EDUC 4206 Professional Experience 4: Teacher as Inquirer

Professional Inquiry Project Proposal

Pre-service Teacher: Petra Tomecko ID no.: 110093573

Context
The learning environment is an open space with three year 2 classes, each consisting of around 20-25
students. However, for this inquiry I will only be focusing on one of the three classes consisting of 24
students. The students come from diverse multicultural backgrounds, and one student is on a NEP for
Autism spectrum disorder. The school is situated in Adelaide Northern suburbs with surrounding new
development. The school is a category 7 school and is situated amongst UniSA’s technology park and
frequents their resources. The school has a diverse community and a strong family orientated
environment. Parents and Community have high expectations and respect for the school and staff. A
number of parents operate local businesses or are employed by the University of South Australia. The
school has a Defence Schools Transition Aide who supports the growing numbers of Defence Force
families. The school’s teaching and learning pedagogy has an emphasis on the inquiry method,
collaborative learning, embedded information technology and a negotiated curriculum based on the
Australian Curriculum.

Plan
The overall focus of this inquiry is to use a variation of feedback strategies to aid students to move
forward in their learning and thinking. This is in relation to the AITSL Standard 5.2- ‘Provide feedback to
students on their learning’. I decided to use feedback as my focus of inquiry because after completing the
‘Pre-service self-review’ I realised I didn’t have much practice in effective feedback strategies. On my first
lead in day I discussed this with my mentor and she explained to me how the whole school has been
implementing feedback strategies from DECD, co-designed learning improvement, adapted and informed
by: Fielding (2001) ‘Students as radical agents of change’. This resource is based on activating student
voice to accelerate learning improvement. This pedagogy is developed in such a way that it provides
students with an ‘authentic voice’.

This allows students to take responsibility for their own learning and allows them to critically reflect on
learning intentions and how they can then use that for their future thinking and learning. It also provides
students to be able to assess their peers and demonstrate understanding of learning and thinking of
particular tasks. When students assess their peers, they are able to critically reflect and give feedback
that is meaningful for them to move forward in their thinking. Being able to give timely feedback means
that students are able to reflect almost instantly on how they are progressing with their learning. This
provides students to be able to efficiently progress for their learning and learning outcomes (Killen 2016).

After my discussion with my mentor I was able to pin-point specifically what I wanted to focus on and that
was how can I give effective timely feedback to support student learning. The focused learning area will
be literacy; however, it is still to be further discussed with my mentor on what specific learning tasks will
be used for the inquiry. There will be enough flexibility in undertaking the inquiry in regarding to what
learning tasks will have feedback implemented in. This is so that it will provide room for any unforeseen
effects or unrecognised constraints. The feedback strategies will be implemented over at least 6
consecutive lessons to provided consistency and fluency of learning, to ensure authentic and accurate
data collection.

The inquiry will include three types of data collection techniques which are: Personal Reflective Journal,
Supervising teacher observation notes and students’ feedback. This will be feedback on how they believe
they are progressing in their learning regarding the feedback that they receive.

Focus inquiry question

How can I give effective timely feedback to support student learning?

The reason for choosing this particular focus is to strengthen ways of implementing feedback that is
useful for students to be able to understand, use and move forward with their thinking for future learning.
The feedback strategies that I will use will either be oral or written. Depending on which learning area
and what stage of the learning it is. Using feedback to support students learning is an aid in which
students themselves are able to reflect on their learning and be able to understand what they did well
and how their can improve for future learning. As Berry (2005) states Chappuis & Stiggins (2001)
deemed that Feedback provides the students with information on how to improve their learning. This
means that feedback focuses on telling students their achievements relative to the defined learning
targets, as well as explaining to students why certain work was good and providing suggestions on how
they can make improvements (p.4).

As research has shown by Berry (2005), an integral part of feedback is being able to have an accurate
image of yourself is a positive means of being critical and a successful worker. This enables the learner
to have confidence in taking risks and challenges when doing tasks, as they are able to reflect what they
need to work on. This also ensures that the learner is able to have more confidence in asking for help if
needed. As a pre-service teacher it is vital that my practice reflects these aspects as well as having
students trust in me and being able to seek help when necessary. Earl (2006) further goes on to mention
that feedback is more effective when give and receiving. This allows the person to be able to reflect on
their own learning as well as be able to have the perspective of others on their learning too. Conclusively,
feedback is the basis for critical reflections and deep insights (Askew 2000, Berry 2005, Earl 2006).

Action
I will ensure to collect data at the end of each learning activity. There will be at least 6 consecutive
lessons in which I will conduct feedback strategies in. The whole class will respond to feedback however
I will only be focusing on 3 students for data collection. I will record what I heard and saw in my journal. If
the feedback strategy was oral, then I will document what was expected from the students and what the
students actually did and how this effected their learning. If the strategy was written, then I will keep proof
and copies of these as well as analysing them in my journal.

I will plan appropriately and discuss with my mentor the exact learning activities that will have feedback
strategies used. I plan to build up to integrating feedback strategies throughout all curriculum and
learning areas whilst on placement and into my future pedagogy. However, for this inquiry I will be
focusing on aspects of literacy, the area of learning is still to be decided with my mentor. Thus, the
learning times are still to be decided.

