Facilitating Peer Assessment

Assessment Workshops in Composition

Advantages

Provides students with immediate feedback. Focuses students on criteria. Provides students with a vocabulary to

discuss the writing process. Teaches students to effectively critique

writing and offer useful advice to peers. Reduces your workload.

Assessment Workshop

One of many methods. Based on criterion-referenced writing

assessment (holistic scoring). Provides a structure and a set of evaluation

criteria through which students learn to review and critique each other’s work, and ultimately improve their own writing.

Materials

Assessment Checklist (rubric) Competence Checklist Sample student papers (samples should be

borderline at first)

Basic Workshop Process

Distribute the first writing sample. Review the holistic scoring procedure. Using the rubric, score & discuss the sample. Distribute the second sample. Repeat steps 2-4.

Competence Checklist The paper offers a fairly clear controlling or main idea, and its context is obvious to most

readers. The paper clearly makes the attempt to guide the reader through a series of stated points

or examples, so that the reader does not have to make undue effort to understand the paper.

The main idea of the paper is supported by relatively distinct details and/or examples. There is an effort to develop both a variety of examples and adequate transitions between

the examples. The sentence and paragraph structure is competent and functional, and the paper has few

distracting surface errors. The paper has a voice which may be, at times, compelling. The paper is usually understandable for readers outside of the immediate classroom

context. The paper offers an explicit argument that goes beyond mere "plot" summary. The paper argues by analyzing, quoting from, thinking through, and discussing texts,

developing a coherent argument through the use of evidence, claims, and examples that illustrate its position.

The paper reflects proper citation of sources; i.e., offers correct MLA Style documentation. The paper reveals some significant complexity of thought and style. The paper engages with the ideas and the text so as to reveal a critical thinking process

that initiates a discovery rather than concludes one.