By Martin Joyce, posted November 21, 2016 —

This second blog post outlines how I extended a Desmos lesson and how I taught my students to give productive feedback on one another’s work.

If you have never tried the Desmos^© activity called Marbleslides: Parabolas, stop reading and try it. I used Marbleslides: Parabolas last year with my accelerated eighth-grade math class. (You can also access Marbleslides: Lines for use in a traditional eighth-grade class.) Students completed this project while working with a partner. Some great examples can be found here and here, with a blog post containing instructions.

After seeing students’ responses to the prompts, I took a screenshot of the question, as well as their responses, and produced Google slides. Then I printed them, four slides per page, front and back, and produced a pamphlet (PDF available).

Desmos allows the user to make students anonymous, so I took advantage of this functionality. I didn’t want a student to be embarrassed by his or her responses once the pamphlet was discussed publicly. Some students were proud of their lack of precision and took ownership of their answers. I first instructed students to read the question prompt. Then they were to look at each response and rate them. They were asked to use a check if they agreed, a caret (^) if the answer was correct but incomplete, and an X if part of the statement was incorrect and if they disagreed with the answer. This scoring plan was used for each response, and students were allowed to share their critiques of their peers’ responses. This process not only provided a great opportunity for classroom discussion but also fostered attending to precision of academic language.

A second activity that I use is a sticky-note gallery walk to post feedback. I decided to use this activity because I was frustrated with the unhelpful feedback I was seeing students give their peers. I also noticed that peers were disappointed, as well. For example, I didn’t want feedback to discuss how colorful an item was, how pretty the title was, what students didn't get to finish, and so on. I decided to do something about it, and so I took time to teach students what productive and unproductive feedback looked like. I was inspired by a Tweet from Norma Gordon that included this image.

I incorporated this information into a Google Slides presentation after eighth-grade students had completed a poster assignment on the Formative Assessment lesson “Solving Linear Equations in One Variable.” Basically, students categorized equations as being always, sometimes, or never true and made the connection to infinite, one, and no solution, respectively.

After reading the feedback slide presentation, students were given a sticky note and two directives: (1) Write down an aspect of the group’s poster that you agree with and why, and (2) write down an aspect of their poster that you disagree with. Make a suggestion that will motivate him or her to revise the work. (One example is this: “Have you tried to see if zero is a solution to the equation?”)

These big ideas came from reading Dylan Wiliam’s Embedded Formative Assessment book (2011) and taking an online course called “Formative Assessment Insights.” The research says that students are more invested in their work when they are given feedback by their peers. The goal is for students to realize their mistakes and fix them.

If you have ever extended a Desmos lesson and/or succeeded in getting students to give productive feedback to their peers, please share how.

Martin Joyce, martyjoyce84@gmail.com, is a middle school math teacher at Taylor Middle School in Millbrae, California. He blogs at http://joyceh1.blogspot.com and Tweets from @martinsean. He has taught every level of middle school from sixth-grade math support to eighth-grade accelerated algebra 1. His passion is developing each student’s math identity with cooperative learning, Desmos lessons, and peer feedback. He regularly reads books and blogs to refine his craft.