Pip Findings Lang

Daniel
Lang 100098632 EDUC4206

Professional Inquiry Project Report

Explanation of teaching behaviour investigated within a specific
curriculum area:

The focus for this Professional Inquiry Project (PIP) was; ‘How to effectively
provide written and verbal feedback to students on their learning in order to
improve their educational outcomes in mathematics’. Mathematics in my
placement classroom was conducted a little differently than I had experienced in
the past. The school used the Tierney Kennedy Back-‐to-‐Front mathematics
program. This program combines challenging tasks with conceptual change
questioning, therefore the aim is for students to build new connections and fix
their own misconceptions (Kennedy 2015). My year 6/7 classroom would divide
into their year level for mathematics and during placement I spent time with
both groups to help them progress through the program. It was during these
sessions that I was able to reflect on my use of feedback and seek feedback from
students and my mentor. I also took the whole class for a unit on volume and
capacity. During this unit I constantly used feedback to help students with their
learning.

Justification of teaching behaviour and curriculum area focus:

This inquiry focus was selected because I acknowledged I needed to provide
more informative, specific feedback. Doing this helps solidify student knowledge,
enables me to clarify any misconceptions, and assists students in understanding
where they need help moving forward. Prior to placement I felt the feedback I
provided was quite simplistic and based on providing praise rather than giving
specific feedback. Therefore I wanted to focus on providing specific feedback as a
way of enhancing student understanding and knowledge. Additionally, specific
feedback provides awareness about what was done well, and what areas could
be improved.

1
Daniel Lang 100098632 EDUC4206

Hattie and Timperley (2007, p.81) explain that feedback is one of the most
powerful factors in learning and achievement. Furthermore, feedback must
provide information that specifically links to the task at hand, and additionally,
for feedback to be effective, there must be a learning context to which it is used
(Hattie & Timperley 2007, p.81). When teaching mathematics, Barry (2008, p.1)
explains that descriptive feedback enables students to learn and understand
their mistakes instantly, which inturn improves their learning. Furthermore,
Barry (2008, p.1) explains that one of the first places to improve student
achievement is to provide students with descriptive feedback. According to
Barry (2008, p.1), descriptive feedback in mathematics enables students to
reflect on their own learning process.

Rowe (2008, p.78) explains that feedback has been identified as a key element of
quality teaching, and that students value feedback as they are aware of its
importance to improved learning outcomes. Rowe (2008, p.78) explains there
needs to be a balanced approach when providing feedback to ensure the
individual needs of students are met.

Context and curriculum area:

My primary school placement was a small government Reception to Year 7
school located in the Adelaide Hills school with 120 students enrolled this year.
The school has no Indigenous students enrolled and no students enrolled from a
language background other than English (My School 2017). I was placed in a
composite year 6/7 class with a total of 17 students. Of the 17, 11 are year 7’s, 6
are year 6’s and there are 10 boys and 7 girls. There was a diverse range of
learners in the classroom, one with severe learning difficulties, and a handful of
students who would often require attending ‘misconception’ lessons with the
principal.

The curriculum area the PIP investigated was mathematics, in particular volume
and capacity. This unit consisted of exploring what each of the terms refer to and
working out the volume of particular shapes. Additionally, there was a focus on
2

recognising that items with different appearances may have the same volume or
capacity, developing their problem solving and reasoning skills.

Design and data collection techniques:

To successfully achieve my inquiry goal I used various data collection methods.
These techniques were chosen because the information gathered came from
three different sources, providing multiple perspectives.

The first date collection technique was a mentor observation form (appendix 1).
This frequency sheet recorded a variety of things that helped me gain an
understanding of how effectively I used feedback. It highlighted how I could
improve the feedback I provide to students. This form was given to my mentor
during mathematics lessons, where concepts and strategies were regularly used.
This form enabled me to monitor and reflect on my use of feedback during
particular lessons, and this feedback was vital in helping me to improve my
feedback in future lessons.

