PENNSTATE Human Resource Development Center www,ohr.psu,edu/hrdc

Center for excellence in Writin£J www.psu,edu/deptlcew• Coaching the Writing Process: Some Ideas

Class Activities • Map out process in class. Have the class collectively consider the fIrst steps and so on for \vriting the assignment. • Assign informal, spontaneous response writing that could lead students into a thesis or topic. • Conduct peer-to-peer draft workshops a few days prior to the paper's due date • Have an author-led discussion of a draft (students can read the paper in or out of class, Put students in small

groups for this exercise), • Have students read papers aloud in small groups and ask for feedback. • Design assignments so that they build upon one another. • Discuss the difference between description and analysis in thesis-driven writing. • Utilize discussion prompts for readings to help students fInd a topic or to model the kinds of questions they

should be asking in order to develop a topic. • Have students write questions on note cards to tum in that respond to course content or controversial ideas. • Set aside a place on the ANGEL discussion forum for students to talk about ideas or post questions (or have

students post questions) to encourage students to write informally to fInd a topic/thesis. • Start the class with some debates and discussions that are taking place on the Wiki or ANGEL forums and

discuss how such conversations could be developed into thesis-driven writing. • Have students interview one another in pairs in order to write a specifIc assignment (bio poem). Student could

also use interviews to develop or sharpen their topics and arguments in drafts or students could write hypothetical (or real) interview questions for authors of course readings.

• Have students work up an impromptu mini-presentation (fIve minutes) of their paper topic/arguments to present to a small group of classmates. Give students about 15 minutes to outline their mini-presentations.

"Feeder" Writing Assignment Ideas • For research projects, have students write a rationale for choosing that topic and explain its signifIcance an/or

assign an annotated bibliography feeder. • Allow students to revise one paper for the semester. • For longer assignments, assign an excerpt of the draft. This may work better than an introduction because many

students write the introduction last. • Have students write down three themes that were developed in a class and have the students discuss them. • Have students write a small informal assignment on the topic in a different geme (a press release, a poem, a

letter to a friend, etc). • Assign a shorter assignment that allows students to practice the kind of analysis/geme that they will be doing for

a larger future assignment.

Grading and Commenting Strategies • Return student papers with short, handwritten comments on photocopied rubrics/criteria for grading. Use the

criteria for the next higher grade (if the student gets a C, give them the B criteria) and briefly identify the areas where the student should improve to earn that higher grade.

• After grading, give students a chance to improve piece. • Have the students develop the assignment's grading rubric. • Conunent on drafts, but do not assign a grade. Collect two or more assigmnents in a portfolio at a later date. That

way, the students have to respond to C0TIll11ents. Have students write introductions to the portfolio in which they explain their writing process.

• Cancel class and hold one-on-one or small group conferences that are geared toward revision on a specifIc draft. • Separate conunenting/coaching from evaluation and don't make many C0TIll11ents on fInal drafts.

Created by Jessica O'Hara, Ph.D Penn State University 2005

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PENNSTATE Human Resource Development Center www.ohr.psu.edu/hrdc

Ceoter for Dcelleoce -io Wr-it-ioo www.psu.edu/depUcew• Responding to Student Writing

Premise: The best response writers can receive is that which will make them want to keep on writing.

Premise: "[N}oticing and praising whatever a student does well improves writing more than any kind or amount ofcorrection ofwhat he does badly, and [praise} is especially importantfor the less able writers who need all the encouragement they can get" (Paul B. Diederich).

SEVEN TYPES OF COMMENTS l

1. Directive fuexperienced writing teachers tend to 2. Evaluative write these types of comments.

3. Advisory

4. futerpretive 5. Descriptive Experienced writing teachers tend to write these 6. Directive (Socratic) Questions types of comments. 7. Open-ended (Discovery) Questions

SEVEN RESPONSE STRATEGIES2

1. Sayback: Say back in your own words what you think the writer is getting at. 2. Movies of the Reader's Mind: Describe what happens inside your head as you read the writer's

words. 3. Pointing: Point out which words, phrases, passages, or features stick in your mind. 4. What's Almost Said or Implied: Tell the writer what is almost said, implied-what you'd like

to hear more about. 5. Center of Gravity: Identify what you sense to be the source of energy, the focal point, the

generative center ofthe piece (not necessarily the main point). 6. Controlling Idea, Organization, Voice, Point of View, Attitude toward the Reader,

Language, Diction, Syntax: Describe these features of the writing. 7. Believing and Doubting: Believe (or pretend to believe) everything the writer has written. Be

the writer's ally and describe what you see. Then doubt everything and describe what you see.

