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Resources
For Teaching with Writing |
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Peer Review
Strategies The following
ideas are offered for the purpose of encouraging and making peer reviews
effective instructional techniques.
Well-done peer reviews should make your workload as an instructor
easier and should make the task of reading a full set of class papers go more
smoothly, for many problems can be ironed out in advance by having peers do
some of the work. The tips
below describe how to run peer reviews, give ideas for making students take
peer reviews seriously, and outline management strategies for in-class peer
reviews. 1. Give Course Credit for Peer Reviews Establish criteria and a point system
for recognizing effort. Criteria can
include thoroughness, insightfulness, and a serious effort to give
constructive feedback. Credit can be
points added to the final grade on a paper; a check, plus, or minus; or
cumulative points over the semester or averaged points at the end of the
semester. Course syllabi should
explain how peer reviews will count.
It is also worth considering ways to give students feedback throughout
the semester so they understand how they are doing as peer reviewers. 2. Give Credit for Considering Others’ Advice In addition to giving credit for
participating as a peer reviewer, you might assess how students responded to
the feedback they received. To save,
time you can ask students to respond on peer review forms telling what was
used and what was rejected and why. This activity could be done before class
to save additional time. It should not
take students long to compare their finished drafts to peers’ comments. 3. Self-Assessing Progress as Peer Reviewers Learning how to be a good peer
reviewer requires some self-reflection.
If you collect students’ peer review forms during the semester, you might
consider some in-class activities requiring students to assess how they are
doing. You can return forms and have
students assess the value of their feedback or have them do a peer review on
the completed peer review forms. 4. Electronic Peer Reviews Email works well for in-class peer
reviews. Using an all-class email, you
can send peer forms in advance of a scheduled peer review session. Students can peek at these, perhaps doing
some revising before class. In class,
direct students to open the email and review the questions. (It is always a good idea to email the form
to your own account so there’s a backup copy if someone’s account does not
work.) Once students read through a
peer’s paper and respond on the form, they reply to the writer and send you a
copy. You then can check your email to
assess students’ progress. You can
also try doing one or two reviews yourself, thereby cutting down on the
number of drafts you might have to read outside of class. In working with students who have used
both pen and paper and email peer reviews, I have found that the electronic
format is preferred. The one drawback
is that the peer review session needs to occur in a computer lab. Students report that they take the process
more seriously when it is done using email and that they prefer seeing their
peers’ comments typed rather than handwritten. Students also seem to write longer
responses and to concentrate more deeply at the task at hand. As an instructor, I find it handy to
archive the reviews and look at them from time to time to see how students
are doing. 5. Duplicate Copies of
Papers Build peer review days right into
your course and assignment schedules so students can plan accordingly. Request that two copies of papers be
brought to class on peer review days.
Practical reasons exist for this suggestion. At least one student is likely not to bring
a draft, and students finish peer reviews at staggered times, which would
leave some students without papers to read as they wait for someone to
finish. In addition, students receive
feedback from two readers instead of one.
In forty minutes or so, students can review two papers if the format
is kept structured. It is best to
figure out in advance some techniques for how to handle the paper flow to
make sure all students’ papers get read by at least one reviewer and some by
as many as three reviewers. Leaving
time at the end of class to return work and comment on the session is also
important. 6. Peer Response Forms Students initially need guidance with
how to respond to peers’ papers. By
carefully preparing peer response forms, you structure the experience and
help students focus on the requirements of the assignment. For this reason, it is best to create your
own peer response forms rather than rely on commercially available ones. The more customized the form, the more
likely the peer review sessions will go well.
In preparing peer review forms, avoid questions with yes and no
answers. You want students to be
descriptive in their responses. If
your peer review form successfully mirrors your assignment, it will reinforce
what is being asked for in the assignment. 7. Model Peer Reviews Students sometimes need to be taught
how to respond in peer reviews. You
can model this by using a former student’s paper and critiquing it or by
showing students completed peer review forms.
Discussing what constitutes a good response can go a long way in
making sure students benefit from peer review sessions. 8. Include Your Own Paper
in the Peer Review Operating on the premise that we
should do the papers we assign, there is no reason not to include a draft of
our own paper in a session. Students
come to see that you value peer response, and you are likely to be tickled by
their responses. (In 1991, I won The
New England Association of Teachers of English Article-of-the-Year Award for
a paper that I significantly revamped based on student feedback during an
in-class peer review session.)