The second technique used to collect and record data was a reflective journal
that I used regularly throughout placement (appendix 2). This technique enabled
me to self-‐analyse and reflect on how well I thought I delivered feedback. This
method was particular helpful after I received my mentors feedback from the
same lesson as it served as a way of comparing whether my perceptions matched
those of my mentor. According to Killen (2015, p.103), regardless of how well
you teach, there is always going to be room for improvement and by analysing
how you teach, you will be able to recognise your strengths and work at areas
that require improvement (Killen 2015, p.103).

The third technique was a questionnaire that was given to three students at the
completion of a particular lesson (appendix 3). This questionnaire asked
questions such as which form of feedback do you find most beneficial and what
do you think are some of the benefits of receiving feedback. This technique
3

proved helpful because it was information directly from students, which I then
used to shape my teaching.

Data results and analysis:

My mentors provided me with excellent feedback throughout, which I
implemented in my teaching. Some examples of feedback observed were
responding to verbal questions, good general confirmation, asking another
question on top of a student response to enable deeper thinking and initiate
problem solving skills. This became a focus throughout teaching mathematics as
I wanted students to become deep thinkers and to stretch themselves. She noted
that for students response to feedback provided, students answered further
questions when feedback was given, which led to students providing feedback to
their peers. My mentor also explained that I was effective at providing
immediate feedback when I walked around the different student tables. She also
noted that I provided written feedback to students through the use of the classes
‘feedback tickets’. Additional notes by my mentor were that I showed
development in avoiding general comments such as ‘good’ and ‘perfect’.
Additionally, she noted that throughout placement I showed development in
avoiding ‘praise’ feedback.

Student feedback was also beneficial. One student noted that feedback can be
good sometimes and other times it is better to leave it alone. When asked about
the importance of written feedback, a student stated it is important in some ways
but it depends what it is about. When asked about the benefits of feedback, one
student replied with very because you will be able to fix it if the feedback tells
you how you can improve. A different student noted that verbal feedback is
important to them because it helps them know what they got right or wrong and
why. This student also mentioned that written feedback is important because it
helps them understand what they need to try harder in. A third student
mentioned that feedback is good because it tells you if you are doing it right and
understanding concepts, or if you need to improve on anything. All students
agreed they like to receive feedback because it helps them identify if they are on
4

the right track and understanding the work. They also mentioned the advantage
of receiving feedback is to know you’ve done well in something. Each student
thought I provided enough feedback during my lessons.

I also provided self-‐feedback after lessons that helped me gain clarity as to the
feedback I was providing. I was mindful of whether I was achieving my goal of
enhancing student performance in mathematics. I noted the types of feedback I
provided was quite specific, and would often ask for students to demonstrate
their understanding. For example I noted that I asked, “How did you come to this
conclusion, how do you know it is right? Show me how you worked it out”.
Another was “You have demonstrated good understanding which was evident
through your clear working out. Next time use a ruler when drawing shapes as
some are difficult to identify”. These are examples of specific feedback I used, by
challenging students to explain their answers through reasoning.

Reflection:

Through the inquiry focus I was able to reflect on how I was providing feedback,
and subsequently make changes to my teaching. A key observation at the
beginning of placement was that I tended to give minimal feedback to the
students who grasped concepts. For example when working out the volume of a
rectangular prism, some students were able to do so confidently, whereas some
students had no idea. For the latter students I gave them ample feedback to
assist learning, but not nearly as much for the confident students. I noted that
these students, although confident and able to grasp concepts, still required
feedback to know they were on the right track. Therefore a change I made
throughout placement was providing timely and specific feedback to all students.
To help students grow in confidence with mathematics, I understand they need
to know whether an answer or solution is correct. They also need to receive
reassurance when they are correct, but also know how to correct errors and
learn from these. If students have failed to receive adequate reassurance of their
understanding, they may lack confidence to respond correctly to upcoming
5

questions. This is where reflection to the feedback I provided was vital, as it
helped me to see if I was helping further educational outcomes in mathematics.

