Praising Specific Writing Moves: Grounding Writing Discussions In Texts

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It is a natural move after a Quaker Share to help students begin to give each other feedback. Receiving peer feedback raises additional student concerns, however, as Adam shared: "Reading in front of the class was a little nerve racking, and it doesn't help when everyone in the class are such good Cartier Replica writers." For Adam, celebrating his peers' work was easy, but he was worried that his work did not stack up. We must help students practice identifying specific praiseworthy elements of every student's writing, helping all writers see strengths in their work.

Once again, I like to start with reading drafts aloud to reinforce the idea that we share continuously as we write, not just when we have "finished" pieces. I ask for a volunteer to read, and I ask class members to listen carefully and write down words and phrase them like in their notebooks. I may model this on the overhead the first time, to help illustrate the concept, and I often ask my volunteer to read the short excerpt twice to help us accurately record the words. The ...
... writer then takes control of the discussion, calling on peers who read their favorite excerpts back to the writer.

I am always happily surprised, when I create the space and time for it, by how many initially reluctant students share their writing with the whole class. I remember one high school class in particular and how powerful it was when students who rarely raised their hands suddenly volunteered to read their work aloud. There is a security in knowing exactly the kind of feedback you will receive. I could almost see students wondering, which parts of my writing will everyone like the best? After reading his work aloud, Adam commented, "Even though I was nervous, it really felt pretty good afterward to get the poem out and see that people appreciated it."

This activity allows students not only to practice reading their raw work aloud but also to hear specifically which of their language decisions impress their audience. They practice grounding their talk in the written text, which allows them to begin revision discussions by building on strengths. This activity also demonstrates the way we move fluidly between our talking and our writing. As readers/ listeners, we write peer language in our notebooks so that we can have more specific Tag Heuer Replica Watches conversations with them about their writing. As writers we carefully take notes about what our readers/listeners appreciated and why, and we consider how to build on these strengths in later revisions. After engaging in this practice as a full class, I move students into writing partnerships, allowing all students to receive even more in-depth feedback.