I Adapted from Richard Straub and Ronald F. Lunsford, Twelve Readers Reading: Responding to College Student Writing (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton, 1995).

2 Adapted from Mara Holt, "The Value of Written Peer Criticism, "College Composition and Communication 43:3 (1992): 385.

SUGGESTIONS FOR RESPONDING TO WRITING3

1. Address the big picture first; nit-pick later. As writers revise, intellectual clarity and accuracy are more crucial than error-free writing. There is little point

to addressing comma splices in a parpagraph that needs to be reconceptualized or cut. Proofreading is important, but it comes last in the process.

2. Focus commments on a limited number of concerns in a given paper. Commenting on everything eats up the responder's time and overwhelms the writer.

3. Respond in well-developed marginal and/or end comments. Use full sentences as though you are corresponding with the writer. Avoid "awk," "frag," etc.

4. Mirror content. Writers need to know what readers understand. "When I read this section, it tells me that. .. "

5. Comment on your own reading or on the writing itself, but try not to comment on the writer. Thus "you've done a good job introducing this topic" becomes "this introduction clearly tells me what's going

to follow it." "You're being contradictory here" becomes "these two paragraphs look contradictory to me."

6. Describe Strengths. "This example supports that assertion well." "This transition helps prepare me for your second observation."

7. Identify confusions by asking questions. "This sentence loses me. How can you help readers get from the data to this conclusion?" "Does this sentence mean or does it mean ?" "In this sentence you use past tense, but in the next sentence you use present tense. Why did you shift tenses?"

8. Be supportive. Assume the writer wants to follow the assignment and wants to be clear (even if this doesn't seem immediately obvious). Instead of "this isn't what was assigned," try "I'm worned about where this is headed."

9. When you respond to individual errors, don't let those responses overpower content-centered responses. Multiple comments on sentence-level errors give students the message that if they only fix those surface errors,

then they'll get good grades. Noting an error risks sending the message that the sentence is otherwise clear, and intellectually complete.

10. When pointing out a mechanical error, try to find some place in the paper where the student did it correctly. "Notice how the semicolon in your second papagraph correctly joins two independent clauses. Can you make

the semicolon in your third paragraph do the same thing?" "Why do you use an apostrophe to show possession up here but not down here?"

11. Do make some comment about the general level of polish which the draft reflects. "As I read along, I did see a few spelling errors." "This draft is still pretty rough and needs to be proofread carefully before it's handed in."

12. Suggest a next useful step in the process. Use your own writing experience as a possible model. "I'd work first on finding support for the assertion on page 2." "When I'm having trouble organizing something, I'll try to outline it, or draw an idea map. Maybe that will

work for you."

13. Summarize your response with a sentence that talks about your overall sense of the draft, and/or use a sentence to repeat your most significant response. "A solid introduction and many effective phrasings, but that middle section still leaves me confused."

3 These suggestions draw heavily from guidelines developed by Lex Runciman, Linfield College, OR.

THREE RESPONSE MODELS

4RESPONSE GRID: An analytic grid is a quick way to provide a comprehensive response.

Name:

Date:

Title of paper: "Rhetorical Analysis"

Strong OK Weak

" Content: Ideas, Thinking, Understanding, Depth of Analysis

" Fairness to Text: Summary, Cause-Effect Connections, Support of Generalizations

" Organization: Structure, Coherence, Focus, Guiding the Reader

" Language: Sentences, Wording, Voice, Tone, Clarity

" Mechanics: Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, Proofing, Documentation

" Overall: (This is not a sum of the other responses.)

Comments: I find your analysis especially clear on p. 3 where you explain how Murray uses a chart in a way that leads readers to believe what he says. I also admire your insight on pp. 4-5 where you point out how Murray's strategies of style and arrangement lead his readers to answer questions in a certain way. You help me see your point clearly in these places about how Murray is using language persuasively. Can you do the same thing where you make your other points? Throughout your paper, I hear you telling me what Murray did, but I can't always see how he did it. Thanks.

