Responsive Written feedback

When teachers create responsive contexts for writing, these strategies or smart tools can be used within the principles of culturally responsive and relational pedagogies.

Lave and Wenger (1991) construe learning as a process of change in the degree to which individuals can actively participate in and be included in communities of practice where there is regular and sustained interaction with more-skilled individuals around genuinely shared activities (Wearmouth & Berryman, 2009). Genuinely shared activities are those that are meaningful and authentic for students.

Responsive contexts are characterised by a balance of control over initiating and continuing learning interactions, such that the more-skilled participant takes on a range of responsive, interactive roles rather than instructional, custodial or managerial roles. They are characterised also by reciprocal intellectual and social benefits for each participant that result from their language interaction around shared tasks. These contexts may be characterised, too, by frequent reversal of the traditional learning and teacher roles, and by feedback that is responsive rather than evaluative (p.93).

In establishing responsive social contexts for writing, teachers avoid traditional pedagogical approaches that emphasise evaluation of the text and in particular focus on formal instruction in surface features (such as grammar, spelling and punctuation). By contrast, responsive teachers understand that students need to be able to share their prior knowledge and experiences through the medium of writing, without fear of criticism or failure, therefore they work to create contexts in which students have many opportunities to communicate with others through writing. This involves ensuring that students receive feedback about their writing from people who are more skilled at writing and it also involves providing strategies and writing structures that support students to generate words and organise their ideas in the planning and revision processes of writing.

This research further highlights the importance of teacher consideration of their pedagogical approaches to writing and the way in which the socio cultural contexts they create are inclusive and enable all learners to actively participate in the classroom writing community.

https://vimeo.com/151599814

I really appreciate the way that responsive written feedback works as it is actually about the quality of written pieces and identifies the writer as the author. It allows the teacher to value the writer for his writing qualities rather than an editor and proof reader. It values the fact that each writer has skills that they possess and that these skills can be enhanced when specifically directed, when goals are set and when writers are motivated.

I need to get some advice off our RTLB team about the use of this model in primary schools and how reciprocal teaching would intertwine with this approach but keen to learn more.