Tip of the Month
September 2007: Using Peer Reviews Effectively
by Professor Elizabeth Child
As writing across the curriculum continues to play a major role in education, we strive to find ways to help students not only take ownership of their writing but also to understand its impact on their audience. An ideal way to accomplish these goals and others involves peer review workshops, which can be conducted for any class in which a writing assignment is due.
The purpose of our peer review exercise is four-fold. First, students have the opportunity to help their classmates gain new insights into their own ideas and their own writing. Second, they hone their own skills as editors -- skills necessary to effectively read and revise your own work. Third, writers gain new ideas for their papers through exposure to the ideas of others. Finally, this exercise provides a deeper understanding of the criteria against which writing will be evaluated and graded.
Logistically, the process works in this way: students deliver draft electronically to everyone in the class (including the instructor) no later than 5pm the Friday before the established workshop date. Each student then assumes the role of editor, and to prepare for the workshops, they read each submitted paper carefully, making notes about their responses in the margins, and then writing a summary of their ideas as a note to the author. Students are encouraged to be as constructive and specific as possible in their responses, including offering specific written suggestions for expanding or revising. They are encouraged to consider specific questions, which in fact are part of assessment criteria, in responding. These questions include:
1. What is the topic of this paper? Does the author offer reasons why this topic is interesting? Do you have any suggestions as to how she might make the exigence for her topic clearer and/or more powerful?
2. What is the thesis or argument of the paper? Are you able to restate her argument in your own words? How might the author sharpen or revise her thesis to make it more effective?
3. Does the author offer textual evidence to support her claims? Can you make sense of her claims and proofs even if you have not read the primary text(s) yourself? Does the author provide quotes to illustrate her points? Does she cite her quotes correctly?
4. Does she introduce secondary sources in a coherent fashion? Are the secondary sources relevant to the argument? Is the author careful to distinguish between her own ideas and the ideas of others?
5. Do topic sentences frame most of the paragraphs? Are there transitions between paragraphs? Can you follow the flow of ideas?
6. Does the author remain focused on her thesis throughout the paper?
After responding to drafts in writing, students then use their written notes as the basis for oral comments in class sessions devoted to the workshop. They are encouraged to focus primarily on content, not grammar. Each student is given a couple of minutes to express their comments; the limited time also helps students realize the importance of being concise and thoughtful during brief oral presentations.
In my experience, this exercise works best in seminar-size courses, but it can be adapted to larger classes by dividing the class into peer review groups. In addition to the academic objectives outlined above, I have found that peer review has the potential to create a strong sense of community and collegiality in the classroom, a benefit which can long outlast a particular assignment, a particular course, and even college -- I know of one peer review group which still meets regularly, three years after graduation.
May 2007: “Frontloading” a reading assignment
By Deborah Litt
Instead of just telling students what pages to read, give a preview or orientation to direct the students' attention to what they should be getting out of a selection.
Students can feel overwhelmed from the start because they don't really know what they should be focusing on within a long reading assignment. Or, they may not understand the first part because they are coming at it totally blind. Imagine walking into a movie without knowing whether it is a comedy or thriller or documentary. You don't someone to give it all away in advance, but it is helpful to have some idea of what you'll be seeing so you can “tune” into the correct channel--more technically, call upon the appropriate associations or schemata.
A simple way to do this is to do a quick walk-through of the textbook chapter or book section just calling attention to the major sections and the key ideas. You can point out particularly important sections, ideas, charts, or graphs. You might even suggest which sections could be skimmed and which ones are particularly difficult and might need multiple readings. If there are one or two words or ideas upon which the entire section hinges, and you think a substantial group of students will not understand the section without understanding that word or concept, then teach it BEFORE the students read that section. For literary works, give them something to focus on while reading, i.e., notice how the mood shifts in this next section; pay attention to this author's unusual use of figurative language; what is changing about the characters' relationships in this middle section?
You may well be thinking, “But doesn't the textbook already do this with the bold headings, questions, sidebars, etc.?” Well, yes. But often students don't bother to use those features, or haven't been made aware of them. So, take some time at the beginning of the semester to make sure the students know about them and know how to use them.
There exist MANY other methods of helping students understand (and do) their reading by doing something BEFORE they start. For some additional suggestions and references, visit the CTLE website.