Observation
The data will be collected and recorded via my own reflective journal, supervising teacher observation
notes and also the students’ feedback on the progress of their own learning in regard to my teaching
strategies. The reason for choosing these three techniques is that I believe they will be best suited to the
strategies that I will be focusing on and most suited for the inquiry and class context. As McNiff and
Whitehead (2005) state practitioners’ theories of practice are core to sustainable development, thus in
educational research it needs to show its own ability for self-renewal and improvement for future practice.

The journal entries will be ‘reflective’ entries and will be recorded in a two-column manner. On one side I
will write how the particular strategy of feedback was implemented, how it was explained to the students
and how the students comprehended the strategy. On the other side of the journal entry will reflect how I
delivered the strategy to the students, what worked and what would need improving for next lesson.
Grundy (1995) states the use of a reflective journal is effective in practice as it not only provides a ‘strong
source of evidence’ but also engages in systematic reflection and action in relation to the aspect of
professional practice (p.6). The reason for using the journal as a method of data collection is that I will
be able to analyse each journal entry and then interpret any reoccurring patterns, themes and
development in student’s implementation of the strategies due to the practice (see appendix for
example).

To have an insightful reflection from my mentor’s observation notes I have made sure to have a pre-
written sheet in which will guide her in what she specifically needs to observe me for. My mentor will fill
this out each time that I have planned feedback to give to the students. As this observation will be
frequent (each time a lesson with feedback is conducted) I will be able to discuss her notes with her and
then implement any new strategies or improvements for future action taken.

At the end of each learning task that I have focused on using particular feedback strategies, I will ensure
to collect all three observation techniques to ensure triangulation. As Grundy (1995) states in her practice
this will ensure that there is consistent data being collected to be able to analyse the development and
progress of learning appropriately.
Reflection
For each learning area that the feedback will be integrated, ‘Success Criteria’ will be discussed and
collaboratively made with student/teacher/myself to establish what the learning intentions will be and how
they will be assessed using feedback. The success criteria will vary from each curriculum area, however,
will have reoccurring themes/strategies where the students will be able to be familiar with the feedback
strategies and how they are meant to implement them for maximum outcome for future learning. I will be
looking for how the students implement their feedback from me and their peers for their learning when we
do the same curriculum area learning the next time.

The supervising teacher will be heavily involved in mentoring and observing my integration of feedback
strategies to the students. The supervising teacher and I have discussed there would be guidance in
particular strategies that they are already using at the school. Thus, I can learn these techniques with the
students alongside being mentored and observed by the supervising teacher for critical feedback on how
I can improve in delivering and supporting the students in effective feedback strategies.

The way that I will interpret the data is by reflecting on my journal notes as well as interpreting
observation notes made by the supervising teacher. The data will have recorded both how I delivered the
feedback strategy and how the students comprehended it. The data will be measured in a way that I will
be able to see whether students had applied the skills that they needed to improve on the next learning
activity or whether they still needed to go back to understanding the ‘Success criteria’. This will mean that
I will need to be clearer and more explicit in the learning intentions and outcomes of the task.

As Killen (2015) states reflection is when we look back and think about why it happened and what exactly
happened. As people we tend to do this daily in all different situations, however learning to be a teacher I
need to ‘critically reflect’ and understand what and why it happened and how I can learn from my
experiences. To help teachers reflect and be able to understand the types of reflections Van Manen
(1977, 1991) acknowledged three different levels of reflections- technical, practical and critical (p.105).
For this particular inquiry I will be using critical reflections in order to be able to reflect using journal
entries and mentor observation notes, I will be able to use the data from both to guide what I need to
learn next about feedback and how I can improve for next time. This will ensure that I am providing
students with best possible practice to my ability. As Hattie and Timperley (2007) state- ‘the most
powerful way of thinking about a teacher’s role is for teachers to see themselves as evaluators of their
effects on students’ (p. 103).
References
Askew, S 2000, Getting it right – distance marking as accessible and effective feedback in the primary
classroom, Feedback for Learning, Routledge, Florence, ch.2, pp.32-46.

Berry, R 2005, Functional Significance of Feedback in Learning, Hong Kong Institute of Education,
Australian Association for Research Education, Parramatta, Australia.

Earl, L 2006, ‘Assessment – a powerful lever for learning’, Brock Education: A Journal of Educational
Research and Practice, vol. 16, no. 1, pp 1-15.

Fielding, M 2001, ‘Students as radical agents of change’, Journal of Educational Change, Vol 2, 123–
141; and Harris Federation, UK.
http://teachingandlearning.sa.edu.au/07TfELImprovementCycle/resources/StudentVoiceAuditCardsA6Po
stcards.pdf

Grundy, S 1995, Action Research as Professional Development, Innovative Links Project,

Commonwealth of Australia,

Grundy, S 1998, ‘The Curriculum and Teaching’, Understanding teaching: Curriculum and the social
context of schooling, Hardcourt Brace, Sydney, No. 2, pp. 27-37.

Hattie, J & Timperley, H 2007, The Power of Feedback, Review of Educational Research, University of
Auckland, American Educational Association, Vol. 77, No.1, pp. 81-112.

Killen, R 2016, ‘Effective teaching strategies: lessons from research and practice (7th ed.)’ Cengage,
Australia, Victoria, pp. 103-121.

McNiff, J Whitehead, J 2005, All You Need To Know About Action Research, Sage Publications Ltd.,
London, pp. 103-105.
+ Attach appendices of data collection tools
 Reflective journal entries

Personal Reflection
Focus:
Observation Reflection
 Mentor observations
  Student progress from feedback

The feedback that I received helped me understand what I did

well and what I need to focus on for next time