PEER RESPONSE: Teaching students the art of reviewing Joonna Smitherman Trapp Emory University, 2015

Peer Response Share for a few minutes your experience with peer review / response. Successful? Not? What would you like to get out of this workshop today? Image of B. K. Bruce’s writing--flickr

Feedback and Revision What it is not: Not just advice Not just response Flickr—Alfred Kypta / Eli Review

Feedback and Revision Characteristics of Effective Use: Formative — helping writers get better at a task or increasing their understanding. (Avoiding summative judgement) Timely — happening at a moment when it’s possible to learn and change (e.g. revise). (Scaffolded into the course) Descriptive — describing what the reviewer sees happening in specific detail. (Movies of the Reader’s Mind) Goal-oriented — helping writers make improvements to better accomplish their purpose. (Action)

Feedback and Revision Peer review sessions a teacher designs should help writers get feedback that helps them understand: What they accomplished (descriptive feedback) What they were asked to accomplish (goal- referenced feedback) What they must do next (goal-directed feedback)

Feedback Timelines A feedback-centric sequence utilizes the same semester time while making room for more review and revision. Common timeline for peer response/review Feedback-centric times for peer response/review (examples follow) Eli Review

Feedback Timelines (Eli Review) Common Timeline Feedback Centric Timeline

Feedback Timelines Students improve because of practice As reviewers, with more opportunities to give, and to get better at giving, feedback. As writers, identifying high-quality, helpful feedback and using it to make better revisions. Eli Review

What can the Teacher Do? Model effective feedback, demonstrating and discussing good examples. Provide ample opportunities to practice giving feedback. Construct effective review prompts. (Discussion on next slides)

What can the Teacher Do? Model effective feedback, demonstrating and discussing good examples. Work with student writing in class; show students the kind of feedback you want Bring your own work or write with them; let students workshop your work

What can the Teacher Do? Create a culture of feedback on all writing in the class Begin peer response early in semester and continue throughout Teach them to avoid emotional responses (like or don’t like) Teach them not to treat draft like something broken Teach them to ask for the response they want and need Teach them to analyze writing and look for 3 or so rhetorical patterns the writer ought to address in revision

What can the Teacher Do? Provide ample opportunities to practice giving feedback. In class: short feedback opportunities on targeted matters (intros/conclusions) (editing workshop right before deadline) (outline workshop) In class: 50 minute full essay workshop with evaluation sheet Out of class: peer group, blackboard groups, require peer sheet turned in with paper, require cover letter with notice of how peer review was used in revision

What can the Teacher Do? Construct effective review prompts. Consider spending as much time on developing your review prompts and materials as you do the assignment prompts and materials In fact, consider developing them together. See sample prompts included in handout. Sarah McDonald

Review Form Questions Judgmental Qs Is the thesis clear? Is the paper organized? Does the writer use evidence as support? Is the paper clearly written? How persuasive is…? avoid these as much as possible Descriptive Qs In a sentence, state the thesis of the paper. On the back of this sheet, outline the essay. List the kinds of evidence used. Highlight passages that….. Disagree with some point…. Have students do/make

Another way to think about review: Describe - Evaluate - Suggest framework Describe - say what you see as a reader. Evaluate - explain how the text meets or doesn’t meet criteria established in the prompt. (Note: different from judging—criteria-based) Suggest - offer concrete advice for improvement Eli review

How to use a culture of review/response: Have students create a revision plan after review session Write a cover letter explaining how they implemented plan and what they learned from peers Have students keep editing and revising journal for semester and do a final reflection at end of semester—teacher only sees reflection, but students draw on journal to write comments.

Helpful Suggestions from Eli Review Cognitive Load: Be cautious about asking student to accomplish too much Read too much text Answer too many questions Perform too many activities Students do better reviews with training and discrete tasks which can be done in the time allotted. For example:

Helpful Suggestions from Eli Review

Ideas—steps in a writing process which might be reviewed Prospectus Research Questions/Thesis Abstracts Partial/Early Drafts Intros/Conclusions Outlines Talking through ideas Final editing workshop with a particular task (limit text)

Ways to arrange a peer review session Face to Face in class Face to Face out of class Using Peer Review Sheets No Sheets, single task Response Groups—reading aloud Response Groups—writing Electronic exchanges Google Doc (see packet) Holistic Response Groups with Instructor

Genres of Response See handout for full descriptions of the genres (kinds) of response Elbow and Belanoff have developed to help writers determine what kind of response they need.

Questions? What ideas do you have for adapting or adding peer review into your classes? What problems do you foresee? How might you address them? How will you scaffold this into your class? How might you train students to be good reviewers?

Resources Used for Presentation Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. 2 nd Ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Eli Peer Review: Highly recommended for further resources! erreview.cfm erreview.cfm Also see accompanying handout for other resources