Report - El Camino College



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ECC FIPP Activity Report

|Name Rachel Williams |Date 11/30/2010 |

|Department English |

|FIPP Partner Mediha Din |

|Class title & section # English 1A: Reading and Composition Section #6348 |

|Name of Activity/Strategy Student Questions on Final Drafts of Papers |

|Category: (Please select only one.) (Reminder: You will submit one report from each of |

|the categories.) |

|Classroom Activity Classroom Environment Classroom Expectations |

|Feedback & Evaluation Homework & Out-of-Classroom Learning Experiences |

|Student Empowerment |

|Briefly describe the activity/strategy, providing enough detail so that a colleague can replicate the activity/strategy. |

|1. Introduction This is a simple strategy that can be used throughout the semester in any class that requires papers. In my English 1A |

|class, on the final draft of each essay, students wrote 2-3 questions about their writing that they wanted me to respond to when I read their |

|work. Their questions could pertain to any part of the writing that they are thinking about: grammar, style, structure, etc. Then, when I |

|graded the work, I made sure to answer the questions. The goal was to open up a dialogue between the students and the instructor about the |

|writing, making the written comments more relevant to, and thus more engaging for, the students. |

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|2. Set-up & Supplies This activity requires almost no set-up. At the start of class the day the paper is due, the instuctor writes on the |

|board, "On the back of the last page of your final draft, please write 2-3 questions about your paper that you would like me to respond to |

|when I read your essay." |

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|3. Directions Once you've written the above question on the board, give the students 5-7 minutes to develop their questions and jot them down.|

|Remind students that specific questions are best. I give examples: "What is this essay's greatest strength" is not a good question to ask |

|because I will tell them that anyway. "Did I do my lead-ins correctly," "Is my hook clearly relevant to my thesis," or "Did I successfully |

|correct my sentence fragments?" are good questions because they are specific. Once students have jotted down their questions, collect the |

|assignment. When giving feedback, instructors can either answer the questions directly under where the students wrote them, or else |

|incorporate the answers to the questions in their regular end comments. |

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|What worked well? Overall, this was a successful strategy--students asked great questions, recevied feedback, and clearly read and understood |

|it, as they would make reference to what I said when I met with them in office hours. I also surveyed this strategy, and got very positive |

|written comments, including, "The feedback I received…helped me with other essays because it made me more aware of the…habits I used to do |

|when I wrote essays. I changed these habits because of the response I received from the questions;" "Participation in this feedback activity |

|helped with other assignments I had, not only in this class but in other classes as well;" and "It was helpful…I wouldn’t make the same |

|mistakes on other writing assignments in the future." It is also nice to give students a moment to reflect on what they've produced, and to |

|communicate to students that they aren't "done" with the paper when they turn it in. |

|What would you change? While for the most part this strategy was successful, a few comments from the survey suggested possible ways to improve|

|it. First, some students commented that they would like to ask the questions before the final draft. In the future, I might expand the |

|activity so that students also ask questions on rough drafts for peer review. One student said that the feedback would be more helpful if |

|paired with one-on-one instructor meetings--in the future, I will explicitly encourage students to come to office hours if he or she wants to |

|discuss the questions and feedback. |

|Would you use the activity/strategy again? Why or why not? Absolutely. As mentioned above, I saw positive results and the students found the|

|activity valuable, too. At the very least, it gives students one more reason to look at the comments I make…that alone makes the strategy |

|worthwhile! |

|Please describe any student learning and/or changes that you observed after the implementation of the activity/strategy. Please see my |

|comments under "What worked well?" above. As I mentioned, my students' writing improved in response to the feedback, and their comments |

|implied to me that they paid special attention to the feedback that they got in answer to their individual questions. |

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