Emily Greenhalgh

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Professional Inquiry Project

Focus

The focus for this professional inquiry project was investigating how I could provide my year 4/5 students with positive
feedback that is both frequent and specific to learners throughout mathematics lessons. Initially I had a focus on
explicitly giving the students either verbal or written feedback, depending on the task. However, throughout the five
week placement block, it became evident that these two feedback styles work hand in hand and they can be most
powerful when used together. Feedback was improved on throughout this process with the support of my critical
friend, mentor teacher and student samples.

Justification of teaching behaviour & curriculum area focus

The topic of feedback in mathematics classes was chosen for this inquiry project as I believe it is a crucial aspect of
professional learning as it connected well with AITSL Standard 5 “Assess, provide feedback and report on student
learning”, especially focus area 5.2 “Provide feedback to students on their learning”. Positive feedback is a crucial
element of student learning and can provide a way of creating positive and trusting relationships between teacher and
students (Burnett & Mandel 2002; Groundwater-Smith et al 2015, p. 307). I believe that building a positive classroom
environment where students are able to succeed and be challenged is also important and feedback is able to enhance
this (Chin 2006, p. 1315). In saying this during my inquiry project it was a focus to use Tomlinson and Moon’s (2013)
strategy of using the feedback the students received in mathematics lessons to create a positive, yet challenging,
environment where all students were able to succeed and further develop their understanding of mathematics.

Context & curriculum area

For this PIP experience, I attended a category six school located in the Northern suburbs. The class I focused on was a
composite year 4/5 class which consists of 29 very diverse students with differing learning needs and styles. In this class
there are several students who show ASD tendencies however, are yet to be diagnosed. One student in the class has
been diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia, showing low levels of fine motor skills, and two other students in the class
join him in ‘Skillantics’ (Halliday 2016) each week to progress their motor skills. Another student in the class has severe
emotional and behavioural regulation difficulties which impacts her learning as well as those in the class.

Throughout the PIP I engaged these students in a series of mathematics lessons - the topic being shape which then
followed on to angles and symmetry. It was important to facilitate the students learning so they were able to be
successful in the achievement standards, “Students connect three-dimensional objects with their two-dimensional
representations” and “They describe transformations of two-dimensional shapes and identify line and
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rotational symmetry” (Australian Curriculum 2018). Therefore, I strived to give thorough feedback to each student to
improve their understanding of the content.

Design & data collection techniques

Throughout the series of mathematics lessons, I engaged with multiple strategies to give feedback effectively. Verbal
feedback was often given to the entire class after each lesson, however this was not a specific focus of my inquiry
project.

During the first week I focused my attention on giving explicit written feedback after the first two lessons of the topic.
This allowed students time to create understanding and structured their learning so they were able to show their own
thinking before working through any misconceptions. The feedback process began by choosing three students and
targeting their work. This meant I could make my feedback focused and explicit. However, this strategy was not
successful for the entire class, instead my time was limited and therefore the amount of students I was able to give
feedback to was also limited. Feedback was then gathered from these specific students using a feedback questionnaire
to inform my future feedback. During this first week I identified that it was important to create a template that would be
able to help scaffold the feedback I gave the students. I also identified that my feedback was generalized and not as
specific as it should have been.

During week two I chose to further my written feedback skills and focus on a few different students. This week the
maths focus was introducing the concept of angles, therefore I gave my feedback after their prior knowledge lesson as I
wanted the students to be able to use this feedback within future lessons. I also used this information to identify what
the students already knew to determine my future planning. I used the same feedback questionnaire from week one, as
a way to collect information about my feedback, as well as the iPad for photos to refer back to in order to construct my
feedback. I was able to amend the feedback I gave students in the previous week to better suit this week’s lesson and
tailor it for these specific students. This was difficult as I still had not mastered my time management and I also chose
students who were at very opposing levels of learning which made giving effective feedback quickly very challenging.

Throughout week three my focus was on giving the students verbal feedback in small groups. After having multiple
discussions about my feedback strategies with my mentor, we decided that I would need to organize the students into
specific groups to discuss their progress and any misconceptions that may be occurring during class. This feedback was
given to the students in an interview style and then I asked them more prompting questions to gather feedback on my
feedback. This strategy was the most effective up until this point as the students were engaged with the conversation
and the information was instantaneous. Students were also able to ask questions alongside receiving information that
could further their understanding.
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Throughout the last two weeks I decided to organize the students into groups that would receive similar feedback and
compare any notes that would be beneficial to give a range of students in these groups rather than individual. I used
this strategy for both verbal and written feedback and found that I was able to manage my time more effectively as I
was giving feedback that was specific for the group of students rather than repeating similar information in multiple
situations.

