Points about helping students to become effective critics of each other’s work

Most students do not naturally critique each other’s work effectively.  This is something they have to be taught to do.  There are several effective ways to do this.

? Model effective response by beginning with large group response.  Probe when students give each other vague or unhelpful response and comment on why you are doing so.  Model the skills you would like them to practice in your own responses.
? Use a set procedure like the “Guidelines for Response Groups”  which can be modified according to the needs of your group.  It may take them some time to get used to this, so be prepared to have to point out when they have strayed and remind them to stick to the guidelines. It is really useful to have them complete the debriefing process in which they discuss how well they were able to follow the protocol and how well it worked.
? In all cases, have the writer provide an introduction in which she tells where she is with the piece and what specific help she needs. How can readers help at this stage of the process?  This gives students something concrete to respond to.
? Go around the circle and get quick responses from every student, so that they all realize they are responsible for listening.  Sometimes it’s helpful to direct these responses with a question like: What is the thing that really stood out for you about this writing? What details do you most remember?
? Help students to shape their responses in effective ways by probing their answers.

Ask them to tell the writer what they heard before allowing them to move to any kind of evaluation.

Vary the ways in which you have students respond to each other’s work.  Here are some of the varieties I use:

? Large group sharing sessions
? Small group sharing sessions- you might want to assign these groups or not.  But you will want to help them to respond effectively.  Circulate and listen to how they are working.  Appoint a timekeeper and someone to facilitate.  Be sure groups have a chance to evaluate their own process.
? written response- students staple a paper with any specific areas upon which they would appreciate feedback to the end of their paper.  Readers respond to the content of the paper, what they felt was effective and respond to the writer’s need for help.  Do this for a specific length of time and then ask students to finish responding to the paper they are working on.
? paired response
? written paired response- this can follow a form or take the form of a written conversation.