“How Re-Dos and Corrections Can Improve Your Teaching”

1. “How Re-Dos and Corrections Can Improve Your Teaching” Chris Cannon Sandy Creek High School Fayette County

2. Agenda • Initial impressions • Semantics? • Definitions • Why do it at all? • Research • Personal experience • College?Real life? • I’m interested, how do I do it? • Personal examples • Examples from the field • Examples from the room? • Questions/Concerns

3. Initial Impressions • Word association: • Mistake • Formative • Re-do • Correction

4. How will allowing students to correct their work make me a better teacher?

5. Semantics? • Redos, retakes, retests, and corrections have slightly different meanings in some situations • Cannon’s distinction: • Redo: a complete revision of an assignment/section, usually starting from the beginning of the assignment • Corrections: making changes to specific components of an assignment • BOTH REQUIRE EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK!

6. What, Exactly AM I Talking About? • Making corrections to assignments • Re-Doing assignments • Re-Taking tests in some cases • Re-Writing papers OR doing multiple drafts • Re-Explaining Content in a new/different way

7. Why do it at all? • Research indicates several positive effects: • Increased student motivation (McManus 2011) • Provides a sense of “hope” to lower achieving students (Judson 2007) • Follows research on how the brain works • We don’t “learn from mistakes”, we learn from CORRECTING mistakes! (Miller, 2009) • Neurons that are active during positive reinforcement linger longer than those active during negative reinforcement (wrong answers)

8. Why do it at all? • Common in other content areas • English teachers encourage multiple versions of tests • Many math teachers have re-do policies to encourage multiple exposure to content

9. Why do it at all? • College? • Syracuse survey of 300 college professors found many (68%) did not have a written policy, but were open to the idea if a student initiated the idea • Evidence of some type of redo policy on college syllabi (cursory search) • UGA, GSU, Georgia Southern, Clayton State, Macon State, Young Harris, LSU, Auburn

10. Why do it at all • Real World? • Pilot coming in for a wrong landing? • Ever mis-checked a box on a form or mis-calculated something on taxes? • Do farmers grow everything correctly the first time? • Ever changed a lesson or activity based on experience? • New Coke anyone? • Traveler’s insurance claim reviews

11. Why do it at all • Real World? • IBM study of 1,500 CEOs listed “creativity” as the asset they value most in an employee • People who take balanced risks and learn from mistakes were most valued in 2009 (IBM study here)

12. Why do it at all • Other personal observations: • Fewer incidences of cheating • Improved test scores (studying now) • Students are more interested in understanding WHY they are making the mistakes they are making • Most commonly referenced thing on my end of year surveys

14. What does it Look like? • Performance Task examples…

15. Student Example – Original Answer Interdependence My feedback: *Keiria, this is a great start, but you are missing the actual language associated with interdependence. How do these actions relate to consequences, both intended and unintended? • If the government forces Barnes & Noble to set a price ceiling, the government is telling them to sell below the equilibrium price. Because of the low prices on books, the demand for books increases. The price ceiling would cause a shortage since the store is not able to supply the books as quickly with such great demand. • If the government forces Barnes & Noble to set a price floor, the government is assigning them to sell above the equilibrium price. When consumers see the high prices , demand decreases for books. The price floor causes a surplus since consumers aren’t buying the books because of the high prices.

16. Student Example – Corrected answer Corrections Cont. • Graphs corrected on paper • Slide 9&10- If the government forces Barnes & Noble to set a price ceiling, the intended consequence is to lower prices for the buyers. The unintended consequence is the price ceiling would cause a shortage since the store is not able to supply the books as quickly with such great demand. • If the government forces Barnes & Noble to set a price floor, the intended consequence is increased profits for the sellers . The unintended consequence is the price floor causes a surplus since consumers aren’t buying the books because of the high prices.

17. My Experience: Tests and Quizzes • Day after tests, students can correct multiple choice questions pursuant to a couple of rules • They must finish these sentences: My answer is wrong because… & The correct answer is ___ because… • Usually allow for open note, but NO partners and no book. They can only correct using material THEY created • At any point, students can take an alternate version of any test or quiz • May be a different version or oral or essay

18. My Experience: Projects • Anything with a rubric may be re-submitted up to 2 times • Students must either submit a “correction letter” or contact me via e-mail or personal contact to explain what they did differently and why • In AP classes, I assign deadlines, in regular classes I am more flexible, but usually require corrections to be made before the EOCT

19. My Experience: Other assignments • No corrections on any book assignments or vocab quizzes • Any corrections on group assignments have to be made individually

20. Ok, I’m interested, now what? • Clarify your policy • What can be corrected? • Tests only? Projects only? Writing assignments? All assignments? • Are corrections “allowed” or “required?” • Grade improvement • Full credit? Half credit? • Steps to correct • Random submission? Parent signature on original? Meeting with you? Pre-written correction sheet? Steps same for all assignments? How long do students have? • AT TEACHER’S DISCRETION!!!!! (Wormeli)

21. Ok, I’m interested, now what? • Learn from peers • Let your students in on the process • Don’t try it all at once! • Try it with one assignment and above all, GIVE IT A CHANCE TO WORK!

22. IN house examples? • Experiences with redos? • Wormeli video

23. How will allowing students to correct their work make me a better teacher? • Ideally, you will focus on “learning” more than “grading” • You will give your students an opportunity to improve, something they DO get in the real world • Your will motivate your students to do improve themselves • You will build a class culture where students will want to know WHY things are wrong

24. Questions? Comments? • Powerpointposted to www.teachercannon.com under “Teacher Resources” • cannon.chris@mail.fcboe.org or • chris@georgiatestpractice.com

25. References • Black, P., & William, D. (2009). Developing the theory of formative assessment. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21 (1), 5-33. • Coyne, M. D., Kame'enui, E. J., & Carnine, D. W. (2007). Effective Teaching Strategies That Accomodate Diverse Learners (3rd Edition ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. • Judson, E. (2007). Retaking a High Stakes Mathematics Test: Examination of School Inverventions and Environments. American Secondary Education, 36 (1), 15-30. • McManus, J. (2011). "Retests": A better method of test corrections. Physics Teacher, 49 (2), 121-122. • Stiggins, R. (2007). Assessment Through The Student's Eyes. Educational Leadership, 64 (8), 22-26. • Stiggins, R., & DuFour, R. (2009). Maximizing the Power of Formative Assessments. Phi Delta Kappan, 90 (9), 640-644.