Phase One
Description of Intervention
Before the intervention began, students had three opportunities to write a three paragraph opinion essay based on evidence derived from a text. The first article they responded to was defending a position about safety precautions that is necessary in football; the next article, the students got to choose a side whether or not junk food should be banned in schools ; the final article allowed students to choose a side on the issue of whether or not children should have their own cell phones. After the third article, students were fairly independent in the writing, as they knew the structure of the opinion writing piece at that point.
After students completed their opinion essay on cell phones, I took an hour to instruct students about the writing process and explain how an important component in the process is editing and revision. I guided them to realize that the greatest writers must constantly look at their own writing with a critical eye as well as receive feedback from others to help them find mistakes and enhance their writing in many ways. In that hour, I also introduced the feedback checklist that the students would be using when editing their peer’s work. This checklist focused specifically on grammar, spelling, capitalization, and formatting of the essay. It also gave students an opportunity to underline the different parts that are necessary in an opinion essay, including “stating the opinion,” “one reason why they have that opinion,” “restating the opinion,” etc. I used a student sample from the current assignment on cell phones, and the students and I went through each component of the checklist and revised their peer’s work. We completed this process with two separate pieces student work, and I used explicit think-alouds and modeling to show students how to critically look at a piece of writing.
An example of the peer editing checklist that the students would use is below:
After students completed their opinion essay on cell phones, I took an hour to instruct students about the writing process and explain how an important component in the process is editing and revision. I guided them to realize that the greatest writers must constantly look at their own writing with a critical eye as well as receive feedback from others to help them find mistakes and enhance their writing in many ways. In that hour, I also introduced the feedback checklist that the students would be using when editing their peer’s work. This checklist focused specifically on grammar, spelling, capitalization, and formatting of the essay. It also gave students an opportunity to underline the different parts that are necessary in an opinion essay, including “stating the opinion,” “one reason why they have that opinion,” “restating the opinion,” etc. I used a student sample from the current assignment on cell phones, and the students and I went through each component of the checklist and revised their peer’s work. We completed this process with two separate pieces student work, and I used explicit think-alouds and modeling to show students how to critically look at a piece of writing.
An example of the peer editing checklist that the students would use is below:
The next step in this process was for students to switch papers and begin to go through the checklist and peer edit. We did this as a full class, going through each point on the checklist one at a time to allow for me to circulate through the groups and check for understanding. Students had many questions through the process, which I was able to answer and clarify any confusions. After this process, students switched back papers and had an opportunity to look at the corrections, ask questions, and then finalize by typing their essays on a word processing program on their iPad.
After this, the students had another opportunity to write a final opinion essay. This essay was about what shark they would prefer to dive with if they had the opportunity, using specific details about the sharks from a text. After this, the students completed the writing feedback checklists with different partners.
After this, the students had another opportunity to write a final opinion essay. This essay was about what shark they would prefer to dive with if they had the opportunity, using specific details about the sharks from a text. After this, the students completed the writing feedback checklists with different partners.