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"In this Teaching Channel video, McComb leads a class period where he's trying to give individual students feedback as they work and not only after they've turned in their assignments. He demonstrates how he tries to hold back from giving them the answers, instead guiding them with questions, making sure they are aware of and are using resources, and crucially allowing them the time and space to think through what he's asking and arrive at a solution on their own. McComb is doing a lot in this lesson. He's helping a few students work on a specific skill they lack; he's checking in on students working independently; he's conferencing with students who are having individual problems; and he's trying not to just give students the language that will improve their writing. McComb calls this practice a structure that's flexible and allows for short cycles of work that give him an opportunity to address problems and give real-time feedback. He's hoping this new approach to writing feedback will not only improve his students' work, but will also help them to become more independent learners."

"By creating intentional spaces for feedback and revision cycles in my classroom, students now think critically and authentically about their writing, which has led to diminishing the disconnect between how teachers and students define effective writing feedback. In my tenth-grade English classroom, we study multiple genres of authentic writing. After I give feedback on each draft of a piece of writing, I ask students to respond to two prompts:"

"Kaizena voice feedback. To be clear, this isn't a Google project, but rather an app that integrate with Google Drive to work its magic. But what (simple) magic it allows: cloud-based, tablet-friendly voice feedback and commenting for documents, allowing you to provide thorough feedback and guidance for writers without making endless notes in tiny margins on papers that can get misinterpreted or lost."

"In addition to making it clear to students what learning goals will be covered and required of them through the rubric or performance framework, students need constructive feedback in order to improve. But feedback isn't always appropriate; there are times when it's very effective and other times when it can be a waste of precious energy. "Assessment is really time consuming and exhausting," Staff said. "So when I do it, and give a lot of meaningful feedback, I want to do it at a time that it will help them to improve." Students don't want to know how they could have done better after they've already turned in the project. Peer assessment is another way for students to gain valuable input on how they can iterate on an idea or project, helping to push towards another, better version."

"More than test scores, or my desire to introduce students to great novels and great questions, I teach so that students feel someone believes in them and they feel empowered to learn, grow, and succeed. Measuring success on that mission requires hearing directly from students."

"Research and insights from Robinson and educational psychologist Hunter Gehlbach of the University of California, Santa Barbara, show how schools can get the most out of student feedback, and how principals can help teachers get on board with using it - creating a more communicative school culture for all."

"Building a classroom culture of feedback requires scaffolding and a safe, nurturing environment, but it's worth the effort, teachers say."

avoiding the praise sandwich

How often should you give feedback? This is a question I've wrestled with for a decade. As a high-school English teacher, I try my best to write thoughtful comments on all my students' summative assessments, but the volume in my particular field is soul-crushing. It's not uncommon for me to have 50 three-page essays to...

"1. Survey students about our school's writing atmosphere What role do you expect writing to play in your life during the next 5-10 years? What do you think colleges/universities expect in terms of student writing? What writing do you think is valued at your high school? What does your teacher value in terms of writing? How do you know what writing is valued at your school and in this class? In the last 2-3 years, what has positively influenced your writing? What feedback is most helpful to you as a writer? How does grading influence your writing? My colleague and I turned these questions into a Google form survey, and the results will give us lots to think about in the months ahead. This is a great opportunity to talk with students about what they value about writing and help them find ways to make their writing reflect what they value and what readers might need.  2. Separate my reading roles At the symposium, participants discussed how rarely we simply read student work as readers. 3. Create opportunities to switch "modes""

"What we do know is that a plethora of assessment-related research has shed light not just on the importance of students' mindsets, but also on the importance of continual feedback and how active retrieval of information, in carefully spaced intervals, can produce long-lasting learning. Research also shows that providing students with choice enhances attention and engagement -- and confirms that the arts can help deepen long-term memory consolidation (Hardiman). Specifically, the following research is helping to change our understanding of the correlation between teaching and learning -- and altering our approaches to student assessment."

" It's possible to avoid gripe sessions while providing opportunities for feedback and reflection that are strategically integrated into classroom routines. The ideas below can be insightful for students and teachers."