Data results & analysis

Throughout the PIP it became evident that feedback was a very important aspect of my teaching. It provided the
foundation of what I was to plan next due to a developed understanding of what the students knew and the students in
return were able to make new connections and create deeper understanding with the content I was teaching. This was
because I was able to recognize how the students were reacting to my feedback and the comments they were providing
me with demonstrated misconceptions which were quickly and easily discussed and worked through.

I was able to use the student feedback questionnaires to provide information as to how I could amend my feedback to
make it more specific and student focused (see appendix 1). This developed into discussions with the students, which
became my main source of gathering information and exploring different feedback-giving strategies.

Throughout the placement, I kept a journal of which students I had given explicit written feedback to (see appendix 2).
However, by the end of the second week I could see that my impact was not strong enough and therefore changed my
tactic to give multiple students feedback at the same time.

Throughout the last few weeks my feedback was mainly done verbally. Therefore most of this feedback was not
recorded. However, throughout one of the feedback groups, the students wrote down their responses while we spoke
about them (see appendix 3). This allowed me to view and refer back to their responses and gauge their reaction to my
prompting questions. However, I would not use this strategy often as the students were distracted by this and therefore
we were unable to discuss their ideas and misconceptions in detail.

Verbal feedback was the most effective strategy to engage the students. However, it is helpful to incorporate both
verbal and written feedback to solidify meaning and allow both teacher and student to refer back to and determine
growth.

Reflection

Throughout placement I have determined that in order to manage my time most effectively, as well as give the students
positive feedback that will support and encourage their learning, I need to divide the students’ work into similar learning
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abilities and then provide them with written feedback as well as verbal feedback which will encourage them to ask
questions and develop a deeper understanding of the content (Panhoon & Wongwanich 2013, p. 4125).

My feedback strategies have dramatically changed and improved throughout the PIP with the analysis and constructive
advice of my critical friend. They have helped in my decision making to incorporate smaller group feedback and this has
impacted the way I will now view feedback. It is also evident that for feedback to be relevant and effective there needs
to be some form of praise followed by constructive comments to allow for growth (Callingham 2008).

This was most evident throughout my final weeks of placement as I was able to discuss progress with the students and
celebrate successes more prominently while working with smaller groups. Therefore I was then able to then prompt the
students with questions to help explore further concepts and develop deeper meaning with the content.

Conclusion

Within the PIP I have gained experience which I will use in my future practice to benefit the learning of not only myself
but my students regarding to feedback strategies. It is evident that all students should be given feedback that will
impact their learning positively (Chin 2006, p. 1315). Throughout this process and with the help of feedback and analysis
from my critical friend, mentor teacher and students, I have identified that my preferred method for giving feedback is
incorporating both written and verbal feedback with a main focus on providing students with similar learning abilities,
tailored feedback within small groups. Incorporating, Tomlinson and Moon’s (2013) strategy alongside Burnett and
Mandell’s (2002) will greatly impact my future teaching and in turn, provide students with positive feedback that is both
frequent and specific to create a positive learning environment for all learners.
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References:

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority 2018, Mathematics, Australian Curriculum, viewed 19
August 2018, < https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/mathematics/>.

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.

Callingham, R 2008, 'Dialogue and Feedback: Assessment in the Primary Mathematics Classroom', Australian Primary
Mathematics Classroom, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 18-21.

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.

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

Halliday, L 2016, PHYS.ED.Overview for Term 3 2016, Phys. Ed at A*********, Weebly, viewed 23 September 2018,
<http://pea*********.blogspot.com/>.

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.

Tomlinson, C & Moon, T 2013, Assessment and student success in a differentiated classroom, Association for Supervision
& Curriculum Development, Alexandria, Virginia, pp. 1-16.
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Appendix 1: Student Feedback (week 1)

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Appendix 1: Student Feedback (week 2)

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Appendix 2: Journal of explicit feedback

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Appendix 3: Written responses during interview style conversation