Conclusion:

I found the opportunity to reflect on my teaching and the way I was delivering
feedback was particularly helpful. Through feedback from my mentor, I was able
to implement any recommended changes. These observations helped me to
identify areas I still needed to improve, such as avoiding praise feedback. This
was something I recognised beforehand I needed to work on, and to see it
highlighted by my mentor was strong reinforcement. Due to this, I was able to
move away from providing praise feedback, instead offering more specific
feedback that challenged learners to improve and grow. This inquiry focus has
enabled me to reflect on my teaching practices, as through clear examples by my
mentor and students, I was able to implement advice. I was able to see how
feedback can impact learning, as specific feedback I gave helped students to
grasp or solidify concepts.

6

References:

Barry, V 2008, ‘Using descriptive feedback in a sixth grade mathematics
classroom’, Maths in the middle institute partnership, pp. 1-‐48.

Hattie, J and Timperley, H 2007, ‘The power of feedback’, Review of educational
research, vol.77, no.1, pp. 81-‐112.

Kennedy, T 2015, ‘Back-‐to-‐Front Maths,’ Kennedy Press, viewed 17 September
2018, <https://www.backtofrontmaths.com.au/>

Killen, R 2016, 'Becoming a reflective teacher', Effective teaching strategies :
lessons from research and practice, 7th edn.

My School 2017, Primary School: School profile, Australian Curriculum,
Assessment and Reporting Authority, viewed 21 September 2018, <
https://www.myschool.edu.au/school/49188>
Lutterberg, J, Meijer, P, Oolbekkink-‐Marchand, H 2017, ‘Understanding the

complexity of teacher reflection in action research’, Educational action research,
vol.25, no.1, pp. 88-‐102.

Rowe, A 2008, ‘Student perceptions and preferences for feedback’, Asian social
science, vol.4, no.3, pp. 78-‐88.

7

Appendix 1:
Mentor Observation Form:
Mentor teacher name:
______________________________________________________________
Date/Day:
______________________________________________________________
Subject/lesson:
______________________________________________________________
Did you observe Daniel using feedback comments with the students?
Yes _________
No __________
Was the feedback general or specific? _____________________
Examples of feedback observed
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
How was the children’s response to the feedback provided?

______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
How could Daniel improve the feedback he provides to the students?

______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
8

Appendix 2:
Self-reflection journal
Date/Day:
______________________________________________________________
Subject/lesson:
______________________________________________________________
Quantity of feedback used:
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Response from feedback provided
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Examples of types of feedback offered
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
9

Appendix 3:
Student Feedback Questionnaire
Date/Day:
______________________________________________________________
Subject/lesson:
______________________________________________________________
How important is verbal feedback to you and why?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
How important is written feedback to you and why?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
What do you think are some of the advantages of receiving positive

feedback?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Do you think Daniel provides enough feedback?
Yes ________
No _________
How often do you like to receive feedback and why?
10

______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

11

Appendix 1:
Sue Pearce
Date/Day:
Thursday, 23rd August.
Subject/lesson:
Mathematics
Yes.
Was the feedback general or specific? Specific to questions asked.
Responding to verbal answers. Some general confirmation. Asking another

question a response. Giving immediate feedback during walk around. Written
peer feedback/teacher feedback tickets.
Answered further questions when feedback was given. Gave peer feedback to
others regarding their attempt at questions.
Avoid general feedback (eg. good, perfect). Avoid ‘praise’ feedback.

Feedback specific to task/process/learning. Feedback specific to success
criteria (keep mentioning this).

12

Appendix 1:
Sue Pearce
Date/Day:
Thursday, 30th August.
Subject/lesson:
Mathematics
Yes.
Was the feedback general or specific? Both specific and general.
Responding to questions posed by students. Well done on informing students

you will come back to it later (regarding relevance of algebra). Good leading
questions to students to prompt further thinking.
Took the feedback on board. Good application following the feedback

provided, with some students excited by new challenges posed.
An improvement on last week, keep trying to avoid general feedback as this

does not help students to grow. Well done on mentioning success criteria
during lesson, but still come back to this throughout the lesson so all students
are aware of it.

