[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 8 | April 4, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036]
The first excerpt from our book reviewed the Common Core Writing Standards and offered general strategies for teachers of English-language learners. Our next post differentiated between cooperative and collaborative learning activities, and suggested collaborative strategies for meeting the Standards. In this post, our third and final excerpt, we share more specific suggestions for implementing another collaborative writing strategy: peer review.
Peer Review
Peer review is one collaborative writing strategy that can assist students in achieving a number of the Common Core Standards, including the one stating that students will improve their writing by “revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.” Research has shown that peer review, done well, results in improved student writing and learning about writing. Not least of these benefits (PDF) has been increasing the ability of ELL students to self-edit and revise their future writing
We’ve tried many different methods of peer review — with an emphasis on the word many. We’ve found that simpler is better, and have had the greatest success (improved student writing and a positive classroom atmosphere) with two strategies