Group Agenda – Week 4

 Peer Response Session – Genre Analysis / “How to” Essays

As you all know, this week you’ll be doing peer response sessions. I know it can be a frustrating experience or it can seem pointless when not everyone is taking it seriously. But, as we discussed in class,  there are ways to approach peer response that can be super helpful, productive, and engaging. Hopefully, everyone takes it seriously for the sake of others trying to improve their writing, but also for your own development as writers.

Because this can be a time consuming task, this is the only activity you’ll be doing in groups this week.

(Prep Work) 

Before you begin, everyone should have a copy of Straub’s “Responding, Really Responding” readily available to help with the process.

  • For this, I strongly recommend you use the appropriate group folder in the “Group Folders” area of our Shared Google Drive. It may be helpful to create a new folder in there and title it something like, “How-to Peer Response Session” or anything along those lines.
  • Each group member should have placed a copy of or shortcut to their draft in that folder (with their name on the document).

The Actual Peer Response Session

  1. Pick one person to go first. 
    1. That person should offer a brief explanation of their essay, where they’re at with it, and what concerns they have.
  2.  Read a peer’s essay and comment in the margins. 
    1. Everyone should be reading the same paper at the same time.
    2. The author should try to read their paper aloud while their peers follow along (super awkward, I know… but also super helpful)
    3. Feel free to stop and ask questions or make comments… the process should be dynamic and should really emphasize getting feedback on one another’s writing
  3. Focusing on content, structure, and clarity – NOT grammar – and using Straub’s piece to help guide you,  
    1. Write questions as the audience-
      1. “What do you mean here?”
      2. “Who is your audience here?”
      3. “Have you considered… ?”
      4. “Do you have a specific example?”
    2. Point out what is successful and why
    3. Comment on one another’s comments
  4. Offer suggestions for improvement at the end
    1. As Straub suggests, take some time to write out some overall thoughts at the end of the paper (or in a comment at the end)
  5. Discuss!
    1. Talk about it – offer help, ask questions, clarify – Be the immediate audience for your peers!
  6. Wash, rinse, and repeat for each peer’s essay 
  7. When done with the session, with your own essay, go back and read the comments and comment on the comments – agree, disagree, why? Ask for clarification, etc.
  8. Complete the Peer Response Reflection , which you can find via that link or below. (You can complete this in either your individual folders or in an email to me.) 

Peer Response Reflection

After you finish your peer response session, you should complete the peer response reflection by answering the questions found below (or found here). This is something that can/should be completed individually as soon as you can after the peer response session itself and it will replace your Participation Notebook for the week.

In either your Participation Notebook or a new, clearly-labeled document in your individual Google Drive folder (or if you prefer, you can email it to me), take some time, reflect, and answer the following questions:

  1. What feedback did you receive during peer response? Was it helpful? Why/why not?
  2. What do you think was the best suggestion you offered to someone else? Why do you think it was a helpful suggestion?
  3. What did you learn/gain by reading your peers’ “how to” explanations? Do you think it will help you with your own project? How/why?
  4. What is the next step that you plan to take with your draft?
  5. What do you think would be helpful for our next peer response session?