For example: I write SO MUCH USEFUL GUIDANCE in the margins of my students’ papers. And yet, as far as I can tell, they just don’t spend much time reading all those helpful comments.<\/p>\n
They tell me they want to learn. They tell me they want higher grades. They could accomplish both missions if they would\u00a0just read the feedback<\/em>. Oy.<\/p>\n A few years ago, I devised a strategy to combat this feedback problem.<\/p>\n First:<\/strong> I wrote comments on papers as I had before.<\/p>\n Second:<\/strong> I summarized the three most important concerns at the end of the paper.<\/p>\n (For example:<\/p>\n “Be sure to focus the topic sentence on abstract nouns.<\/p>\n Give specific examples for all<\/em> your main arguments.<\/p>\n Look out for danging modifiers.”)<\/p>\n Third:<\/strong> I returned the paper with the comments BUT WITHOUT A GRADE.<\/p>\n Fourth:<\/strong> Students reviewed the comments, and wrote up their own summary<\/em>. (This step ensured that students read and understood the comments.)<\/p>\n Fifth:<\/strong> Then — and only then — did the students get their grades.<\/p>\n My thinking went like this:<\/p>\n My students were REALLY motivated to know their grades. If I could harness that motivation correctly, then I could get them to review\u00a0and learn from<\/em><\/strong> the comments I spent so much time writing.<\/p>\n They would get the grades and learn at the same time. Brilliant! (Well, potentially<\/em> brililant…)<\/p>\n I did not think to collect data at the time, so I don’t have a scientific answer to the obvious question — “did this strategy work?”<\/p>\n But I have a few strong impressions.<\/p>\n First: the students were REALLY BAD at summarizing my comments, and\u00a0did not like the process<\/em>.<\/p>\n On the one hand, this conclusion suprised me. After all: I had summarized the comments for them<\/em> (“topic sentences, examples, dangling modifiers”).<\/p>\n All they had to do was spot and re-summarize my own summary.<\/p>\n On the other hand, this conclusion made sense. No wonder my students hadn’t responded effectively to my comments — they didn’t even want to read them!<\/p>\n Second: my strategy either really helped, or made no difference.<\/p>\n In some cases, students quickly took advantage of this system. I could tell because\u00a0my comments were different on each paper<\/em>.<\/p>\n If the first paper asked them to focus on “abstract nouns in the topic sentence,” the next paper clearly met that goal.<\/p>\nIt Just Might Work…<\/h2>\n
So: Did It Work?<\/h2>\n
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