EDUC 4206 Professional Experience 4: Teacher as Inquirer

Professional Inquiry Project Proposal

Pre-service Teacher: Emily Greenhalgh ID no.: 110168036

Context

In order to complete this Professional Inquiry Project, I will be attending a category six school located in the
Northern Suburbs. The school consists of approximately 500 students across 17 classes. I will be using the feedback
strategies outlined in this paper in a year 4/5 class. The class is made up of 29 diverse students with differing needs
and learning styles. Within this class there are several students who are potentially on the autism spectrum,
however none of these students have been diagnosed. One student in this class has been diagnosed with dyslexia
and dyspraxia, while another has severe emotional and behavioural regulation difficulties which impact the other
students’ learning through distractions.

Plan

Inquiry Question: How can I make sure that I provide my year 4/5 students with positive feedback that is both
frequent and specific to learners throughout mathematics lessons?

I have decided to focus my inquiry on the AITSL Standard 5 “Assess, provide feedback and report on student
learning”. I will be basing my inquiry on focus area 5.2 “Provide feedback to students on their learning”. This area I
was able to begin learning on my third year practicum at a very superficial level, however, I would like to develop
my feedback skills as I feel as though this is a very integral skill to have and therefore understanding the different
types of feedback and engaging students by using feedback will benefit both my development and the students
knowledge. Therefore, I will develop my ability to give constructive, positive feedback to students in a timely
manner, to ensure the students gain deeper knowledge and understanding about their learning and the content.

In order to plan for this inquiry project I have had conversations with my mentor teacher as to what lessons
feedback will be of most benefit. Whilst discussing this we both agreed that mathematics was an area in which the
students would learn most from feedback. Therefore feedback can and will be performed regularly as mathematics
classes are completed daily.

Effective teachers utilise feedback to promote academic learning, student understanding (Chin 2006, p. 1315), and
the development of an interactive learning environment (Smith & Higgins 2006, p. 494). As one of the most
powerful tools in a teacher’s belt, feedback should be a high priority of professional development for teachers, yet
it is an area that requires development in most teachers (Panhoon & Wongwanich 2013, p. 4124). Feedback is a
valuable form of assessment-based improvement, encouraging learner reflection, modification and development
(Panhoon & Wongwanich 2013, p. 4125), and has been found to increase students’ learning capacities and increase
academic achievement consistently, when conducted effectively (Hattie & Timperley 2007, cited in Panhoon &
Wongwanich 2013, p. 4129). Feedback needs to be specific, idea-based and meaningful in order to effectively
promote student learning outcomes (Paulus 1999, p. 267). This argument is supported by Good and Brophy (2008,
p. 83) who argue the importance of teachers providing specific feedback in order to promote effective classroom
behaviour and to support student learning in all subject areas. It also needs to be descriptive and supportive to gain
student motivation and positive student-teacher relationships (Chung & Yuen 2011 p. 23). I aim to ensure that the
feedback I provide to my students follows this, with a focus on ensuring it is frequent, explicit and meaningful.

Further to promoting student outcomes and academic achievement, Burnett and Mandel (2002) suggests that by
providing students with constructive, positive feedback can create more stable, trusting relationships between
student and teacher. When teachers utilise feedback in effective ways they promote the teacher-student
relationship by demonstrated care and thought through specificity and differentiation (Burnett & Mandel 2002;
Groundwater-Smith et al 2015, p. 307). Feedback has also been found to motivate students by demonstrating
teacher interest, and encouraging student pride, responsibility and ownership for learning (Groundwater-smith et
al. 2015, p. 306). Furthermore, Carvalhol et al. (2014) and Smith and Higgins (2006, p. 495) suggests that students
will engage with the feedback and apply it to new situations, using self-evaluation, if the teacher presents the
information positively towards the students themselves and the work they are presenting. Therefore, I will aim to
focus my feedback to students to be specific and encouraging and ensure it is given within a relevant time frame.

