In teaching Commonplace, I've learnt that my own opinions on my students' papers are not particularly valuable, at least when it comes to what their peer reviewers will like and hate. I've often made suggestions about "problems" that I see in the papers and that I think need to be fixed, only to discover in the peer review feedback that the reviewers would have preferred it to stay as it was! So, this quarter, I decided to come up with a workshop that would provide my students with feedback on their Commonplace papers from their perspective of their peers, and that would give them an opportunity to see how other people had handled the assignment.
Materials:
- Students need to bring in a draft of their CP paper. Ideally, it should not have their names or any other identifying information on it.
- Peer Review Response Sheet (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MV2DZK27).
Time:
- 60-90 minutes.
Workshop:
1. Explain to the students that you are doing a peer review workshop today, since their peers will be the ones to decide whether or not their essays will appear on Commonplace, and therefore it will be more helpful for them to have feedback from their fellow students than from you. Tell them that they will look at two of their classmate's papers, and provide feedback on them. They will have half an hour for each paper.
2. Collect the drafts from your students, and shuffle them together.
3. Distribute the drafts throughout the class, making sure that no-one gets their own paper!
4. Hand out the peer review worksheets. I like to attach paper clips to the first set of copies, so that they are able to put them together at the end. You can bring a stapler into class as well.
5. Run through the prompts with your students, making sure they understand all of them.
6. (Optional) After half an hour, collect up the drafts with the attached worksheets, and repeat steps 3-4. I like to do it twice, since I've had occasions where some students did not take it seriously and gave poor feedback. I also think it's valuable for them to see two different papers.
7. As a class, discuss what they liked about the papers, and what they felt worked well in them. This step is important, since it gives them ideas about how they can improve their own papers.
8. Spread out the papers with attached worksheets at the front of the classroom, and let the students come and find their own.
