Thanks

Ok Ok, I appreciate any and all nice words posted towards me for the blog. First, let's not forget it was Missy McCutchan's idea at our faculty meeting to have a blog in the first place. All I did was sign up for a Google account and get it going.

So I'll post a question now to everyone. Does anyone use peer editing in Language Arts with any success? I really struggle with this, because a lot of my students consistently don't give useful feedback to their partner. On the positive side I guess it is good practice for fluency, because I have them read their papers aloud to their partner.

I have done countless mini lessons on how to tell if a paper is off topic, a character needs developing, etc. Still too often students say their partner said their paper was fine, no meaningful suggestions. I think so many of our kids need help with their writing that it is hard for them to recognize areas of improvement in another student's writing.

Sometimes it can be useful, because the kids can help each other with their spelling. But truthfully I probably only have 4 or 5 students who have the skill to be a productive peer editor, and laying everyone on them would overload them and be unfair. I still find it is easier to have the students working independently while I find time to personally conference with each one.

We've been told for so long how important peer editing is, but I find it hard to make it useful outside of fluency practice. What are any of you all doing with peer editing that is working? Any suggestions?