Observations of buddy feedback in action

“Maybe you could add a bit more detail - explain why, like why the giraffe's tongue is blue”

"I really like your sentence starters - they are different and you haven’t repeated them."

"Check it makes sense because some of it doesn’t - you could read it aloud to yourself."

"You’ve described the monster really well and you have lots of different sentence starters."

"You could use more punchy sentences."

"It is good that you have paragraphs but sometimes they are very long. When you re-craft you would make sure you only have important information."

"You didn’t just guess, you’ve put it good information."

Did you enjoy giving feedback? 

"It was good to share my writing with someone new. I usually only share with the teachers. I enjoyed giving the feedback because it felt when when I had ideas about how they could make it better."

Buddy feedback criteria

With a small group of students we had a really great discussion about what is important when giving feedback and why it is useful.

Student voice:
Why would we want to share our writing with a buddy?

* If I'm not sure about something I can go show an expert and get some help
* At the moment I only see my own writing - it would be good to read other peoples writing too. It might help to give me some more ideas
* I'll see things in my buddy's writing that might help me or make me look carefully at my own writing
* I could learn from my friends

Success criteria: (when sharing writing)

* Author reads their writing aloud
* Buddy gives one or two things that they like about the writing - Be specific
* Give 1 next step
* Ask them what they want to work on

Highlighting the matrix

After we constructed the matrix, students worked with a buddy to highlight themselves. Some students found this worthwhile and had meaningful conversations about their writing to decide where they should highlight. However some struggled with the conversations but were still able to highlight the matrix and explain why they have put themselves on that level. Overall, students were accurate with their decisions.

From there, students chose 2 areas of need from their matrix and set next steps. Students kept these goals in mind when writing and had this as their focus.

After a few weeks, the matrix and goals became lost. Next year, I need to ensure that the highlighting and goal setting is an ongoing process. I think this will link nicely with creating a feedback and feed forward peer system in the classroom.

When conferencing with the kids about their writing, we read it together and I highlight pink and green. I then ask students what they think their next steps are. Their ability has grown overtime to do this successfully. So although students are not setting ongoing goals they are able to recognise their next learning steps more effectively. This has also been evident through the workshops that they attend.

Co-construct writing matrix

In Term 2, I used Katie's writing matrix with a few groups of my students. We spent a lot of time unpacking what each indicator meant. Many students struggled to highlight themselves on the matrix and therefore it was not meaningful as it didn't make sense to most of them. The purpose of this activity was for students to gain a deeper understanding of the writing levels, to think about themselves as writers and where the 'best fit' was for them on the matrix, and from there set personal goals.

I was dissatisfied with the result from our first go. Most students left confused and the goals were not meaningful as they didn't understand what they had highlighted. For my Year 5 students, I decided that the amount of writing for each indicator and language used was too advanced.

From here, I decided that it would be beneficial to co-construct our own writing matrix, using Katie's example and the teacher matrix from our assessment book. I selected a small group of students who were very capable readers and writers. These students were really motivated to embark on our 'mission'. We went through each indicator and broke it down; what did it mean? what words are too hard? How could we change it? It was really exciting seeing the knowledge these students had about writing and seeing them investigate language through the use of synonyms and online dictionaries. It turned into powerful learning on it's own! We went through each indicator and participated in rich discussion. 

The final product is a much simplified version of the writing matrix - there is less there and the language is very simple - mostly. At first, it bothered me how simple it was. Until I went back to the purpose of the matrix: For students to self assess their writing and set personalised goals. I believe that this matrix can achieve this. 

My next step is to use the matrix with a group of students. From there, I will consider what is not working and make any change that will refine the matrix further. My goal is to have all students from Pot of Gold complete the matrix and set goals from this by the end of Week 5.

