View Content #24220

By Misaki Kato, CASLS Fellow

In this activity, students will practice giving critical feedback to other students’ introductory paragraphs and use the same critical reviewing skill to revise their own work. This particular activity (and material) is designed for students with intermediate writing skills.

Objectives: Learners will be able to:

• Use specific criteria to evaluate the introductory paragraph for an argumentative essay written by a peer.
• Examine and evaluate their own introductory paragraph based on the same criteria used in the peer review.

Mode: Presentational Writing

Materials:

• Peer feedback sheet for introductory paragraph
• Sample introductory paragraph
• Students’ own introductory paragraphs

Procedure:

1. Explain to students that they are going to review an introductory paragraph of an argumentative essay. Give students the peer feedback sheet and review the questions together.
2. Analyze 1: Give students the sample introductory paragraph. Students individually read the paragraph and fill out Part I of the peer feedback sheet. Since this is a quick review, give the students five minutes or less.
3. Analyze 2 and Share: Have students compare their responses in Part I with one another (either in pairs or groups. Then, ask for students’ responses as part of a class discussion.  
4. Analyze 3: Students individually read the same sample paragraph again and fill out Part II of the peer feedback sheet. Students can take more time to fill this part of the feedback sheet (10-15 minutes or more, depending on your students’ reading level).
5. Analyze 4 and Share: Have students compare their responses in Part II with one another (either in pairs or groups). Then, students share their responses with the whole class. You may want to project the sample paragraph on the screen during this step.
6. Extend 1: You can skip this step if there is time constraint. Give the students another copy of the peer feedback sheet. Students exchange essays with their partners and fill out the peer feedback sheet for their partner’s introductory paragraph. Then, students exchange feedback with one another (here, make sure that students are talking, not just reading their partner’s written comments).
7. Extend 2: Give student another copy of the peer feedback sheet. Students read their own introductory paragraph and fill out the peer review sheet. In the next class, students turn in the peer review sheets (their peers’ and their own evaluation of their introductory paragraph) and their revised introductory paragraphs.