
This source emphasized the importance of explicit revision practice and provided sample protocols that were a good starting point.
Resource 3: Sticky Note Student Feedback
I used this idea of sticky notes to help develop the one I made for the Imagery and Symbolism Peer Review for the cookbook performance task
Sticky-Note-Feedback-Tool-for-Students-2.pdfTeacher Made Materials
Resources for Revision Practice
Resources for Revision Practice
Student Work Samples: Like Water for Chocolate Final Products (Highlighted changes based on revision)
Student Work Samples: Like Water for Chocolate Final Products (Highlighted changes based on revision)
Data collection
Data collection
Linked below is my baseline and post data. For the baseline data, I calculated the percentage of students who submitted revisions for the Unit 4 Performance Task. Also, I compared the first and second drafts of a couple sample students to assess the quality of the revisions. Take a look at the data itself for specific, but for all three of the 9th grade sections, about a third of them submitted revisions. Also, as seen in the qualitative data, many of the revisions did not incorporate some of the specific skills/language we practiced in the unit.
For the post data, I calculated the percentage of revision submission for one of the Unit 6 Performance Tasks, which was also a literary analysis task. The turn in percentage increased by 13% in B, 19% in E, in 21% in F.
Overall findings & impact
Overall the strategy was definitely successful in both increasing the number of revision submissions as well as the quality of those submissions, which is evident in the post data. In the final samples, students were actually using the resources to enhance their writing. In the future, there are definitely a couple things I would do differently.
While I differentiated the peer review based on student need, I did not differentiate the examples I provided students. Next year, I want to make sure that all of the revision practice is differentiated.
I want to start these revision practice routines at the very beginning of the year with the first assignment.
Instead of giving millions of comments on the margins of their drafts, I want to create codes for the different skills. This will pair nicely with the revision practice and not overload the students with too much information.
Actionable steps
Strategy: Intentional practice with revision and feedback
If you want to use this strategy in your classroom, I recommend …
When providing feedback to students, take note of the area that several students are constantly struggling with.
If there are not yet resources created to support this area of need, create sentence starters and/or exemplars. TAPE THEM TO THE TABLES!
Create work samples that are in need of revision in the areas identified. Have students use the exemplars to revise the provided samples.
After this revisions practice, direct students back to their own work.
If trying the peer review component, I would recommend homogenous groups based on what they need to work on.
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