[ A big thank you to Katie for sharing her writing matrix with me. It was a perfect platform for my capable writers/readers to work from and made our co-construction much easier! ]

Deeper Features
Audience / purpose	I always use a simple text structure to meet the writing purpose. (Text types: Recount, letter, description, report, procedure, narrative, explanation, argument)	I am learning to choose the best text type for the writing purpose. (Text types: Recount, letter, description, report, procedure, narrative, explanation, argument)	I can choose the best text type for the writing purpose. (Text types: Recount, letter, description, report, procedure, narrative, explanation, argument)	I deliberately choose a text type for my readers and the writing purpose. (Text types: Recount, letter, description, report, procedure, narrative, explanation, argument)
	My writing always has a beginning, middle and end.	I am learning to organise my writing into paragraphs using a topic sentence and detail.	I can organise my writing into paragraphs using a topic sentence and detail.	I  can organise my writing into paragraphs and make connections with the other paragraphs.
	I include personal thoughts and feelings when they fit with the text type	I am learning to use my personal voice to add detail to my writing.	I am using personal voice to add detail to my writing.	I am using personal voice to add detail to my writing.
Ideas	My writing is mostly related to the topic.	My writing is usually related to the topic.	My writing is always related to the topic.	My writing is concise and related to the topic.
	Most of the time, I add some detail to the main idea.	I am beginning to select detail to build onto the main idea.	I can carefully select detail to build onto the main idea.	I can carefully select detail to build onto the main idea.
	I sometimes plan my ideas to organise my writing.	I plan and organise my ideas and information using different way so I can meet the writing purpose.
Structure	I use simple and compound sentences correctly. I am learning to use complex sentences.	I am beginning to use a range of sentences in my writing. Including, complex sentences.	I use a range of sentences in my writing. (Simple, compound, complex)	I use a range of sentence structures in my writing. (Simple, compound, complex)
	Some of my sentences have different beginnings and lengths.	Some of my sentences have different beginnings and lengths	I carefully choose my sentence starters and lengths.	I use a range of sentence starters and lengths for effect.
Language	I can use similes, alliteration and onomatopoeia to paint a picture for my reader.	I carefully select similes, alliteration and onomatopoeia to paint a picture for my reader.	I am beginning to use a range of descriptive language (good vocab) and language features to keep my reader interested.	I use a range of descriptive language (good vocab) and language features to keep my reader interested. Rhetorical questions, metaphors
	I choose nouns, verbs and adjectives to clearly communicate my ideas.	I am beginning to use some clear and accurate vocabulary to support my ideas.	I am beginning to use some clear and accurate vocabulary that is appropriate to the topic and purpose.	I use  clear and accurate vocabulary that is appropriate to the topic and purpose.

Surface features
Grammar	I am learning to proofread my writing. My writing mostly makes sense and meets the writing purpose. I respond to feedback.	I am learning to proofread my writing independently to check words, spelling, punctuation. My writing makes sense. I respond to feedback.	I sometimes proofread and change my writing (words, spelling, punctuation) to add impact to my writing throughout the writing process. I respond to feedback.	I always edit/proofread and change my writing (words, spelling,punctuation to add impact to my writing throughout the writing process. I respond to feedback
Punctuation	I sometimes use capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks correctly.	I usually use capital letters, full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and speech marks correctly. I am learning to use apostrophes and commas correctly.	I use capital letters, full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and speech marks correctly. I use apostrophes and commas correctly.	I always use capital letters, full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and speech marks correctly. I use apostrophes for belonging, commas and semicolons correctly most of the time.
Spelling	Most of the time I spell common words correctly.	I make a good attempt at spelling tricky words.	I can spell most tricky words correctly.	I can spell most tricky words correctly and know where to find the correct spelling.

Co-constructing writing process

I thought it was really important to co-construct the writing process with Pot of Gold.

First, I posed the question: "What do good writers do?"
Students listed off many valuable aspects such as:

• Good vocabulary
• Adjectives/verbs
• Language features eg - similes, personification, onomatopoeia, alliteration
• Paragraphs

It was interesting that students did not mention re-crafting.

We then led the discussion to the process that writers go through. We had a rich discussion for each - and made sure we added detail to each stage. 

Here is the finished product.

Where to from here: Intended steps.

Where to from here?

• Meetings with PLC 
• Co-construct writing process with students - including what is included in each step
• Co-construct writing matrix - simplify the one that we looked at in Term 2 (kid speak) 
• Work with target children to highlight writing matrix and set specific goals - hopefully this will lead to all students in the class highlighting matrix and setting specific goals. (Target children could become experts)
• Students to receive feedback on Google Docs
• As a group - students highlight each other on the matrix and give them feedback and feedforward.