USING TIMELY AND SPECIFIC FEEDBACK SUSANN PHAIR

SPECIFIC CONTEXT OF MY CASESTUDY Tatachilla Lutheran College, (TLC) established in 1995 is an R-12 co- educational Christian school with over 1400 students and is divided into three sub schools – primary, middle school and senior school. Its location, in the wine region of McLaren Vale on the southern fringe of Adelaide South Australia, provides a comprehensive and rigorous academic curriculum, with a particular focus on the performing arts and environmental education. Pastoral care, built on Christian foundations, is integral to College life.

Hattie and Yates (2007) tell us that what the students really need is feedback from their teacher or peers that provides them with information as to: 1. How to achieve their goals 2. Where to move to next. 3. How can they close the learning gap between where they are now and where they need to be? The gap has to bridgeable and not too a huge chasm. I found that many teachers don’t give specific feedback to the students when they draft or mark their work to help them understand how to ‘close the learning gap’.

The Action I undertook I conducted three interviews with a member of the English Faculty conducted over Term 1 2107, as well as informal conversations regarding the and how to improve and develop feedback to Senior English Studies students

The Outcome of my Actions I created four interview questions regarding feedback after researching and following what I have learned from the CEA Workshops: What is Feedback How is it currently provided? How can it be improved? How do you judge and track the outcome of the feedback? These questions were designed to elicit the teacher’s present understanding of the role and value of feedback in enhancing students’ learning and how it could be improved and monitored

Week/ Date Range Unit Due Dates Language Study 24/7 – planning due 1 24/7 – 28/7 Language Study 24/7 – planning due 2 31/7 – 4/8 31/7 – 1st paragraph due   3 7/8 – 11/8 7/8 2nd paragraph due 10/8 3rd paragraph due 4 14/8 – 18/8 14/8 4th paragraph due 16/8 5th paragraph due 5 21/8 – 25/8 21/8 6th paragraph due 23/8 7th paragraph due 6 28/8 – 1/9 28/8 1st full draft due 7 4/9 – 8/9 4/9 2nd full draft due 8 11/9 – 15/9 11/9 3rd full draft due 9 18/9 – 22/9 10 25/9 – 29/9 22/9 –final due Week/ Date Range Unit Due Dates 1 2/5 – 5/5 Advocacy Text Study   2 8/5 – 12/5 3 15/5 – 19/5 15/5 – 1st paragraph due 17/5 – 2nd paragraph due 19/5 – 3rd paragraph due 4 22/5 – 26/5 Advocacy Text Study/ Advocacy Text Creation 24/5 – full draft due 5 29/5 – 2/6 Advocacy Text Creation 1/6 – second draft due 6 5/6 – 9/6 8/6 – final due for Advocacy Text Analysis 7 12/6 - 16/6 12/6 – 1st text draft 15/6 – 2nd text draft 8 19/6 – 23/6 19/6 – 3rd text draft 22/6 – 2nd draft for all texts 9 26/6 – 30/6 Advocacy Text Creation + Language Study 29/6 – Final for all texts 10 3/7 Language Study Week/ Date Range Unit Due Dates 1 30/1 - 3/2 Magazine/ Charity Ad Analysis 30/1 – Magazine 1st draft due 2 6/2 – 10/2 Charity Ad Analysis 6/2 – Magazine 2nd draft due 9/2 – 1st Paragraph Charity Analysis due 3 13/2 – 17/2 13/2 – Magazine Final due 15/2 – 2nd Paragraph Charity Analysis due 16/2 – 3rd Paragraph Charity Analysis due 4 20/2 – 24/2 Charity Ad Analysis + Narrative 20/2 – 1st full draft Charity Analysis due   5 27/2 – 3/3 27/2 – 2nd full draft Charity Analysis due 3/3 – Final Charity Analysis due 6 6/3 – 10/3 Narrative + Song Study 9/3 – 1st draft Narrative due 7 15/3 – 17/3 (public holidays prior to 15/3) 16/3 – 2nd draft Narrative due 8 20/3 – 24/3 20/3 – 1st paragraph song analysis due 23/3 – Final Narrative due 24/3 – 2nd paragraph song analysis due 9 27/3 – 31/3 Song Study 29/3 – 3rd paragraph song analysis due 31/3 – Full draft song analysis due 10 3/4 - 7/4 6/4 – 2nd draft song analysis due 11 10/4 – 13/4 Song Study/ Year 12 Retreat 10/4 – song analysis final due.