Exploring the Relationship between English Composition Teachers\u27 Beliefs about Written Feedback and Their Written Feedback Practices

For teachers of freshman English composition, the most time-consuming aspect of teaching is responding to student papers (Anson, 2012; Straub, 2000b). Teachers respond in various ways, but most teachers agree that they should offer written feedback to students (Beach & Friedrich, 2006). However, little research has been conducted to determine how teachers’ written feedback practices reflect their beliefs about the purpose of such feedback. This qualitative study explores the relationship between English composition teachers’ beliefs about written feedback and their actual written feedback practices. The participants were a sample of four instructors of freshman English composition at a mid-sized metropolitan public university. Interviews, classroom observations, course documents, and samples of teachers’ written comments were analyzed to determine teachers’ written response practices and their beliefs related to the purposes of freshman writing and their roles as writing teachers. Results suggest that teachers were aware of their beliefs, and their written response practices were consistent with their beliefs. Teachers utilized different approaches to respond to student writing, but those approaches are consistent with current recommendations for responding to student writing. Three major themes emerged from the study. First, teachers must be given the opportunity to reflect about and articulate their beliefs about written response so they will know why they respond in the way they do. Second, teachers work within the boundaries of their specific writing program to organize their written responses to student writing. Third, teachers must respond to student writing from varying perspectives as readers of the text. The findings support studies which indicate that written response is a sociocultural practice and teacher beliefs are just one aspect of the complex nature of teacher written response. The study should add to the fields of response theory and the formation of teacher beliefs

A Four-Year Multi-Center Retrospective Observational Study of Pediatric Emergency Medical Services Utilization in a Large Metropolitan Health System

Study Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly decreased pediatric emergency department (ED) utilization. The objective of this study was to quantify the characteristics of pediatric EMS utilization both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a metropolitan health care system. Methods: We performed a multi-center, retrospective observational study of all pediatric ED visits between 1/1/2018 and 12/31/2021, that presented to one of nine EDs within our health system. The data were sorted by mode of arrival; children arriving to the ED via EMS, or arrival by other means. Data collection included a variety of demographic and clinical variables. We compared overall pediatric ED patients’ arrival methods as well as ED and EMS volumes by year using a binomial test with a null hypothesis that the population proportion equals 50%. Analysis compared ED mode of arrival, admission rate, and Emergency Severity Index (ESI) triage scores using chi-square tests. Results: There were 201,313 pediatric ED encounters for 118,744 unique patients meeting the inclusion criteria. There were 8,815 (4.38%) children who arrived via EMS compared to 192,498 (95.62%) children who arrived by other means (p \u3c 0.0001). Children who arrived via EMS had a higher admission rate of 22.27% (1963) compared to 5.9% (11,351, p \u3c 0.0001). ESI among children arriving via EMS was higher, with 44.3% (3847) having ESI 1 or 2 triage scores compared to 8.8% (16,790) for children arriving by other means (p \u3c 0.0001). Overall pediatric ED mortality was 0.03% (61 deaths), with 86.9% (53) of those children arriving via EMS (p \u3c 0.0001). Pediatric ED and EMS volumes in 2018 and 2019 pre-pandemic were 127,652 ED visits and 5,306 EMS visits, respectively, compared to 73,661 and 3,509 visits in 2020 and 2021. This represents a 42.3% overall reduction in pediatric ED visits (p \u3c 0.0001) and a 33.9% reduction in pediatric EMS visits (p \u3c 0.0001). Conclusion: Approximately 5% of pediatric ED encounters in our health system arrived via EMS. These children appeared to have higher acuity presentations and required inpatient services more often than children who arrived by other means. Pediatric ED and EMS encounters have decreased substantially since the onset of the pandemic

The Ranch Girls and the Silver Arrow

https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/childrens_lit_books/1072/thumbnail.jp

The Ranch Girls and the Silver Arrow

https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/childrens_lit_books/1072/thumbnail.jp

Exploring the Relationship between English Composition Teachers\u27 Beliefs about Written Feedback and Their Written Feedback Practices

For teachers of freshman English composition, the most time-consuming aspect of teaching is responding to student papers (Anson, 2012; Straub, 2000b). Teachers respond in various ways, but most teachers agree that they should offer written feedback to students (Beach & Friedrich, 2006). However, little research has been conducted to determine how teachers’ written feedback practices reflect their beliefs about the purpose of such feedback. This qualitative study explores the relationship between English composition teachers’ beliefs about written feedback and their actual written feedback practices. The participants were a sample of four instructors of freshman English composition at a mid-sized metropolitan public university. Interviews, classroom observations, course documents, and samples of teachers’ written comments were analyzed to determine teachers’ written response practices and their beliefs related to the purposes of freshman writing and their roles as writing teachers. Results suggest that teachers were aware of their beliefs, and their written response practices were consistent with their beliefs. Teachers utilized different approaches to respond to student writing, but those approaches are consistent with current recommendations for responding to student writing. Three major themes emerged from the study. First, teachers must be given the opportunity to reflect about and articulate their beliefs about written response so they will know why they respond in the way they do. Second, teachers work within the boundaries of their specific writing program to organize their written responses to student writing. Third, teachers must respond to student writing from varying perspectives as readers of the text. The findings support studies which indicate that written response is a sociocultural practice and teacher beliefs are just one aspect of the complex nature of teacher written response. The study should add to the fields of response theory and the formation of teacher beliefs