Thursday, September 15, 2011

Leave the paperwork in the classroom!

As an English teacher, I often get asked about all those essays to grade--how do I make time?  Peer workshopping!  As I introduce skills through twenty-minute mini-lessons, students locate the items within their essays.  Then, using a peer workshopping sheet that lists the skills we have worked on (see below), student do read arounds of their essays and rotate them to look for errors and positive points.  By the time I read the essays with the students during one-on-one conferences, the essays are pretty good.  Grading essays with students allows them to see what I'm looking for, to go over rules for missed skills, and helps them to understand what an "A" essay looks like. 

Give it a try, and see if your paperwork load decreases....

Running Peer Workshopping Classroom PowerPoint link:
 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Teaching-Writing-Running-a-Peer-Workshopping-Classroom


0330 Narrative Peer Workshopping

Peer Reviewer(s): __________________________________

Title of Paper: ___________________________________

Author: ________________________________________

Remember—revisions are the author’s choice!

As the reviewer, I have:

   Listened to the author read the piece aloud

   Highlighted all end punctuation marks

o   Double check for question marks and exclamation points.

   Highlighted the words needing capitalization

o   Beginning of each sentence

o   Proper names, places, brand names, etc…

   Highlighted all the transition words

   Highlighted any misspelled words—use a dictionary or spell check if needed

   Checked for proper formatting: Double Spaced, Times New Roman, Twelve Font

   Checked for narrative guidelines

o   Uses I

o   Uses chronological/sequential/time order

o   True story

o   Moral point/life lesson is _____________________________________________

   Attached feedback sheet to rough draft (given to author)

One item I liked: ________________________________________________________________

One item I wish the author would add: ______________________________________________