One tool with potential for improving students' ability to convey thoughts and ideas effectively through text is classroom-based writing assessment. Such formative assessments allow teachers to gauge the effectiveness of their instructional practices, modify instruction as needed, and provide students with feedback on writing strengths and areas in need of further development. Watch video of the event or listen to it below.

"The Gallup Student Poll is an online poll made up of 20 well-researched questions designed to assess the hope, engagement, and wellbeing of students in the U.S. The poll takes eight to ten minutes to complete, and is entirely free to any public or private school in the United States. After your students complete the poll, you will receive a detailed report on the engagement level at your school. This report can be monumental in discovering elements of your school community that can be improved upon to increase student engagement. The act of administering the Gallup Student Poll, or any poll designed to research student engagement, is also an excellent opportunity to connect with your students. Explain to them why you're asking them to complete the poll and let them know that their school cares about their wellbeing. Reassure your students that you are listening to their feedback and that the results will be studied carefully and acted upon. Once you have a good idea of how engaged your students are, you can start to create activities and programs to increase their engagement."

"I want my students to feel secure in the knowledge that nobody is beyond criticism (even their teacher), and that the bigger challenge is developing the good sense to acknowledge and successfully respond to feedback. Along those lines, I also offer the suggestions below about teaching writing:"

"Unfortunately, students are expected to learn how to avoid plagiarism by some kind of osmosis. As they progress from grade to grade, they are expected to already know how to weave research into their writing in original, elegant, and ethical ways, but far too often, they don't have this skill set. Not at all. We need to explicitly teach these skills, and we need to do it more than once if we want good results. How? First, we need to help them identify plagiarism. When students are shown different examples of plagiarism and taught-even through basic lecture-the many forms it can take, their understanding of what constitutes plagiarism gets much more sophisticated (Landau, Druen, & Arcuri, 2002; Moniz, Fine, & Bliss, 2008). Then we need to give them practice in correctly citing their sources. When students get hands-on practice with paraphrasing and correctly citing sources, especially if that practice comes with instructor feedback, plagiarism is significantly reduced (Emerson, Rees, & MacKay, 2005). Below I have outlined five exercises you can do with students in grades 7-12 to give them a much better understanding of what plagiarism is and how to correctly integrate research into their own writing."

"Sommers has been researching teacher response to writing for decades. "If teaching involves leaps of faith," she says, "responding is one of the greatest leaps because we have so little direct evidence of what students actually do with our comments, of why they find some useful and others not." Her key advice? A teacher's response to a student's work can play a leading role in the student's development as a writer - but to leverage that potential, a teacher needs to understand where and how much to comment, and how to engage the student in the feedback process. GETTING IT WRITE: SIX WAYS TO TEACH THROUGH COMMENTS To avoid these issues - and to stave off comment overload - Sommers suggests that teachers begin by asking themselves, "What do I want my students to learn, and how will my comments help them learn?" A teacher can write seventeen comments on a short draft, but a student probably won't learn seventeen different lessons. Sommers advises teachers to:"

"Forty-four years later, I wonder how he would have responded to my paper, and I am still singing the five-paragraph-theme blues, having fought the template's rigid lessons ever since.  I also know, from what scores of college students have reported to me (and from students Jennifer Gray interviewed), that it also gets in the way of other writers. Conversely, students tell me that what interests them in writing is teachers engaging them in real composing problems: Giving choice in topic; experimenting with different kinds of writing for a variety of audiences and purposes; and providing opportunities for thoughtful, in-process feedback from multiple sources-teachers, parents, peers, and others. (See post by  Ken Lindblom for more suggestions.) And the more students are interested in writing, the more motivated they are to improve, just as my neighbor who spends hours, weeks, and months on his skateboard wants to get better at his skateboarding skills-falling off, sometimes dramatically, but always getting back up and trying again.  He's interested in skateboarding, is willing to concentrate on that, and has gotten pretty good.  In the same way, if we get our students interested in their writing, they too will develop their writing skills.  From amazing teachers like Donald Graves and Donald Murray, Nancie Atwell, Kelly Gallagher, and Penny Kittle, we have a wealth of ideas about how schools can nurture joy and purpose in novice writers and how we can bring authentic writing experiences into our classrooms."

Change in Education