Woolfolk and Margetts (2013, p. 521) discuss the importance of teacher to student feedback being specific, clear
and consistent in order to promote learning, develop student understanding, and improve the learning
environment. Teacher to student feedback needs to outline errors, provide methods of correction, and commend
positives (Woolfolk & Margetts 2013, p. 522). As such, during my placement I will ensure to analyse for errors, but
will also make it my priority to provide students with means of correcting their work, and will make sure that
whenever I give any feedback, I include statements that congratulate students for their good work. I will need to
make sure to encourage students to look at and utilise their feedback so they receive the benefits of my advice on
corrections for work.

In alignment with Woolfolk and Margetts, Tomlinson and Moon (2013) share their view that a positive classroom
environment needs to be one in which students are able to succeed, be challenged and have learning experiences
tailored to their ability and interests. Therefore, whilst on placement I will ensure to create learning tasks in which
the students will be challenged and reach success with the assistance of positive feedback. I will differentiate tasks
so that students’ needs are met and feedback will be at a level in which the students are able to understand and
apply to future work.

In this part of inquiry I will also ensure to draw on educational concepts to create an engaging classroom
environment. These strategies will include planning using the 5 E’s – excite, explore, explain, expand and evaluate,
to ensure the learners are benefitting during the learning and whilst the feedback is given (Miami Museum of
Science 2001, cited in Cengage Learning Australia, et.al 2015). Furthermore, the 5 E’s extend with two more
strategies which include “examining” and “exchanging” (Miami Museum of Science 2001, cited in Cengage Learning
Australia, et.al 2015).. Working through the final stages of “examining” students work and then “exchanging”
knowledge with students will be a crucial part of the feedback process as this will determine understanding which
will inform which feedback type I will apply and what information is given in this feedback (Miami Museum of
Science 2001, cited in Cengage Learning Australia, et.al 2015).

I look forward to applying my knowledge of feedback in the classroom and engaging with students, my mentor
teacher and my critical friend to determine ways to improve my practice for my future teaching.

Action

During my placement I will develop feedback strategies in order to further the students’ knowledge and
understanding on the content they are working on. I will use two strategies - written and oral feedback and develop
my understanding as to which of these strategies students benefit and learn from most.

The two main feedback types I will be using throughout this inquiry process are written feedback and oral feedback.
I will be comparing the two and determining which one is most effective. Whilst engaging in oral feedback I will be
using phrases such as “I like the way you have shown this… maybe now you can try this…”. I will also try using a
‘feedback burger’ system which will consist of something positive about their work, followed by some constructive
criticism and then followed by another positive outlook. I will also look at giving individual feedback, compared to
giving general feedback for the entire class and develop an understanding of the impacts on student engagement
with the feedback.

I will implement this strategy throughout the mathematics lessons during each day. I will then follow this up by
collecting data throughout the break following these lessons (ie. Recess/lunch/afterschool). This will ensure that the
information about the lesson will be current and informative.

Observation

Over the course of my two lead-in days, volunteer days and four week block, I will keep a journal which notes down
specific techniques shown by my mentor teacher (to note the actions and approaches already put in place). These
notes will be a separate resource that I will use in conjunction with a journal I will scribe about my personal
techniques used. I will use these journal notes to determine what went well and what could be improved on during
the next application of the strategy.

In conjunction with my daily journal (which documents the actions and approaches used and the influence they had
on the class), I will use two other main strategies to collect and record data. These are: a student questionnaire
which will provide the views of the students, and written notes and conversations provided by my mentor teacher.

During this process I will ask the students to perform a feedback form (See Appendix) about how they believe my
strategy is working in the class and provide more information as to how this strategy could be improved to help
them succeed. This will be done with the entire class, to gather different student opinions and develop a clear
understanding of the individual students’ needs.

The student feedback form will be outlined as a questionnaire which will have several multiple choice questions
ranking the level of achievement and two short answer questions. This will allow me to have written evidence of
the feedback given towards my approach and from these notes I will tally the information into either relevant or
non-relevant strategies which will support my decision to supplement and modify any aspects of my plans to suit
the needs of the students.

The action research process is complex and requires planning and thought (McAteer 2013). Therefore by choosing a
data collection source such as questionnaires I am able to tailor my questions to the specific needs that I am
researching (McAteer 2013). Observations need to occur throughout the action research phase as this is where
most of the information is gathered (McAteer 2013). Therefore, I will observe my students and keep a log of the
integral aspects of the learning throughout the lesson.

