Adapting Instruction
While working with students on their coming of age personal narratives, I observed many students stating what made them innocent at the beginning of their story rather than letting their story speak for itself. I designed this quick mini lesson in response to use on peer review day.
Students read and compared the two versions of the same story. I had them look for specific language in Example B that "showed" what was simply "told" in Example A. |
I created a similar mini lesson in response to students' first analytical paragraphs. Many students left out their claims, wrote summaries of quotes instead of explanations, or had weak concluding sentences. I created this comparison with numbered/lettered sentences so that students could identify the differences between a weak and strong paragraph.
Creating Effective Peer Review
On strategy I have used to make peer review a more effective form of assessment is to require the reviewer to provide evidence. I take the criteria from the rubric and create a checklist of questions for the student reviewer, who is prompted to use quotes from their peer's work to prove whether or not they have met the criteria.