13

Appendix 1:
Trina Howlett.
Date/Day:
Friday, 7th September.
Subject/lesson:
Mathematics
Yes.
Was the feedback general or specific? Both.
Asking students to explain their line of thinking (eg. tell me how you came to
that conclusion). Good use of encouragement, whilst using asking students to
continue searching for answers.
Students enjoyed receiving feedback from Daniel. They asked Daniel on

several occasions whether their answer was correct. Daniel would often ask
for them to show him how they got to their answer, and through explaining
they were able to know their attempts were successful.
Pay close attention to those who go off task without supervision, keep them
motivated. It can be difficult to keep an eye on all students, but the ones who
go off task need almost constant supervision. Maybe position yourself around
these students and help when you notice they may be stuck on a question.

14

Appendix 1:
Sue Pearce
Date/Day:
Thursday, 13th September.
Subject/lesson:
Mathematics
Yes.
Was the feedback general or specific? Both general and specific.
Class feedback was good (eg. I like the way you are working through these
problems), it is a good encouragement for students and helps them stay
focused. Good use of language to help stretch the students. Practical and
specific feedback (eg. use a ruler next time to help clarify the graph).
Feedback linked back to success criteria.
Feedback was well received, students took feedback on-board and could see
them making corrections to their work. Feedback often resulted in students
discussing questions with their peers, good to see collaboration from
students.
You have done well to avoid using praise feedback, instead focussing on
delivering more specific feedback. It is always going to be something we need
to remind ourselves of as teachers.

15

16

17

18

19

20

Pip Findings Lang

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Pip Findings Lang

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Daniel

Lang 100098632 EDUC4206

Professional Inquiry Project Report

Lutterberg, J, Meijer, P, Oolbekkink-­‐Marchand, H 2017, ‘Understanding the

Mentor teacher name:

Was the feedback general or specific? _____________________

Examples of feedback observed

How was the children’s response to the feedback provided?

How could Daniel improve the feedback he provides to the students?

Quantity of feedback used:

Response from feedback provided

Examples of types of feedback offered

Student Feedback Questionnaire

How important is verbal feedback to you and why?

How important is written feedback to you and why?

What do you think are some of the advantages of receiving positive

Do you think Daniel provides enough feedback?

How often do you like to receive feedback and why?

Mentor teacher name:

Thursday, 23rd August.

Was the feedback general or specific? Specific to questions asked.

Examples of feedback observed

Responding to verbal answers. Some general confirmation. Asking another

How was the children’s response to the feedback provided?

How could Daniel improve the feedback he provides to the students?

Avoid general feedback (eg. good, perfect). Avoid ‘praise’ feedback.

Mentor teacher name:

Thursday, 30th August.

Was the feedback general or specific? Both specific and general.

Examples of feedback observed

Responding to questions posed by students. Well done on informing students

How was the children’s response to the feedback provided?

Took the feedback on board. Good application following the feedback

How could Daniel improve the feedback he provides to the students?

An improvement on last week, keep trying to avoid general feedback as this

Mentor teacher name:

Friday, 7th September.

Was the feedback general or specific? Both.

Examples of feedback observed

How was the children’s response to the feedback provided?

Students enjoyed receiving feedback from Daniel. They asked Daniel on

How could Daniel improve the feedback he provides to the students?

Mentor teacher name:

Thursday, 13th September.

Was the feedback general or specific? Both general and specific.

Examples of feedback observed

How was the children’s response to the feedback provided?

How could Daniel improve the feedback he provides to the students?

Potrebbero piacerti anche

Lutterberg, J, Meijer, P, Oolbekkink-‐Marchand, H 2017, ‘Understanding the