Reflection

When I analyse the data collected, I will be looking for the participation of students and how focussed they are
during the time of feedback. When analysing student feedback I will acknowledge how they respond to the
feedback they are given and how this influences their learning throughout literacy lessons. I will also look at the
tasks that follow the feedback to see how effective the strategy was and what elements of the feedback they are
using in other areas of their learning.

Interpreting the data will occur over the course of the week as well as interpreting the data as a collective at the
end of each week. These data collections will inform what needs to be adapted in order to most benefit the
students and therefore, this stage of analysis is vital.

Throughout this process I will be conversing with a range of people to help identify ways of improving my practice
and analysing the recorded data. These people will include my mentor teacher and my critical friend. I will also gain
insightful knowledge about the students from my mentor teacher and therefore modify my strategies to best suit
the needs of the students. By working with these people I will be able to gain a deeper understanding of my
strategy and learn new techniques to implement them.

Personal reflection is an important aspect of the learning process, especially when working on new ideas and
approaches to learning (Clark 2000). Therefore, I aim to reflect on my practice daily to ensure the best interest of
the children is of focus. I will also acknowledge the influence the strategies will have on my pedagogy as I develop
new understandings of the content and how to approach feedback skills within the classroom.
Throughout this inquiry process I will be able to acquire a range of useful strategies to use in the future. I will be
able to use the data collected to inform my future practice and further develop these new strategies. My inquiry
plan will develop and change throughout the placement and therefore I need to be able to adapt my strategies to
suit the class as my understanding grows.

References

Burnett, P & Mandel, V 2010, ‘Praise and Feedback in the Primary Classroom: Teachers’ and Students’ Perspectives’,
Australian Journal of Educational & Developmental Psychology, vol. 10, pp. 145-154.

Chin, C 2006, ‘Classroom Interaction in Science: Teacher questioning and feedback to students’ responses’’,
International Journal of Science Education, vol. 28, no. 11, pp. 1315-1346.

Clark, D 2000, ‘Time to Reflect’, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, vol. 3, pp. 201-203.

Good, T L & Brophy, J E 2008, Looking in classrooms, Pearson/Allyn and Bacon Publishers, Boston.

Groundwater-Smith, S, Ewing, R & Le Cornu, R 2015, Teaching: Challenges and Dilemmas, 5th Ed., Cengage Learning,
Australia, New South Wales.

McAteer, M 2013, ‘Collecting, collating and conversing with data’, Action research in education, BERA/SAGE
Research Methods in Education, SAGE Publications Ltd, London, pp. 62-88.

Panhoon, S & Wongwanich, S 2014, ‘An Analysis of Teacher Feedback for Improving Teaching Quality in Primary
Schools’, Procedia Social and Behavioural Sciences, pp. 4124-4130.

Paulus, T 1999, ‘The Effect of Peer and Teacher Feedback on Student Writing’, Journal of Second Language Writing,
vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 265-289.

Smith, H & Higgins, S 2006, ‘Opening classroom interaction: the importance of feedback’, Cambridge Journal of
Education, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 485-502.

Tomlinson, C & Moon, T 2013, Assessment and student success in a differentiated classroom, Association for
Supervision & Curriculum Development, Alexandria, Virginia, pp. 1-16.

Woolfolk, A & Margetts, K 2013, Educational psychology, 3rd Ed., Pearson, French Forest, NSW.
Appendix: Student Feedback Form

ORAL FEEDBACK Positive/Yes Average/Maybe Negative/No

How did this feedback make you

feel?
Will you use this feedback in the
future?
How helpful was this feedback?

What did you learn from this

feedback?

What did/didn’t you like about this

feedback?
Appendix: Student Feedback Form

WRITTEN FEEDBACK Positive/Yes Average/Maybe Negative/No

How did this feedback make you

feel?
Will you use this feedback in the
future?
How helpful was this feedback?

What did you learn from this

feedback?

What did/didn’t you like about this

feedback?
Appendix: Teacher Observations

FEEDBACK Teacher Comment:

Type of feedback used:

Was feedback relevant? How?

Was the student engaged?

How could this feedback be

improved?

Any other comments: