Introducing the Peer Group Response Workshop

Purpose:

As you have probably noticed by now, our course values active dialogue and community. The peer group workshop process allows us to further develop the class into a community of writers and readers. In your previous experiences with peer review you may have done some form of peer critique, often a partnered approach, which frequently manifests as a sparse dialogue and a written form. I call this the “hit-and-run” approach to peer review, and it is often ineffective. Instead, we will focus on our writing in small groups of three or four, so that you get input from multiple readers. This is, literally, your “focus group,” and they will help you find what parts of your essay succeed in the readers’ minds and which parts may need rethinking or revision. Likewise, you are a member of this focus group for the other readers.

Your groups will be pre-selected, usually at random, and these groups will be varied and changed as the semester progresses. This allows writers to work with a greater number of readers, each of whom may have multiple and variable perspectives on essay writing. From the members of your group, you may receive similar responses or contradictory advice, but whatever the situation, you will receive multiple ideas to consider in revising your work before final submission. The ultimate decision remains up to you, the writer; however, the multiple perspectives you receive may help you focus your attention on certain sections of your essay as you revise.

Directions:

Usually you will review drafts over a period of two days, unless the draft is partial or our focus is on a specific section of an essay. Ideally, for each draft, you will complete the two steps listed below.

Step One:

First, you have the opportunity to record your initial feelings and responses as you read the drafts. This will usually be done in the second-half of the class period during the first work-shopping day. You will probably have three to four drafts to read, so you will certainly need to finish this assignment that evening. Read each essay and add comments, suggestions, and questions in the margins of the typed essay. Try to add at least four comments per page. Key areas of inquiry may be when you want the essay’s writer to provide greater detail or to expand on an intriguing idea. Also, attempt to point out awkward phrases, confusing ideas, or unclear passages as you mark the draft. You should not be focusing on grammar or mechanics, unless these aspects greatly inhibit your ability to read and understand the essay.

Step Two:

Once you have read the entire essay and have finished hand-marking the essays at home, please type a half page (single-spaced) of feedback for the draft’s writer. When you do this, be specific as possible so that the writer knows exactly which section of the essay you’re addressing. In your responses, deal with areas such as purpose, feeling, tone, content, organization, title/introduction/conclusion, and style. Write your feedback in clear and complete sentences. Please see the advice for writing valuable feedback on the following pages. Direct your response to the writer as a kind of informal letter of advice to the writer. Your goal should be to provide useful feedback. There is no template to follow or specific questions to answer, so be creative in your response. The comments from Step One and the response from Step Two will be the foundation of the actual peer workshop itself.

Please print two copies of your typed responses; you can just copy and paste the response under the original, so that you may simply cut the page in half (think: save trees). You will give one copy to the essay’s writer so that he/she has it to consult while revising. I will collect the other copy so that I can evaluate the quality of your feedback and give you credit for doing the work.

Suggestions and Guidelines for Written Feedback:

The goal for your response should be to provide useful and constructive feedback for the writer; and as writer of an essay yourself, your goal should be to carefully consider the received feedback. Remember, your job in this exercise is to help a writer improve a draft; your job is not to evaluate the quality of the writer’s work. Look for ways that an essay could be improved, or find specific places in the writer’s essay that are left unclear or unexpanded. Take this assignment seriously, and treat your fellow writers with respect and support.

1. Ask Questions: In many cases, the best feedback you can offer comes in the form of open-ended questions. Your goal should not be to tell the writer what to do; rather, you wan to get the writer to think about parts of his/her writing and ponder ways to make improvements. By asking questions, you will be able to simultaneously offer suggestions and create room for the writer to think of improvements on his or her own.

Why do you wait until page 4 to begin talking about ________?

What did _______do when she found out about_________?

2. Show Where the Writer Could Provide More Information: An effective approach would be to ask for more information and to explain why you think the information would be helpful.

I would like to know more about_______because_______

3. Be Positive: Remember to provide positive feedback. Don’t fall into the trap of merely looking for “what’s wrong” with the draft. When writers know where they succeed, then they can try to improve other areas of their writing in the same manner. However, do not just say that you like something, but explain why.

I like_______because________

4. Use the St. Martin’s Handbook: If you need ideas for what to respond to in an essay, consult sections in your St. Martins. These sections give revision prompts and ideas. In the future, you may even find these prompts useful templates.

Some DON’Ts for Workshop Response:

For the most part, you can respond to the essays as your wish. As you will see in the samples, students have used a variety of approaches, tones, and styles in their responses. This variety helps make a workshop a valuable, personal, and interesting experience. However, you should avoid the following:

1. Broad sweeping comments like “Your writing is awesome. Keep it up” or “This draft is really good” will not aid in the writer’s revision as stand-alone suggestions. The more you refer to specific passages and ideas in the essay, the more you will help the writer make changes.

2. Your impulse may be to concern yourself with grammar and mechanics in responding to your members’ drafts, but remember that the peer workshop is NOT a copy-editing or proof-reading group. You want to focus on a macro-vision: “seeing the essay,” or “seeing the whole picture.” This kind of help and scope will result in large scale changes in thought, organization, content, and focus. If the writer successfully makes changes, the typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors may disappear because the content could drastically change.

Procedure for Workshop Sessions (Day 2):

· Each member’s essay will receive an equal amount attention, probably around 10-15 minutes.

· When your peers discuss your essay, you should avoid over-talking and/or defending your draft; instead, take notes on their feedback. This step is so is important so that you can remember the advice you received later when you are making changes. Often, good ideas come up in discussion that no one had written down in their advice or feedback. You want to record and understand your members’ insights; later on, you wan decide which ones will work in your revision.

· When your peers have finished going through their comments for you, then you should ask them questions to help you focus your revision efforts or you may respond to issues brought up and/or any misunderstandings they may have had. Ask them to clarify points they made or ask them about aspects of your essay that did not come up in discussion.

· Before you leave the class-workshop, make sure that you receive the typed up comments from each group member as well as the hand-marked copy of your draft.

· In making revisions for the final essay, you should consider the feedback from your peers. You’ll never be able to use all of the feedback you receive, but you should carefully weigh your options and use the suggestions that best help you fulfill the intended purpose of your essay.

The success of this workshop depends entirely upon you and the efforts of your group members. During workshop sessions, I will travel from group to group, join in the discussion when necessary, answer questions, give advice, and check to make sure that each group member is actively involved in the workshop process. When I come to your group, feel free to ask me questions and include me in the discussion.