Compliments are used as step one to sort of break the ice between you and your peer. It's your opportunity to tell your peer what it is you liked about their writing. Did they tell a joke or say something that made you giggle? Did they use good detail, so you could visualize the experience? These are the things you want the writer to know that you noticed!
Suggestions are step 2. When making suggestions to the writer you are trying to give them ways to make their writing better. You could suggest synonyms for words they repeated or just a word that was a little to plain. Always remember to keep it positive! You do not want to embarrass or insult the writer, you just want to make them better! You can make suggestions about their word choice, or the order in which they talked about things. Does it make more sense another way? Simple things that the writer may not have noticed. It's always good to have another point of view.
Finally, corrections, when doing corrections you want to check for spelling and grammar mistakes. Does that word need to be capitalized? You can't learn from your mistakes if you don't know what your mistakes are!
When you are peer editing you want to make sure you stay positive and encouraging.The kids in the video Writing Peer Reviews Top 10 Mistakes, show you exactly what not to do while peer editing! This comical video is a perfect example of what not to do! No one wants to be a Picky Patty or Jean the Generalizer, and no one wants them editing for them either! You also should pay attention and take what your editor says into consideration. Being a Whatever William or a Defensive Dave is no good either! You should always be receptive to feedback and suggestions and want to get better!
For our group posts I am in the group Pissarro with Kaley McDonald and Jordan Neely. We chose to peer edit in a private way, using Google Drive and text messages. I personally like this better for the corrections part, for two reasons. One, I don't want to embarrass anyone. I myself can get embarrassed rather easily, especially if it's over something I feel like I did good or worked hard on. I would never want anyone to think I was picking on them or trying to draw attention to their faults. I would rather correct them using an email than to post it for the world to see. Two, I myself do not want to be embarrassed. I don't want my mistakes posted for all the world to see! It's one thing to make the mistake it's another to have someone call attention to it. I want to be corrected but not publicly. I also think private corrections work better in the classroom setting as well. As a teacher you should never call attention to a child's mistakes. With bullying being the issue that it unfortunately is, calling a student out in front of their peers could potentially lead to bullying outside the classroom. I think that it also has the potential to discourage a child from participating in class. When a child is embarrassed in front of their peers it could cause them to not want to participate anymore for fear of embarrassment.
I think teaching students to have a positive attitude while peer editing and trying to not embarrass anyone is the key to peer editing. If you follow the steps and guidelines I think you will be able to efficiently edit anyone's work!
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