Peer Responses to Writing

One method for providing feedback to your students on early drafts of their writings is by using some class time to get them to respond to each other. This is a valid way to introduce the process of writing, to get them to read and comment on each other's writing, and to take some of that burden off you.

Here's what to do:

1. Have your students make individual lists of what they think you will take into consideration when you grade their papers (this might have already been done if you have discussed Primary Trait Scoring with your students). You might get them started on this task by repeating to them the assignment and saying "One thing I'll look for is& What else have you figured I'd look for?" Then let each student, in her notebook, make a complete list of those things they think you might "look for" in their papers.
2. You go to the board and ask them to read to you from the lists they have made. Write these criteria on the board, explaining to them that these are the criteria you and they will use in evaluating their papers. It's always good to discuss what is meant by each criterion. If they miss a criterion or if you disagree with one they offer, say so; the goal is for them to be able to help each other with their drafts and for you to spend less time on them. (There are things they can do for themselves. If they do a bad job with this, they are the ones who will suffer later when they get their grades. They are more apt to do a good job with peer review if they know exactly what you want them to do.)
3. Once the list is on the board, have them write the "official" list into their notebooks. You write down the list too for your use later in grading their papers.
4. Have them get into groups of 3 or 4 and apply these criteria to each other's papers. They should feel free to write on each other's papers.
5. Advise them, then, to go home and revise or to go to the Writing Center (Bate 2026, if the satellite consultant isn't available) for help.
6. Reiterate that these are the criteria you will use too in grading their papers.
7. You can devise what's called a Dichotomous Scale. Write the agreed-upon criteria on the left side of the paper, numbered 1 to whatever. To the right of that make a scale. At the top of the scale, make two columns, a "yes" column and a "no." Then for each criterion, check one or the other. Leave a little space (and inch or two) at the bottom for general comments if you choose to make them. Since these papers won't be revised again, you are giving a final evaluation of them.