MODEL MARKING: The teacher locates a typical rough draft and uses class time to mude1 the most useful response. to that draft. An overhead projector is one simple way to handle this modeling. Students observe (and understand) how the teacher reads and responds to a typical draft. Having seen the teacher's criteria at work, they then use that example to revise their own paper or to respond to a peer's draft. Such responses are often guided by a response sheet or form.

PEER RESPONSE: Students read one another's drafts (either in class or ouf) and respond according to appropriate criteria. Here, students act as both writers and respondents. As writers, they meet whatever preliminary deadlines have been set. As respondents, they help other writers identify strengths and weaknesses, and they help writers prioritize and make plans for successfully completing the thinking/writing process. In most cases, peer responses are tied to a response sheet, which pro\rides guidelines for giving useful written feedback.

Rather than act as respondents themselves, teachers orchestrate the logistics of this student':'to-student reading and responding by determining when response would be most useful, by making sure that students understand appropriate criteria for their responses, by providing copies of an appropriate response sheet, and by deciding how such responses will count for course credit. Peer review tends to improve the quality of the writing that is handed in; improves motivation (students enjoy working together); develops critical thinking, close reading, and interpersonal skills; and teaches a skill for life-many jobs require collaborative work in which the interpersonal skills of peer review will be helpful.

Most campuses have a writing center or learning center that offers trained tutors (peer and/or professional) who will discuss any kind of writing at any point in the writing process. Students get the most out of tutorials when they bring their assignment sheet with them and are prepared to ask the tutor questions. If all goes well, students identify with the tutor's ways of thinking about writing and internalize the language of the conversation. They will then be able to think the same way and carry on the same conversation with themselves when they are working alone.

4. See Peter Elbow' "Ranking, Evaluating, and Liking: Sorting Out Three Fomls of Judgement," College English 55.2 (1993): 195.

PENNSTATE Human Resource Development Center www.ohr.psuedulhldc

Center for Dcellence in Wrltln9 www.psu.eduldeptlcew• Fifteen Suggestions for Encouraging Revision 1

1. Profess "problem-solving." Rather than asking students to choose a topic, ask them to identify a problem or pose a question. Show them how inquiry and writing are related.

2. Assign "problem-solving" writing. Students are most apt to revise when their essays must be thesis-governed responses to genuine problems (that they have identified).

3. Create in-class activities that encourage students to write in response to their problem, share their responses, and revise their approach.

4. Incorporate non-graded exploratory writing to those activities.

5. Build in "talk time." Students need time to talk with one another about their writing projects; they need to test their arguments and try to reach an audience. The necessity of talk time helps explain the success of writing centers.

6. Intervene in the writing process by having students submit problem proposals, tentative thesis statements, abstracts, rough outlines, bibliographies. Read and respond but do not grade these.

7. Build process requirements into the assignment, including due dates for the above.

8. Develop strategies for peer review.

9. Hold writing conferences (and thereby save yourself time for commenting on their drafts and papers).

10. Require students to submit everything-from initial doodles, drafts, peer reviews, and notes to the final, to-be-graded paper. The graded paper will be on top, the initial doodles on the bottom. This requirement not only deters plagiarism but also shows students that you take their writing process seriously.

11. As long as you're commenting, allow rewrites. Your comments should be revision-oriented.

12. Show your students how you write, your work-in-progress.

13. Explain how you revise on hard copy rather than on the screen-and why.

14. Don't overemphasize essay exams, which require a positivist model of writing.

15. Keep your standards high for the end product. You want to give students a reason to revise.

I Adapted from materials developed by Cheryl Glenn and used with permission.

Page 1 of 1

PENNSTATE ;; Human Resource Development Center www.ohr.psuedu/hrdc Center for excellence in Writin9 www.psu.edu/dept/cew

A Positivist Model of Writing (How We Were Taught)

1. Choose a topic.

2. Narrow it.

3. Write a thesis.

4. Make an outline.

5. Write a draft.

6. Revise that draft.

7. Edit.

The Composing Process of Successful Academic Writers (What We Really Do)

1. Starting point: perceive a problem.

2. Explore.

3. Incubate.

4. Write the first draft.

5. Reformulate, revise.

6. Edit.

Sources: John Bean, Sarah Freedman, Cheryl Glenn _

Human Resource Development Center www.ohr.psu.edu/hrdc Center for DccUeoce io Writi09 www.psu.edu/deptlcew

What is Portfolio Grading?

Portfolio grading was developed as an alternative to the traditional evaluation model in which students pass in papers on assigned due dates to be graded by the teacher and then simply filed away. Because the use of portfolios forces students to write many drafts of their papers, receiving feedback at many points, and choose which papers they want to be graded, this grading model tries to undermine the message frequently sent to students by the traditional model that writing is "completed" as soon as it is passed in and that the teacher has complete control over what is graded.

What are the advantages to portfolio grading?

It encourages students to see revision as an ongoing process. It provides students with opportunities to reflect upon their work and their writing process. It allows students to apply to their papers the knowledge and writing skills they develop throughout the semester. It gives students more control over their own grades. It enables the teacher to separate commenting from evaluating. It helps students to become better readers and critics of their own work.

How to set up a class using portfolios

Assignments: A classroom incorporating the portfol io method is not radically different from a traditional writing class. Writing assignments are still given regularly and due dates are assigned for drafts. The key difference is that the "final" due date for a given assignment does not result in a grade assigned to that draft; the grading process only occurs once or twice (or even three times) a semester when the "portfolio" is due. A student places each draft of every assignment in this portfolio (usually simply an expandable folder.)

Drafting: Assigning due dates for multiple drafts and providing a venue for feedback--either from the teacher or peers, but usually both--is essential to a pOlifolio classroom meant to encourage revision. Hence, frequent peer responding sessions, conferences with the teacher, or written comments by the teacher should be incorporated into any syllabus using a portfolio grading method. Students receive credit, in terms of "complete" or "incomplete" for finishing each draft but are not graded on them. Some provision should be made for a reduction of total points, or overall grade, for failure to write celiain drafts. In this way, the student receives credit for the drafts even though they are not graded.

Grading: There are several ways to grade a completed portfolio, but the basic principle is the same. The student selects a designated number of papers (e.g., 2 out of 4 writing assignments) to be graded from the portfolio. Thus, the student mllst judge the relative quality of her or his work and has ultimate control over the writing to be evaluated.

Some teachers require students to complete this selection and grading process at various intervals throughout the semester, most frequently at and final time. Other teachers grade the selected papers only at the end of the session.

The grading itself can be done holistically by a group of teachers, holistically by the class itself, or individually by the teacher. The final grade is determincd by the average of the selected papers, or the teacher may choose to judge improvement over the term by examining the complete portfolio as well as grading individual papers.

Some teachers include a third component to the grading process in the form of an introduction to the portfolio or student self-evaluation, an evaluation which requires the student to review his or her own portfolio and conduct an analysis of his or her progress.

A portfolio usually includes some combination of the fol lowing: 1. A letter of introduction to the pOIifolio or self-analysis piece 2. A representative sample of written work from the student over a period of time.

Variations on these themes

Portfolios do not have to include all previous drafts. It is fine to have students include just the polished versions.

Portfolios can include all paper assignments rather than just student-selected ones.

Hard-pressed instructors do not have to comment on all drafts. Peer-to-peer feedback could replace instructor feedback for some or all drafts.

It is a good idea for instructors to hold individual or group conferences outside of class before portfolios are due to discuss revision possibilities for student drafts. Again, ifthe instructor is hard-pressed for time, these conferences could take place among students only (though the instructor would need to set up the conferences and create some mechanism for student participation and accountability in these sessions).

Portfolios could include materials and writing samples that extend beyond the traditional writing assignments. For example, selected discussion forum entries, reading response questions, and journal entries could be collected in portfolios along with traditional writing assignments.

Peer review sessions and sample draft critiques can be done onl ine or outside of class.

Adapted from:

Portfolios. Campus Writing Program, Dept. of Liberal Arts and International Studies, Colorado School of Mines. 8 Feb. 2006. <http://www.mines.edu/Academic/lais/wc/wac/..radstratlportf.olios.html>.

PENNSTATE

• Managing Groups to Promote Thinking and Writing

Why try collaborative learning in the classroom? John Bean summarizes some advantages: using small groups in the classroom can be a powerful form of active learning, giving students the opportunity to practice disciplinary inquiry and argumentation under the tutelage of the coach. Hillocks (1986) and others have demonstrated the effectiveness of the method in producing measurable advances in the quality of thinking reflected in student writing. In addition, it gives students space to pursue their own lines of thought and test them against the thinking of their professors. (167) Bean also identifies many social benefits for students, such as making friends, meeting students of different backgrounds, and developing leadership and interpersonal skills.

Setting up Groups

Size Five members is the optimum size for collaborative learning groups, especially if groups will be working on task-oriented critical thinking problems. Research suggests that groups should be no larger than six members. Groups of three tend to be effective when the course involves long-range collaborative writing assignments.

Group Composition Research suggests that collaborative learning works best when groups are permanent and stable. There are a few schools of thought on how to separate students into groups. Some, like compositionist John Bean, assign students to groups at the very beginning of the semester (He simply has students count off numbers). While the groupings are more or less random, he tries to achieve some balance and diversity within each group, at least along gender lines. Other instructors prefer to wait a few weeks to get a feel for the students' writing strengths and personalities. They try to get a mix of good writers and weaker writers, extroverts and introverts, etc. in each group. My experience suggests that the latter procedure of socially engineering groups produces results identical to-ifnot slightly worse than-random groupings. After experimenting with both styles for years, I now cluster my students according to donn proximity to make working outside of class more convenient for students. One universal rule of thumb for creating groups is to separate friends and significant others.

Classroom Organization Compositionist Erika Lindemann and many others advocate that students should always sit with their groups. It's best when teachers instruct students to organize their desks into circles as they come into class and return desks as they leave. The instructor should be able to walk freely among the circles and should be able to look over the shoulder of every student. It is important to insist on this arrangement, as silly as it may initially seem. If this arrangement is impossible due to the classroom set-up, teachers should encourage students to sit in clusters that are as distinct as possible. It may be a good idea to rotate the groups' classroom position every few weeks to head off potential disengagement from groups placed in the back of the class.

Making Groups Work

Assign group members roles Be sure that each group has a designated reporter and checker. The reporter will act as the spokesperson when the group reports its findings to the class. The checker makes sure that everyone gets a chance to speak and helps to facilitate the conversation. Sometimes teachers assign other roles, such as the recorder, who acts as the group's secretary. If students are doing a large collaborative project, sometimes it is useful for them to adopt "real-life" roles, such as the project manager, the logistics specialist, etc. It's probably easiest to have students inhabit these roles for a few weeks at a time. That way, you (and the groups) don't have to renegotiate roles every time you do group work. This will also eliminate the problem of having the same one or two students always speaking on behalf of the group.

Give groups written tasks Groups thrive when they have written-out, specific directions for tasks and time limits to complete them. For instance, instead ofjust saying, "get in groups and discuss X's theory ofY" or "discuss the sample draft," try handing out specific instructions that will lead groups to produce a tangible product or result (see samples below and in worksheets)

Make groups accountable for their work Giving specific, rather than open-ended directions generates better thinking and results. Require that groups produce tangible work, such as coming up with X number of solutions, reasons, or questions, or presenting a 2-minute presentation to the class. Give groups draft workshop worksheets to guide them in their peer review. You could also make groups write outlines or responses on the board. Allow groups to report in full before you intervene or open up discussion to the rest of the class. Some compositionsts suggest that ALL groups should report before you start talking. That's probably a good idea, but it's hard to resist jumping in!

You could also offer students an opportunity to evaluate their group members, especially if they have a group project (see handout). I usually make these evaluations (which are submitted to me and are confidential) worth 3-5% of the final grade. I also collect draft workshop worksheets with papers so that I can monitor the level of feedback each student is offering to his or her peers.

Layout the rules of engagement It's a good idea to hand out some etiquette and advice for how groups should work. Sharing with students some principles for effective commenting on drafts and other draft workshop etiquette can maximize the effectiveness of peer editing while minimizing hurt feelings or unfulfilled expectations (see Peer Etiquette Handout). It's also helpful to explain the pedagogical purpose behind group work and to share some knowledge about how gender, along with different learning styles, personality types, backgrounds, may shape members' engagement in the group. To create an environment of productive disagreement, teachers might implement a practice based on Carl Roger's theory of empathetic listening (1961), in which a student could not express disagreement with another student unless she or he first accurately summarizes the other student's position. Teachers could also periodically ask groups to evaluate their group process or have students perform a self-evaluation of their individual performance within the group dynamic.

Do group work regularly Compositionist Erika Lindemann encourages teachers to have two group-work sessions per class meeting. If this is unfeasible, you may structure the course so that every third or fourth class meeting is entirely dedicated to group work. If group work is sporadic, students never get into a rhythm or establish working relationships with one another. Students then recognize group work as an anomaly, or, worse yet, as a "day off," and do not treat it as a serious pedagogical tool.

Kinds of Group Tasks

Draft Workshops Students read and respond to each other's drafts in class. This peer review should prompt revision and give students a "real" person who responds to their writing. Workshops work best when the instructor generates a worksheet with guiding questions for students. Discussing one or two sample student papers just prior to the peer draft exchange helps students see what features/criteria are important (Bean 159).

Norming This group activity helps students internalize criteria by which the teacher will eventually judge their written work. The instructor gives groups three or four anonymous essays from previous classes, and groups determine the rank and perhaps even grades for the papers, justifying their findings. After a plenary session, the teacher reveals his or her rankings. A discussion about any discrepancies should follow (Bean 158).

Rubric Building In this exercise, groups determine criteria by which the teacher will judge the assignment. This exercise could be done many ways. Groups could determine the criteria for each grade level in a certain category, such as argument, evidence, style, or citation; they could create criteria for an ideal essay; they could rank criteria in order of importance, etc. After a whole-class plenary session, the teacher would then compile and distribute the rubric to the class.

Dividing and Conquering This is a catch-all category describing a scenario whereby each group attacks one part of a whole problem. For example, in a film class, the teacher shows a scene and asks each group to study and report on one component of the scene: lighting, composition, dialogue, editing, etc. After the groups report their observations, the class uses this collective evidence to interpret the scene and/or craft an overarching thesis. This strategy can work for sample papers prior to draft workshops (e.g. group 1 looks at a paper's tone, group 2 comments on the structure, and so on).

Evidence Finding The teacher's goal here is to have groups find evidence (passages or textual detail from literary texts, facts, theories, case studies, etc. to support a premise. This activity works well for a writing class working on developing support for ideas in their papers (Bean 157).

Problem Posing The instructor gives a disciplinary problem framed as an open-ended question to which students must justify an answer.

Example 1: "We have examined four alternative approaches to the design of a digital data recording device for Company X's portable heart defibrillator. Which solution should be chosen and why?"

Example 2: "According to Fullwinder, three theories are frequently used to defend preferential hiring for both African Americans and women: compensatory Justice, social utility, and distributive justice. Using one or more of these theories, address this question: Is the legislature's proposed veterans preference law just?"

(Bean 155)

;vmg ano uouDung· asks students to enter imagmatlVely into the possible truth of a statement, t )p a healthy skepticism toward it. Usually, this activity results in a pro- and-con grid.

Beyond "Good Job, Jenny! ©" Designing Full-Circle Peer-Review Assignments Across the Disciplines

E. Shelley Reid Department of English George Mason University ereidl@gmu.edu http://mason.gmu.edu/-ereidl

Teach key skills: review &revise

Analyze your audience

Originally prepared for The Teaching Professor Conference Kissimmee, FL, May, 2008

Adapt review to your class

Adjust for your assignment

PENNSTATE Human Resource Development Center www.ohr.psu.edu/hrdc

Cellter for bcellellce ill Wr1t1llfJ www.psu.edu/deptlcew• Beyond "Good Job, Jenny"

Choosing Purposes for Engaging Students in Peer Review

NON-SKILLS-DEPENDENT BENEFITS:

Engage students in conceiving ofwriting as a communicative process • writers prepare an early draft • writers imagine that someone besides "the teacher" will read it • writers come to see review as a normal and valued part of writing

Help students understand writing as a constructed (not muse-given) event • writers see peers' versions of the assignment • writers learn to question the choices of other writers • writers practice attending to particular aspects of a text separately

SKILLS-DEPENDENT BENEFITS:

Teach students strategies for controlling their own writing • writers can acquire additional vocabulary for referring to writing • writers can suggest strategies to others that they might practice themselves • writers can become more adept and comfortable with drafting and revising Provide the opportunity for students to improve their writing • writers can adapt their thinking and writing to meet the criteria of a particular assignment, genre, class, or discipline • writers can make significant revisions to improve content, focus, argument, organization, and/or support • writers can catch and fix errors in form, syntax, or mechanics

SITUATION-DEPENDENT BENEFITS:

Build classroom community Vary class-session format Provide feedback without increasing the professor's paper-load

NOTE: Assess the success ofpeer review according to realistic goals.

Shelly Reid Full-Circle Peer Review

Adapting Peer Review to a Teaching Situation

TIME:

SPACE:

ETHOS:

Shelly Reid

Peer review need not take up a whole class period, nor concern a whole draft, nor require the formation of small silent groups

• Students may work with the same peers throughout a term or with new peers each time, in groups of 3-5 or with random nearby partners • Students may share intro paragraphs, topic-sentence outlines, 1-page "rants," hypotheses, sketches, abstracts, bibliographies • Students may exchange whole drafts, but review only parts thereof ma quick, targeted review: compare the intro and conclusion; edit paragraph 3 only; read the first and last sentences of each paragraph to check for argument • Students may talk through or read aloud their drafts, share around a group, trade with a partner, pick up an anonymous draft from a front table and return it when finished, complete a guided self-review

Peer review need not happen in a classroom at all

• Course management systems, email, blogs, and wikis allow peer-reVIew assignments to take place online • Audio/visual hardware & software make it easier than ever before for students to provide non-written peer-feedback • Students facing known deadlines, straightforward task-lists, and clear assessment protocols can complete PR as homework

Peer review may be "hard" or "soft," come"early" or "late"

• Peer review sessions may direct students to be supportive and encouraging to one another • Peer review sessions may direct students to critically apply instructor given criteria to each others' writing • Peer review sessions may primarily focus on generation of new ideas or attend to other broad gaps in an early draft

Full-Circle Peer Review

• rresem day? • Missed-Center?) ... 'r'h £'011 <T1,

1. Writers: Underline three places where you _ (make an argument, refer to a main idea of the reading, provide specific data, incorporate a quotation smoothly) and star two places where you think you should do that better.

2. Readers: Read the opening and closing paragraphs; in each, double-underline the sentence giving the strongest argument; of the two, which is clearer? If it's the one in the conclusion, write a note: "Transplant to the beginning?!"

3. Readers: Review this 8-point checklist for the assignment. Give the author a -Y-, -Y, or -Y+ for each point. For two points, write a praise-comment somewhere on the draft:

"Good work here on._." For two points, write a suggestion: "Try more _ here." 4. Readers: Read the opening sentence for each body paragraph. If the sentence is a

statement of fact or a statement of some other source's ideas, write "Summary" next to it. If the sentence gives the author's own judgment, write "Judgment Q" by it.

In my experience: Response-types from easiest to hardest to do (ae

Liking, disliking or being confused, comparison (good/less-good), identi: judgment of success in meeting criteria, judgment of failure in meeting c e:eneral exnlanation of success ("because"t snecific sue:e:estion to imnrov

Adjusting the Peer Review Process to Match Assignment Goals

Match review prompts to key learning goals

• What new/challenging writing strategies does this assignment require? • How does this assignment require students to stretch beyond your previous one? • What analysis capabilities are most important in this course-unit? • What content-material mastery should students demonstrate?

Match review prompts to likely student misconceptions or errors

• What key elements do writers of "C" essays most often overlook? • What have previous students struggled with most in this assignment? • What do current students struggle with most in completing writing assignments? • What errors frustrate you most as you read student writing?

Match review prompts to genre- or discipline-based expectations

• Acknowledge students' common models for academic writing: personal narrative, literary analysis, book report, general researched report, pro-con essay • What characteristics separate an abstract, field report, proof, memo, or artist's notes from one of those "standard" academic essays? (Consider organization, diction, level of elaboration or evidence, beginnings/endings, format, etc.) • What characteristics might distinguish an "analysis" in your field from an analysis in a literature class? (Consider typical issues or questions, source material, kinds of preferred evidence, structure, elaboration, diction, etc.)

Consider using review prompts to help students take risks

• Ask peers to praise unusual arguments, phrasings, examples • Ask peers to provide challenging questions or counterarguments • Ask peers to suggest "out on a limb" arguments or unexpected connections

Repetition of prompts across a semester helps students internalize common vocabulary, strategies, and expectations.

Variance of prompts from one peer-review session to another helps students learn to adapt writing to new audiences, purposes, and contexts.