Description
This is a lesson in which students read each other’s columns and help them meet the established criteria from the rubric. Students will read and analyze the work of their peers, marking specific areas of improvement. Then they will revise their work and submit for evaluation.

Objectives

• Students will assess the work of peers.
• Students will revise their own work based on feedback from others.

Common Core State Standards

Length

50 minutes

Resources

Slideshow: Cheese and bacon – presentation

Handout: Peer editing sheet

Lesson step-by-step

1. Building background — 10 minutes

Walk the students through the cheese and bacon presentation. Usually the deeper students go into the metaphor, the better it works, so if some students gag at the idea of cheese and bacon on mashed potatoes, that’s a great example that people like different things in writing. Remind them that much of this is subjective, while other things are not, and much of what is subjective people can agree on (butter is good on mashed potatoes, hot fudge is not).

2. Peer edit papers — 30 minutes

Distribute the peer edit papers. Students should have five people read their paper, and readers should make comments on the paper as they read. Remind students to make specific comments — underlining a good line with “I like this because…” is more effective than writing “Good paper” at the end. When the reader is done editing, the writer will ask two questions and record the answers. Then the reader initials the comments. This requires the writer to pay attention to the comments enough to write them down. It is common for students to read or hear what they want and focus on that, while losing much of the message.

3. Revise — 20 minutes

When students have finished having others read their papers, they can revise their paper to turn in at the beginning of the next class.