About the Peer Feedback category

C5: Creating a PBL Unit for Your Classroom Peer Feedback
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Once you have worked on your new ideas, get feedback from your colleagues by by creating a new topic in this category and sharing a copy of your project materials in the forum!

If you have been working in your reflective journal, copy the important entries and put them into a new google document. Share a link to that document in discourse. Make sure you share a link so that others can view your document without having to seek permission. To do this click on the blue “Share” button in the upper right hand corner of google doc. When you get the pop-up screen make sure the get link looks similar to this:

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As you post your project design, let everyone know where you are at. Are there specific parts of the design that you want people to focus on? Any question you have that others can help answer? Let us know how we can help you!

In the next section Project Design Feedback, you’ll return to this category thread to do the following:

First, respond to the questions that your peers include in their posts.

Second, respond to the following prompts:

  • Values- What do you appreciate about this design?
  • Questions and concerns- Is there anything in this design that is unclear? Do you have any questions up front about what is on the page? Any concerns you have about the project design?
  • Suggestions- Anything you recommend about the design? Any other resources you can think of that will help spark ideas?

Make sure you respond to at least two of your colleagues’ project plans.

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  1. I appreciate that this connects to issues students are personally passionate about. I think that will get so much buy in!
  2. I have a question about your showcase methods. In what interesting and engaging ways could students showcase their argument? If they wrote a traditional paper or if they recorded a podcast how might that look different during PT conferences or an open house night?
  3. I think you could possibly add an actionable piece to this and that could be part of their presentation. What can students do to create change around the issue they are passionate about? That might help with how they can present as well.

Really cool project! I am sure students will learn a ton!

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Thank you for the feedback! I was pondering still about the PT conference - I wondered if we could have videos of the students in their small group presentations discussing their process instead? Then I could have QR codes where people can access what the students actually produced. Also, I do like the idea of discussing the change around the issue and if they could try to take some action would be great.

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  1. I really like how you are having a unique interactive piece for students. That is such a great way to get them to interact with each other, but also still create something of their own. Mood and tone can be a struggle to teach, but this unit hits it well.
  2. I wonder what your plans are for editing? Will students do that for each other? Conference with you? Will they do more beyond some of the self-editing tasks?
  3. My only thought is to see about revising together too. We use 6+1 Traits of Writing and I find it a helpful tool, but also, I am a big fan of guided peer editing. It seems like you have them doing some of that, plus you have them sharing skills to younger grades - just a thought with some of the revising possibilities!
    Great unit overall!
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Sorry gang for cutting it so close to the deadline. If anyone is checking this forum post, I greatly appreciate your insight.

At this point in the process, I have fleshed out the idea as a whole. My biggest questions are:

  1. Am I asking too much?
  2. Do you feel students will maintain engagement and ownership of the task at hand?

Thanks!

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  1. I feel a bit like a bit of an insider on this one as I already know the unit at hand pretty well. I really think your students will appreciate the varied means of completing a finished product. Research papers are important in our discipline, but I feel some of your creative students will really appreciate the ability to present their hard work in a way that aligns with their own interests and skills.

  2. I am curious how many students will take the actionable out-of-the-classroom steps suggested. In many ways, “activism” (loosely defined) can be seen as a rather uncommon occurrence locally. I think it is a great idea and I am curious to see the outcome!

  3. Looking back on Genius Hour from my student teaching days, do you think a pitch to the class during the brainstorming process would be helpful? As they are looking to present a solution to a problem, perhaps having to quickly outline their angle and receive student feedback might help guide their research.

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  • Values- What do you appreciate about this design?
  • Questions and concerns- Is there anything in this design that is unclear? Do you have any questions up front about what is on the page? Any concerns you have about the project design?
  • Suggestions- Anything you recommend about the design? Any other resources you can think of that will help spark ideas?

  1. I can truly see students having a lot of fun with this project. Kids like spooky subjects and confining their scope to a single room could really help create works with more depth. I also appreciated your category list with a hyperlinked resource; I felt that was a succinct way to illustrate your idea.

  2. Do you see any issues transferring the materials from the mini-lessons to the flash fiction? I only ask because I see they will investigating a wide variety of fiction genres, but writing in one specific sub genre. Just a minor observation!

  3. Would brainstorming big picture details with the class in advance help as they branch off to their individual stories? I could see some potential frustration if Student A spent his whole text talking about aliens and Student B insisted that nothing truly supernatural was happening in the house. This is a small detail, but something that jumped out!

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  • Values- What do you appreciate about this design?
    I really appreciated your organized layout - everything was very clearly put together. Also, I think how you have them both pulling examples and create their own works well. Plus, using our new digital communication tool sounds like a great way to get parents involved with the process.

  • Questions and concerns- Is there anything in this design that is unclear? Do you have any questions up front about what is on the page? Any concerns you have about the project design?
    You mentioned that it might be too much - I do wonder if a 4 week timeline might be tough to meet. Though, I do not think it is asking too much of students. Could you have some “breath” time between each type of writing? That way they would have a chance to do something else then come back and see if it sits well with them? It also might keep them engaged with it longer.

  • Suggestions- Anything you recommend about the design? Any other resources you can think of that will help spark ideas?
    I would love to chat with you about this further. I debated doing something like this too, but chose something else. I wondered about bringing in some of the writing wallet components with this - I can share that thought with you when we see each other next week. :slight_smile: