Language of critiquing

“Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots.”
– Frank A. Clark

As we are in the process of assessing our writing, and giving feedback to others, we took the opportunity to watch Ron Berger's inspiring video "Austin's Butterfly".

   

 The students enjoyed watching the video and learnt the following things from it: 


" I learnt not to give up after the first try."

" I learnt to give feedback respectfully. "

"I learnt to give specific feedback. "

"I learnt that a first grader can do aaaamazing things ...after 6 drafts."


 We decided to give each other feedback on our argument essays which we connected with our unit of inquiry. It was a great way create a transdisciplinary curriculum. 

The essay prompts were:

1) Prove that volcanic eruptions are closely connected with earthquakes. How would you go about proving this point. ( At least 2 .5 pages ) 

2) Explain in the most amazing way possible ( use metaphor analogy if necessary) how and why tectonics plates move in different ways. (At least 2.5 pages) 

Students went off to assess one another. It was a collaborative process and a hum filled the air as they engaged in productive discourse.

We assessed each other carefully, modeling the language of feedback  we had discussed during the mini-lesson which followed the video. Here are two of the essays the class considered to be particularly  well-written.
We came up with a checklist inspired from the argument checklist, but modified to suit our needs.

Geograohy Essay by Jiyu by Naini Basu on Scribd

Critiqueing Checklist by Naini Basu on Scribd

Geography Essay by Irene by Naini Basu on Scribd

I leave you with some of the "specific" and "respectful"feedback the students gave each other.

This student comments on how her peer's work is easy to read as the paragraphs clearly connect with one another.

A very effective way of re-directing the student's focus to the question that needs to be addressed.

The student addresses the need to have a conclusion that ties up the whole essay.

Very specific feedback from a peer.

When asked why she gave this particular feedback, the student responded by saying she used the same example to consolidate her point of view but saw how her peer used in a different way. Another point for discussion in the next class.

Very specific feedback and respectfully stated!

This feedback goes a bit further. It states not only where her buddy can improve but how she should go about it.

Would you, dear parents and readers like to leaves us some specific and respectful feedback on how we can improve our learning experience?