9. Confidential Papers Surprisingly, students do not mind
circulating their papers in peer reviews even when the subject is something
highly confidential in their lives.
Perhaps this attitude reflects the popularity of talk-show television. The rare student who objects is bound to
warn you, and with the numerous papers circulating, students are apt not to
miss one. 10. Avoid Overkill in the Classroom Students need only to have two or
three classmates as reviewers. One is
too few and the writer is likely to feel gypped if the solo reviewer does a
minimum job. Asking students to peer
review more than three papers is a bit excessive, and the time spent doing
this might be better spent on revising drafts based on feedback already
received. Nevertheless, students
should be encouraged to seek feedback from people outside of class and should
take peer response forms for guiding these readers. 11. Separate Peer Revision
from Peer Editing As editing should take place after
revising, there is little point in having students edit one another’s work during
a peer review session. The writer is
likely to make content changes still, making editing at this point moot. Regardless, it is heartening to see that
some students will feel compelled to make a few corrections, and this cannot
hurt as the writer might learn a lesson or two about grammar taught by a peer
rather than by you. 12. Reducing the Workload
and Making Your Life More Enjoyable Are peer reviews time consuming? Not really if you consider that they make
it easier to read through a final set of papers. Spending time upfront saves time later and
reduces commenting on the number of things that should have been addressed
before the final drafts were submitted.
Well-conducted peer reviews can save instructors considerable time,
far more than the time spent in class reading papers. Just count the number of papers (and pages)
that got read, and think of the number of problems that got fixed before the
papers crossed your desk. 13. Managing to
Participate in Peer Reviews as a Reader If peer review sessions are well
planned, you should find yourself having time to read a few papers in
class. If students see you reading a
paper, they are less likely to ask you questions, resulting in a quiet,
non-authoritarian atmosphere, helping students assume ownership over the
process. 14. Managing Your Workload Teaching with writing does not have
to be time consuming. Giving students
as much control as possible over the process cuts down on your workload. The more students get done on peer review
days, the less you need to do later.
Furthermore, if students take blank peer review forms with them,
outside readers can provide guided assistance. 15. Oral Peer Reviews Almost nothing has been said about
oral peer reviews. Although they are
effective for noticing where writing needs to be revised, many find it
difficult to concentrate while listening.
In classes where instructors use the oral method, they often have
papers read twice, once for listeners to get the drift and once for them to
respond. But all of this is rather
time consuming. So if efficiency is
your goal, stick with silent reviews.
Furthermore, oral readings can get noisy, distracting listeners. Because oral readings can be quite
beneficial, however, students should be encouraged to find listeners outside
of class. 16. Skeptics of Peer Reviews—How to Tame Them It takes time and patience to get
good at conducting peer reviews. If
you are skeptical, talk to colleagues who have run successful peer reviews
and get tips from them. Ask colleagues
to review your peer review forms, as well-designed peer review forms can be
the key to successful peer reviews.
Also, try piloting your peer review forms with one or two students
before class to see if adjustments should be made. Some skeptics might believe that getting
students to take peer reviews seriously and to engage in the process
wholeheartedly might be elusive goals.
But, if your peer review forms are well designed and students see you
are enthused about the process, they are likely to eagerly participate. In Through
Teachers’ Eyes: Portraits of Writing Teachers at Work, Sondra Perl and
Nancy Wilson recount numerous success stories of teachers using peer review
strategies. Teachers who are well
trained in the theories of teaching writing as process invariably use peer
reviews. Those without the training
can informally learn the techniques from colleagues. For students, it helps to see successful
strategies that they are taught in their classrooms reinforced by other
teachers, especially when this happens across the curriculum. Those who believe in collaborative learning
and social constructivism should find peer reviews comfortable companions. |
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Last revised: Judy Arzt |
Work
Cited Perl, Sondra, and Nancy Wilson. Through Teachers’ Eyes: Portraits of
Writing Teachers at Work.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1986. 2001-2002 Saint Joseph College. All Rights Reserved. |
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