Lesson 4 - Peer Conferencing

Pupils are given some sample writing to critique using the Peer Evaluation Checklist below to gather feedback on the content and organisation of the writing. After the training exercise, they evaluate their own writing using the same checklist.

Peer Evaluation Checklist
1. Can you improve the ‘Orientation’ (introduction) of the story by providing more detailed answers to the following questions:

(a) who are the main characters in the story,
(b) where did the story take place,
(c) when did the story take place?

2. Are the characters in the story believable and interesting? Can you improve the characterization by:
(a) adding more descriptive words about the physical appearance, their dressing, etc.
(b) adding direct speech to dramatise the way they speak and also the way they feel?

3. Can you add more details to the story by:
(a) asking questions like ‘how’, ‘when’, ‘where’ and ‘why’,
(b) developing the five senses: what can be seen, heard, touched (or felt), smelt or tasted,
(c) creating an appropriate mood or atmosphere for the story to make the story more exciting, suspenseful, scary, etc?

4. Are you happy/satisfied with the way the story ended? Are there any questions that you feel have not been answered satisfactorily? How would you provide an alternative ending to the story?

Acknowledgements:
Taken from: Peter Teo (1999) Process Writing: Peer Evaluation Revisited in REACT (Review of Educational Research and Advances for Classroom Teachers), Issue No. 1, June 1999, p. 16-24

Instructions for Training in Peer Evaluation

1. Read and critique the scripts using the above criteria.

2. Compare the evaluations and note any significant differences after each member of the group has completed evaluating a script to standardize peer evaluation using a common set of criteria.

Instructions for Practice in Peer Evaluation

1. Critique one another’s writing using the same criteria.

2. When one member has finished evaluating the first script, pass on to the next member of the group in a clock-wise motion. At the end of this round-robin exercise, each of the four compositions would have been evaluated by four different students.

3. As a group, discuss the evaluation by looking at your evaluation sheets to note any significant disparity in your evaluation.

4. Return the compositions with their evaluation sheets to their respective owners for them to understand and take note of their strengths and weaknesses.